Two people are in custody after a pursuit on I-94 in Dunn County. According to the Dunn County Sheriff's Department, a man tried to cash an altered check at People's State Bank in Menomonie on Thursday morning. Police were contacted and received a vehicle description and spotted the vehicle on Hwy 12. A pursuit started and the vehicle was stopped on I-94 westbound near Roberts. The two were arrested.
The University of Wisconsin-River Falls has appointed longtime faculty member and administrator Wes Chapin as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Chapin will begin in that position March 11. He will fill the position being vacated by current Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs David Travis, who has been named the next president of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Travis will start in that position this summer. Since 2013, Chapin has worked as associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and graduate studies.
Governor Evers will now decide if emergency rooms in the Chippewa Valley will get 15 million-dollars in state aid. The State Assembly approved the plan yesterday. The idea is to repurpose money that was earmarked for Eau Claire's hospital. That hospital, along with the hospital in Chippewa Falls, and several other clinics throughout the area are set to close in April. Lawmakers say the 15 million will be sent to the remaining emergency rooms in and around Eau Claire as a stopgap until a permanent solution is found. The governor is expected to sign the plan into law.
Oakleaf Medical Network has announced an expansion in Western Wisconsin. Yesterday the network announced it would expand its urgent care and lab hours at clinic locations in Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls next month. Oakleaf is also developing plans to handle an increase in births and is looking at options to add access to alcohol and chemical dependency programs. The expansion is in response to the closure of HSHS and Prevea Health in April.
Wabasha is holding its 31st "Grumpy Old Men" festival this weekend. The event celebrates the 1993 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, which is set in Wabasha. The warm weather has led to a change in the ice fishing contest, which will now take place on the docks rather than on the ice. The event kicks off tonight and will continue tomorrow.
The teenager who killed two people and hurt a third in a crash near Rice Lake two years ago will only spend eight months in jail. A judge in Barron County yesterday sentenced Troy Huehn Jr. to 12 years probation, which includes an eight-month jail stint. Huehn was 16-years-old and didn't have a driver's license at the time of the wreck. He pleaded guilty to homicide by negligent driving. Prosecutors dismissed more serious reckless homicide charges. The parents of the teens he killed spoke at his hearing, and say that Huehn ruined their lives.
Residents of Wisconsin communities would be able to voice concerns about refugee resettlements under a bill that’s passed the legislature. It would require local governments to allow the public to voice concerns about any proposed resettlements. City officials in Whitewater have raised concerns about their ability to provide services for hundreds of recently arrived Central American refugees, while the city council in Eau Claire last month reaffirmed its support of a plan by a Christian non-profit to resettle 75 refugees there. The measure would also require county refugee placement committees to make recommendations on whether local governments should pass resolutions on proposed refugee placements.
The plan to protect the deer population in northern Wisconsin by pausing the doe hunt is on its way at the State Capitol. The Assembly yesterday approved a four-year pause on antlerless deer hunting in the Northern Forest Zone. Supporters say Wisconsin needs to do something to help the deer herd grow. Doe hunt numbers from last fall show a 15 percent drop. Hunters say they've seen fewer and fewer deer over the past several years. The plan now heads to the Wisconsin Senate.
Voters will get their say this summer on just how much money Wisconsin's governor can spend on his own. The State Assembly yesterday approved a constitutional amendment that would give the legislature oversight into how the governor can spend federal dollars. Right now, the governor has almost total control over how money from Washington, D.C. is spent. Lawmakers say that's led to reckless spending over the past several years. Voters will see a question on the ballots in August. The move to take the question to the voters cuts the governor out of the process and prevents him from vetoing the plan.
Wisconsin lawmakers have signed-off on a new alert for missing children in the state. The State Assembly yesterday approved the Prince Alert. It's named after five-year-old Prince McCree from Milwaukee who was killed last year. Milwaukee Police didn't issue an Amber Alert in the case because Prince's disappearance didn't meet the criteria. The new Prince Alert will alert neighbors about a missing child even if there isn't any information about a suspect. Prince's family says they hope the new alert will help find more missing kids before something tragic happens.
Two adults are in custody in connection with the disappearance of 3-year-old Elijah Vue in Two Rivers/Manitowoc County. Bail hearings for 39-year-old Jesse Vang and 31-year-old Katrina Bauer, Elijah’s mother were taken off the list Thursday and the Manitowoc County Clerk of Courts office was provided no specific reason or reasons why, other than to say they have been rescheduled for Friday afternoon at 12:45 .Vang was arrested late Tuesday night on a charge of child neglect, while Baur was taken into custody early Wednesday morning on a charge of child neglect party to the crime. None of the charges are official pending a court appearance, and the search for Elijah continues by law enforcement and many concerned citizens.
Legislation designed to help clean up PFAS chemical contamination is ready for action by Governor Tony Evers. And the Democratic governor has already signaled that action will be a veto, over concerns that it fails to provide the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources with authority to enforce clean-ups of the so-called “forever chemicals.” It passed on a party line vote Thursday in the state Assembly, where Republicans argued that the contamination grants called for in the bill are necessary to make remediation a reality, particularly for owners of private wells.
Minnesota State lawmakers are pushing new gun safety bills following a deadly shooting in Burnsville last weekend. DFL lawmakers talked about the bills yesterday during an event sponsored by the group Protect Minnesota. One bill would require gun owners to report a firearm missing or stolen within 48 hours or face a possible misdemeanor charge. Another bill would require guns and ammunition to be kept separately in locked storage containers, while a third would invest federal funds in violence prevention in Minnesota communities. Some Republican lawmakers are reportedly skeptical, saying the state should enforce laws already on the books before making new ones.
Governor Tony Evers Awards $16 Million in Community Development Block Grant Housing Rehabilitation Grants. The awards for critical housing rehabilitation projects for low- and moderate-income households span seven counties across the state including Douglas, Langlade, Juneau, Columbia, Brown, La Crosse, and Chippewa. These regional housing programs provide zero percent interest and deferred payment loans to low- and moderate-income homeowners to perform essential home repairs. Eligible households may also receive funds for down payment assistance when purchasing a home. La Crosse County received the most of the funds with $3.5 million, while Langlade followed them with an award of $3 million.
A Rochester judge delayed the seating of a jury in a criminal case because the defendant was wearing something inappropriate in court. Chase Johnston is facing three felony charges after he allegedly lured a man to an apartment complex last year and then refused to let him leave. Johnston had reportedly told the man he was underage in an attempt to catch him acting like a pedophile. The jury pool for the upcoming trial was dismissed yesterday after jurors saw Johnston wearing something the judge found inappropriate. A new jury pool will be brought in tomorrow.
Here's your chance to have a huggable police dog in your bed. Eau Claire Police are selling plushie versions of their K9 officers. Stuffed K-9's Murphy, Manso, and Bolt will go on sale next week. The idea is to use the money raised to help outfit and care for the city's police dogs. The plushies cost 20 bucks each, and will be available February 26th through March 1st at the front desk of the Eau Claire Law Enforcement Center.
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