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The Wisconsin State Patrol is looking for more troopers.  The state patrol says they’re holding a hiring event in Wausau this afternoon for people who are interested in working for them.  Job applicants don’t need law enforcement experience to apply.  Applications will be accepted until early January.

The man who police say ran down three Girl Scouts from Lake Hallie last fall doesn’t want a jury to hear his case. Colten Treu’s lawyers last week asked the judge to hear the case instead. Prosecutors in Chippewa Falls want the case to go before the jury. The judge says he’ll make a decision soon. Treu is due to go on trial early next year.

A Eau Claire man will spend less than a week in jail for stabbing his roommate’s dog to death. A judge last week sentenced William Geiger to five days in jail and two years of probation. Geiger pleaded guilty back in September to killing the dog last year after it bit him. The judge also banned him from drinking and owning any animals.

There are going to be a lot of new faces in and around western Wisconsin this week. The state’s gun deer season begins on Saturday. It runs through the next Sunday. Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources is reminding everyone to be safe, and look out for hunters in blaze orange. DNR says hunters need to remember to be safe, particularly in their deer stands, this year.

Some of Wisconsin’s National Guard units will get a little piece of home while on deployment in Afghanistan. Family members of the troops deployed with the 128th Infantry over the weekend packed boxes full of gifts, snacks, and mementos. The packages will be sent to the troops in time for Christmas. In all, the families sent over 100 boxes to their soldiers.

Not enough people are going to school to be teachers, not enough young teachers can pass the test to get a license, and once teachers get a job they often leave in a few years.  Wisconsin’s Association of School Board says there are a number of reasons for a teacher shortage in the state. The Association released a letter last week detailing the problems. Many schools started this year without enough teachers, and many teachers say they simply don’t make

The good news is that it won’t be freezing cold. But that means Eau Claire and the Chippewa Valley will see some rain, some sleet, and some snow this week. Forecasters say there are two rounds of wintry mix that could make things slick. The first hits late tonight and into tomorrow morning. The second comes late Wednesday. Besides that, forecasters say western Wisconsin will see milder temperatures this week.

Wisconsin football is right back in the mix for the Big Ten West title.  The Badgers beat Nebraska 37-to-21 in Lincoln over the weekend to get to five-and-two in conference play.  Meanwhile, Minnesota lost its first game of the season to Iowa 23-to-19.  If Wisconsin beats Purdue and Minnesota beats Northwestern this weekend, it would set up a de facto championship game for the West title between the two teams on November 30th.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection says last year was the worst for the state’s dairy industry since 2004.  A report issued this week says 638 dairy farms went out of business in 2018.  27 News says the industry has been on a steady decline for a decade-and-a-half, with he number of active farms dropping from nearly 16-thousand, to less than 75-hundred during that time period.

Graduate researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison are petitioning to stop a suspended professor’s return.  The dean of the engineering department issued a letter this week saying Dr. Akbar Sayeed would be coming back to campus in January after serving a two-year suspension over allegations that his behavior led to a student’s suicide in 2016.  The petition had over 900 signatures as of last night. A new report from the National Science Foundation says UW-Madison is one of the top ten research