Wisconsin had 6.0 days suitable for fieldwork statewide for the week ending Aug. 30, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Dry conditions persist across much of the state. Potatoes were being harvested, and a little fall tillage was starting to take place.

Topsoil moisture condition rated 15% very short, 28% short, 56% adequate and 1% surplus.

Improvements have been gradually coming to the once-desolate 200 block of North Main Street in Shawano, but one of the last remaining eyesores at 205 N. Main St. could be disappearing.

Cameron Wagner apparently left quite an impact on the people he knew.

The 13-year-old took his life March 19, but he was on the mind of many people at this year’s Oconto County Youth Fair, held Aug. 27-30 in Gillett, and the Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas football team’s home opener Aug. 27 at Lena High School, where he would have been a freshman this school year.

One minute, Josie Holtz was handing out ribbons to animal show exhibitors at the Oconto County Youth Fair.

The next minute, she was brushing Floppy, one of her two entrants in the fair’s swine show.

Exhibiting a pair of pigs and promoting the fair as the event’s Fairest of the Fair for 2026 added up to a busy few days for Holtz at the annual event, which wraps up its four-day run Aug. 30 in Gillett.

The Shawano Plan Commission began its review Aug. 26 of a number of actions that will need to be completed before Shawano County begins constructing its new government building to replace its current courthouse, which is over 70 years old.

Shawano Area Matthew 25 has named Kayla Bessette as its new executive director.

Bessette will begin her new role Sept. 8. She brings more than 12 years of professional experience in leadership, operations, relationship management, process improvement and problem-solving to the position. While much of her career has bee in the utility industry, she has also been active in local nonprofit and community organizations.