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This 91-year-old just opened a barber shop in Wisconsin: ‘I’m too happy to quit’

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This 91-year-old just opened a barber shop in Wisconsin: ‘I’m too happy to quit’


Bob Rohloff has been cutting hair for almost as long as he’s been alive — and at 91 years old, he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. 

In June, Rohloff opened Bob’s Old Fashioned Barbershop in Hortonville, Wisconsin, a 20-minute drive from his hometown, Black Creek, and a 2-hour drive north from Milwaukee.

Rohloff says this new business venture fulfills a dream he has had on his bucket list for decades: to own a barbershop in his “favorite place in the world.”

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He started cutting hair in 1948, training under his dad, Erv, who was also a barber, and honing his skills at the Appleton Vocational School in nearby Appleton, Wisconsin.

After graduating, he opened two shops in Wisconsin, then moved to Arizona in 1990 and spent 18 years working there.

Rohloff tried to retire when he and his wife Marian lived in Arizona, but “unretired” just a few months later because he missed the camaraderie and conversation of the barbershop.

Erv Rohloff cutting Bob’s hair circa. 1930s

Courtesy: Rohloff family

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“Retirement isn’t that easy,” he says. “You need to stay active in something, whether it’s a hobby or a job, and I happened to enjoy my job very much … it’s fun coming into the shop, I like to do it and I feel good, so why stop?” 

When he and Marian moved back to Wisconsin in 2010, Rohloff took a job at the Hortonville Family Barbershop, but he had always toyed with the idea of opening his own shop again. 

Then, fate intervened: In March, Mark Karweick, another barber, walked into the shop, looking for opportunities to move from Michigan back to Appleton, his hometown.

One of the barbers introduced him to Rohloff, and 90 minutes later, the pair shook hands and agreed to open a shop together. “Bob can sit and talk to anybody, he can be really persuasive,” Karweick, 55, says.

The shop took roughly three months to open. Karweick and Rohloff got a lot of the equipment from an old barbershop in Michigan, decorating the tables and chairs in red and white details. 

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Rohloff jokes that his customer chair, which is 100 years old, is the only thing in his shop that is older than him.

“There aren’t that many old-fashioned shops left in the country, we want to try and keep the tradition alive,” he adds. 

Bob Rohloff cuts his wife Marian’s hair at his new barbershop.

Photo: Mark Karweick

A standard haircut at the shop is $14, and a haircut for seniors is $12. Nationwide, the average cost of a men’s haircut is $30, according to Beardoholic.

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“The best part has been meeting new people,” says Rohloff. “They’re not just customers, they become fast friends. We have customers who bring us maple syrup, people that will bring us vegetables from their farms or even homemade sauerkraut. You don’t get that working in a big city.” 

Some of the customers come in just to see Rohloff, who cut their hair when they were kids. “I’ll have people in their 50s telling me I gave them their first haircut when they were 2!” he says. 

Right now, Rohloff works in the shop on Thursdays and Fridays, commuting from nearby Appleton. 

“It’s been a lot of fun,” says Karweick, who will take over the shop from Rohloff whenever he decides to stop working. “We trade techniques back and forth, he’s always teaching me something new.”

On the days he’s not at the shop, Rohloff says he enjoys playing cards with friends — his favorite game is Sheepshead, a Bavarian tradition that’s popular in Wisconsin — and spending time with Marian, whom he’s been married to for 72 years.

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At this point, Rohloff says he can’t imagine his life without working in a barbershop — he’ll only retire if the job becomes too physically demanding, or Marian asks him to. Adds Rohloff: “I’m too happy to quit.”

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No. 6 Oregon survives lackluster performance with 21-7 win over Wisconsin

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No. 6 Oregon survives lackluster performance with 21-7 win over Wisconsin


EUGENE, Ore. — Jordon Davison ran for 102 yards and a pair of touchdowns and No. 6 Oregon overcame a slow start to hand Wisconsin its sixth straight loss with a lackluster 21-7 victory on a rainy Saturday night.

Dante Moore threw for just 86 yards the Ducks (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten), who didn’t score their first touchdown until late in the opening half. Moore left with an apparent face injury in the third quarter.

Wisconsin avoided its third straight shutout with Hunter Simmon’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Lance Mason with 7:57 to go in the game. The touchdown snapped a drought of 11 straight quarters without a point for the Badgers (2-6, 0-5).

Wisconsin was coming off a 37-0 loss at home to Iowa and a 34-0 loss last weekend to No. 1 Ohio State, also at Camp Randall. The Badgers hadn’t gone scoreless in three straight games since 1968.

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Given Wisconsin’s struggles, Oregon got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, with just 21 yards of total offense, including minus-16 rushing yards, and just two first downs in the first quarter.

Oregon didn’t manage to score until Davison’s 3-yard touchdown run with 1:07 left in the first half. The Ducks opened the second half with Davison’s 20-yard run for another score to make it 14-0.

Moore took a knock to his face in the third quarter but kept his helmet on after being treated in the medical tent on the sideline. Backup Brock Thomas took over and threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Gernorris Wilson early in the fourth.

Oregon quarterback Dante Moore (5) is sacked by Wisconsin linebacker Mason Reiger (22) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Eugene, Ore. Credit: AP/Lydia Ely

Wisconsin was missing many key players because of injuries, including its top two running backs, Dilin Jones and Darrion Dupree. The Badgers’ leading tackler, linebacker Christian Alliegro, was also out as were the team’s top two centers, Jake Renfro and Kerry Kodanko and punt returner Tyrell Henry and safety safety Preston Zachman.

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Wisconsin quarterback Billy Edwards has played just one full series since he was hurt in the opener. Simmons, a transfer from Southern Illinois who started the season as the team’s third string quarterback, threw for 86 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Takeaways

The uninspired performance against a team with a lengthy losing streak certainly won’t raise the Ducks’ profile on the national stage. Oregon’s last game at Autzen Stadium was a 30-20 loss to Indiana two weeks ago.

Up Next

Wisconsin: Hosts Washington on Nov. 8.

Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson, center, runs the ball against...

Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson, center, runs the ball against Wisconsin linebacker Darryl Peterson III (17) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Eugene, Ore. Credit: AP/Lydia Ely

Oregon: At Iowa on Nov. 8.



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High school volleyball postseason ramps up in central Wisconsin

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High school volleyball postseason ramps up in central Wisconsin


STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAW) – A flurry of area volleyball teams began their 2025 postseason runs on Thursday night as regional semifinals took center court.

Beginning in Stevens Point, SPASH swept its rival Wisconsin Rapids 3-0 to advance to the regional finals. The Panthers will get another Valley foe in the next round as they host Marshfield on Saturday.

It was a tough night for other Valley teams as D.C. Everest, Wausau West and Wausau East all saw their seasons come to an end on Thursday.

In D3, Stanley-Boyd backed up their #1 seed, sweeping #5 Marathon 3-0. The Orioles will get another home match, taking on #2 Stratford on Saturday. The Tigers beat Northland Pines in the regional semis.

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Both Loyal and Greenwood had their seasons end on Thursday as Loyal fell to McDonell Catholic and Greenwood lost to Eau Claire Immanuel Lutheran.



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Assembly meets over investigation into DPI’s handling of educator misconduct

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Assembly meets over investigation into DPI’s handling of educator misconduct


WISCONSIN — The Republican-controlled Assembly wants State Superintendent Jill Underly to address a recent report by The Capital Times.

The news outlet’s year-long investigation examined the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) handling of investigations into educator misconduct.

An Assembly committee is holding a hearing on Thursday in response to the paper’s investigation, and Underly is invited to testify.

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What You Need To Know

  • The Republican-controlled Assembly wants State Superintendent Jill Underly to address a recent report by The Capital Times
  • The news outlet’s year-long investigation examined the Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) handling of investigations into educator misconduct
  • Through a series of open records requests, the investigation found that in that five-year period, DPI investigated 461 educators for all forms of misconduct, including sexual
  • The Cap Times report also states that DPI did not make the findings of these investigations readily available to the public


The report looked at the numbers from 2018 to 2023. Through a series of open records requests, the investigation found that in that five-year period, DPI investigated 461 educators for all forms of misconduct, including sexual. 

There was no probable cause found in 178 cases. A total of 161 educators voluntarily surrendered their licenses.  DPI revoked 66 licenses.

The Cap Times report also states that DPI did not make the findings of these investigations readily available to the public.

Investigative Reporter Danielle DuClos conducted the investigation into DPI.

Her findings also showed that 204 educators, including teachers and administrators, were investigated by DPI for alleged sexual misconduct and grooming from 2018 to 2023.   

In an interview about her report, DuClos told Spectrum News that her research showed 60 of those 204 educators kept their teaching licenses. 

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“The most surprising thing was the lack of data on how often teachers and educators are being investigated for allegations of grooming and sexual misconduct, and that’s really what prompted this reporting project, to look at how often that is happening,” DuClos said. “We asked that question and started digging into records and really trying to answer the prevalence question.”

DuClos said her research showed at least 44% of DPI’s investigations since 2018 had to do with allegations of educator sexual misconduct, or grooming.

“We say at least 44% because there are about one fifth of the cases we reviewed where we weren’t able to categorize the conduct, and that was about 100 of those cases,” DuClos added.

Of the 204 educators investigated on accusations of sexual misconduct, DuClos said her findings revealed that more than 80 of them voluntarily surrendered their teaching licenses, the most common way educators lose their teaching credentials in Wisconsin across all types of misconduct.

The year-long investigation yielded a mountain of documents. DuClos said this included requesting, via open records, DPI’s internal tracking sheet for how they monitor these investigations.

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“We also got a document that had case note summaries going back to about 2019 through part of 2022 that had notes from the department about what the investigations were like,” she said.

DuClos conducted her investigation by also cross-referencing with media reports, school district records and court records to fill in any missing information, she said.

In July, The Cap Times asked for about 100 individual educator case files from DPI via another open records request. DuClos said that request has yet to be fulfilled.

State Superintendent Underly released the following statement last Friday, after The Cap Times published its investigation:

“Student safety is the foundation of everything that we do in education. Every allegation of educator misconduct is treated with the highest level of seriousness and is thoroughly investigated by the Department of Public Instruction.

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“Any suggestion that the DPI withholds information from the public is categorically false. Records are released in accordance with open records laws, and educator license statuses are publicly available to anyone on the DPI’s website.

“Voluntary surrenders of licensure are not loopholes. They are permanent, legally binding agreements that remove harmful individuals from the classroom and prevent them from teaching. In many cases, they also protect victims from additional trauma.

“Journalism is the foundation of our democracy. But inaccurate reporting and sensationalism that ignores facts, distorts the truth, and omits key context has no place.

“This reporting failed to acknowledge critical facts and the legal boundaries in which the DPI operates. I urge The Capital Times to issue a prompt correction to restore public trust and ensure an accurate understanding of our work to protect students.”



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