This week, I selected “Lies That Bind” by Valerie Davisson. It is part of her Logan McKenna series but stands alone very well. The story features the Collins and Ellis families between the 1930s and 2020. Canadian smugglers make money bringing illegal alcohol to the coast of Oregon. Jacob Ellis is a good husband and father hoping to build a better life for his family. Frankie Collins is ruthless.

The accolades continue to pile up for Full Circle Community Farm in southeastern Shawano County. In February, owners and operators Rick Adamski, Valerie Dantoin, Andrew Adamski, Heather Toman and Scott Rosenberg were named Marbleseed’s 2024 Farmer of the Year. This month, the family was among those chosen as a 2024 Wisconsin Leopold Conservation Award recipient.

The other day, in my role as an advocate for open government, I heard from a Wisconsin resident who has waited more than five months for records he requested from a local law enforcement agency. He has gently prodded the agency several times, asking, “How much more time is my request going to take?” More than three months have passed since these queries have yielded a response. Such long, frustrating wait times are not uncommon.

Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School senior Landen Schmidt on Dec. 9 signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his track and field career with the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota. Schmidt is recognized for his skills in the discus and shot put. Schmidt credits good coaching and a great campus as reasons he chose Sioux Falls. He’ll be studying exercise science. A week earlier, on Dec. 2, Oconto Falls’ Cole Bozile signed with St.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) encourages snowmobilers to keep safety at the forefront of their preparations. This includes staying alert to the rapidly changing ice conditions commonly found in the early and later parts of winter. “The biggest thing we want folks to remember is that no ice is completely safe,” said Lt. Jacob Holsclaw, DNR off-highway vehicle administrator.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) invites clubs and organizations to host free fishing clinics on Winter Free Fishing Weekend, Jan. 18-19. On that weekend, residents and non-residents can fish most waters of the state without a fishing license or a stamp for trout or salmon. Please submit the event registration and materials request forms by Jan. 8. The clinic will be promoted, and educational materials will be sent.

Individual report cards for students contain the culmination of all the work they’ve done in school. But the school report cards issued by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction are considered by many school districts — including Wittenberg-Birnamwood — to be a snapshot and not show all that schools have done to ensure students are learning. The DPI report cards were discussed in detail Dec.

AbbyBank announces the addition of James “Jim” Meyer as a commercial lender. Meyer has nearly 40 years of experience in the banking industry, including almost three decades dedicated to business banking.

Elizabeth R. Larson, who was known as Betsy, 85, of Shawano, passed away on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in De Pere. Betsy was born on Jan. 28, 1939, in Windham, Connecticut. She was the daughter of Foster Herbert and Virginia Evelyn (Pike) Richards. She grew up on a dairy farm, the third oldest of four daughters in Mansfield, Connecticut. They had 35 heads of dairy cows. When Betsy was 9, she started her lifelong care of a dairy herd.