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A Taylor County mom is out of jail as prosecutors move ahead with charges for her child’s death. A judge yesterday gave Natasha Bratland a signature bond in the case. Prosecutors say Bratland allowed her two-year-old to play on the train tracks near their home in Lublin. Neighbors say the toddler was wandering the streets in just a diaper before she walked onto the tracks and was hit by a train earlier this year. Prosecutors are charging her with negligence.

Xcel Energy says a worker hurt in an accident at the Wissota Dam has died. The company yesterday said 48-year-old Jon Grunseth of Gilman died Sunday. He was seriously hurt back on December 8th. Xcel says he was unloading equipment at the dam at the time. Grunseth was rushed to the hospital, and flown to the Twin Cities for treatment. Inspectors are still investigating the accident.

Wisconsin’s financial picture continues to improve. Governor Evers yesterday said the state is ending the years with a one-point-eight billion-dollar surplus. That’s in addition to the nearly one-point-eight billion in the state’s rainy day fund. Conservatives at the Capitol say Republican lawmakers, and their fight against raising taxes, are the ones who should get the credit

The latest snapshot from Eau Claire schools is not a good one. The city’s school district said this week that reading scores on the latest state tests are down dramatically from four years ago. In 2016, about half of elementary and middle school kids were reading at grade level. Last year, that number fell to just 38 percent. It’s a similar drop for kids in the first two years of high school. Eau Claire’s ACT reading grades fell a bit

Last week Dane County had three omicron cases, yesterday that number stood at 150. Public Health Madison & Dane County yesterday announced an explosion in confirmed cases. Director Janel Heinrich is not saying just who has tested positive for the omicron, or whether the new cases are mild or severe. Doctors across the country say it appears that while omicron is more transmissible, it is not as deadly as the original coronavirus strain. Heinrich is again asking people to get

The next step in Wisconsin’s election investigation comes tomorrow. A judge in Madison is set to hear arguments from Attorney General Josh Kaul’s office into whether the state can stop former Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman from forcing the mayors of Green Bay and Madison to sit down for interviews. Gableman has issued subpoenas in his investigation, Kaul wants the judge to toss them. This will be the first time a judge has ruled on the review of last year’s election

Just about everyone who gets a paycheck from the state of Wisconsin is going to be getting a little more on that paycheck. Lawmakers in Madison yesterday approved a two percent pay bump for state workers. But lawmakers made sure to cancel the scheduled pay raise for Milwaukee County’s district attorney. Republican lawmakers at the Capitol say Milwaukee County D.A. John Chisholm should be fired, not rewarded with a bigger paycheck. They want him removed from office for allowing the Waukesha Christmas

It’s official, some of the top leaders at the University of Wisconsin are getting a lot more money. University Regents approved pay hikes of up to 32 percent for chancellors and the university president. The pay bump means UW-Madison’s next chancellor could make nearly a million-dollars a year. Regents say they have to pay that much in order to attract top talent. Top leaders are not the only ones who are getting a raise. Regents are looking at a two percent raise

Milwaukee County is in-line for 71 million-dollars in opioid settlement money. The county’s lawyer said the county’s share is about half of all of the opioid settlement dollars coming to southeast Wisconsin. The state agreed to the settlement at the end of last month. Wisconsin will be getting just over 400 million-dollars from opioid makers and some of the companies that distributed the pills. Most of that 400 million is being sent directly to local communities to offset their costs for dealing with

We will soon know when Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s last day will be. The mayor is set to provide an update on his resignation later today. Barrett is leaving the mayor’s office to become the ambassador to Luxembourg. Once he resigns, a temporary mayor will take over until voters choose a new mayor. That election will likely come in the spring.