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The Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus is celebrating Black History Month with a list of events.  Members hosted a Black Business and Nonprofit Day yesterday, which allowed lawmakers and minority business owners to discuss priorities and ways to work together.  Other events focus on physical and mental health, education and families, and criminal justice. 

The accused killer and kidnapper in the Jayme Closs case is bound over for trial.  Jake Patterson waived his preliminary hearing during a brief appearance in before a Barron County judge today.  His arraignment is scheduled for late next month.  Patterson is accused of killing the 13-year-old girl’s parents in October before kidnapping her and holding her prisoner for three months at his Douglas County home. 

Alternate side parking rules are going into effect in Eau Claire at midnight tonight.  The rules will be enforced from midnight until 5:00 p.m. Thursday and Friday so the city can remove snow.   Up to eight inches of snow is expected in the city tomorrow during the day.  Temperatures will also get back below freezing overnight. 

Two teenagers are charged with using stolen guns to break into a house in Chippewa Falls.  A criminal complaint says 17-year-olds Davyonne Evans and Nicholas Rickey stole guns from a store in Lake Hallie and were arrested in December while breaking into a house.  Evans has a previous felony conviction from Eau Claire County and has two open cases in Barron County. 

An Eau Claire woman is accused of assaulting her elderly mother.  Forty-year-old Michelle Gritzmacher-Ring was charged with two felonies and three misdemeanors in Eau Claire County Court yesterday after a criminal complaint said she pushed her 66-year-old disabled mother out of her wheelchair and punched her in the back over the weekend.  She’s being held on a 25-hundred-dollar bond and will appear in court again on March 19th. 

Governor Tony Evers says that state environmental officials will review Foxconn’s air-quality permits issued last year.  Evers told reporters yesterday that he discussed the topic with company officials, but they weren’t concerned.  During the campaign, Evers said scientists told him a flawed process was used to issue the permits. 

The La Crosse School District is planning to buy a bar and turn it into a school.  You may have seen this on TV. As WEAU reports the Brickhouse downtown is closing in April and will then be bought by the district.  After the purchase, students from the La Crosse Design Institute, Seven Rivers School, and two charter schools will move in.  The district superintendent says it’ll be the first time in decades that the district has had a presence

Authorities in Eau Claire say they responded to over 100 crashes and spin-outs.  The Wisconsin State Patrol’s Eau Claire post said it assisted with 25 run-offs and 15 crashes yesterday with no injuries reported.  Eau Claire police say they responded to ten crashes and nearly 60 stalled vehicles. 

The suspect in Jayme Closs’ kidnapping should be back in front of a judge in a matter of hours.  Jake Patterson is due in court today for a preliminary hearing.  Patterson is facing kidnapping and murder charges.  It’s not clear what, if any new information will come from today’s hearing.  

New reports say the price paid for Eau Claire’s historic State Theatre was 195-thousand dollars.  Azara Properties bought the building and is the primary owner.  The building will be the site for the Luginbill Children’s Foundation, which will act as a beneficiary.