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Aspirus Health says its new hospital in the Chippewa Valley is on pace for completion by September.  The new facility in Chippewa Falls will be across the street from Fire Station #1 on Chippewa Crossing Boulevard.  The hospital will feature an emergency department along with ten treatment rooms and ten inpatient beds.

Authorities are investigating a Thursday morning vehicle crash in Onalaska.  A vehicle traveling on Theater Road left the roadway and crashed into Eagle Bluff Elementary School and severed a gas line.  Police say the driver may have suffered some sort of medical event prior to the crash.  The driver was taken to a nearby hospital for care and no one else was hurt.

Administrators in the School District of La Crosse are preparing to break ground on a new elementary school.  A ceremony will be held Monday at the former site of the Hogan Administrative Center.  The new school will begin welcoming students in August of next year.

In Dunn County, the School District of Colfax will soon have a new superintendent.  Eric Young has been named as the school system’s new leader.  He will begin work on July 1st.

Vice President JD Vance is pushing the Trump’s administration’s affordability message in Wisconsin today. Fresh off President Trump’s State of the Union address, Vance traveled to the village of Plover, a hotly-contested congressional district in 2026 midterm elections. He’s visiting a machine shop, stressing the importance of American manufacturing. Trump will hit the road himself on Friday for a stump-style speech in Texas. Vice President JD Vance says Democrats caused wages to go down and prices to go up. Vance

A Wisconsin bill proposing roadside drug testing is sparking a public safety debate. The proposal would allow law enforcement officers to use roadside oral fluid testing in suspected drug-impaired driving cases. Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett says deputies are encountering more cases involving drugs, including prescription medications, in addition to alcohol. Milwaukee defense attorney Andrew Mishlove says expanding roadside testing raises constitutional questions because bodily samples are considered searches. The proposal is still in the early stages of the legislative

In La Crosse County, a man charged with killing his wife has taken the stand in his own defense.  Investigators say that Zachary Fritz stabbed his wife to death in the couple’s Shelby home on June 10th of 2024.  Fritz has pleaded no contest by reason of mental disease or defect to a charge of first-degree intentional homicide.  On Wednesday, the court heard from a clinical therapist who says the defendant has been diagnosed with bipolar one and the court

Sentencing is being ordered for a former Pepin County substitute teacher convicted on charges in a sex crimes case.  Zachary Weber worked in the Durand-Arkansaw School District and last month pleaded no contest to charges of soliciting an intimate representation from a minor.  Investigators say those charges stemmed from exchanges the defendant had with underage girls on Snapchat.  Weber was sentenced yesterday to three years of probation and 12 months of conditional jail time.

State officials are monitoring environmental conditions following a manure spill in Trempealeau County. The spill was discovered Monday, believed to be coming from farm fields into the Town of Gale and impacting a pair of Beaver Creek tributaries.  Dead fish have been spotted in the water.

An Eau Claire Police Department officer is being recognized as the Wisconsin Association of Women in Policing’s Woman Officer of the Year.  Officer Ariana Larson has been with the Eau Claire Police Department for just over four years.  The Woman Officer of the Year distinction recognizes an individual who has exceeded the duty requirements expected of her position and has demonstrated a distinct pattern of community service coupled with professional achievement.