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The portable toilets in Eau Claire city parks will stay put for now.  Earlier this week the city was being forced to remove all the toilets because of budget cuts.  Now, City Council Acting President Andrew Werthmann says the council will introduce a new plan at its next meeting to make sure they’re funded.  Werthmann plans to use an amendment to the city’s operating budget to keep them, but if the city council rejects it they will be removed. 

Momentum is building for the City of La Crosse to get a public market.  Earlier this week the city released a study on how achievable it would be to bring in a market.  The study’s author says La Crosse really stood out in each of the criteria needed for a market to thrive.  The next step will be finding the right location for it. 

We are happy to report the news a lot of us have been hoping to hear as authorities say 13-year-old Jayme Closs has been found alive.  Investigators said yesterday evening that Closs had been located in the Town of Gordon-that is in the far southern part of Douglas County.  A suspect was taken into custody just before 5 p.m. yesterday evening. We don’t have many more details about how she was found, but authorities are expected to release new details

Local food banks are preparing for higher demand as the partial government shutdown continues in its third week.  Organizers say some families rely heavily on supplemental assistance.  Feed My People Food Bank in Eau Claire says it’s ready to make extra deliveries to pantries if needed.  

The Eau Claire County Highway Department is eyeing a new facility space.  The department is currently located along Spooner Avenue in Altoona, but officials say the space requires repairs that are too expensive compared to a new building.  Officials are proposing to build their new facility in a field just south of the State Patrol headquarters on Highway 53.  The county board will have to approve the land purchase before any design work can move forward. 

An internal review of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections reveals that staff racked up 50-million-dollars in overtime in 2018.  The Wisconsin State Journal says that amount for overtime hours last year was an increase of seven-million-dollars from 2016.  Dodge Correctional, Waupun and Oshkosh Correctional logged the highest amounts of overtime.  Staffing vacancies are the major reason overtime is necessary. 

A 44 year old River Falls man has been arrested for an 8th OWI. Tony Gordon Hetchler, was stopped a bit after 3 on Wednesday afternoon when an Officer attempted to stop a vehicle for speeding on Highway 35 in St. Croix County. The driver, identified as Hetchler, exited Highway 35, failed to stop for a stop sign on Old 35 Road, and then parked his vehicle behind a residence on High Ridge Drive where he fled on foot. St.

A 39 year old Birchwood man has been arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence, 5th offense. On Thursday, January 10, a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper observed 1998 Toyota with a missing outside rear view mirror. The vehicle was stopped for the equipment violation. The driver, Wade T Pfalzgraf, failed then field sobriety testing, leading to his 5th offense OWI.

An Osseo man charged with child abuse is pleading not guilty.  Twenty-three-year-old Mitchel Feyen is accused of throwing a seventh-month-old child out of frustration at his home last month.  Feyen is facing up to 15-years in prison and has a pre-trial conference scheduled for January 28th.  *PHOTO CREDIT: WEAU 13 NEWS

An Eau Claire man is in custody after being accused of beating an elderly man he lives with.  A criminal complaint claims 28-year-old Steven Scharein punched his 69-year-old house mate in the jaw on January 2nd and threatened his life with a knife on January 6th.  Scharein claims the man verbally instigated one incident and that he doesn’t remember the other.  He’s being held on five-thousand dollars bond and faces up to eight years in prison.