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• Suzy Q’s Fishing Contest @ Cushing • Jack Frost Fest @ Spooner • Klondike Kickoff (Big Read) @ SCFalls • Antique Road Show @ Amery • Wildlife Federation banquet @ Amery • Wedding showcase @ Siren See Coming Events and stories
IN SI DE
Leader INTER-COUNTY
W EEKEN D WA TCH :
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Serving Northwest Wisconsin
GAM buyers file lawsuit
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Claim Polk County breached agreement to sell GAM PAGE 4 Couple kept the law in Burnett County CURRENTS FEATURE
Fight for Beloit Project still on St. Croix, Bad River tribes hope Obama administration will reverse decision PAGE 2
Anger at Blake appointment Frederic’s Sleigh Parade CURRENTS Page 15
Public reacts at meeting of nursing home board PAGE 4
A winter sun breaks on a cold January day in Northwest Wisconsin. Temperatures warmed up this week after a deep freeze that lasted for most of last week, causing school officials to delay or close schools Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. - Photo by Brenda Sommerfeld
Liz (Anderson) Vallis, a 2001 graduate of St. Croix Falls High School, and her husband, Ben Vallis, served celebrities at one of the Inaugural balls in Washington, D.C. - Special photo
Home care referred to private sector Burnett County Board votes to close department PAGE 5 Festival Theatre has a lineup of spring concerts CURRENTS, Page 18
SP OR TS
Economic slowdown hits village of Luck Local business gives discounts to those facing layoff PAGE 3
Local foreclosure rate shows steady climb Burnett County judge is looking for solutions PAGE 3
Convicted sex offender faces another charge Olson scores 43 for the Cards Tiger girls oust Saints See SPORTS Inside this section
Brought from state prison to Burnett County to face additional charge PAGE 12
GOP caucus Sunday PAGE 3
“W e were there” Northwest Wisconsin residents were among the 2 million at Tuesday’s inauguration ceremony by Gary King WASHINGTON, D.C. - Tens of millions of people were glued to a television or computer screen Tuesday, watching history in the making. And several local residents will be able to say they were there in person when Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. They included a woman from Centuria, a sixth-grader from Osceola, a 2001 St. Croix Falls graduate and eighth-grade triplet sisters from Webster. “This is the highlight of my life,” Judy Wester said, speaking from her daughter’s cell phone while searching for an open
metro station in Washington, D.C., just hours after the inauguration. It was “chaos,” she said, the background noise testifying to that fact. She and her daughter, Liz, had left her daughter’s home in Woodbridge, Va. at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday and had arrived at the Mall in Washington, D.C., at about 8 a.m. Wester said she watched the inauguration from somewhere in front of the steps of the Capitol and could see and hear everything - but from a fair distance away. It was cold, she said, but the sun had been shining - and being from Wisconsin, the weather was “no big deal.” There were no large TV monitors where she was standing, but her daughter was farther back in the crowd and was watching on a big screen. Wester said that about four days before the election she
See Inauguration, page 2
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