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A 23-year-old Chippewa Falls man is facing multiple charges in connection with a hit-and-run this week.  According to a criminal complaint, Byer Nevins was drunk, stole a pickup truck and fled the scene after a crash on North Crossing near the Chippewa River Bridge.  On Tuesday, officers in Eau Claire reportedly found Nevins asleep with an open bottle of beer in his hand.  Bond was set at twenty-thousand-dollars and he’s due in court next week. 

A woman in Chippewa Falls is facing charges including disorderly conduct and recklessly endangering safety.  Police responded to an apartment on Macomber Street Thursday for a 911 call about a woman yelling at someone to put down a gun.  Officers determined it was a false call.  Police say there was never a danger to public safety. 

The pastor of the Messiah Lutheran Church in Eau Claire says he is not a hero.  Caleb Schaller confronted an intruder armed with a machete who entered his home on Wednesday afternoon.  Schaller says he feared for his family’s safety so he pushed the man outside and wrestled the machete away from him.   The suspect, who is identified as Dirk Ballard, was later arrested and faces multiple charges. 

Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources says it doesn’t yet know what 400-thousand-gallons of waste from a frac sand mine will mean for the Trempealeau River.  DNR is blaming a faulty pump at the Wisconsin Proppants Hixton in Jackson County for the spill last weekend.  Investigators say there’s no evidence of a fish kill or other contamination in the river.  Test results on the leaked waste water are expected in a few weeks.  

Steven Avery is once again not getting a new trial.  A judge on Wednesday turned down Avery’s request for a new trial based on questions about how investigators handled the bones used as evidence in his 2007 murder trial.  The judge said Avery didn’t prove that his rights were violated.  Avery has been fighting his life sentence for killing Theresa Halbach.  The Netflix series Making a Murder focuses on the case. 

One Democrat at the Wisconsin Capitol wants to tax gun makers to help pay for victims of gun violence.  State Rep. Jimmy Anderson this week introduced a plan that would add a half-percent tax to the list price of guns in the state.  The money from the tax would go to the Wisconsin Department of Justice for a gun violence victims fund.  

The number of people sent to the hospital after vaping is continuing to grow in Wisconsin.  The state Department of Health Services yesterday said they’ve confirmed 12 cases where vaping sent someone to the hospital, and they are looking into 13 other possible cases.   Health Services Secretary Andrea Palm says the agency does not know whether it’s a bad batch of vape liquid, overuse, or possibly even marijuana that sent them all to the hospital. 

We have a heads up for commuters and citizens on a construction project to start next week in Eau Claire. Construction on Lincoln Avenue, from State Street to Wilson Street will begin next week. The extensive project should stretch into early fall and the tentative start date is Monday, August 12, 2019. Estimated completion is Friday, October 11, 2019. The project will include construction on Lincoln Avenue and will consist of removing the existing bituminous surface, removing curb and gutter,

The Wood County Sheriff’s Department is now seeking charges against a Wisconsin Rapids resident.  On July 27th, a bomb squad responded to a suspicious device in the back seat of a vehicle.  The foot-long tube wrapped with electrical tape was not active, but it contained shotgun shells, nails and a button for possible activation.  Authorities want to charge 36-year-old Sean Curry for possession of the homemade device. 

The National Conference of State Legislators is wrapping up its annual meeting with it’s new president from Wisconsin.  State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos assumed the reins of the organization at the conference in Nashville Thursday.  The group alternates its leadership between Republicans and Democrats each year and Vos is the first Wisconsinite to hold  the position.  The bipartisan organization is a resource for all state lawmakers.