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A man who spent 27 years in prison is teaching students in Chippewa Falls about the consequences of choosing the wrong path.  Chippewa Falls native Brian Cole shared his message of hope with local students yesterday.  Cole has spent most of his life in prison for various drug-related crimes, but says he’s now using his experiences for good.  School staff hope the presentation would remind students that their actions have consequences. 

The Eau Claire Area School Board is discussing options to implement a dual immersion program and necessary security updates.  The dual immersion committee recommends either Locust Lane or Longfellow Elementary as host for the program.  The school board was also presented with a plan to replace and add security cameras in all schools, along with adding classroom door latching devices, increasing digital threat assessment training, and mental health training for staff. 

Despite public outcry, Wisconsin Republican lawmakers areadvancing legislation to scale back the power of the incoming Democratic governor and attorney general.  The legislation would also limit early voting and change the date of the 2020 primary to help a conservative judge keep his seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  Democratic Governor-elect Tony Evers asked in written testimony that Republicans abandon their lame-duck session and stop trying to undo the outcome of November’s election.  A vote on the legislation is expected today.  Governor Walker is

A suspect is in custody after being caught making off with a donation jar meant for St Jude’s Children’s Hospital.  Police say Raeven Johnson was creating a disturbance inside a Domino’s Pizza demanding free food.  She then threw a phone at the restaurant manager, grabbed the donation jar and took off running with Domino’s employees in pursuit.  She dropped the cash and was soon caught by UW-Madison police. 

Four people are recovering from injuries suffered in a school bus and car crash in Shawano County.  The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says the crash happened shortly before 7:30 Monday morning on Church Road near Birnamwood.  The bus was traveling on Church Road when it was broadsided by a car whose driver failed to stop at a stop sign.  The bus driver and two children were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, as was the driver of the car. 

A Portage man is sentenced to three years probation in an animal abuse case.  Paul Greiner was sentenced today for killing and dumping cats on a woman’s property in Columbia County.  An investigation revealed Greiner was trapping the cats that were hanging around his bird feeders.  Police were tipped off by a woman who started discovering the dead cats on her property about 12 miles away. 

The weekend’s wet weather is being blamed for several car accidents in Vernon County.  The county sheriff’s office says it responded to two rollover crashes on Saturday, one on State Highway 56 and another on Highway 27 in the Town of Franklin.  On Sunday the sheriff also responded to a car in a ditch on County Road WW in the Town of Hillsboro.  All of the accidents are under investigation. 

Alternate side parking is in effect in Eau Claire due to accumulating snow.  The provision means cars can only be parked on the side of the street with odd numbered addresses on odd numbered days and the side of the street with even numbered addresses on even numbered days.  The Alternate Side Parking only lasts from midnight to 5:00 p.m. but the city hasn’t announced how many days it will be in effect. 

 The science education program at the University of Wisconsin-Stout could be in trouble because of a new U-W System policy.  The Program Productivity Monitoring policy would eliminate the program because it produces too few graduates, just three per year over the last five years.  Other programs at other U-W schools could also be in trouble thanks to the policy.  Its goal is to use a single metric to determine the productivity of programs based on the average number of graduates in

More support is pouring in for the families of the girl scouts and mother that were killed in a hit and run last month.  Over the weekend, Micon Cinemas in Chippewa Falls held a free showing of Troop Beverly Hills and raised about two-thousand dollars between donations and a portion of concessions sales for the families.  Also, a dance event was held at Diamond School of Dance in Eau Claire that raised about 15-hundred dollars.