One person is dead after a single vehicle accident in Chippewa County. According to the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department 27yr old Kyle Baker of Bloomer was traveling northbound on Hwy 40 when he vehicle left the roadway, entered the ditch and overturned several times and Baker was ejected from the vehicle. He died of his injuries at the scene.
Chippewa Falls is getting a new hospital, after being without one since HSHS and Prevea closures earlier this year. Aspirus [[ uh-SPIRE-uss ]] Health says plans for the new facility are in the works, and the hospital could be open in as little as a year-and-a-half. The hopes is to find a site close to Highway 29. Aspirus is based in central Wisconsin, and has 18 hospitals throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.
The man accused of the death of Mary Schlais in 1974 appeared in Dunn County court on Tuesday. Online court records show that 84yr old Jon Miller is being charged with first-degree murder and is being held in the Dunn County Jail on a $1 million cash bond. Miller was arrested on November 7th in Owatonna, MN after authorites used DNA evidience to identify him as the primary suspect. His next court appearance is November 21st.
It's prison time for a Dunn County former care worker in a sexual assault case. A judge sentenced 49-year-old Ramone Bridges to nine years in prison for sexually assaulting two people at the adult assisted living facility where he worked. The assaults date back to 2018, when Bridges worked as a caregiver at the now-closed Serving Hands in Menomonie. After his prison term, Bridges will spend nine more years on parole, and will have to register as a sex offender. He's also barred from ever working as a caregiver again.
A Clark County dad is looking at charges after investigators say one of his daughters found his gun, and shot her sister. It happened in Neillsville earlier this week. Prosecutors say 29-year-old Brandon Woods' five-year-old daughter found his gun under a couch cushion, pointed it at her four-year-old sister, and pulled the trigger. The wounded little girl was rushed to the Marshfield Medical Center for treatment. There's no word just how seriously she was wounded. Woods told investigators that this is not the first time his daughter found the gun, but it is the first time she fired it.
It could soon be more expensive to charge your EV at the gas station or the store. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue yesterday announced the state's EV charger tax will begin in January. The tax comes to three-cents per-kilowatt hour. Businesses will have to pay the tax, but people who have an EV charger at their home will not. State lawmakers approved the tax as a way to make-up for the gas tax that EV drivers are not paying.
The votes are counted in Wisconsin, but the election is not yet official. The Wisconsin Elections Commission yesterday said local election clerks have finished counting their ballots. That means the state's canvass can begin. The canvass will produce the official election results. Nothing has changed since the day after Election Day when news organizations said President Trump, and Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin both won Wisconsin. The Elections Commission has til December 1st to collect canvass results, and certify Wisconsin's official election results.
Schools across Wisconsin will be getting a lot of new money in the new year. A new report says voters across the state approved a record four-point-four billion-dollars in school referendums in this year's two elections. The Wisconsin Policy Forum says more schools were able to pass their tax hike questions last week. Just over 77 percent of schools got the money they asked for this fall, compared to just over 60 percent back in the spring. The Policy Forum report says the need for local tax hikes highlights the problem with Wisconsin's statewide school funding model, but some Republican lawmakers say many local districts just do a better job of budgeting the money they already have.
The latest look at Wisconsin's crime lab shows it's taking a lot longer to turn around just a few more cases. Attorney General Josh Kaul released the latest report into the crime lab yesterday. It shows the number of cases at the lab increased by just under one percent last year. The report also shows a much larger jump in the time it took scientists to turn those cases around. In some cases it took twice as long. This is just the latest report that shows a growing gap in turnaround times at the state crime lab. Kaul dismissed critics of the lab, and said the real solution is to hire more people.
A new initiative is helping connect local schools and hospitals and creating new opportunities for students. Wisconsin Hospital Association Vice President of Education Leigh Ann Larson says the goal is to fill the healthcare workforce pipeline while also creating a pathway for stable careers. Larson says grant money will create HOSA chapters in high schools, which help provide students with opportunities to explore healthcare careers and experiences. 30 local hospitals and 23 high schools are taking part in the program.
Lawmakers in Wisconsin are reacting to President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Florida Representative Matt Gaetz to be the US attorney general. He resigned from his position as a state representative yesterday after the nomination. Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin says he's going to support Trump's nominations. Democratic US Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, however, is asking the House Ethics Committee to release a report on Gaetz concerning allegations of sexual contact with a minor. She says the report should be available for senators considering the nomination.
Wisconsin employment rates are at a record high for the sixth month in a row. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development says October's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was, again, at two-point-nine percent. That's more than one percent below the national rate. The state's labor force participation rate also increased.
Two sick or injured coyotes have been spotted in Madison. The Police Department and UW Urban Canid [[ KANE-id ]] Project say dozens of reports have come in about the coyotes. One was seen with an injured leg near Vilas Park, and the second was seen near Midvale, according to the Canid Project. The Project and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are among agencies trying to trap the sick animal and take it to the Wildlife Center for treatment. People are encouraged to avoid or scare away either coyote.
Over 32 thousand St. Paul residents with unpaid medical bills are now debt-free. A city partnership with Fairview Health Services and Undue Medical Debt is credited with wiping out close to 37 million dollars in medical debt. Residents who had their debt forgiven will get a notice in the mail this week. A spokesperson for St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter says the action is just the first wave and they hope to get rid of medical debt for thousands more residents.
Governor Tony Evers is inviting students and families in Wisconsin to create ornaments celebrating state parks. Evers announced that the theme for the 2024 State Capitol Holiday Tree will be "125 Years of Wisconsin’s State Parks.” 2025 will mark the 125th anniversary of the state’s park system, and ornaments should reflect that. The ornaments should be mailed to the state Department of Administration's Division of Facilities and Transportation Services no later than November 22nd. The tree lighting ceremony at the Capitol will take place December 5th.
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