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If you’re worried about making your home energy payments this winter, the State of Wisconsin is offering help. Home Energy Plus is a state-wide heating assistance program, and administrator Barbara Klug says you don’t have to own a home to be eligible for assistance. Natural gas and propane prices are expected to hit peaks this winter, with increases of around 40 dollars a month for some customers. If you need help, log on to THE WEBSITE WITH A CLICK HERE

Small business owner and nonprofit leader Rebecca Cooke kicked off her campaign for Congress today in Wisconsin’s Third Congressional District. Born and raised on an Eau Claire dairy farm and appointed by Governor Tony Evers to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Rebecca understands the economic and social challenges facing the small towns and rural communities for which she’s fiercely advocated throughout her career, and if successful, she will make history as WI-03’s first Congresswoman. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.

The process to draw Eau Claire’s new political map is underway. The city council has to redraw its district and voting lines this year. That process began yesterday. Eau Claire is hoping to draw a new map and vote on it by the middle of next month. The changes mean some people in Eau Claire will be voting for new city council members, and may mean some people are voting in new polling places.

A second parent is suing over masks at her kids’ school. Gina Kildahl filed a federal lawsuit in Madison earlier this week. She wants the court to order Fall Creek schools to require masks for all kids. Kildahl says her son caught the coronavirus at school. She says he wore a mask, but other students didn’t. Her lawsuit is the second that’s being paid for by the political action committee of progressive candidate and Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad.

Almost all of the counties with the highest coronavirus activity in Wisconsin are small. The state’s Department of Health Services says 17 counties in the state have critically high case activity. Many are in western Wisconsin or the Fox Valley. They all have over 10 percent positivity rates, but that could be a factor of low populations as much as anything else. DHS says the rest of the state hasn’t seen any significant change in its coronavirus activity levels. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM

There will be no water shortage in Eau Claire, even with fewer wells. The city’s Utilities Manager, Lane Berg, yesterday said Eau Claire’s nine remaining wells will provide more than enough water for the city. Eau Claire has taken 16 wells offline because of PFAS contamination. The water from those wells is being dumped. The state is working to figure out just where the PFAS chemicals in the water came from, but figure they came from the airport and the

Eau Claire is once again giving the Express a break on the prices at Carson Park. The city council yesterday approved a plan to cut the Express’ bill for the season by nearly 60 percent. Instead of being charged over 44 thousand-dollars for the use of Carson Park, Eau Claire will now only charge the team 18 thousand. Last year the Express didn’t pay anything. The team says low ticket sales hurt its bottom line this year.

A new report suggests generous welfare payments are keeping some people in Wisconsin from returning to work. The Badger Institute this week released a report that looks at food stamp and temporary assistance spending in the state. The report says more people are getting more money from the government. Food stamp spending in Wisconsin up 167% from before the coronavirus, and food stamp enrollment is up nearly 30 percent. The Badger Institute report says families are getting more per-month than in the past 20

Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is joining the effort to have the U.S. Supreme Court weigh-in on who is classified as a journalist in Wisconsin. Walker yesterday asked the court to take-up the case from the MacIver Institute, which has been barred from Capitol news conferences by Governor Evers. The governor has said MacIver’s news service is biased, but Walker and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty say there’s a bigger First Amendment question of whether public officials should be in the business of

A new survey says the pandemic is forcing many Americans to change when they plan to retire.  Northwestern Mutual found that number to be 35-percent.  Most of those surveyed said they’ll retire later than planned while some will step away from their job even earlier than expected.  The financial services company also found the average age of expected retirement is just below 63-years-old.