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Flags across the state will fly at half-staff Friday to honor former Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Margaret Farrow, who died March 8.  Farrow was 87 when she died.  She had a decades-long career in Wisconsin politics, including her term as Wisconsin’s first female lieutenant governor under Tommy Thompson.  Farrow’s funeral services will be held Friday. 

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is extending the public comment period for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Enbridge pipeline.  The company is proposing to relocate Line 5 of the pipeline through Ashland, Bayfield, and Iron County in Northern Wisconsin, routing it south of the Bad River Reservation.  The extended comment period will close on April 15.  

The Eau Claire Community Foundation (ECCF) celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with the awarding of grants from its Give Green category, which supports local nonprofits that address the environment, animals, and fitness opportunities through its Grant Catalog. The Grant Catalogs were launched as part of ECCF’s 25 th Anniversary celebration. In the year leading up to the celebration, more than a quarter million dollars have been granted to Eau Claire area nonprofits so far! The first Grant Catalog was Create Culture,

Grace Lutheran Communities brings back a local favorite. The18 th Annual Enchanted Evening event will happen on Saturday, April 9 th at the Florian Gardens in Eau Claire! Funds raised at the event will be used to provide quality memory care services for community members residing at the new Prairie Pointe location. There will also be upgrades implementing new technology to provide a safe and peaceful outdoor setting along with specialized sensory rooms to stimulate positive emotions and cognitive success

 Chandler Halderson cannot skip-out on his sentencing hearing. A Dane County judge yesterday refused Halderson’s request to not be in the courtroom later today. He will be given a life sentence for killing, then butchering his parents last summer. Today’s hearing will be a chance for his other family members to speak. The only real question about Halderson’s fate is whether he will be eligible for parole.

Nearly 200 people at the Day Street mill in Green Bay are waiting to see what happens with their jobs. Georgia-Pacific yesterday announced it will close the mill completely by the fall of next year. Some pieces of the mill, however, will close sooner than that. Tissue manufacturing, for example, will end in May. Georgia-Pacific says the 190 workers at the Day Street mill will be allowed to apply for other jobs within the company. G-P says the Day Street

Older drivers in Wisconsin have until the end of the month to renew their drivers’ licenses. The DMV yesterday said drivers over 60 who saw their licenses expire in January or February must get a new one by March 31st. The DMV closed its offices during the coronavirus, and gave older drivers more time to renew because of the pandemic. Drivers up to 64-years-old can renew their driver’s licenses online.

It’s now legal for people in Wisconsin to see if their drugs contain fentanyl. Governor Tony Evers yesterday signed a new law that legalizes fentanyl testing strips. The strips allow drug users to see if their pills or powders contain fentanyl. The Wisconsin Medical Society says fentanyl overdoses spiked during the coronavirus outbreak. Doctors hope the new law can help reduce the number of accidental overdoses in the state.

Usually a ground-breaking involves shovels, but not at UW-Eau Claire’s new science building. School leaders yesterday took sledge hammers to a wall at Putnam Hall, which is going to be demolished, to make way for the new building. Plans are for a ten thousand-square foot facility that will allow students to work with doctors at the Mayo Clinic. The price tag for the new building is just over 250 million-dollars.

Over two-and-a-half million chickens are going to be put down to try and contain Wisconsin’s bird flu outbreak. The state’s Department of Agriculture says there are over two-point-seven million birds at the Jefferson County farm where the bird flu was detected. The state says it’s monitoring all other farms within six miles of the outbreak, to make sure the bird flu doesn’t spread. This is Wisconsin’s first bird flu outbreak since 2015.