Page 13 - Ben Meyer News Today

2:11 From fish and wildlife habitat to natural water purifiers, wetlands play a crucial role in human and environmental health. Last year, the Clean Water Rule was replaced by the Navigable Waters Protection Rule which modified the Waters of the Unites States definition in the Clean Waters Act. The rule change means that lakes, streams, some tributaries, and wetlands adjacent to those remain protected, but excludes other streams and isolated wetlands. It’s a change the Wisconsin Nature Conser...

1:47 Gov. Tony Evers wants to get idle paper mills in Park Falls and Wisconsin Rapids running again. He’s included millions of dollars in loans as part of a $1 billion special spending package to do that. The paper mill in Park Falls has only been operational for a few months since first shutting down in 2019, and last June, Verso announced it was stopping production at its Wisconsin Rapids mill. Those moves came at the cost of hundreds of jobs. But on Wednesday, Evers announced he will call ...

General Atlantic Legal tech investments: Evisort Growth equity giant General Atlantic, which has invested in buzzy fintech startups like Albert and Chime, made its first foray into legal tech in February, leading the $35 million Series B of Evisort, a contract life cycle management company. "Prior to COVID, the legal landscape was a traditional, paper-based industr...

5:42 A florist cuts lush, green stems to the proper bouquet length in a well-lit work area. Nearby, her coworker snips sharp thorns off of a rose about to go into an arrangement. At the same time, Josh Jameson takes yet another phone call, chatting easily with a customer. Jameson manages Flowers from the Heart on 5th, situated on 5th Avenue in the center of Antigo’s downtown. Last year, the flower shop opened downtown and then moved to this new, bigger space next door just three weeks ago. Th...

5:48 On Tuesday, Joe Rivas walked up the creaky, wooden ramp to the hayloft of a decades-old, white-painted barn near Phillips. Inside, hundreds of harvested cannabis plants hung on lines to dry. The image was something like an upside-down Christmas tree farm. Each is a variety of hemp, rich in the therapeutic substance cannabidiol, or CBD. They have little or no THC. That is, you can’t get high on anything grown here. Hemp plants hang to dry in the barn. Credit Ben Meyer/WXPR Steps away, ins...

1:43 The reopening of the Park Falls paper mill lasted just a matter of months before another shutdown and more layoffs this spring. Now, the mill has fallen into receivership once again, but one group has an innovative plan to bring it back. The former Flambeau River Papers in Park Falls reopened in September as Park Falls Pulp and Paper. Credit Ben Meyer/WXPR Last September, the scene was joyful in Park Falls when the century-old paper mill went back online after a year of being idle. An out-...

Schmeling was happy enough with Marist’s three-goal win at Levin last weekend. Even though they dominated enough for more goals to have been possible, they at least kept a clean sheet, he said. This weekend, Marist will be missing the injured Jaeden Shaw and Jamie Lambe, but Josh Cremen should be back from injury. In an interesting development, the club has signed Whanganui veteran Anthony Bell, who will likely start off the bench against Thistle. An attacking forward-cum-winger, Bell wi...

1:33 The controversial drawdown plan on the Manitowish Chain of lakes will continue for at least two more years under an extended agreement between the DNR and Xcel Energy. The parties signed a memorandum of understanding that will keep the water-management plan in place through 2023. Each October, water levels on the 10-lake chain are drawn down three and a half feet by releasing water through the Rest Lake Dam. That protects permanent docks, boathouses, and seawalls from winter ice damage. Ho...

We caught up with Boll again this week to see how things were going. The family decided to stay long-term and is now even further committed to the Northwoods. “My husband jokes, he was so happy when we got Wisconsin license plates on our cars,” Boll said. “We’re not going to get dirty looks from an Illinois plate any more.” The family had never experienced a full northern Wisconsin winter. Actually, though, the past winter solidified its decision to plant roots deeper here. “We did ...

5:23 On Tuesday afternoon, Matt Ellingson walked out of the Kwik Trip on Rhinelander’s east side with a few bottles of water and a snack from the store’s roller grill. Yet again, he’s intentionally bypassed a restaurant or fast food joint to get something to eat at Kwik Trip. “That’s exactly what I did today,” he said with a laugh. “I got a Tornado.” Ellingson feels he knows what to expect at every Kwik Trip location. “They’ve got good food, good prices, and the people are v...