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UPDATES: Two women are lucky to be alive after escaping a deadly fire.  The two survivors escaped the blaze on County Highway DD in Pickerel that killed two adults and four children yesterday.  The adults reportedly were in their early 30s  and the children ranged in age from ten months to seven-years-old.  The cause of the fire has not been determined.  Six people are dead after a house fire in Pickerel in northeast Wisconsin. Reports say the fire broke out

Wisconsin is likely out of the challenge to Obamacare.   Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul yesterday said he has no plans to rejoin the legal challenge to the Affordable Care Act.  Kaul pulled the state from the lawsuit during the brief period when a law that curbed his power over lawsuits was in legal limbo.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court last week said that law should stand.  But, Kaul yesterday said he doesn’t plan to jump back into the suit. 

A western Wisconsin nurse is free on bond after two local hospitals say she stole fentanyl.  HSHS Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire says 40-year-old Jessica Gums stole 500 vials of fentanyl, and the Mayo Clinic says Gums also stole fentanyl from them as well.  She’s out on a signature bond after being arrested this week.  Prosecutors are not saying if Gums stole the drugs for herself or to sell. She is due in court next month. *PHOTO CREDIT: WEAU 13 NEWS

The city of Eau Claire is looking to borrow to fix a laundry list of projects. City finance director Jay Winzenz last night pitched city leaders on a plan to borrow 26-million-dollars to pay for work on everything from city streets to library improvements to work at the Hobbs Ice Arena.  Winzenz says some of the money could also be earmarked to pay off old debt from the last couple rounds of borrowing. 

Investigators in St. Croix County are trying to figure out how a man died outside his camper in a local state park.  Deputies found the unidentified man yesterday afternoon at his campsite in the Willow River State Park in Hudson.  The sheriff’s office is not saying how the man died, or how long he’d been dead. 

Wisconsin’s state superintendent needs permission before they can order a new policy for the state’s schools.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the governor needs to sign-off on any new rules or policies before they can go into place.  That’s a reversal of a 2016 law that gave then-Superintendent Tony Evers a wide range of powers.  Conservatives say the ruling is a check against the growing power of the state bureaucracy. 

The easy part of getting a new state budget in Wisconsin is over.  The Republican-controlled Assembly yesterday voted to approve a new, two-year 81-billion-dollar state budget.  It was expected to pass.  The plan now heads to the state Senate, where some Republicans are promising to vote against it because it spends too much.  The budget would then head to Governor Evers, who could change it.  

It may soon be easier to buy a Tesla in Wisconsin.  The new state budget includes a provision that would allow the electric car company to sell directly to customers, rather than go through a dealer.  The idea is a pet project of state Senator Chris Kapenga, who is seen as a crucial Republican vote in the state Senate.  But there are some who question Kapenga’s motives.  He owns a business that repairs Teslas.  Kapenga says it’s a hobby, and he

Senator Tammy Baldwin says President Trump’s trade wars are not helping the state’s farmers.  The Wisconsin Democrat said today since Trump took office, more than 15-hundred Wisconsin dairy farms have gone out of business.  About 640 dairy farms were lost last year alone.  According to the state Department of Agriculture, there are about 84-hundred dairy farms currently licensed in Wisconsin. 

Some of the safest drivers in the country reside in Madison.  The state’s capital is considered the eleventh safest driving city as ranked by Allstate and their 2019 America’s Best Drivers’ Report.  Despite the high-ranking, that’s a drop of six spots since last year.  The average time between crashes for Madison drivers is just over 12 years.  Milwaukee ranks as the 61st overall safest driving city.