Brian Jopek

Recent Stories

Aspirus Health to close Woodruff’s Seasons of Life Hospice

In May, 2021, Tennessee-based Compassus announced it would be closing its Seasons of Life Hospice in Woodruff, which was first opened in 2000. On Nov. 1, 2021, Aspirus Health assumed operations of Seasons of Life from Compassus and now, nearly five years later, officials with the health care system announced on Oct. 12 the doors to the facility will close.

NTSB report points to pilot delay in switching fuel tanks

Pilot error has been identified as the cause of a Sept. 12 crash landing in Lake Wausau of a single engine Beech K35 airplane with U.S. Rep. and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany onboard. Tiffany and the pilot, Leonard Boltz, escaped serious injury as a result of the incident.

Minnesota man sentenced for traveling to engage in sex with a minor

A Faribault, Minn., man was sentenced in federal court last week by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to eight years in federal prison for traveling from Minnesota to Wisconsin to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. The prison term for Creighton Mithaugen, 38, will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

Playground equipment for Torpy Park OK’d by Minocqua town board

The Minocqua town board, meeting in special session Tuesday afternoon, authorized Mark Pertile, the town’s public works director, to order new playground equipment for Torpy Park.

No injuries in Pike Lake garage fire

A Pike Lake garage was destroyed in fire Wednesday afternoon. According to a press release from the Pike Lake fire department, firefighters and equipment were responded to the report of a structure fire at a Thorofare Road residence on Round Lake. The owners of the property are listed as Doug and Laurie Walter.

LdF voters authorize sale of former fire station

Electors in the town of Lac du Flambeau voted during a very brief special meeting on Oct. 12 to authorize the sale by the town of its former fire station building on Wild Rice Avenue. The building was taken out of service as a fire station by the town last year when the new fire station on State Highway 47 was put into service.

Confusion in Nokomis

The town of Nokomis may — or may not — have a special meeting of the electors on Nov. 12. The intent of the meeting is to give eligible voters the opportunity to have their say on a proposal to construct a 1,700 square foot addition on the north side of the town’s fire station which is also where Oneida County’s Med 4 ambulance and paramedics are based and have been since 2009.

Issues facing Lakeland Airport get a spotlight

In the early 1970s, members of the Lakeland Loons, a radio controlled (RC) model airplane club, began flying their planes on a section of the east-west runway at Noble F. Lee Memorial Field in Arbor Vitae, more commonly known as Lakeland Airport.

Lac du Flambeau school board OKs preliminary 2026-27 budget

The board of education for the Lac du Flambeau school district approved the district’s preliminary 2026-27 budget during its Oct. 8 meeting.

Minocqua man arrested for OWI following vehicle rollover

A Minocqua man escaped serious injury on Oct. 3 when the 2008 Ford F-250 he was driving overturned in the south shoulder of State Highway 47 near the intersection with South Farming Road in Arbor Vitae.

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