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No one is sure when, or if, the city of Eau Claire will rename the park off Forest Street.  Organizers want to rename the park to honor veterans, but folks who’ve hosted a community garden at the park for years aren’t so sure.  The disagreement so far seems to be about hurt feelings rather than an opposition to supporting vets.  Mark Beckfield, who is leading a two-million-dollar veterans trail project, says the name change really means a lot to many

The reward for information about the man who killed a Racine police officer is growing.  Police yesterday said the pool of money for information about Officer John Hetland’s killer has grown to almost 50-thousand-dollars.  Racine’s Andis Company, Culver’s, the Hiawatha Bar, and Racine Crime Stoppers all donated more money yesterday.  Hetland died late Monday while trying to stop an armed robbery at a bar in Kenosha. 

Top Republicans at the Wisconsin Capitol are changing their state budget plans to keep their own party members from voting ‘No.’  Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald yesterday said they expect to make some tweaks to the 40-billion-dollar-a-year state budget that they want to send to the governor.  Two Republicans, state Senators Steve Nass and David Craig, have already said they won’t vote for the budget because it spends too much.  Two other Republicans, Duey Stroebel and Chris

The legal costs from Wisconsin’s troubled youth prisons are going up.  Governor Evers’ office yesterday agreed to pay nearly five-million-dollars to settle three more claims from inmates at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake facilities.  That brings the total legal bill from the two prisons to over 25-million-dollars. 

Lawmakers in Madison are taking some baby steps toward getting tougher on drunk drivers.  The state Assembly yesterday approved two plans to increase OWI penalties.  The first would require first time OWI offenders to appear in court.  The other would set a five-year mandatory-minimum sentence for deadly OWI crashes.  The plans now head to the state Senate where their fate is not 100-percent certain. 

Senator Tammy Baldwin is calling it a big win for Wisconsin’s Northwoods.  Baldwin says today the news that Blackwell Job Corps Center will remain open is huge for the economy of the region.  The center had been scheduled for closure with the other Civilian Conservation centers within the U.S. Forest Service.  The Trump Administration announced yesterday its plan to withdraw the termination of the program, which has provided job training for disadvantaged young people for the past 55 years. 

Two people are dead after a fiery semi truck crash in Racine County.  Witnesses say they heard an explosion and saw smoke and a fireball coming from a truck with its trailer sticking up in the air off of Interstate-41/94 in Caledonia during the day yesterday.  It’s unclear what caused the crash or how many cars were involved. 

Two men are in custody in connection with the death of a five-year-old in Kenosha.  Reports say Javonn Cannon is charged with homicide by negligent handling of a firearm and Jovonn Cannon is charged with leaving a loaded firearm within reach of a child.  The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office says Dakari Weldon was dropped off at the hospital by two people on June 17th who then left.  He was inside a home earlier that day.  It’s unclear if the

One of the amphitheaters at Milwaukee’s Summerfest music festival has been raised.  Reports say the roof on the American Family Insurance building is now 65 feet tall, twice as tall as the old roof.  The building also added new video screens for a total of six.  Summerfest starts next Wednesday. 

Prosecutors in Eau Claire are adding a new charge to the sex crime case against a local dance studio owner.  The district attorney yesterday charged 39-year-old Todd Paulus with using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime.  He’s already facing three charges related to that sex crime case.  Paulus is accused of abusing a 13-year-old girl at his home last year.  He’s due back in court later next month.