Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Monday, May 4, 2026
Bands announced for Mt. Pleasant’s third annual summer concert series
Holly Gilvary
MOUNT PLEASANT — The Sounds of Sunset series will return for a third year with four Tuesday evening concerts starting June 16 at Campus Park.
The concerts begin at 6:30 p.m. at 8500 Campus Drive. Parking is available on-site, nearby at the Mount Pleasant Village Hall at 8811 Campus Drive and on surrounding streets.
Along with live music, the concerts feature a rotating line-up of food trucks, and beer and wine available for purchase from the Racine Founder’s Rotary Club.
The park’s playgrounds and splash pad will be open during the concerts.
Guests can expect to see the following acts this summer:
June 16 — Jay Matthes
July 7 — Dirty Boogie
July 28 — 5 Card Studs
Aug. 18 — Trippin Billies
Dogs, carry-in beer, wine or liquor and glass containers are not permitted.
For the latest information about food truck lineups, weather updates and more, visit https://www.facebook.com/VillageofMountPleasant.
From: https://journaltimes.com/news/local/article_4236b11c-e59c-40dd-aaad-969e72126870.html
New Racine Farmers Market opens May 9 at Festival Park
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — The new Racine Farmers Market on the Lake launches May 9 at Festival Park.
The market will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday through October and feature more than 60 regional vendors.
Market Manager Dawn Carrillo said it is “a true farmers market.”
“There’s no reselling. You’ll meet the farmer who picked the vegetables and be the first to enjoy produce as it comes into season,” Carrillo said in a statement.
Families also can enjoy kids activities, interactive booths from local businesses and nonprofits, and community participation from city departments, schools and youth organizations.
Other highlights include Educators Credit Union’s Kids Coins, giving every child aged 5-12 $2 to purchase their own produce; the Taste It Tent, where visitors can sample fresh foods before buying; live music; hot food and cold drinks; cooking demonstrations; and special days during the season such as “Apple Day” and a “Salsa Showdown.”
Through the Wisconsin FoodShare program, SNAP-eligible families can receive a $20 match when they shop at the market, an initiative sponsored by Double Up Food Bucks and Aurora Health Care.
For more information, vendor inquiries or partnership opportunities, visit www.racinefarmersmarket.com.
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Saturday, May 2, 2026
Friday, May 1, 2026
Thursday, April 30, 2026
First Fridays kick off in downtown Racine on May 1
RACINE -- The Downtown Racine Corporation's First Fridays kick off on May 1 with a Creative Crawl, a citywide celebration of art, creativity and community.
There will be hands-on activities, artist demonstrations, local author readings, pop-up exhibits and more from 4-9 p.m. throughout Downtown Racine.
Racine Art Museum, 441 Main St., will feature:
- A live set by DJ Unknown (5-8 p.m.).
- Interactive art stations for kids & adults (4-8 p.m.).
- Art Treasure Hunt with prizes.
- Meet the Artist: Amanda Browder (6:30 p.m. talk).
- Live Urban Sketching with Patti Fallon.
- Outdoor public art/postcard painting station.
- Artist demos throughout downtown featuring RAM artists.
Live art and hands-on experiences will include these venues:
- Revelyn Soul: Watch artist Erin Krembs create felted beads & animal sculptures.
- The New Café: Create beaded wind chimes with Pop-Up Adventures.
- Stitched: Fiber art demo with Sherrye Smith + explore Racine’s newest fiber arts hub.
- Art Metals Studio: Father/daughter duo showcasing painting/metalwork collaboration.
The Hotel Verdant, 500 Main St., is offering:
- A rare behind-the-scenes look at a private guest floor.
- Creative cocktail specials at Marguerite.
- A paper floral art demonstration with Laura Gillespie.
Among other highlights will be:
- Busia’s XOXO, 210 3rd St.: Hands-on cookie icing station.
- Photographic Design: Opening reception for the "Windows of the World" exhibit.
- Racine Art Guild, 419 6th St., Spring Juried Show.
- COP House: Student-made jewelry from repurposed materials.
- Over Our Head Players: Interactive puppet “Joke Booth.”
- Public art installations and demos throughout downtown.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Why Wisconsin gas prices are expected to jump dramatically
Caden Perry
Expect gas prices to shoot up dramatically in southeast Wisconsin soon, gas experts told the Journal Sentinel.
Refinery issues in Indiana will choke many Great Lakes markets into higher prices as soon as April 29 through May 1, GasBuddy head analyst Patrick De Haan said.
While southeast Wisconsin will be hit hardest with these refinery issues, blockage issues at the Strait of Hormuz will also increase gas prices across the board.
"The ceasefire did nothing, is doing nothing. The Strait is closed. There's a continued block on crude oil, and that is driving oil prices back up slowly but steadily the longer it continues," De Haan added.
Individual gas stations will set final prices, but De Haan said he saw many stations buying gasoline at a more expensive rate on April 28 already.
"Some stations may go up a big amount all at once, other stations may go up a little bit here and there for the next few days, but the numbers point to a pretty noticeable rise in price," De Haan said.
According to AAA, the average price per gallon in Wisconsin was $3.93 on April 28, up from $3.70 one week ago on April 21, one month ago at $3.64 on March 28 and up from one year ago at $2.99 on April 28, 2025.
The issue, De Haan described, is with a major refinery outage in Indiana. The Times of Northwest Indiana reported BP's Whiting Refinery suffered a power outage on April 27.
That's the second major shutdown since a fire at the refinery shut operations down for more than a week in October last year.
Business and Industry Connection Magazine also reported an ongoing labor dispute at the Whiting Refinery has locked out about 800 United Steelworks laborers since March 19.
Wisconsin's gas markets are split down the middle: eastern markets feed from Chicago-centered distributors and western stations from Great Plains markets.
The Whiting Refinery outage affected the Chicago markets much more than usual because other refineries have begun annual maintenance with spring's arrival.
"The Chicago market is kind of white-hot," De Haan said. "There's not as much capacity in the system while refineries are doing maintenance. There's less margin for error because if a refinery unexpectedly goes down, it's not like the others can just spring into action."
De Haan said the spike could take weeks to smooth back out, and the gap in Wisconsin will widen even further before courses are corrected.
Wisconsin average gas prices by metro area on April 28
Here's the average price per gallon for gasoline on April 28 from lowest to highest, according to AAA.
- Eau Claire: $3.68
- La Crosse: $3.77
- Superior: $3.83
- Pierce-St. Croix County: $3.84
- Janesville-Beloit: $3.93
- National average: $3.93
- Appleton: $3.94
- Milwaukee-Waukesha: $3.95
- Racine: $3.96
- Oshkosh: $3.96
- Madison: $3.97
- Wausau: $3.97
- Sheboygan: $3.99
- Kenosha: $3.99
- Fond du Lac: $4.00
- Green Bay: $4.00
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Former RUSD janitor sentenced in child pornography case
Milana Doné
RACINE — A 29-year-old Caledonia man was sentenced three years of incarceration Tuesday in connection to child pornography possession charges.
Nicholas Wotnoske, a former school janitor, was charged in July 2024 with six counts of sexual exploitation of a child and 15 counts of possession of child pornography.
He was found guilty of three counts of child pornography possession in February, and the remaining counts were dismissed but read in to the court record.
Wotnoske also was ordered to serve three years of extended supervision, and the court imposed a $500 surcharge for each of 21 images, according to online court records.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office announced Wotnoske’s arrest July 8, 2024, identifying him as a second-shift janitor in the Racine Unified School District.
Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Michael Luell said investigators did not believe any RUSD students or other local children were alleged victims in the case, and that the accusations against Wotnoske were unrelated to his employment.
RUSD spokeswoman Stacy Tapp said in July 2024 that the school district had placed Wotnoske on unpaid administrative leave.
The district hired Wotnoske as a building engineer in 2021, and Tapp said there had been no complaints about him.
“We were extremely concerned to learn of these charges,” she said.
According to RCSO, the Internet Crimes Against Children unit intercepted photos and video of child pornography “in relation to” a residence in Caledonia.
Investigators reportedly found about 44,000 illegal images in Wotnoske’s possession and RCSO said he allegedly admitted to possessing child pornography.
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