The Weekly Wausonian, June 17, 2021
Vaccine site shuts down, another Community for All failure, and the rest of the Wausau news this week
The state’s regional vaccination site at Northcentral Technical College is winding down and will close by the end of July, county officials say.
The site, one of six opened state-wide to assist residents in multiple counties in getting the COVID-19 vaccination, has already begun reducing its hours and days, eventually winding down to only two days per week. Demand has started to dwindle for the site, says Marathon County Health Public Information Office Aaron Ruff.
The site will ultimately close in late July. Wausau was chosen as one of the six sites by the Department of Health Services for its central location, and NTC was chosen because of its infrastructure and support staff, and its easy access to the highway.
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What else in Wausau?
City leaders put the kibosh on a communications manager position Mayor Katie Rosenberg wanted to create. Members of the city’s HR committee said the city doesn’t need PR (or need to spend more on another staff person), despite a recent backlash that put Wausau in the national spotlight, and not in a good way. The city currently has a specialist who divides her time between administrative duties and communications.
Wausau Events has a new director, after the post being essentially vacant since before the pandemic. Wausau Events hired Alissandra Aderholdt, an Everest grad, as its next director. The post had been filled in the interim by Lindsey Lewitzke, who formerly held the position and serves on the Wausau Events board.
The city has hired a new Community Development Director, but hasn’t yet announced who it is. The Wausonian has been promised an exclusive on announcing who it is, so keep reading future issues to learn who it is (a familiar face to Wausau folks). The department recently saw the departure of Economic Development Manager Sean Fitzgerald, but the Community Development Director role had been empty since the departure of Chris Schock. The director starts in August.
Around the metro
Marathon County’s Diversity Affairs committee might join forces with Wausau’s diversity affairs committee, as Wausau’s A Community for All resolution was kicked back to committee Tuesday. City Council Member Lisa Rasmussen, who proposed kicking it back to committee to hash it out, is getting pushback from some residents while cheers from others. “This is indicative of the temperature in our community (and nation), where no one wants to even try to find the middle to make progress people can actually benefit from,” Rasmussen told The Wausonian.
County leaders balked at a plan to support the state helping provide a loan to kickstart the Verso Paper Mill in Wisconsin Rapids, which closed last year. That’s kind of a mouthful, but basically the county forester wanted the county to sign a letter of support for the plan because the county used to sell a lot of its harvested timber to Verso. But members of the county’s Executive Committee slammed the brakes, saying they didn’t know if it was a good idea to support what seems like a dying industry.
Entertainment
Concerts are back! Last Wednesday saw Pacific Coast Highway and on Wednesday June 23 The 400 Block will host Big Mouth. Big Mouth and the Power Tool Horns is what you get when you add a bunch of horned instruments to a big bluesy rock sound. Concerts start at 6 pm, and run through Aug. 18 (and a show was added July 4 too, since there won’t be a Fourth of July Celebration). See the full lineup here.
Bradley Sperger will release his first full-length album on Friday. Called Modern Day Nostalgic, it heads in a new direction from his first EP, which has a bluesy rock feel to it. Modern Day Nostalgic channels Sperger’s newly minted production chops and feels much more similar to Arcade Fire blended with a pop and electronica vibe. Check out all the ways to check out his album Modern Day Nostalgic.
Romp the Swamp, a Wisconsin Endurance Mountain Bike Series mountain bike race, will hit Nine Mile Forest this weekend. Races start between 10 am and 1 pm depending on the category. Check out the event page for more details.
Sports
D.C. Everest softball earned a bye for its first game in the WIAA tournament and but ultimately lost to Marshfield to end its tournament run, 10-2. Wausau West lost its first game to Superior 10-0 and Wausau East lost 11-1 to SPASH. Everest entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed.
D.C. Everest baseball won its first tournament game, defeating Wausau East 7-6. The Evergreens will take on Marshfield Thursday at home. Wausau West lost its WIAA opener to Marshfield 5-4.
Wausau West girls soccer defeated Valley rival D.C. Everest in overtime 2-2(2-1) to advance to the second round of the WIAA tournament. The Warriors then lost to Hudson 3-1 on Saturday to end their tournament run. Wausau East lost its first-round match to Reedsburg.
Wausau summer college team the Wisconsin Woodchucks continue to lead the Great Lakes West division of the Northwoods League. The Woodchucks own a 9-6 record and are playing .600 ball, fourth best of the 22 league teams. The Chucks are on a two-game losing streak after trouncing the Kokomo Jackrabbits 9-3. They’ll look to snap that streak as they host the Madison Mallards today (Thursday) 6:35 pm at Athletic Park.
For more Wausau news, check out City Pages, in stands near you or online later on Thursday.
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