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 Crews are cleaning-up after a weekend train derailment in Howard, but no one has yet said just what happened. The Brown County Sheriff’s Office is part of the investigation, but there are very few answers. Howard’s public works director says the train went off the tracks Sunday, but he didn’t have any more information. There are no reports of any hazardous materials on board. The derailment happened near the same spot where a train stalled-out back in April. That was

Milwaukee’s RNC boss is promising a bigger and better convention. Elise Dickens sat down for her first interviews yesterday, after being named RNC CEO. She said one of her first tasks is to get a team together to plan for the convention in July of next year. Dickens says it’s been eight years since Republicans met in-person, and she expects the Milwaukee convention to meet expectations. Milwaukee won the Republican National Convention after Democrats picked the city for 2020, but

An Eau Claire County man is heading to prison as part of a sex trafficking case. A judge yesterday sentenced Mark Scoville Senior to six years in prison for a slew of charges related to a string of crimes from 2021. Six women accused Scoville of sexually assaulting them — some of the women said he drugged them first. Scoville told the judge yesterday that drugs were to blame for his bad actions. After his prison time, Scoville will be

The meat packing plant in Abbotsford is looking at more than a quarter-million dollars in safety fines after its latest inspection. OSHA yesterday ordered 277 thousand-dollars in fines for the Abbyland Foods after one worker lost a finger tip, and another had his hand crushed. This is not the first time OSHA has fined Abbyland, and OSHA accused plant managers of continuing ‘to ignore its legal responsibility to ensure a safe and healthful work environment.’

Wisconsin’s sweeping changes for local governments and local schools will begin their quick march to the governor’s desk today. Lawmakers have a series of hearings scheduled on the new shared revenue plan, a proposal to overhaul how kids are taught reading, and a new plan to spend a billion-dollars more on public schools in the state. All are being fast-tracked for votes in the Assembly. Lawmakers are moving quickly because they are facing a July 4th deadline to deliver a

People who buy beer, wine, or liquor won’t notice most of the changes in Wisconsin’s proposed liquor law overhaul. A plan that is quickly working its way through the Capitol would mostly impact the companies that make or sell alcohol, and is being hailed as a deal that’s been a longtime coming. One of the biggest changes would be a new state government office to focus on alcohol law enforcement, including a ban on things like beer-of-the-month clubs. For customers, the

We’ll have a much better idea of what the University of Wisconsin is getting from the state by the end of the day. The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee is set to act on the UW’s budget request today. The UW’s president wants an eight-percent budget increase in the state’s new spending plan. That would be on top of the four-percent tuition hike that regents approved back in the spring. Lawmakers have already turned down a request from the university for a new

Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol are using the last few weeks of the spring session to once again ask for new gun laws. A group of lawmakers, including Madison state Senator Melissa Agard yesterday demanded a vote on a red flag law and universal background check plan. Agard and the Democrats say the new laws will help keep people safe. Republicans at the Capitol have opposed both red flag laws and new background check requirements for years, and are expected to do

Senior citizens can get some vouchers for Eau Claire’s farmer’s market. The Aging and Disability Resource Center in Eau Claire has a limited number of vouchers to be handed out this month. The 35 dollars in vouchers are good for fruits or vegetables at the market. Program Manager Betsy Henck says the vouchers are not new, but they are welcome. The idea, she says, is to make sure seniors have fresh fruits and vegetables.