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A former show choir teacher in La Crosse is heading to prison for eight years after he admitted to having sex with students.  A judge sentenced Dustin Bagstad yesterday.  Prosecutors charged him with 19 felonies back in 2017.  Bagstad pleaded guilty in January to just five charges, the rest were dismissed.  La Crosse County’s District Attorney says the sentence is validation for Bagstad’s victims.

Folks in western Wisconsin are the latest to get their say in what could be included in the next state budget.  State Representatives Jesse James and Rob Summerfield yesterday hosted a budget listening session.  Both reps say it’s going to be important to build a consensus on the budget.  Neither expect lawmakers and Governor Evers to agree on much, so they say it’s important that people let lawmakers know what they want to see as a priority.

The union that represents most Harley Davidson workers says they want more job guarantees in their new contract.  Leaders with United Steelworkers Local 2-209 say the most recent contract offer from Harley included a raise but did not address the use of temporary workers, or the loss of jobs to other plants or other countries.  The union says there are about half as many workers at Harley Davidson’s Milwaukee-area plants as there were a decade ago. 

Recent rain runoff in the upper Chippewa River watershed is likely to result in increased runoff passing through the Chippewa River system and will cause rising river gauge readings in Eau Claire. At 1 p.m. the Chippewa River gauge at Grand Avenue read 768.3 feet. This is 5 feet below the downtown flood stage of 773 feet. At this level, for the safety of residents the following areas are closed: o Chippewa River Trail  street underpasses  Farwell St.

Bernie Sanders has a campaign stop planned in Wisconsin.  The U.S. Senator from Vermont plans to be in Madison on Friday where he is scheduled to speak at James Madison Park around 5 p.m.  Tickets are not required for Friday’s event but it’s advised that people RSVP to the Sanders campaign beforehand.  Sanders won the Wisconsin  Democratic Primary in 2016.

During Children’s Dental Health month, Eau Claire Healthy Communities sponsored a dental poster contest. The contest was for 4th and 5th grade students in Eau Claire County schools. Students were challenged to design a poster promoting good dental health using the contest theme. The theme was, “Brush and clean in between to build a healthy smile”. 117 posters from Altoona, Augusta, and Eau Claire were turned in! The Action Team awarded 16 prizes of a water bottle and Oral-B power

An Eau Claire woman is going to jail for causing a deadly crash in May of 2017.  Reports say Cara Stevens pleaded no contest to homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle in Chippewa County Court in January and was sentenced last week to two years in jail.  Raven Ellin, Jonathan Jorgensen, Mikaila Toske, and Kristine Kummer all died in the crash.  A criminal complaint says the crash was caused because Stevens ran a stop sign.

Green Bay Police say one of its K-9 officers is fighting for his life after being stabbed.  The K-9 named Pyro is a narcotics tracking officer who was stabbed in the neck last night while chasing the suspect in the 13-hundred block of Western Avenue.  Pyro underwent surgery this morning and officials say the next 24 hours will be critical.  The suspect has been arrested. 

A performing arts center in La Crosse is damaged after a fire.  Reports say the Weber Center for Performing Arts caught fire around noon on Saturday but the building’s sprinkler system put most of the fire out.  Firefighters were able to put out the rest of the fire with a fire extinguisher.  No one was hurt.

An annual art show in Eau Claire is having a public reception and awards presentation this week.  Arts-West 40 started at the Eau Claire Public Library yesterday where over 220 different works of art were showcased.  So far, judges have whittled the field down to 60 entries and the winners will be announced on Thursday.  The public is invited to attend the awards show.  It’s at the library at seven o’clock Thursday night.