Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance holders at Sauk Prairie Healthcare Hospitals and Clinics will no longer receive in-network treatment as of April 1. Both parties blame the other for the contract termination, affecting 2,700 patients. Sauk Prairie urges patients to call their insurance company and offers options for continuity of care. Patients can still use facilities for emergency treatment.
Rob Doyle and Marcus Truschinski, co-artistic directors of Two Crows Theatre Company, celebrate the re-commissioning of the theater after the pandemic-induced closure. Their decade-long friendship and passion for storytelling have set the stage for intimate performances in Spring Green’s Touchstone Theatre. The company aims to provide a platform for emerging playwrights through The New Play Workshop.
The Savanna Institute, a non-profit based in Wisconsin and Illinois, promotes agroforestry for sustainable agriculture, recently held an open house at their Spring Green Campus. The Institute aims to integrate tree crops into farms, helping farmers increase profitability and ecosystem benefits. Through open events, research, and technical assistance, the institute supports farmers in adopting agroforestry practices. They also offer free classes, volunteer opportunities, apprenticeships, and a podcast.
On the stroke of midnight on Sept. 11, the electrifying sound waves from the band, Violet Palms, was released into the world. Twelve songs from the band’s debut album, “Compassion Fatigue”, were celebrated on the renowned stage at Slowpoke Lounge and Cabaret in downtown Spring Green, in preparation for the marked, midnight release.
Opening for the Violet Palms was another local band—Alys and the Ark. Alys and the Ark is comprised of band members Alys Dickerson, Ron Roman Melendez, Patrick Michaels and Phoebe Gonzalez.
Spring Green-based alt-rock band Violet Palms will be launching their new album Compassion Fatigue during a special performance starting at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 11 at the Slowpoke Lounge & Cabaret (137 W Jefferson St, Spring Green). The event will be opened by music from Alys and the Ark. Slowpoke suggests that attendees donate $5-10 to help support live music from homegrown artists. We review their debut album.
Sunshine Week is a time to celebrate government transparency and public service, as well as a time to address lapses in the same. In October 2020, shortly after incorporating and shortly before our first edition, we sent out a Wis. Stat. 19.84(1)(b) written request by email from news media to our local governmental bodies asking that Valley Sentinel be sent meeting notices for the respective governmental bodies. Recently, we sent reminder letters by mail to the local governmental bodies in our immediate coverage area that have not been consistent in sending us meeting notices, with several having sent none at all in the past nearly 2.5 years.
In the Roman pantheon, Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade and strategy. Gracious! It boggles the mind that even a goddess could possibly incorporate so many sterling qualities. As it happens, there is a human being who comes close. She lives at Taliesin – “Shining Brow”, named for the famous Welsh bard – and is in her 99th year. The years have robbed her of easy mobility but left her mind intact. Still sharp as a razor, she is almost the last of the apprentices who knew Frank Lloyd Wright personally, as he gathered around himself what was called the Fellowship, the brainchild of the last Mrs. Wright. It was composed mostly of very young people who subscribed to his philosophy of Natural Architecture. They paid to come learn how to practice it and be a part of the close-knit, sometimes competitive circle that basked in his aura, sat at his knee.
“It’s allowed to hurt; I’m allowed to burn.” Midwestern Folk artist Lissie sings gently on her recent single: “Flowers.” With a soft yet melancholy tone, Lissie allows her strong, smoky voice to carry listeners to another world almost: a world of heartbreak and rebirth.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation recently announced the creation of the Taliesin Institute, a new collection of programs that seek to advance the principles of organic architecture, seen as the core of architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s work. However, other stalwarts of Wright’s legacy debate the need for such an initiative following the Foundation’s final split in 2020 from the school of architecture previously in residence at Taliesin.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers visited Spring Green Tuesday to tour two businesses that received “We’re All In” grants, in the midst of a proposal that would seek to change how federal moneys, including those that fund grants like these, are allocated and by whom.