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Nobody is hurt after a fire in a residence hall at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  The Eau Claire Fire Department says the fire was reported in the basement trash room at Oakridge Hall around midnight Thursday.  The fire was put out quickly, although some students may have been a bit more tired for their morning classes.

Police recover stolen property from a local school district after two people tried to run from officers and were arrested yesterday.  Altoona police say 37-year-old Nathan Stevens and 29-year-old Brandolyn Charles were arrested for drugs and resisting arrest among several other charges.  Police say they found the stolen school property while searching Stevens during an arrest that he tried to resist, and he damaged the inside of the squad car.  Police say both Stevens and Charles were believed to be

Authorities say a man from Bloomer who is not supposed to have any guns had 40 of them, plus a lot of bullets and cash. Police arrested Leonard Peil at his home Wednesday. Peil is a convicted felon and barred from having any weapons. Investigators say in addition to the 49 guns, they found a thousand rounds of ammunition, and over 30-thousand-dollars in cash. He’s now looking at a slew of weapons charges.

The series of crashes along I-41 in Washington County was worse than first thought. Washington County Sheriff Martin Shulteis yesterday said 100 cars and trucks were involved in crashes during Wednesday’s snow. One person died, and six people were taken to the hospital because of the wrecks. The sheriff says Wednesday’s crashes were one of the most difficult things he’s ever had to deal with because of the size, scope, and difficulty of responding in the snow. 

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is going to spend the state’s three-point-two-billion-dollars in stimulus money on his own. The governor yesterday vetoed the Republican plan that would have given lawmakers some say over the stimulus haul. The governor said Republicans didn’t want to spend enough on small businesses. Evers then announced his own, 420-million-dollar small business grant program. The details have yet to be worked-out, but the governor said the hope is to provide five- thousand-dollar grants to businesses hurt by the

Wisconsin’s attorney general is going to look into each of Wisconsin’s Catholic churches as part of a statewide sex abuse investigation. A-G Josh Kaul announced the investigation this week. Kaul said the point of the review into clergy sex abuse claims is to ”provide accountability and, ultimately, healing.’ Kaul wrote church leaders in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, La Crosse, and Superior and said he hopes they ‘welcome the review.’

Eau Claire’s health director says the choice is up to the people, either get the coronavirus vaccine or wait longer for things to reopen. Health Director Lieske Giese yesterday said things in the Chippewa Valley will be slow to open as long as the community spread is where it is. She’s urging people to get vaccinated. The state says almost 44-percent of people in Eau Claire County have gotten a shot. Giese said the goal is 80-percent. CLICK HERE FOR

Students at the University of Wisconsin’s two largest campuses won’t need a coronavirus shot to return to class in the fall. UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone yesterday both said vaccinations will not be mandatory. Blank says students at UW-Madison who don’t get the shot will be required to get coronavirus tests. Mone says about 75-percent of UW-Milwaukee faculty members and 20-percent of students are already vaccinated.

It could be another weekend full of wildfires across Wisconsin. The state’s Department of Natural Resources yesterday said fire danger in the state is high or very high in most counties. The state continues to remain a bit dry, and weekend winds could spread fires quickly. DNR says over 440 fires this spring have already burned 16-hundred acres in the state.

The latest plan at the Wisconsin Capitol would make sure mom and dad get to see their kids walk across the stage at UW’s in-person graduations. State Senator Andre Jacque’s plan would require UW campuses to allow parents and guardians to attend any in-person graduations this year. Fifteen other lawmakers have signed-on to the plan. A UW spokesperson yesterday said they’d love to have families back in the crowd for graduation, but social distance requirements and coronavirus safety means that cannot happen