The mall's next steps, good news for bees, a local AG candidate and more | The Wausonian weekly roundup
The Wausonian, April 22, 2021
With the mall closed, its new owners revealed plans for what happens next:
Demolition starts mid-May and continues through to August, starting with the Sears end and moving toward JC Penney.
A hazardous materials inspection has already been completed and DNR will be further inspecting the site soon.
Wausau Opportunity Zone fund, the entity which owns the mall, hired a consultant to help ensure communication with downtown business and to ensure there are as few disruptions as possible.
Once the site is pad ready, presumably in August, the next phases of the plan can begin, which include reconstructing the confusing one-way streets around the mall. The city has $1.2 million set aside for this.
What else in Wausau?
Ryan Owens, a D.C. Everest graduate, announced his run for state attorney general, to face off against Josh Kaul next year. Owens is the second Republican to declare, meaning he will face a primary in the summer prior to the fall election.
Northcentral Technical College has a new president. Jeanie Worden will take the reigns from outgoing president Lori Weyers, who will retire in June. Worden has been with NTC for 26 years and right now is the college’s vice president.
Bees got a boost as the city’s public health and Safety Committee approved a No Mow May, in which residents would be allowed to no mow that month to help the bees during a crucial period. Some residents aren’t wild about the idea though. It comes before the council later in April.
Around the metro
More than 2,000 people have received a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at the new state regional site at Northcentral Technical College. Of those 2,151 does, the majority — 1,713 — went to Marathon County residents. The process has been much smoother than most vaccination platforms so far, especially in the signup process.
The news about the regional site comes as COVID-19 cases are starting to rise again. There were only 52 cases in the county as of March 25; there were 166 cases last week. That’s still quite low when compared last fall, when cases in the county had spiked to more than 1,000 some weeks.
CORRECTION: Good grief, we did it again. We corrected our Weston election results then somehow managed to call Weston Rothschild instead. The boundaries can be tricky in the south metro but there’s just no excuse for that. The Wausonian regrets the error and did the requisite number of pushups as punishment.
Entertainment
The River Valley Rangers will take on Whitewater Music Hall at 7 pm Friday. It’s the first live music event at Whitewater Music Hall since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The bluegrass band is a Whitewater favorite for their hard-driving grass tunes. $5. And, food truck The Food Lab will be serving at the music hall starting at 4 pm that day.
Ghidorzi will host its annual Green and Clean event starting at 9 am Saturday. The Green and Clean event in which participants will walk around and clean up trash will be handled in a socially distances manner this year. Find out more at Green and Clean.
Business
A new petite hotel is being planned for the “Holster” building on the corner of Third Street and Grant. The space has been vacant for some time, one of the few in the Wausau River District. Bedder Rentals is planning to turn the space into a petite hotel, beautifying the corner.
Sports
A Wausau native has won the world championships in wheelchair curling. Matt Thums helped Team USA take gold at the world championship in Lohja, Finland on April 15, WSAW reports. Thums and his team defeated Switzerland for the win and now are taking aim at Beijing 2022.
On audio
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