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Lawmakers in Madison are taking some baby steps toward getting tougher on drunk drivers.  The state Assembly yesterday approved two plans to increase OWI penalties.  The first would require first time OWI offenders to appear in court.  The other would set a five-year mandatory-minimum sentence for deadly OWI crashes.  The plans now head to the state Senate where their fate is not 100-percent certain. 

Senator Tammy Baldwin is calling it a big win for Wisconsin’s Northwoods.  Baldwin says today the news that Blackwell Job Corps Center will remain open is huge for the economy of the region.  The center had been scheduled for closure with the other Civilian Conservation centers within the U.S. Forest Service.  The Trump Administration announced yesterday its plan to withdraw the termination of the program, which has provided job training for disadvantaged young people for the past 55 years. 

Two people are dead after a fiery semi truck crash in Racine County.  Witnesses say they heard an explosion and saw smoke and a fireball coming from a truck with its trailer sticking up in the air off of Interstate-41/94 in Caledonia during the day yesterday.  It’s unclear what caused the crash or how many cars were involved. 

Two men are in custody in connection with the death of a five-year-old in Kenosha.  Reports say Javonn Cannon is charged with homicide by negligent handling of a firearm and Jovonn Cannon is charged with leaving a loaded firearm within reach of a child.  The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office says Dakari Weldon was dropped off at the hospital by two people on June 17th who then left.  He was inside a home earlier that day.  It’s unclear if the

One of the amphitheaters at Milwaukee’s Summerfest music festival has been raised.  Reports say the roof on the American Family Insurance building is now 65 feet tall, twice as tall as the old roof.  The building also added new video screens for a total of six.  Summerfest starts next Wednesday. 

Prosecutors in Eau Claire are adding a new charge to the sex crime case against a local dance studio owner.  The district attorney yesterday charged 39-year-old Todd Paulus with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.  He’s already facing three charges related to that sex crime case.  Paulus is accused of abusing a 13-year-old girl at his home last year.  He’s due back in court later next month. 

A young man is in jail in Chippewa Falls after police say he led them on a hit and run chase.  Officers started looking for the man after a hit and run accident in Lake Hallie.  When Chippewa Falls police found the man’s car, they say he sped off.  That chase went through Casper Park.  It ended when the driver went down a dead-end street. 

A fire caused over $50,000 dollars in damages. Firefighters responded yesterday to a fire at a home on Eddy Lane.  When they arrived, fire could be see on the outside of the attached garage and coming from the attic of a one story single family home. The fire was brought under control within 30 minutes. There were no injuries reported but one pet died in the fire. The fire remains under investigation.

The fight over Wisconsin’s lame duck laws will end tomorrow.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court will release its ruling tomorrow on a challenge to the laws that Republicans passed back in December.  The specific case before the court dealt with a law that blocked Governor Evers or Wisconsin’s attorney general from withdrawing the state from lawsuits on their own.  

The state of Wisconsin is getting older and a little less white.  The latest snapshot from the U.S. Census shows that half of the people in the state are now over 40.  Wisconsin is still overwhelmingly white, about 87-percent.  But the latest numbers from the Census show the state’s minority population is starting to grow.