Stories you might have missed from around Wisconsin.
Ripon: Little White Schoolhouse back on National Register of Historic Places.
We can’t seem to get enough when it comes to stories about the Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon. The chamber of Commerce announced Friday that the building known as the birthplace of the Republican party has once again been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The building moved to a new location last year, the sixth time it has been moved in its history. That move required the Chamber of Commerce, who owns the building, to submit new applications to the state and national registers of historic places. Wisconsin approved the application in May and the national register approved the application last week. The school house hosted a meeting in 1854 that lead to the creation of the republican party. It was originally added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Full Story
Oak Creek: Former Oak Creek K9 officer dies.
It’s always heartbreaking when a dog dies especially when that dog has lead an exceptional life. Former Oak Creek Police k9 officer Nox, described by his handler as having had an “extremely successful career” has died. Nox was a 12 year old German Shepherd from the Netherlands. Nox retired with an honorable discharge June 2021 after eight years with the department. He then went to live with his handler Officer Dawn Hanizeski. When Hanizeski got a new K9 partner, Nox was not happy, so he went to live with a local family and spent his remaining years playing with other dogs and swimming in a pool everyday. Despite seeing Nox infrequently over the last years, Hanizeski was emotional when telling the Journal Sentinel, “He was an old guy, so he kind of got ill to the point where his quality of life was getting worse.” Rest easy Officer Nox! Full Story
Plover: Regulators urges scaling back on solar development.
Why did the Prairie Chicken cross the road? They didn’t, and that’s the problem facing a new solar energy development in Portage County. After an environmental review, regulators are recommending a solar developer scale back its plans for a $2 billion project in order to protect Wisconsin’s greater prairie-chicken population. Vista Sands Solar wants to build a solar facility that would generate around 1,300 megawatts of power. It would become the largest solar facility in Wisconsin if completed. There is a lot of support for the project, but environmental regulators say that the project could negatively affect the prairie chicken population. Prairie chickens need large open landscapes and large areas called leks for the males to conduct displays to attract females for breeding. They also tend to avoid energy structures, roads and fences. The state’s population of prairie chickens has been declining since the 80’s. The project covers land in Plover, Grant and Buena Vista. Full Story
Milwaukee: Kwik Trip sends Keith Urban swag after he wear Buc-ee’s shirt in Milwaukee.
Wisconsin’s allegiance to Kwik Trip runs deep and they’re not afraid to let others know it, no matter who they are. Countrysuperstar kieth Urban headlined at Summerfest at the end of June. Earlier this month, he posted some pictures to his social media accounts thanking Milwaukee, Wisconsin and singer Alana Springsteen who joined him onstage. That sounds great. The issue was that Urban was wearing a t-shirt from Buc-ee’s, a chain of gas stations/convenience stores that plans on opening in Wisconsin. The photo sparked good natured uproar online, but didn’t escape the KwikTrip social media nad marketing teams who were quick to respond after several fans tagged them. The team wa squick to action and sent Urban or as they called him “Mr. Nicole Kidman”, a box of KwikTrip swag including t-shirts, sweatshirts and other small items. I hope they included a box of Dunkers. Full Story
