La Crosse Tribune back issues from October 2007:
Country cuisine
Oct 01, 2007; ... MINDORO, Wis. - It has been almost three years since Ruthie and Dennis Goodenough opened Ruthie's Breakfast & Lunch House on their corn and soybean farm north of Mindoro. "It's gone a whole lot better than we ever anticipated," Ruthie Goodenough said on a recent Wednesday afternoon, ...
Uninsured not seeking care
Oct 02, 2007; ... More and more uninsured people in western Wisconsin are not seeking health care because they cannot afford it. That was the main message from speakers Monday at a listening session on Gov. Jim Doyle's BadgerCare Plus proposal and the uninsured, sponsored by La Crosse County and the ...
City drawn in lawsuit regarding downtown real estate
Oct 03, 2007; ... A La Crosse company owned by the Cleary family has filed suit against the city and its Redevelopment Authority to settle a tug of war over a piece of downtown real estate. The lawsuit by 100 Harborview Partners LLC drew a swift counterclaim from the city. A La Crosse County ...
Houghton's reborn
Oct 04, 2007; ... Houghton's Fine Food and Cocktails owner Jim Wile) always knew his Irish-themed bar and restaurant would be resurrected. "I never gave up on rebuilding," he said. "I miss everything about the place." Almost seven months after the South Side landmark was destroyed by a fire, a ...
Gow: New stadium in jeopardy
Oct 04, 2007; ... Fundraising shortfalls could threaten the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's stadium project, Chancellor Joe Gow said Wednesday. "Some people are thinking this is a done deal and a sure thing," Gow said. It's not, he said. A $5.4 million gap still stands between the ...
Viterbo eyes up 40 years
Oct 05, 2007; ... Heather Dietrich wanted a personal nursing education and broad clinical experiences. That's why the 20-year-old Mayville, Wis., student chose Viterbo University. "I wanted a place with a professional academic program and clinical opportunities, and a small school so my teachers ...
Labor law change causes fear, confusion in Arcadia
Oct 06, 2007; ... ARCADIA, Wis. - A proposed change in federal labor law that is affecting workers nationwide this week rippled through this small town and one of its major employers, Ashley Furniture Industries Inc. For Asuncion, a 46-year-old Mexican father of three who has worked at Ashley for nearly ...
La Crosse transit center to become a reality
Oct 06, 2007; ... Residential component or not, La Crosse officials are poised to break ground on the $10.7 million transit center in December. The Great River Station's long history includes more than 12 years of stymied negotiations and funding. "Nothing about this project has Over been easy," ...
Woven together by friendship
Oct 07, 2007; ... VIROQUA, Wis. - The fiber artists in Vernon County are a close-knit group. They spin and knit and weave and chat their way through the week, always interested in what their friends and neighbors are doing with fiber. So when their yam shop, Kindred Threads, closed its doors this ...
IT'S A BRIDGE TO RECOVERY
Oct 08, 2007; ... Brooke Vian wasn't ready to go back home or to her community after she was hospitalized for depression at Winnebago Mental Health Institute. The 28-year-old LaCrossearea woman found just what she was looking for and needed - a transitional, psychiatric halfway house at Siena Hall in La ...
Xcel boiler shut down on French Island
Oct 09, 2007; ... Xcel Energy's French Island generating plant has shut down one of its boilers because of a failed test for dioxin emissions. The company is working to fix the problems, Xcel spokesman Brian Elwood said, and will report to the community when it knows what happened. Most of the La ...
Firm to buy Business Objects
Oct 09, 2007; ... A German software giant has agreed to a $7 billion purchase of Business Objects SA, which bought La Crosse-based Firstlogic Inc. in April 2006. A spokeswoman for Business Objects, which is based in Paris and San Jose, Calif., had no prediction Monday about what effect, if any, the ...
It's time to make the doughnuts
Oct 09, 2007; ... Art Lotz and his famed doughnuts return this week, several months after his health problems put that in doubt. "It's been a long, long haul for me," Lotz said Monday, as workers put finishing touches on the new Mr. D's/Java Detour coffee and doughnut shop at 123 West Ave. N. "But it ...
Area school enrollments hold steady
Oct 10, 2007; ... Most public schools in the Coulee Region reported only minor enrollment gains and losses this fall. Among the 28 districts surveyed in La Crosse, Vernon, Monroe, Jackson, Trempealeau and Crawford counties in western Wisconsin, 12 have more children in their classrooms than in 2006-07, ...
Ethanol controversy settled
Oct 10, 2007; ... SPARTA, Wis. - Coulee Area Renewable Energy still plans to build an ethanol plant in the region, but it won't be next to Century Foods International's main plant in Sparta. In a brief joint press release Tuesday, CARE and Century Foods said they have reached a tentative settlement on all ...
Home heat costs to spike
Oct 11, 2007; ... Almost all Americans will pay a lot more to heat their homes this winter, even though temperatures are expected to be warmer than average. Assuming a normal winter, Xcel Energy's typical residential customer is likely to see heating costs about 13 percent higher than a year ago, said ...
Doughnuts roll out the door at new Mr. D's
Oct 12, 2007; ... Remember the Alamo. Remember the Maine. On Thursday, many area residents remembered Mr. D's doughnuts. The new Mr. D's/Java Detour coffee and doughnut shop at 123 West Ave. N. sold out the 120 dozen doughnuts it had ordered for its opening in 2 1/2 hours ...
Hospital tax key to budget
Oct 12, 2007; ... Gov. Jim Doyle criticized Republicans and Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch Thursday for holding up the state budget. "It's nonsense," Doyle told the Tribune's Editorial Board. "If Mike says it's the cigarette tax and the hospital assessment, these are things that can get done. These are not ...
Biakecki seeks room tax hike
Oct 17, 2007; ... Onalaska Mayor Jim Bialecki has proposed the city's hotel room tax rise by a half-cent to put dollars behind his support for the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse stadium project. Bialecki's 2008 executive budget would raise the city's 6 percent room tax by 0.5 percent, with the ...
More control over development
Oct 12, 2007; ... The La Crosse Common Council would have more oversight on commercial development projects under a resolution introduced Thursday. Frustrated by what she views as muddled management of Riverside Center LLC's second riverfront building, council member Andrea Richmond asked that the city ...
County struggles with health insurance costs
Oct 16, 2007; ... La Crosse County's health insurance costs are going up 15 percent in 2008, and have more than doubled since 1999, county supervisors learned Monday. It's one of the fastest-growing parts of the county's annual $200 million budget, which the board is scheduled to adopt in a ...
City budget moves ahead
Oct 16, 2007; ... The mayor's proposed 2008 operating budget made it through La Crosse's Finance and Personnel Committee intact Monday. The budget, which calls for $65.2 million in spending, next goes before the Common Council on Nov 13. If adopted, the city's portion of the property tax rate ...
Fast-fingered shorthanders
Oct 16, 2007; ... With her ability to input 260 words per minute, little gets said in a Vernon County courtroom that court reporter Michelle Stello can't take down. Sitting quietly and listening intently, a court reporter uses a steno machine to document everything said during court ...
Huebsch: No $1.25 cigarette tax increase
Oct 13, 2007; ... Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch defended his opposition Friday to a $1.25 increase in cigarette taxes, a main sticking point holding up passage of a new state budget. Huebsch, R-West Salem, also criticized Gov. Jim Doyle for not being more involved in budget negotiations. Doyle, a ...
UW-L fears plan will be left behind
Oct 13, 2007; ... The governor's attempt at a state budget compromise reverses his support for a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse funding initiative, Chancellor Joe Gow said Friday. Gov. Jim Doyle said he favors UW-L's Growth and Access Agenda but is willing to let it go if it will end the budget ...
Hotel project draws more interest
Oct 13, 2007; ... La Crosse businessman Paul M. Weber has become the only other party to express interest in developing a highend hotel in downtown La Crosse. Noon Friday was the deadline to submit a letter to the city clerk's office. North Side Development, which built the Three Rivers Plaza project ...
New health benefit option expands local care choices
Oct 19, 2007; ... Patients in certain health plans will be able to choose care at both Gundersen Lutheran and Franciscan Skemp facilities under a new open access option announced by the organizations Thursday. Gundersen Lutheran and Franciscan Skemp officials said they agreed Monday to include each ...
Association president: Housing market still doing well
Oct 15, 2007; ... The local housing market remains strong, although sales for the first nine months of the year are down somewhat from a year ago, said the president of the La Crosse Area Realtors Association. A total of 853 new or existing La Crosse County single-family homes on the Multiple Listing ...
Monday Profile: Dr. Mary Kuffel, Doc reflects on journey to M.D.
Oct 15, 2007; ... After Dr. Charles Schauberger delivered Mary Kuffel's second child, she told him to hold a place for her in his clinic. At 31 years old, she was leaving behind a solid career, her husband and two young children in La Crosse to go back to school and pursue a second career. And ...
Feedlot owner blamed for manure spill
Oct 20, 2007; ... A Monroe County landowner could face fines or other penalties after officials said his feedlot was the source of a manure spill last month that killed thousands of brook and brown trout in Dutch Creek in La Crosse County. The Department of Natural Resources originally estimated the spill ...
This witch has heart
Oct 20, 2007; ... MELVINA, Wis. - Welcome to Melvina, a tiny village five miles north of Cashton on Hwy. 27. It's home to about 100 residents, including one self-proclaimed witch and eccentric, Israel Shvhi V Magdalene Rose. Israel is not exactly a favorite with the locals, but she's not letting that ...
MIND, BODY AND A LITTLE SOUL
Oct 20, 2007; ... The University of Wisconsin-La Crosses official seal includes icons representing mind and body - and the campus has focused on both throughout its history, Chancellor Joe Gow noted. Mind and body come together to create the soul of a university Gow said in his inauguration address Friday ...
UW-L tuition plan gets minimal state support
Oct 21, 2007; ... The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse will receive only a fraction of the $15 million it requested for its Growth and Access Agenda in the budget compromise Gov. Jim Doyle and legislative leaders agreed to late Friday. The deal includes the Senate version for funding the plan, which will ...
Who gets to decide best use for area land?
Oct 21, 2007; ... La Crosse County is ready to take its new Smart Growth plan hack to the people for review. After 2 1/2 years and countless meetings, the county has written a plan to give towns a bigger say in the process. But it also sets limits on how many acres can be developed in the next ...
Home built; permit denied
Oct 24, 2007; ... CALEDONIA, Minn. - A Spring Grove, Minn., couple might have to vacate their home after the Houston County Board on Tuesday denied them a conditional-use permit for the already-built structure. Matthew and Beth Solum's home and 8 acres are in an agricultural protection zone, which allows ...
Harvesting getting back on track
Oct 24, 2007; ... La Crosse County farmers are returning to corn and soybean fields this week after two weeks of wet weather stalled harvesting. Yields are normal overall but vary depending on soil type and rainfall during the growing season, two grain elevator operators and a county extension official ...
Misprint leads Centurytel to halt phone book delivery
Oct 27, 2007; ... CenturyTel has halted distribution of its new La Crosse-area telephone book after learning that some of the names weren't in alphabetical order. "We put a hold on distribution," said Kim Valiquette, spokeswoman at the company's Midwest Region headquarters in La Crosse. "We're evaluating ...
Residents react to county plan
Oct 23, 2007; ... TOWN OF GREENFIELD, Wis. - When it comes to land rights and development, people on St. Joseph's Ridge have strong opinions. "We have land, we pay taxes on it, we farm it, and then they come and tell us what we can do for development," said James Krueger Sr., who owns 240 acres of land in ...
Local lawmakers split on budget
Oct 25, 2007; ... Two local lawmakers who voted no when the Legislature passed the state's long-awaited biennial budget Tuesday said they thought local initiatives got a raw deal. Republican State Sen. Dan Kapanke and Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Shilling, both of La Crosse, said they couldn't get ...
More Center, more money
Oct 28, 2007; ... At midday Thursday, 1,000 convention-goers left the La Crosse Center and fanned out downtown in search of lunch. During their three-day stay in the city, members of the Wisconsin Wastewater Operator's Association were expected to spend $270 to $450 apiece at local hotels, shops and ...
City man starts DVD movie, video game rental kiosks business
Oct 28, 2007; ... Over the past two years, Brad Engh of La Crosse had noticed DVD movie and video game rental kiosks at a fast-food restaurant in Minneapolis and at a supermarket in Las Vegas. After six months of research, he has started eRent DVDs, LLC, which will have a network of self-service kiosks in ...
Man in the middle
Oct 29, 2007; ... Steve O'Malley says he wants to go the distance for La Crosse County. A former marathon runner whose idea of relaxation is a 500-mile charity bicycle ride, O'Malley puts in long hours as La Crosse County's first administrator. And after four years, he's ready to re-up for four ...
Restaurant owner faces theft charges
Oct 26, 2007; ... WHITEHALL, Wis. - Felony charges were filed earlier this month in Trempealeau County against a Bangor, Wis., man accused of stealing more than $51,000 from a restaurant he co-owned in rural Trempealeau, Wis. Scott J. Jensen, 34, pleaded not guilty last week Trempealeau County Circuit ...
Barron Island condos?
Oct 26, 2007; ... The city and La Crosse County are reconsidering plans to partner with Jay Hoeschler and Noel Jordan to develop the former Holiday Inn site on Barron Island. County Administrator Steve O'Malley couldn't confirm what those plans might be, but said he's anxious to jump-start development of ...
City panel faults handling of Riverside Center plans
Oct 26, 2007; ... La Crosse officials Thursday admitted the city fumbled its oversight of the development agreement for a second Riverside Center LCC building. The city's Redevelopment Authority never approved the final exterior plans for the building, even though construction began in ...
UW-L aims to bolster student health
Oct 26, 2007; ... The walls are bare in Matt Vogel's office at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Earlier this week, the new Community Health Specialist was holding up a poster he brought back from a national conference on alcohol and other drug prevention, seeing how it might fill that empty ...
Xcel plant passes dioxin test
Oct 26, 2007; ... Xcel Energy's French Island plant passed its latest dioxin emissions test last week and is operating again at full capacity, the company said Thursday. In early October, Xcel officials learned one of French Island's two waste-to-energy boilers failed its annual smokestack test in ...
A sweet time
Oct 30, 2007; ... Research into colony collapse disorder and other issues, a Kids & Bees Expo, a class for prospective beekeepers and the election of a Wisconsin honey queen will be all the buzz at this week's Wisconsin Honey Producers Association annual convention. It will be Friday and Saturday at ...
UW-L to bring new growth plan to regents
Oct 30, 2007; ... Chancellor Joe Gow isn't giving up on the main goals of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse's growth plan, despite it failing to be included in the 2007-09 state budget. He is preparing a modified version of the Growth and Access Agenda, one that would increase enrollment by at least ...
Residents upset with slope plan
Oct 31, 2007; ... Plans to put more restrictions on slope development have stirred a hornets' nest in the town of Shelby. A majority of the people at a public meeting about La Crosse County's proposed comprehensive plan Tuesday night said they're against further limits. "Everybody's opposed to ...