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Republicans at the state Capitol in Madison are reminding Governor Tony Evers of his campaign promise to ‘fix the damn roads.’  State Rep. Tyler August is using this week’s Republican Radio Address to tell the governor not to spend any transportation money on Milwaukee’s streetcar, or anything other than roads.  The state’s Department of Transportation floated the idea of using road money for the streetcar earlier this month.  Governor Evers shot down the idea earlier this week. 

There will be a new face in the halls at a local school. Dr. Joe Eisenhuth will be the next principal of Sam Davey Elementary School. Dr. Eisenhuth will transition from his work at North High School to Sam Davey Elementary School over the next month. Formal approval of his appointment will take place in August. Prior to joining ECASD, Dr. Eisenhuth served as president and chief advancement officer for Regis Catholic Schools from 2008 to 2012. He also was

Wisconsin Congressmen Ron Kind and Glenn Grothman are signed on as sponsors to a House bill designed to reduce excessive robocalls.  The Stopping Bad Robocalls Act was passed by the House yesterday and now moves on to the Senate.  It will implement a free nationwide caller authentication system to help crack down on annoying calls and scams.  Americans received over 26 million robocalls last year which is a 46-percent increase from 2017.  

Wisconsin Department of Health Services is investigating whether there is a link between vaping and teenage lung damage.  Several teenagers have been hospitalized at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin with serious lung issues.  The cases were reported to the health department this month.  All the kids reported they were vaping in the weeks and months before becoming sick.  

A Baldwin man is going to prison after being convicted of child sex crimes.  Prosecutors claimed Jay Hoppe communicated with a Rice Lake police officer last March thinking it was a 15-year-old girl.  The two planned to meet for sex but Hoppe was arrested.  Hoppe was found guilty of three charges relating to the case in June and was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison. 

There’s no information on injuries after a crash involving a semi truck and a car on U.S. 53 in Eau Claire.  Reports say the crash happened around 2:45 this morning and carried both cars off the highway.  Authorities are investigating what caused the crash.  The highway was briefly closed but it’s since re-opened. 

A bill that would expand broadband in rural parts of Wisconsin is passed through a state senate subcommittee.  The bipartisan bill is called the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability Act, or DATA Act.  It would improve how the FCC maps rural areas and help broadband expansion into those areas.  It passed through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Technology yesterday. 

A new urgent care health center is coming to Menomonie.  Prevea Health will be opening the facility on Stout Road sometime next year.  It will be open for urgent care and occupational health care seven days a week and on holidays.  The 13-thousand square-foot facility is already under construction. 

The man accused of strangling a five-year-old western Wisconsin boy is trying a mental defect defense.  Charles Beenken entered a not guilty by mental defect plea in Burnett County court yesterday.  Police say Beenken choked the little boy after beating him back in December of last year.  Prosecutors dropped attempted murder charges, but are pushing ahead with drug, bail jumping, and strangulation charges.  Beenken is being held on 100-thousand-dollars cash bond. 

Wisconsin prisons no longer have any record of the man who took Jayme Closs and killed her parents.  The Department of Corrections erased Jake Patterson’s name and information from its inmate locator and database.  Prison officials earlier this month transferred Paterson to a prison out of state ‘for his safety.’  The head of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council says it’s outrageous for Wisconsin’s prisons to hide Patterson’s whereabouts.