Nature makes a comeback in classes in Wisconsin schools (Wisconsin State Journal) Geeta Dawar takes her seventh grade science students outside their Madison school to examine cracks in the sidewalk. David Spitzer gets his Madison elementary students to notice flocks of migrating geese overhead as the kids walk to school. And David Ropa has his seventh graders, even on an arctic morning, use their bare hands to dip testing vials into Lake Mendota. Nature is on the rise in many ...

Heavy snow means crashes, traffic jams on metro highways (Mounds View Sun-Focus) Heavy snow started to fall across the Twin Cities about noon today (Tuesday, Dec. 30), leading to traffic accidents and slowdowns on metro freeways. The accident pictured here was on Hwy. 169 northbound along the Plymouth/New Hope border.

Storm brings slippery roads to much of Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune) The Minnesota Department of Transportation reports roadways in much of the state are hazardous as the first winter storm of the year rolls in. Department spokeswoman Rebecca Arndt says conditions are hazardous in south-central Minnesota due to freezing rain.

Wisconsin fugitive arrested in Idaho (Pioneer Press) GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Idaho police say they have apprehended a convicted sex offender who has eluded authorities in Wisconsin for 14 years.

3 victims in Wisconsin snowmobile crash ID'd (Chicago Tribune) Authorities in northern Wisconsin's Vilas County have released the names of three people who died in a snowmobile crash.

Wisconsin doesn't run criminal checks on professional licensees (Pioneer Press) From doctors and nurses to pharmacists and psychologists, Wisconsin doesn't routinely do criminal background checks when it licenses the professionals entrusted to care for your health.