Monday, May 8, 2023

Local-Regional News May 8

 There are kind words and questions after a St. Croix County deputy was shot and killed while making a drunk driving stop Saturday night. Deputy Kaitie Leising was just 29-years-old. Investigators say she was in the middle of an OWI stop when the man she'd stopped turned and shot her. She fired back but missed. Other officers later found the suspect dead of what looks to be a suicide. Deputy Leising later died at a local hospital. Leising had just started with the St. Croix County Sheriff's Office last year, before that she worked with the Pennington County Sheriff's Office in South Dakota.


Spring planting is underway in Western Wisconsin, and farmers will be out on the roadways moving from field to field.  Pepin County Sherrif Joel Wener reminds motorists it is illegal to pass farm implements in no-passing zones.  The law to make it illegal to pass farm implements in no-passing zones was passed in 2014.


One person was injured in a dirt bike accident in the town of Sumner on Sunday.  According to the Trempealeau County Sheriff's Department, 19yr old Michael Ziegler of Osseo lost control of the bike on a gravel driveway just off of Ball Bark Road.  Ziegler sustained a possible serious leg injury as a result of the accident and was taken to the hospital.


Firefighters in Eau Claire say they were able to save the house and make sure no one was hurt in a garage fire Saturday night. It happened at a house on the city's west side Saturday night. An attached garage, with a car inside, was on fire. Firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to the house and get the flames down. Everyone who was inside the house made it out okay. Investigators are now looking for a cause for the fire.


City leaders in Eau Claire are looking to spend some of the last of their coronavirus money on a new homeless shelter. The city council this week will consider the plan to use 500 thousand dollars to buy a daytime shelter not far from Eau Claire's downtown. The Community Haven House currently rents the building. The city's plan would be to buy the house, then find a community partner to run the shelter and manage things. The half-million dollars up for consideration is some of the last of Eau Claire's 13-and-a-half million dollars in coronavirus stimulus money, and part of a million-dollar spending package up before the city council.


No one was injured in a train fire in Goodview on Sunday.  According to authorities, firefighters responded to the train carrying ethanol parked at 6th Street and Martina Road and found a small fire in a compartment on the locomotive. Crews quickly determined that the fire was not a danger to the public and did not involve the ethanol cars. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire with portable fire extinguishers.


Family Dollar has issued a voluntary recall of several variations of Advil.   According to the  Food and Drug Administration, the drugs are being recalled due to the product being stored by Family Dollar outside of labeled temperature requirements.  According to the FDA, Family Dollar is not aware of any consumer complaints or reports of illnesses from this medication so far.   Anyone with the impacted products can return them to the Family Dollar store where they were purchased without a receipt.   The Advil was shipped to certain stores around June 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023.


Republican lawmakers in Madison are looking at a new law to provide grants to stop suicides. The Assembly Committee on Mental Health is due to meet tomorrow to talk about the plan. It is one of the few gun control measures that Republicans at the Capitol are considering this year. The focus is to try and stop people from using firearms to take their own lives. The focus would be on training people at gun stores and gun ranges to spot the signs of someone who may be considering suicide, as well as provide temporary storage for people who want to surrender their guns while dealing with a mental health issue.


The Wisconsin Law School Student Bar Association is challenging UW-Madison's claim that it can't take action against unlawful social media posts.  The dispute is over a video that uses racial slurs posted on social media and that's now gone viral.   A post on the Student Bar Association's Instagram account challenges the university's claim that "this is a matter of settled law."  The Student Bar Association cites a 2021 U.S. Supreme Court decision which held "that a school has a regulatory interest in off-campus speech that is disruptive."   Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin responded that there are numerous legal constraints" on what the university can do or say about those in the video.


The Wisconsin Department of Transportation is using an emergency contract to repair State Highway 35 near DeSoto where a train derailed last week.  Repairs began on Friday and will continue through the weekend and Highway 35 is open under work zone conditions.  WisDOT will bill BNSF for the repairs and the railroad has pledged to cover the costs.    


A new mental competency exam is requested by Taylor Schabusiness’ new defense attorney.  Christopher Froelich filed the request Thursday, saying a competency exam from November is no longer current.  The 25-year-old Schabusiness is accused of murdering and dismembering a Green Bay man in 2022.  She has pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. In March, the judge in the case said defense attorneys had not presented any evidence contrary to others who have deemed her competent to stand trial.


Wisconsin Assemblywoman from Madison Shelia Stubbs will not become the new Dane County human services director.  Last night the Dane County Board denied her appointment.  Supervisors questioned her experience and qualifications for the position.  After last night's meeting, Stubbs spoke with reporters and voiced her displeasure with the process.


The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has opened an investigation into Wausau East High School band teacher Robert Perkins, over racist and homophobic slurs he directed at a student. Parents of the student, who is of Hmong and Laotian descent and openly gay, filed a complaint with the district in early April. That complaint was dismissed after district officials determined his conduct was neither discrimination nor harassment, though they did acknowledge that students were "let down" by the statements and brought on a consultant to help them create a better environment for students and staff. Perkins is still teaching at Wausau East- district officials haven't commented on the state investigation.


The Merrimac Ferry is now open for the season.  Mechanical issues delayed ferry season, but the Wisconsin Department of Transportation says the ferry was able to start operating at seven o'clock this morning.  The ferry typically runs from April to November.

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