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The Onalaska fire chief is facing drunk driving charges.  A police report says Billy Hayes was pulled over early Sunday morning and identified himself to police as the fire chief.  Hayes later failed a field sobriety test and was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.  Hayes reportedly had a blood-alcohol level of point-one-three, over one-and-a-half times the legal limit.

No one is hurt after a fire at an industrial building in Eau Claire.  The fire department says the fire broke out within some machinery at Banbury Place on Wisconsin Street early this morning.  The building was quickly evacuated, the fire was extinguished, and workers were able to return afterwards.  The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The Red Barn Coliseum at the Northern Wisconsin State Fairgrounds is no longer standing.  The barn was demolished yesterday in a matter of hours after it was decided that it was no longer safe.  Fallen rafters and broken beams were found and part of the roof had started sinking.  The fair’s executive director says he will now work to replace it. 

“Weather” you are ready for more winter or not, it looks like it’s storming back to remind us who is in charge. Folks in Eau Claire could see five inches of snow from the spring snowstorm that is due to arrive today.  While folks up Highway 53 in Rice Lake could see almost double that.  Forecasters say western Wisconsin will miss the worst of this week’s storm, but will still see plenty of snow.  The storm is due to arrive later today

A Chippewa Falls man who threatened to kill his family is getting one more chance.  A judge on Monday didn’t send 43-year-old Lorenzo Christopher to jail despite a guilty plea and the fact the Christopher’s girlfriend said he threatened to kill her, her kids and their dog.  Police say Christopher has a felony record, and therefore shouldn’t even have a gun.  The judge sentenced Christopher to probation.

State leaders are trying to calm fears about sex offenders in Eau Claire by telling folks that people with sex crimes on their records have been released into the community for years.  Neighbors in Fairchild are fighting a plan to turn some county-owned land into a halfway house for sex offenders.  The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday said the same kind of offenders have been released ‘on and off’ into Eau Claire County for years.  A number of locals

Lawmakers in Madison are pressing pause on their showdown with the state’s Department of Natural Resources over deer hunting.  Neither the Assembly or the state Senate yesterday voted on a plan to allow hunters to move deer they shot across county lines.  DNR ordered a ban on county-to-county moves last summer to stop chronic wasting disease.  Lawmakers say they hope DNR comes up with a new plan before they move again to vote.

The old 2719 train won’t be coming home to Eau Claire anytime soon.  City leaders last night voted to abandon the effort to bring the historic train back to Eau Claire and use it as a museum piece.  Eau Claire bought the train for four dollars back in 2013.  But organizers have raised just 500 dollars of the 100- thousand-dollars it would take to get the train back from Minnesota and display it in Eau Claire.  

Governor Tony Evers has the power to appoint and fire people from state boards and commissions, but he may not be able to use that power to its fullest.  A three judge appeals court yesterday sided with the governor in his battle over those Republican reform laws from December.  The court said the governor could fire nearly 82 people appointed at the end of Governor Walker’s term.  But Republicans at the Capitol may hold up any of Governor Evers’ new

Governor Tony Evers is touting his budget plan.  The governor says working Wisconsinites deserve a tax cut and his tax plan would provide real relief.  Evers says his budget would cut taxes by ten-percent, cap tax breaks to millionaires and give 900-million-dollars back to the working families.