1410 WIZM

A National Guard soldier from Oregon, Wisconsin is in trouble in La Crosse after intentionally wrecking his former girlfriend's car. La Crosse cops say 21 year-old Zachary Peters and his ex got into it at a volleyball tournament where she was coaching on Sunday. She didn't want to ride with him. Did anyway. A harrowing ride, apparently, from Aquinas High School to the Menards on Lang Drive. At which point, cops say, Peters drove straight into a pole. A few injuries for him. None for her. The woman suggested to police that Peters might have some anger management issues.

La Crosse may not be as poverty stricken as you've been led to believe.

A recent US Census Bureau study pegged the overall poverty rate for La Crosse county at nearly 15 percent, putting it just outside the ten poorest counties in the state. But a new look at the poverty numbers by the UW Extension excludes the high number of 18-24 year-olds that are a part of La Crosse's population by virtue of three colleges. Take that population out, and La Crosse's poverty level drops to about ten percent, right about at the middle for all counties in the state.

Police rarely get thanked by someone they've arrested. But it happened this week-end in La Crosse. Cops nabbed Charles Simpson driving without a license in an unregistered car on the northside. Apparently, he smelled of pot, so they called out Brutus to give the car a K-9 once over. They found some green leafy alright. A few grams of it. They say the 35 year-old Simpson thanked them for arresting him for possession. Said he'd talked about quitting smoking pot and getting arrested might be exactly what he needs.

Not a snowstorm, nor a teacher sick-out, not even a failed boiler. The reason Houston, Minnesota schools are closing at noon today is much more mundane. Just no water. A water main break between the city and school property means water will have to be shut off for repairs. Houston district bosses says they're unsure whether school will reopen tomorrow.