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A Barron County woman is heading to prison for one year after she stole from one of Wisconsin’s Indian tribes.  A federal judge yesterday sentenced 55-year-old Karen Johnson to a year and a day in federal prison.  She stole over 200 thousand-dollars from the St. Croix Chippewa Indians.  She worked as a clerk in the tribe’s housing authority, and investigators say she wrote herself checks and cashed phony invoices to line her pockets.  The judge said Johnson needed to go

Big Bend saw another police officer resign in frustration last night. Now former-officer Nate Schweitzer told the village board that it is impossible for police officers to work in Big Bend after the board voted to eliminate the police department. Schweitzer is the sixth officer to quit in Big Bend in the past two weeks. The mass-resignation came after Big Bend voted in September to eliminate its police department to close a budget gap. After the resignation last night, the

There won’t be any paper tax forms at the Eau Claire library this year, but there will still be help available.  Library managers say workers will print tax forms for people, or arrange to have them mailed, but the staff will no longer fill them out.  The library says it took 155 hours for staffers to help with taxes last year for just two percent of people.  Both the state and IRS only provide the library with basic forms, which

The two out-of-state experts who will likely redraw Wisconsin’s political maps could very easily cost the state six-figures each.  The state supreme court has okayed a contract to pay the two experts up to 100-thousand dollars a piece, but that number can go higher.  The contract says the court can spend more if need be.  The experts are being brought in to redraw the political maps for the Wisconsin Legislature after the Supreme Court tossed them out just before Christmas. 

Wisconsin’s RSV death toll is now up to 14.  The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday said there have been 14 deaths so far this season.  That number includes two children.  Doctors say RSV typically peaks this time of year, and the very young and very old are always more susceptible to respiratory infections.  There are RSV vaccines, including one for older people, one for pregnant women, and one for babies.

  The University of Wisconsin’s president says he fired UW-La Crosse’s chancellor because of another ‘occupation which requires your personal attention.’  That’s one of the lines in the full termination letter to now-former Chancellor Joe Gow.  The UW released that letter yesterday.  University President Jay Rothman fired Gow on December 27th after Gow’s porn videos came to light.  Gow and his wife made and distributed several videos on several different adult websites.  The letter also fully explains the process for

Wisconsin is extending BadgerCare Plus, along with other Medicaid programs, to 12 months for most people younger than 19. Now, coverage will last one year, regardless of how program eligibility or family income changes. Children who are enrolled as of January 1 of this year will be covered for the new term, starting at the last application submission or renewal.

Wisconsin’s taxes are slightly up, but steady, in 2023. New data from the Wisconsin Policy Forum says the state and local burden rose about point-zero-four-percent to an even ten-percent compared to last year. The Forum says the rates have been declining as a whole over the past 50 years. Paid federal and federal state taxes are expected to decrease one-point-eight-percent.

ABOVE PHOTO:High School students work out a problem during a past Science Olympiad at UW-River Falls. About 900 students from Wisconsin, Minnesota and other Midwestern states will compete in the Science Olympiad competition at UWRF on Saturday, Jan. 20. UWRF file photo. When about 900 high school students on 58 teams from Wisconsin, Minnesota and elsewhere across the Midwest convene at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Saturday, Jan. 20, they will exhibit their knowledge of and affinity for all

Gov. Tony Evers ordered the flags of the United States and the state of Wisconsin to be flown at half-staff beginning Thurs., Dec. 28, 2023, until the date of interment for former U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl. Gov. Evers released the following statement regarding U.S. Sen. Kohl’s passing. “A Milwaukeean and Wisconsinite through and through, U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl dedicated his life to serving our kids, our communities, our state, and our country. “Sen. Kohl was, without a doubt, nobody’s senator