The Broadsheet

Headlines from the Barron News-Shield April 1, 2026 edition, plus some extra, newsy recommendations from the editor.

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Hello readers,

Sorry the newsletter is a day late this week. I was covering a court trial all day Wednesday. Here’s a rundown of the April 1 issue.

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Headlines

• Spring Election Day is Tuesday, April 7, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Judicial races, including one for State Supreme Court, and a slate of local positions will be on the ballot. Voters will decide a 10-year term on the state’s highest court, choosing between Chris Taylor and Maria Lazar. The race fills the open seat of retiring Justice Rebecca Bradley and, while officially nonpartisan, is widely viewed through a partisan lens, with Taylor backed by Democrats and Lazar backed by Republicans.

• A stolen shipment of ground bison meat worth nearly $317,000 has resulted in a civil suit filed March 17, 2026, in Barron County Circuit Court. In an 18-page complaint, plaintiff Northstar Bison, Rice Lake, sued Sultan Trans, Inc., of Fairfield, Ohio, and its insurer, AGCS Marine Insurance, Madison. The suit alleges that more than a year ago, on March 17, 2025, North Star got an order for 40,000 pounds of ground bison. The following April 25, Sultan picked up the shipment at a cold storage facility in Eau Claire. The bison meat was supposed to be sent to an address in Linden, New Jersey. However, “while the shipment was enroute, an unknown bad actor generated a fraudulent bill of lading” that changed the shipment’s destination to an address in Elizabethtown, N.J., the suit alleged.

• Barron High School junior and Girl Scout Zoey Frandsen has announced the launch of Barron Bloom: A Community Pollinator Initiative, a project that will establish the first municipal pollinator garden in the City of Barron.

  The garden will be located at Lions River Park and will serve as a model for future pollinator‑friendly spaces throughout the region.

This Herbert H. Denison photo from around the turn of the 20th Century shows a La Salle Avenue street scene, looking east from Third Street in Barron. Astute observers may note that many of the buildings on the left side of the photo still stand today. It is a lively scene, with boys gathered in the middle of the street and other children running through the crowd on the sidewalk. Editor’s Note: This photo is part of a weekly series in the News-Shield showcasing the photography of Herbert H. Denison, who provided many of the earliest images of Barron and the surrounding area.

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IN THE NEWS: Abercrombie & Fitch ex-CEO Mike Jeffries is fit for sex trafficking trial, according to medical experts in a recent court hearing. Jeffries partner, Matthew Smith, and a Rice Lake man, James Thor Jacobson will stand trial with him.

IN THE NEWS: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy funneled $1M to son-in-law’s bid for Congress in northern Wisconsin. The Badger Project has the story.

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That’s all I’ve got for this week. Thanks for reading. If you need to catch up on local news or are looking for more Editor’s Picks, check out the archives at newsshield.substack.com.

—Ryan Urban