An autopsy has revealed that 10-year-old Lily Peters of Chippewa Falls was strangled, beaten, and raped. Chippewa County Coroner Ron Patten didn’t release any other details. The 14-year-old suspect is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree sexual assault, and first-degree sexual assault of a child under age 13 resulting in great bodily harm. The eighth-grader’s name hasn’t been released. He was arrested Tuesday. The accused attacker and victim were related but officials haven’t offered details. The teenager is being held on one-million dollars cash bond and he has a hearing set for next Thursday.
A 20-year-old Weston man has been accused of causing a bomb scare that caused Boyceville schools to go on lockdown this week. W-Q-O-W / T-V reports that 20-year-old Alexander J.D. Tillou faces charges of making terrorist threats, bomb scare, witness intimidation, drug possession, and bail jumping. Investigators say Tillou was talking with a Boyceville student on Snapchat Tuesday. That student’s friend told school officials that Tillou threatened to kill her. A third Boyceville student said Tillou told her that the school would be “shot up or bombed.” Tillou denied making the threats, then told authorities he was high at the time and wasn’t going to follow through.
With the summer driving season just around the corner, Pepin County Sherrif Joel Wener reminds motorists it is illegal to be talking on their cell phones while traveling through a construction zone. Motristists are also reminded that it is also illegal to video an accident scene.
Local officials say a downtown La Crosse building is a total loss after a Thursday morning fire. W-K-B-T / T-V reports emergency responders were called to the India Curry House shortly after 4:00 a-m. Fire crews remained on the scene for several hours after intense heat forced them to leave the building. Residents from 16 apartments across the street were displaced temporarily. At one point a portion of the building collapsed. After the flames were put out the rest of the structure was demolished for safety. No injuries were reported. Smoke remained in the air until early afternoon. There were three apartments above the restaurant, but only one was occupied.
A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court to climbing through a broken window and walking around the US Capitol with his parents and sisters on January 6, 2021. Josh Munn, 24, of Melrose, pleaded guilty to illegally protesting inside the Capitol. He could face up to six months in prison when he is sentenced in August, according to the plea agreement read aloud in court, and will pay $500 for damage done to the building.
Six Ojibwe tribes in Wisconsin are opposing legislation introduced by U-S Senators Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin. The bill would delist the gray wolf in the western Great Lakes region and Wyoming. The tribes sent the letter to Washington Wednesday. It was signed by the Bad River, Lac Courte Oreilles, Lac du Flambeau, Red Cliff, Sokaogon Chippewa, and the St. Croix Chippewa tribes. The tribes say neither senator discussed the bill with them or how it might affect their federal treaty rights. An attorney representing the tribes says, “Wisconsin has already demonstrated its inability to properly manage the state’s wolf population and this legislation would ensure another brutal hunt for this keystone species.”
Governors from eight Midwest states including Wisconsin and Minnesota notified the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today that they are taking action to allow the year-round sale of lower-carbon, lower-cost E15 in their states. The bipartisan group of governors from Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin is exercising the authority granted to them under the Clean Air Act, and the action will result in equality in the regulation of E15 and E10 volatility during the summer months. This would allow retailers and marketers in these eight states to sell E15 unincumbered in 2023 and beyond.
A mining company has filed an application to explore metal deposits in central Wisconsin near the Town of Easton. Green Light Metals C-E-O and President Dan Colton say he knows there will be environmental concerns but his company is committed to leaving things the way they found them with every project it takes on. Colton says it’s too early to measure the interest, adding promising results might only lead to more exploring. The current plan includes exploratory drilling on the site this summer. It might be years before an application for a full-scale mine is submitted.
State regulators have approved an expansion of solar power plants by Alliant Energy. The Public Service Commission approved a 414-megawatt expansion of Alliant Energy's solar plants on Thursday. This is in addition to a 675-megawatt expansion that was approved in 2021. The new plants will be in Dane, Grant, Green, Rock, and Waushara Counties. Alliant wants to have 20 percent of its electricity solar-based by 2025.
The company that owns Jack Links is opening a new production facility in Georgia. Minong-based Link Snacks says the new 450-million-dollar facility will employ 800 workers. Company CEO Troy Link says this will be the largest facility the company has ever built, and they're hoping to have it up and running by late next year.
Minnesotans for a Smoke-Free Generation is applauding the F-D-A’s plan to ban menthol cigarettes. The group’s Gene Nichols says the tobacco industry has been marketing to people of color for more than a half-century. He says this ban is going to begin to save the lives of many African Americans who have gravitated toward menthol. Nichols says in the 1950s about ten percent of Black smokers used menthols and today it’s up to about 85 percent. Menthol is said to be more addictive than other cigarettes
Leaders in the Minnesota Legislature have finally reached an agreement to award bonuses to COVID-19 front-line workers. House Democrats get 500-million dollars – half of what they want – for the COVID hero businesses. That means about 667-thousand front-line workers could each apply for a 750-dollar check. As part of the agreement, Senate Republicans get two-point-seven-billion dollars to fully replenish the state’s unemployment insurance fund. That means Minnesota businesses won’t be hit with higher taxes effective Saturday.
-
A La Crosse man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for sexually assaulting children. Thirty-eight-year-old David Costin was sentenced Monday in La Crosse County Circuit Court by Judge Ramona Gonzalez. W-K-B-T / T-V reports he had pleaded guilty to the charges. Costin was accused in August 2019 of sexually assaulting at least two children over a period of several years. Police say one of the children reported the assaults. The 39-year-old Costin had originally been charged with five felonies.
Most people who responded to the latest Marquette Law School Poll say they don’t know enough about the Republican-led investigation of the 2020 presidential election to have an opinion about it. Poll director Charles Franklin says 57-percent of the respondents had no opinion and two percent said they didn’t know. Thirteen percent approved of the job being done by Special Counsel Mike Gableman and 27-percent disapproved. Wisconsin taxpayers are paying more than 676-thousand dollars for the investigation and will be on the hook for thousands more connected to multiple open records lawsuits that have been filed.
The Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles has become the first to share driver data electronically with other states. The Department of Transportation says the new system launched April 10th. W-M-T-V reports it ensures the real-time exchange of driver information. It also improves the accuracy of the data and makes the D-M-V more efficient. Federal law already required the sharing of driver history records but when a driver with major convictions tried to get a license in another state the notification was made through paper notices in U-S mail.
The UW-Board of Regents has announced their finalists to take over as chancellor at UW-Madison. The five finalists are UW-Madison economics provost John Karl Scholz, former University of Utah provost Daniel Reed, former Notre Dame provost Marie Lynn Miranda, University of Pittsburgh provost Ann E Cudd, and UCLA School of Law Dean Jennifer Mnookin. The five finalists will now be interviewed by a committee, and also take part in public question and answer sessions next week.
Closed home sales in Minnesota fell by just over eight percent in March, compared to March of last year, indicating a softening, though still robust housing market. New listings in March were down nearly six percent compared to a year ago with more than 89-hundred properties coming on the market. Chris Galler, president of the Minnesota Realtors Association, says buyers are having a hard time finding homes due to a “decline in inventory.” He also says we’re getting to the point where we can’t keep up the high sales pace that dates back to 2020. Buyer demand in March drove the median home sales price in Minnesota up nine-point-two percent to 322-thousand dollars.
Motorized vehicles, bicycles, and horses are banned from the trails in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest during the spring thaw. W-L-U-K / T-V reports hikers are still welcome and the trails should be reopened to all users by May 15th. Melton snow added to spring rain makes it easy to damage the ground. National Forest Service officials say keeping heavier traffic off the trails can reduce rutting and erosion this time of year. It also reduces the need for closures during the summer while making repairs. It is possible the scheduled May 15th reopening could be delayed depending on weather and ground conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment