Home

Deputies say alcohol was likely a factor in a Dunn County crash that killed 22-year-old Logan Dukek of rural Menomonie. The Dunn County Sheriff’s Office says a car was northbound on Highway B in Tainter early yesterday morning when it hit a tree.  The driver was taken to a hospital in Menomonie where they were pronounced dead.  The victim’s name hasn’t been released.

A now-former worker at an Eau Claire group home is looking at possible jail time after investigators say she had sex with one of the teens she was supposed to be helping.  Police say 22-year-old Alissa Martin had sex with a 15-year-old who was placed at the Eau Claire Academy.  Investigators say Martin admitted to kissing the teen, but denies that they had sex.  She’s free on ten-thousand-dollars bond.

It’s been more than a week since anyone last saw 17-year-old Williamefipanio Hessel.  Crews were back out on the Chippewa River in Eau Claire yesterday, trying to find his body.  Friends say Hessel jumped into the river last week, but never came out of the water.  The latest search focused on the area downriver from the Big Dells Pond Dam.

The city of La Crosse will not fire a fire chief charged with child pornography possession.  Instead, city leaders will allow Frank Devine to retire in late June.  Devine has been on paid leave since police arrested him for child pornography possession back in March.  The city says it doesn’t want to ‘interfere’ with the case against him. 

There will be some changes inside some state government offices across Wisconsin.  The state’s supreme court yesterday ruled that the 82 people appointed by Governor Walker at the end of his term should keep their jobs.  Governor Evers fired, then re-hired most of them at the end of March.  But the court says all 82, including two UW regents, should be reappointed. The high court said all 82 were legally appointed and confirmed. 

You’ll get to see a new crop in the fields of Chippewa County this summer.  Researchers at UW Madison yesterday said they will use an acre of ground owned by Chippewa County to grow hemp.  It’s one of several test plots for the new crop.  Jerry Clark with the Chippewa County UW-Extension says they hope to plant the hemp sometime later this month.

The bars in and around Milwaukee could stay open a lot later when the Democratic National Committee comes to town next summer.  Planners are considering a proposal to keep the bars in Milwaukee, Waukesha, and Washington counties open till 4 a.m.  Right now, state law requires bars to stop serving at 2 a.m, and to close by 2:30.  Wisconsin Restaurant Association President Kristine Hillmer says the later closing time would fight the idea that Milwaukee is boring. 

Governor Tony Evers says his first bill signed into law removes offensive terms from administrative rules.  The measure removes the phrase mental retardation from State regulations.  Evers says everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, empathy and respect, including in the laws and codes that govern the state.

A Whitehall High School student is in custody because of a threat.  The Trempealeau County Sheriff’s Office says it got a report of a suspicious text message related to a domestic abuse incident involving a three-year-old in Eau Claire yesterday morning.  Sergeant Travis McDonah says the message came from a Whitehall High School student and they were taken into custody and questioned.  The school briefly went into emergency protocol, but it was quickly lifted.

Barron County sheriff’s deputies are on the lookout for the suspect in an armed robbery at a Chetek convenience store.  The sheriff’s office says a man wearing a ski mask showed a gun at the Chetek Express Saturday morning and stole about 15-hundred dollars and two cartons of cigarettes.  Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call police.