Monthly open thread: September 2023
Book battles, learning challenges and a chance to ask whatever you want
Every month it seems like I keep posting these open threads later and later. I think it’s because I keep finding important stories to work on. As you read this, I am likely in the woods up north with my doggo escaping from electronics as much as possible.
Top three stories of August
These were the top three most-read stories of the month:
The book battle
A woman approached me after Monday’s library board meeting. She’d been the person to ask for a book in the children’s section to have some kind of label because of its graphic nature. I can’t recall the exact quote, and we didn’t exchange names, but she looked a bit exasperated when she said she wished there were some way we could all come together and figure this out.
Culture war battle expected today at the library
Correction: The previous version of this article said that patrons were trying to ban the book Let’s Talk About It — I spoke to the person who wrote the reconsideration and it was not a book ban but a request for some kind of warning because of the explicit nature of the image in the book. The story has been updated to reflect that.
The challenges of mall redevelopment
Business leader after business leader Monday night stood up and extolled the virtues of a project called Foundry on Third in front of city council members gathered for a special meeting. It’s something we’ve seen before. Those same leaders spoke at every iteration of the Wausau Center mall redevelopment project appearing before city committees or the co…
It’s interesting to look back a month and see what got the most attention.
Another one that gets an honorable mention is this one:
Wausau spent $30,000 on PFAS messaging
On a cold day in February 2022, city leaders called an emergency press conference. No one exactly knew what it was all about. It turned out, levels of PFAS — chemical byproducts from manufacturing that are linked to adverse health outcomes such as cancer — in the city’s six wells were higher than what the state was recommending.
Readers poll: The sports section
The only thing I ever hear that’s persistently negative about The Wausonian is the sports section. A few people have suggested I ditch it — not because they don’t like how I’m doing it; they just don’t like sports.
So I decided to survey the fine folks who read this publication. (Hey, that’s you!)
Well, 48% of you said to keep it. Another 29% said you were fine either way. And only 24% said to ditch it.
With that in mind, The Wausonian will keep the little sports section, so you have a rough idea at least of how the area sports teams are going.
Failing grade data update
The Wausau School District let me know, after I followed up, that they are in fact working on my request. I usually get a response from Cassie so I was a bit surprised not to have heard anything back after sending in the request.
I would have liked to have had this story done by now, but either way I plan to stick with it until it’s done.
Ask me anything
For this open thread, while of course you are free to comment on anything you like (and unlike all other posts, free and paid subscribers are able to comment), how about some questions? As me anything in the comments and I will answer some, or maybe all of them, in a future post. Ask away!