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Wisconsin set another single day record for COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday. The state Department of Health Services reported 48 deaths due to coronavirus. There were 4,205 new cases of COVID-19 reported, as DHS continued to work through a backlog of data from a weekend outage of its reporting system. In addition, the first patient has been admitted to the alternate field hospital at State Fair Park. COVID-19 patients who are less sick but still require things like oxygen therapy, additional

Prosecutors in Madison are moving ahead with charges against two people for tearing-down the Lady Forward statue at the statehouse last June. Sasha Clemente and Jacob Capps are looking at charges of being a party to felony criminal damage to property. Police say they helped tear-down the Lady Forward statue and the statue of Hans Christian Heg. A third man is already in jail for his role in toppling the statues.

 The Missouri man charged with murdering two brothers from Shawano reportedly said he got rid of their bodies, but swears he didn’t kill them. Prosecutors in Joey Nelson’s murder case say he admitted to disposing of Justin and Nicolas Diemel’s bodies. Investigators say Nelson killed the two brothers in July 2019 over a cattle debt. Nelson is facing the death penalty if convicted of the brothers’ murders.

 Eau Claire saw 12 hundred people cast their ballot on the state’s first day of early voting. The Wisconsin Elections Commission yesterday said over 75-thousand people voted early statewide. Milwaukee and Madison of course had the most early voters, but the Commission says Eau Claire’s 12 hundred early voters puts the city third on the state’s list.

It was a busy, snowy Tuesday for Eau Claire Police and the Wisconsin Highway Patrol. The two yesterday said they handled nearly 100 wrecks or accidents on Tuesday. The Highway Patrol says four people were hurt, Eau Claire Police say none of their crashes ended with any injuries. Police say it’s not surprising that the first snow of the season caught so many people off guard.

Jacob Blake spent about five minutes talking to a Kenosha County judge in his latest court appearance. Blake pleaded not guilty yesterday to sexual assault charges in connection to a case from back in May. Blake’s attorney said there have been some conversations about perhaps a plea in that third-degree sexual assault case. Blake is recovering from being shot by a Kenosha police officer in August. He’s accused of fighting with police during that encounter.

Wisconsin’s governor has spent or promised-to-spend almost all of the state’s two-billion-dollars in coronavirus aid. Governor Evers yesterday said Wisconsin has just 120-million-dollars left. Congress gave Wisconsin two-billion-dollars as part of the CARES Act stimulus. The governor says Wisconsin has spent 476- million, and he promised to spend another 479-million-dollars. The governor says another 919-million has been ‘committed but not yet distributed.’ The last snapshot at the spending shows most of it went to state government and/or agencies in Madison.

There are four lawmakers on Wisconsin’s new task force on racial disparity. The rest are mainly faith leaders or law enforcement officials. The speaker’s office yesterday named the 32 people who will be on the task force. The task force is working to have legislation drafted by the spring to deal with police policies as well as education and  social service needs in Wisconsin. The Assembly speaker created the task force in response to Jacob Blake’s shooting in Kenosha back in August.

Chippewa County investigators are looking into human remains found in a suitcase near an abandoned barn last week.  The victim had long black hair, may be named Rosaly and wore a shirt printed with “Sprecher’s Restaurant and Pub.”  There was a 26-year-old woman reported missing in Wisconsin Dells in late July named Rosaly Rodriguez, but investigators haven’t officially tied the two cases together.  Rodriguez worked at Sprecher’s and her co-workers thought she had returned to her home country of Peru.  Chippewa County

Nearly one-point-one-million Wisconsin residents have already mailed in their ballot for the presidential election.  Another 75-thousand turned out for the first day of early voting on Tuesday.  Around 80-thousand Madison residents have already cast their ballot, but there are still 25-thousand that still have to be returned.