There's one good thing about last night's rain and storms, it will be much cooler and far less humid in the Chippewa Valley today. A line of strong storms rolled through the area last night and will usher in cooler temperatures for the rest of the week. Forecasters say highs will be in the upper-70s today and tomorrow, before jumping into the low-80s over the weekend.
Emergency crews are searching for two swimmers and a fisherman who went missing in the Vermillion River near Red Wing. It happened Monday when a fisherman noticed three people struggling to swim and entered the water. He was able to save a man and his daughter and went back into the river, then disappeared underwater along with the remaining two swimmers. Authorities say strong currents, deep water, and inexperienced swimmers might have led to the situation. The search is scheduled to continue today.
There is a push for a new trial in one of the Chippewa Valley's most famous murder cases. Ezra McCandless was back in court yesterday, fighting to get her life sentence overturned. McCandless stabbed her ex-boyfriend Alex Woodworth 16 times back in 2019. She was convicted in 2020, and sentenced to life behind bars. McCandless' attorneys now say there is evidence that she was sexually abused, and that evidence was never admitted at trial. The judge in the case isn't expected to rule on the request til November.
The case against the teenager accused of killing Lily Peters in Chippewa County continues to move at a snail's pace. A judge will decide later this month whether the suspect can stay at the local juvenile detention center for his hearing next month. That hearing will help decide if the case is kept in juvenile court or moved to adult court. The suspect, who turned 15 back in March, is accused of beating, raping, then killing Peters back in April of 2022. Her family says the wait to get justice in the case has been unbearable.
A trio of western Wisconsin men are charged with stealing weapons. The Wisconsin Department of Justice announced last week that 18-year-old Robert Benson and 22-year-old Mackey Drake of La Crosse, and 26-year-old Nehemiah Sample of Trempealeau were all federally indicted in connection to the April theft of 41 firearms from a gun dealer in Rockland. If convicted, the three face a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for the theft of firearms, with Drake also facing a maximum penalty of 15 years for a felon in possession of firearms charge.
It's another sign of just how hot this start to July is. Wis-DOT says a pavement buckle closed both lanes of eastbound I-94 near Osseo Monday. The interstate was closed for a few hours as crews repaired the broken pavement. High temperatures cause the road to buckle, then rip open. The hole the buckles leave behind can do serious damage to cars.
Death Of Man Found At Black River Falls Gentlemen’s Club Considered Suspicious. The body of a man was found in the parking lot of a Black River Falls gentleman’s club early Friday morning. Jackson County deputies say the man was dead at the scene, inside of a vehicle parked at Jimmy’s InBetween Gentleman’s Club. Police say the death is ‘suspicious’. The Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation is assisting the sheriff’s office in the examination of the case.
One of the Democratic members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission is calling a possible Senate vote on the state's election administrator a 'slideshow.' Ann Jacobs was on UPFRONT over the weekend and said there's no reason for the Senate to vote on Meagan Wolfe's job with the Commission. Jacobs said the law is clear, and that there isn't a vacancy at the Elections Commission, so there's no need for a Senate vote. Senate Republicans are looking to vote Wolfe out at the Elections Commission and could schedule a vote soon. Jacobs says the job of the Elections Commission needs to be to focus on the 2024 election.
A Canadian Pacific train has derailed in Dodge County. Deputies say that 29 train cars came off the rails Tuesday afternoon near the village of Reeseville. The cars that spilled their contents contained grain and potash, and nothing hazardous was spilled. There is extensive property damage, however, and Canadian Pacific is working with authorities to get their cars off the site of the crash so that the tracks can be repaired. It's unclear how long the track will be closed.
An early morning July 4th fire damaged a home in Rochester. Firefighters were called to a home in the southwest part of the city around 5 a.m., on reports of flames coming from a second-story bedroom. Fire crews quickly extinguished the flames, and all residents and pets inside the home were able to safely evacuate without injury. The cause of the fire has not yet been released, but the Rochester Fire Department is reminding people to check bathroom exhaust fans for lint, which can cause house fires.
We shouldn't have to wait long to see what Wisconsin's governor does with the new state budget. Governor Evers' office says the governor could act on the budget as early as this week. State lawmakers finalized the new two-year, 99 billion-dollar spending plan last week. It includes 10 billion dollars in new spending, but also includes a four billion-dollar tax cut, and a 32 million-dollar cut for the University of Wisconsin. The governor doesn't like either of those pieces and has talked about vetoing them out of the budget. The governor last week said he was looking at as many partial vetoes as he could get away with.
Wisconsin's Democratic U.S. senator says the Supreme Court has given the green light to discriminate in this country. Senator Tammy Baldwin on Friday criticized the court's decision on affirmative action and on an LGBTQ+ case involving a Colorado web designer. Baldwin, who is gay, said it is wrong to discriminate against anybody 'based on who they are or who they love.' She worries the decisions will have a broader impact down the road. She says the cases should be about fairness and freedom.
A man wielding several weapons in Southwest Wisconsin is taken into custody. Richland Center police say when they got word of a man swinging an axe Wednesday, they found 38-year-old Travis Martin, who reportedly ignored officer commands and took off running. A report from the department says while Martin ran, he allegedly turned and threw what was later found to be machete knives at the officers, who eventually used a Taser on Martin to subdue him. A search of Martin recovered five machetes and an axe. Police add Martin also allegedly hit multiple vehicles with his axe prior to law enforcement responding to his actions.
Investigators are looking into what caused a ride at the fair in Forest County to stop working, leaving rides hanging upside down. It happened Sunday at the fair in Crandon. Firefighters needed a ladder truck to rescue the people trapped on the ride. It's unclear if anyone was seriously injured. Fair managers say all the rides were inspected before the fair began, and investigators say the ride stopped likely because of some sort of mechanical malfunction.
Seventeen firefighters from Minnesota are being deployed to Manitoba to fight wildfires. According to Governor Tim Walz, the deployment is a result of a partnership between the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Great Lakes Forest Fire Compact. The fire crews will be assigned several tasks, including building fire breaks and ground suppression efforts. The historic fires have been causing smoke to cloud the skies over both the US and Canada this year.
Where else would you expect to find the world record holder for the largest brandy old-fashioned? The Madison Mallards set the record over the weekend by mixing up 300 gallons of Wisconsin's favorite cocktail. The record-holding drink used 239 one-liter bottles of brandy, 10-and-a-half gallons of old-fashioned mix, 187 two-liter bottles of soda, over 500 pre-sliced oranges, and five gallons of maraschino cocktail cherries. There was also ice. Mallards fans could buy a souvenir glass of the world record old fashioned at Saturday's game.
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