The week that was: An ice storm, city manager finalists and body scanners at the Rock County Jail

In addition to our regional staff coverage of outages and other damage caused by 2-day-long ice storm, Neil Johnson continued to track the selection of a new city manager in Janesville.

Neil shared early in the week that Todd Wolf was still in consideration as a finalist for Janesville city manager amid sexual a harassment scandal in the city of Sheboygan, where he was fired in January as city manager. Neil later laid out a process that's set to include a public forum next Thursday, as all four candidates travel to Janesville for final interviews.

This week, Neil also wrote about the likelihood that Bird Scooters will return to downtown Janesville in the spring; covered the local Black History Breakfast in Beloit; and previewed Flannelfest, an annual outdoor craft beer festival this Saturday in downtown Janesville.

Kylie Balk-Yaatenen wrote about a friends’ group forming for Rock County’s new Rock River Heritage Park. Kylie also wrote about what Janesville police and bar owns are doing to keep a recent rash of late-night shots-fired calls from escalating and featured Michael Davis of KANDU Industries, Inc. as The Gazette's Volunteer of the Week.

Ryan Spoehr covered the Rock County Board’s decision to spend $159,000 on body scanners that it’s hoped will help keep drugs and weapons out of the county jail. Ryan also hung out with culinary students at Blackhawk Technical College as they prepared an annual Soul Food Luncheon that funds diversity scholarships. He contributed a story on the expansion of Carl’s Place in Milton, that sells golf simulation equipment and now boasts a headquarters more than double the size of its last one in the Crossroads Business Park. And he wrote about the challenges created by a bus driver shortage in Milton.

Adams Publishing Group announced that Mark Lewis has been named regional president for APG Southern Wisconsin, replacing Orestes Baez who departed in December.

We remembered a retired Rock County Sheriff’s Office K-9 named Sasha who died Monday of lymphoma. And Jacob Roushia shared about a new student-run coffee shop, Holy Roasters, that's opening at Rock County Christian School in Beloit. 

Sports 

In sports, high school wrestlers from Milton, Janesville and other area schools advanced toward the state tournament this weekend. Janesville Craig’s girls’ gymnastics team also qualified for state.

And UW-Whitewater advanced to the WIAC men's basketball tournament semi-finals.

What's ahead 

In the week to come, Ryan's got a piece planned about an abandoned church on Second Street in Milton that's being converted into a space for apartments, businesses, the Milton Youth Center and Integrity Martial Arts. We'll also introduce you to Janesville's newest restaurant, Pearl of the Orient. The Milton Avenue Asian cuisine restaurant features, among other things, traditional Vietnamese Pho noodle soup. 

Kylie will be bringing you a story about the Comedy Cabin, that recently opened up in Janesville and has live comedy shows every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Kylie is also still looking into how citizenship classes work at local area churches and the library. 

And we'll tell you the name of Janesville's new city manager, as soon as the city shares it with us. 

In sports, we'll bring you coverage from the WIAA state wrestling tournament. Milton's Aeoden Sinclair and Evansville's Danny Heiser will compete for a state title on Saturday. 

Also on Saturday, Janesville Craig's girls basketball team will compete against Kenosha Bradford for a regional title. And next Friday, we'll follow Craig's gymnastics team as it competes in the WIAA state meet. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!