Home

The investigation into the staff at the Henry Vilas Zoo came up empty on complaints of harassment and discrimination.  The Dane County Board yesterday said the independent investigation into the zoo found a few past complaints about animal treatment, but the report said those complaints were all dealt with.  The investigation started after accusations of sexual harassment and whistle-blower retaliation were leveled at zoo managers.  The county board will get a full copy of the investigation next month.

The investigation into last Friday’s fire in Hartland is now a murder investigation. Hartland Police Chief Torin Misko yesterday said the two adults and four kids found inside the apartment that burned had all been shot. The chief said Connor McKisick, the dad and stepdad to the kids, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators say it appears that McKisick started the fire just before shooting himself. The chief says the ‘context’ of the murders and McKisick’s suicide remain under

There are now felony charges against a UW-Eau Claire student who said there was a bomb in Towers Hall.  Prosecutors yesterday charged 19-year-old Mason Waymire with making terroristic threats. Investigators say Waymire made the threat on a social media platform in September. Campus police say there was never a bomb, and no one was in any real danger. Police say Waymire told them his friends dared him to make the post, and he didn’t think it would be taken seriously.

A priest who worked in both Wausau and Chippewa Falls has resigned after accusations of sexual misconduct. Father Mark Pierce resigned from two churches in Wausau over the weekend. He is facing claims that he had sexual contact with someone underage decades ago. Pierce worked at both the St. Michael and Resurrection Parishes in Wausau. He was also a priest at Notre Dame Parish in Chippewa Falls.

It’s been six months since Lily Peters was murdered. She was 10, the 14-year-old suspect in her death is still waiting for trial. He’s not due back in court until next August. As time marches on, Altoona state Rep. Jesse James pushed for a new Lily Alert law in Wisconsin for cases that don’t quite rise to the level of an Amber Alert. He says he shelved that plan after speaking with the state’s Department of Justice and realizing there’s already an

  Wisconsin’s latest test scores show kids in the state are falling further behind. The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, better known as the National Report Card, came out yesterday. Wisconsin saw its scores for fourth graders dip a tiny bit, but the scores for eighth graders fell by several points. Wisconsin’s state superintendent of schools blames the poor test scores on the coronavirus, and is once again asking for more money for public schools. Education reformers say the scores were

Wisconsin’s elite search and rescue team is back. Members of Task Force One held their first training exercise in nearly four years this month. The task force disbanded back in 2018 because of contractual issues, those had to be settled by lawmakers back in the spring. Task Force One has about 90 members who are trained in search and rescue and emergency response. They can be deployed anywhere in the state or the country, usually within a matter of days.

Award-winning Ghanaian and Armenian American writer Nadia Owusu has always turned to reading and writing as ways to process the world and the events of her life. …”But eventually, I realized that this was a story I needed to tell.” Owusu “Writing rigorously requires us to complicate the often too-easy stories we subconsciously create for ourselves. I believe that every person has work to do in interrogating the stories we’ve been given, particularly the ones that cause harm. We can revise those

Door County Custom Meats and Venison Processing in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is issuing a voluntary Class I recall for a variety of ready-to-eat meat products sold at farmers markets and retail stores in Door County. The recalled products include: Jalapeno Cheddar Beef Sticks, approximately 0.6-lb. vacuum-sealed packages, packaged on or before Oct. 10, 2022. Beef Hot Sticks, approximately 0.6-lb. vacuum-sealed packages, packaged on or before Oct. 11, 2022. Sweet Bourbon Smoked Beef Strips, approximately 0.4-lb. vacuum-sealed packages, packaged on or

The updated fall booster doses for COVID-19 are now available for everyone age 5 and over. These booster shots help protect against the Omicron variant as well as the original strain of COVID-19. The CDC recommends that anyone age 5 or older who has already received their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine make a plan to get this booster. The Health Department is now taking appointments for the updated fall booster (and first doses of Pfizer or Moderna). Appointments