1410 WIZM

La Crosse police are still searching for a thug who pulled a gun on a clerk at a southside Kwik Trip around midnight on Saturday. Police say they guy covered his face with something, pulled a gun, demanded money and took off. Cops won't say if he got any cash. They're looking for a white guy, 5'8", medium build, 25 to 35. At the time of the hold up, he was wearing dark clothing.

After a couple of delays the long-awaited two year state budget from governor Walker should be out this week. The governor last week moved the delivery of his budget address to March first--tomorrow. La Crosse mayor Matt Harter says he doesn't know any details. But he's got a pretty good idea in general what to expect.  Cuts in shared revenue and plenty of them.  That's, after all, part of the message that Scott Walker campaigned on in his run for governor.

 

Harter has already said that he'll look at police and fire budgets for significant cost savings if the city's budget faces a shortfall from the state.

Among the empty storefronts in La Crosse, several in a row seem to stand out more than others. Those storefronts comprise the empty ground floor of the new Grand River Station downtown. From Downtown Mainstreet, director Tim Kabat believes the business search for the building is heading in the right direction.   He says the developer has had several inquiries for the space and his organization is also working to find either new businesses to locate at the bus depot or existing businesses that want to expand into the high profile spot.

 

Recently Grand River Station developers had requested a rent break from the city because of the lack of interested renters for the business space.   The building opened officially last August. 

One area Republican broke ranks with his party when the Assembly passed Governor Walker's budget plan today.

Lee Nerison of Vernon County was among a handful of Republicans voting 'no' on the bill, which has been widely criticized for taking away some collective bargaining rights of state workers. Nerison cast one of 17 'no' votes, while 28 other lawmakers did not vote...including La Crosse Democrat Jennifer Shilling. The bill moves to the Senate, but no vote can be taken until 14 Democratic Senators return from Illinois.