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A California man accused of possessing over three-million-dollars of cocaine in Eau Claire County is pleading no contest in the case.  Reports say Samuel Serrano pleaded no contest Thursday to possession with intent to sell over 40 grams of cocaine, giving him a prison sentence of no longer than eight years.  The Eau Claire County Sheriff’s Office says Serrano was recently found with nearly 70 pounds of the drug, the largest drug bust in the county’s history.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers wants to use hundreds of millions of dollars in state tax revenue surplus to lower property taxes and increase education funding.  If you were paging through The Chippewa Herald you may have seen reports Evers made the proposal Thursday to the displeasure of many Republicans.  Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says Republicans are focused on using the surplus on tax cuts for working families.

The Altoona city planner is running to join the Eau Claire School Board.  Joshua Clements announced Thursday he’s running as a registered write-on candidate, becoming only the third candidate to submit paperwork for the three openings.  Lori Bica and Phil Lyons are also running.

A new report says Wisconsin’s rural counties are losing population.  According to a study by Forward Analytics, about two-thirds of rural counties in Wisconsin lost population between 2010 and 2018.  Forward Analytics says most people are moving to more urban areas rather than leaving the state.

The young woman convicted of stabbing her boyfriend to death back in 2018 will learn her fate today. Ezra McCandless will be sentenced this morning. She’s facing life in prison for killing Alexander Woodworth. Police say she stabbed him 16 times. McCandless tried to claim self defense, but a jury found her guilty last November.

Prosecutors in Dunn County are bringing charges against a woman six years after dozens of tablets and iPods were stolen. The D.A. filed charges yesterday against Terrin Richardson. Police never knew who took 15 tablets and 15 iPods from the River Heights Elementary School back in 2014 until the state lab matched fingerprints from the school with Richardson’s fingerprints. Police have a warrant for Richardson’s arrest.

It’ll be eight months in jail for the young man who posted threats against the chancellor at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. A judge yesterday sentenced Morgan Harman to jail time and five years probation for making the threats. Harman pleaded guilty back in November. He released a rap song on YouTube that threatened the chancellor and had a picture of him inside a gun-scope crosshairs. Harman is also banned from social media during his probation.

Managers at the Wisconsin State Laboratory hope to soon be able to get coronavirus test results in as little as 48 hours. The lab at the University of Wisconsin Madison is gearing-up to handle their tests in-house. Right now, the CDC is the only lab doing coronavirus testing. There is one confirmed case of coronavirus in Wisconsin, and six other cases that are waiting for test results.

The cost of an education at some UW campuses is going-up for students not from Wisconsin. Regents yesterday approved a tuition increase for out-of-state students at the campuses in Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Platteville, River Falls, Stevens Point and Whitewater starting this fall. Some of the tuition hikes could be as much as 25-percent. Out-of-state students are not covered by Wisconsin’s UW tuition freeze.

The biggest consumer complaint in Wisconsin is, once again, unwanted phone calls. The state’s Department of Agriculture yesterday released its Top Ten list of complaints for 2019. Telemarketers and robocalls once again topped the list. Landlord/tenant complaints and phone bill complaints rounded out the top three. The Department of Ag says it is here to help with all sorts of consumer complaints, and says there is plenty of information on their website that can help people figure out where to go if