Authorities are sharing the name of the person who died following in a weekend crash in Jackson County. According to the Wisconsin State Patrol, a tractor-trailer went off of I-94 near Black River Falls Saturday afternoon and struck a number of trees. The truck's driver -- 58-year-old Mondovi resident Russell Back -- died at the scene.
After
hitting a lift tower at Welch Village, a skier has died.
Twenty-five-year-old Walker Nelson of Minneapolis, "died as he
lived, doing what he loved," his obituary read. The Red Wing
Fire Department said Nelson struck a lift tower at around 8:30 p.m.
on February 1st. Nelson attended Minneapolis South High School and
graduated from the University of Oregon before becoming the marketing
director for the Skyway Theater in downtown Minneapolis.
The Mondovi City Council is meeting tonight. Items on the agenda include and update on the July 4th celebration, and reports from the mayor and city department heads. Tonights meeting begins at 5:30 at the Marten Center in Mondovi.
Investigators have uncovered the source of carbon monoxide that caused two people to fall ill recently in the Town of Pleasant Valley. Crews initially responded to a home on Balsam Road January 30th with a reported of someone having trouble breathing. Two people were taken to the hospital for treatment with both found to have a high level of carbon monoxide in their blood. Investigators say the carbon monoxide poisoning was caused by an ice blockage in a pipe.
A former Rusk County teacher accused of sending a topless photo of herself to a teenager is pleading not guilty to charges. Investigators say that Kayla Vavra -- who was working as a second-grade teacher in the Ladysmith School District -- added herself to a teenager's Snapchat account. On the app, Vavra reportedly described her own sexual experiences to the teen and sent the topless image. Vavra was arrested Thursday on charges including Exposing a Child to Harmful Material and Intimidation of a victim.
Probation for a former La Crosse postal worker who prosecutors say stole money and gift cards out of the mail. According to investigators, Straub was employed as a mail carrier and in February of last year, stole gift cards and 350-dollars in cash from that was meant for delivery. She has been sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to make restitution plus pay a five-hundred-dollar fine.
In an annual report published on Monday, the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office released data of seized drugs from 2023 through 2025. The agency said it seized 150,347 dosage units of methamphetamine last year a 70% decrease from 2024. The downward trend is also true for fentanyl. In 2025, Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office confiscated 216,536 dosage units—an approximately 30% decrease from the previous year. The department seized 20,488 cocaine dosage units last year, which is a 33% increase from 2024.
A lucky lottery player who recently purchased a Powerball ticket in Chippewa County has hit for 50-thousand dollars. The ticket sold 401 South Broadway Street Express Mart in Stanley matched four of the five white balls announced in this past Saturday's drawing. The winner has 180 days to come forward and claim their prize.
The City of Menomonie is asking residents to vote to name a city snowplow. The city received 212 submissions for names and have narrowed the list down to three. The top three are Plow Bunyan, Blizzard Wizzard and Clearopathra. Residents can cast their votes by Friday, and visit the city of Menonomie Website for more information. The winning vote will be added to the snowplow.
Plenty of people are buying those new throwback Wisconsin license plates. The Wisconsin D M V reports over 94-hundred people have bought the new blackout license plate, and another 12-hundred have purchased the yellow plate. Both of those plates were released in January as part of an effort to raise money for road repairs. That's a total of around 428-thousand dollars in revenue. State officials are hoping to raise a total of 25 million dollars with sales of the plates.
Wisconsin tribal leaders will gather at the state Capitol in Madison today for the 22nd annual State of the Tribes address. The address will be delivered at 11 a.m. in the Assembly Chamber by Nicole Boyd, chairwoman of the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, on behalf of the Great Lakes Intertribal Council which represents Wisconsin’s 11 federally recognized tribes. The annual address is intended to inform lawmakers on tribal priorities, and the role tribal governments play in the state. The Chairwoman told Tribal Business News that her remarks will reflect both progress and ongoing challenges facing the state’s tribal nations as they head into the 2026 legislative session.
Another case of measles in Wisconsin. The Department of Health Services confirmed the case in a person who traveled on a January 29th Southwest flight from Phoenix to Milwaukee, then made their way to Walworth County. The case is linked to another confirmed case in a different state. DHS says they also detected measles in untreated wastewater collected in Walworth County. The latest measles case is not connected to the confirmed cases in Dane and Waukesha counties. Health officials are working to identify and notify those possibly exposed to the virus and will contact individuals who may have encountered the individual.
You may love AI, but legislation in Wisconsin is looking to keep people from marrying it. Before you say that's ridiculous, consider this...Nearly one-third of U.S. adults report having had an “intimate or romantic” relationship with an AI system. A public hearing was held Wednesday at the Capitol on legislation to ban marriages between humans and artificial intelligence. AI would also be prohibited from marrying other AI systems. Backers of the bill say it spells out that AI is not human and the bill would also ban artificial intelligence from owning property or running a corporation.
A Stevens Point man is found guilty in a road rage crash that killed a Northwoods League umpire. A Waushara County jury on Friday convicted 70-year-old Michael W. Bartz of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle and reckless driving causing great bodily harm following a three-day trial. According to online court records, Bartz is due to be sentenced on April 13. 29-year-old Conor McKenzie was thrown from an SUV on Interstate 39 in July of 2023. The SUV driver, 34-year-old Andrew L. Thomas, is scheduled to go to trial on the same charges two days after Bartz is sentenced. Thomas, McKenzie and a surviving passenger in the SUV were on their way to Madison after umpiring a Northwoods League game in Wausau. That passenger told police that Bartz and McKenzie passed each other multiple times at speeds approaching 90 miles an hour before Bartz slammed on the brakes causing Thomas to lose control and crash.
A woman is going to prison for a year after she defrauded the SNAP program out of more than 325-thousand dollars. LaTasha Thomas was also sentenced to a year of supervised released and has been ordered to pay restitution to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Federal prosecutors say the defendant, along with her daughter and another relative created temporary driver's licenses using phony names and then submitted them to Hennepin County to apply for Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT cards. The cards were sent to the Roseville home of a codefendant, who lived under a fake name. They mentioned in their applications that they were experiencing high risk pregnancy and created fake doctor's notes.
A department of natural resources program lets frequent library goers check out state parks for free. The “Check Out Wisconsin State Parks at Your Library” program lets library cardholders check out free day passes to state parks, forests and recreation areas. More than 160 library systems with over 200 locations participate in the program, which launched in 2022. The initiative has expanded to include specialized libraries, with UW–Madison and UW–Superior among the first to join. Along with the free day pass, visitors may receive maps, stickers, accessibility information and more to help plan their trip. Details are available on the DNR’s website.
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