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Local news for Thursday, December 1, 2022.

Wisconsin Republican legislative leaders say they want to tap the state’s projected record-high $6.6 billion budget surplus to eliminate a tax paid by businesses and lower income taxes for the wealthiest filers. Then, the state Department of Natural Resources is calling the 9-day gun deer season a return to normal in terms of harvest totals. Finally, local food pantries are feeling the effects of inflation as demand goes up and food prices rise.

The Main Street Bounceback program, funded by federal COVID relief money, ends this month. It has impacted downtowns across the Northwoods, including in Minocqua. Then, Wisconsin is now in the high category for influenza. Flu cases have nearly doubled each week for the last three weeks. And Wisconsin’s Republican representatives in Congress are calling on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to delete the video platform TikTok from all state government devices.

After four days of voting, the U.S. House of Representatives elected Kevin McCarthy as speaker, and can now move on to other legislative tasks. Tom Tiffany, who represents Wisconsin’s 7th congressional district, says he intends to focus on energy independence and social media regulations. Then, in the state legislature, two freshman representatives have revived a socialist caucus that has been dormant for nearly a century. And a recent Keystone Pipeline oil spill could be a warning to the proposed expansion of the Enbridge Line 5 project.

The Northwoods is home to a lot of wildlife, from deer to wild turkey to black bear. But what about elk? For the WXPR series Curious North, listener Debra of Sayner asked: are elk native to Wisconsin?

Partisan-backed candidates for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court say they will not let party politics influence how they rule. Then, LGBTQ farmers in the Midwest are challenging longstanding stereotypes in agriculture. And finally, after decades of work, Wisconsin’s elk population is making a comeback.