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It’s two-and-a-half years in prison for the young man who killed Marquette’s dean during a hit-and-run crash back in 2020. A judge yesterday sentenced  Jordan Jones to 30 months behind bars. Police say he ran down Marquette Dean Joe Daniels in February of 2020. Jones was driving on a suspended license at the time. Daniels’ widow asked the judge to lock Jones up to send a message.

Tommy Thompson’s job at the UW is over. Thompson stepped down yesterday as UW System President. Thompson took over as interim university president in 2020, and announced plans to retire earlier this year. Milwaukee lawyer Jay Rothman will take over as UW President on June 1st. Thompson may next run for governor. He served four terms as governor in the 80s and 90s. He says he will make that decision next month.

Wisconsin’s governor is staying out of the race for U.S. Senate. Governor Tony Evers yesterday said he is not going to endorse anyone in this August’s Democratic primary. The field is crowded, but Evers’ Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes is considered the frontrunner. The governor says all of the candidates are ‘good people,’ and said as the elected head of the Democratic Party in the state, it’d be ‘wrong’ to pick just one candidate.

State Representative Tim Ramthun says he wasn’t really going to punch the top Republican at the Capitol, even though he talked about it during an interview yesterday. Ramthun, who is running for governor, said he had the perfect opportunity to punch Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in the nose when Vos kicked him out of Wednesday’s meeting on the 2020 election. Ramthun has clashed with Vos for months over that election, specifically whether Wisconsin can recall its votes for President Biden. Ramthun’s interview

Milwaukee is on the short list for a presidential convention, again. Republicans are reportedly considering Milwaukee and Nashville as the home for their convention in 2024. Salt Lake City was on the list, but has been dropped. Milwaukee was supposed to host the 2020 Democratic National Convention, but that was canceled because of the coronavirus. Milwaukee will get another chance to make its pitch to Republican planners next week, a decision on a ghost city is expected later this summer.

The Deer District could soon have a new name. Managers for the area around Fiserv Forum yesterday said they are looking for a partner to buy the naming rights to the district. There is no word who the Bucks would like to have as a naming rights sponsor, but the team is looking to get between three and four million-dollars as part of the deal.

The final full moon of winter, known as the worm moon, is filling up tonight’s sky.  Fun fact: Native Americans call it the worm moon because in cold climates the ground thaws and earthworms appear.  In Christianity it’s called the Lenten moon because, this year, it appears before the spring equinox, which is Sunday.

Flags across the state will fly at half-staff Friday to honor former Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Margaret Farrow, who died March 8.  Farrow was 87 when she died.  She had a decades-long career in Wisconsin politics, including her term as Wisconsin’s first female lieutenant governor under Tommy Thompson.  Farrow’s funeral services will be held Friday. 

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is extending the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Enbridge pipeline.  The company is proposing to relocate Line 5 of the pipeline through Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron County in Northern Wisconsin, routing it south of the Bad River Reservation.  The extended comment period will close on April 15.  

The Eau Claire Community Foundation (ECCF) celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with the awarding of grants from its Give Green category, which supports local nonprofits that address the environment, animals, and fitness opportunities through its Grant Catalog. The Grant Catalogs were launched as part of ECCF’s 25 th Anniversary celebration. In the year leading up to the celebration, more than a quarter million dollars have been granted to Eau Claire area nonprofits so far! The first Grant Catalog was Create Culture,