Home

Prosecutors and public defenders in Wisconsin are getting a raise in the next state budget.  Lawmakers in Madison yesterday voted to spend nearly 26-million-dollars to boost pay in the courtroom.  The hourly rate for public defenders will jump from 40 dollars-an-hour to 70 dollars-an-hour.  Legal advocates have complained for years that low pay has created a shortage of lawyers who will handle public defense cases, particularly in rural parts of the state.  

Senator Ron Johnson says he’s proud to co-sponsor a bill to stop robocall scammers.  The bill passed the Senate 97 to 1 today.  Johnson says scam robocalls aren’t just annoying, they use disgraceful tactics to prey on the most vulnerable.  Johnson says 38-million robocalls were made to Wisconsinites last year. 

It was just before 1AM on Sunday, May 26th when the Sheriff’s office responded to a report of a UTV crash with multiple injuries. It was further reported that the operator of the UTV was trapped under the UTV. First responders arrived and were able to remove the operator form the UTV. The investigation revealed that a UTV was traveling eastbound on 263rd Ave. east of STH 27 in the township of Lake Holcombe. The operator failed to negotiate a

A man staying at the Eau Claire Beacon House shelter is going to prison for a number of sex crimes.  A criminal complaint claims the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children got a tip that a Google account linked to Garry James uploaded child pornography and James allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting a girl multiple times starting when she was 13.  James was sentenced to four years in jail last Friday followed by six years of supervised release. 

A Minnesota woman has been found guilty of stealing thousands of dollars worth of items from area Walmarts, including here in our area.  Police say Tempestt Robinson and two other women were accused of posing as cashiers when they stole gift cards from stores in New Richmond, Hudson, and Eau Claire.  Robinson was found guilty on one count of theft last Friday.  She’ll be sentenced in July. 

The Wisconsin Democratic party will be picking a new leader for the 2020 cycle this weekend.  If you were paging through The Chippewa Herald, you likely read reports Vice Chairman David Bowen and former Move-On-dot-org leader Ben Wikler are both in the running for the position of chairman after Martha Lanning decided she won’t seek re-election.  The leader will be elected to a two-year term by a majority vote of the more than one-thousand delegates who will meet at the party’s convention

The Irvine Park Petting Zoo is open in Chippewa Falls.  The zoo opened for the summer yesterday and all the usual animals are there except for some pigs that will show up next week.  The zoo is open everyday from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. through Labor Day.  Photo Credit: chippewa.com

A jury in Chippewa Falls will decide if the man accused of running down three Girl Scouts in guilty.  A judge last week refused to move Colten Treu’s trial out of Chippewa County.  He’s accused of being high while driving, and killing the three scouts from Lake Hallie last fall.  Treu’s lawyers say he can’t get a fair trial in Chippewa Falls. Prosecutors say they’ll wait to see if they can find a jury that hasn’t heard of the case. 

It’s another reminder to be safe on the water.  Eau Claire police say they rescued a man from the Chippewa River early yesterday morning.  Officers say the man jumped off the Clairemont Avenue footbridge.  They pulled him out of the river near the Short Street Bridge.  Eau Claire police are not saying why the man jumped into the river, or if alcohol was involved. 

A UW-Eau Claire student is heading to jail for two weeks for putting a hidden camera in a woman’s bedroom.  A judge on Friday sentenced Matthew Miller to 15 days in jail and two years of probation.  Police say he hid the camera in the woman’s room last November.  The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire put Miller on probation as well.