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It’s finally cold enough for ice skating in Eau Claire. The city says it is opening its rinks today. That means rinks in Boyd Park, Demmler Park, Oakwood Hills, Pinehurst Park, Putnam Heights, Roosevelt Park, and Sam Davey Park are all open. Eau Claire is keeping its warming shelters closed because of the coronavirus, and park managers are asking people to please wear a mask.

The top Republican in the Wisconsin Senate says shifting unemployment cases is not the same thing as making sure people are getting paid. The Department of Workforce Development yesterday said it has cleared the state’s months-long unemployment backlog. Thousands of people have waited months, some since March, to get their unemployment checks. DWD says they have sent all remaining claims to adjudication. But in-coming Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu yesterday said that’s a shift, not a clearance. LeMahieu said thousands of people

Most schools in Wisconsin were able to limp through last spring’s coronavirus shutdowns. A new report from the state’s Department of Public Instruction says 97 percent of schools in the state offered some sort of online classes in the spring. Those schools taught at least 80 percent of what kids were supposed to learn, though some only taught about 60 percent of the curriculum. DPI says while schools were closed, most kept all of their teachers, administrators, and support staff members on

Wisconsin’s Republican U.S. senator continues to say that most Americans don’t need two thousand-dollar checks from the federal government. Senator Ron Johnson told Fox News yesterday that he’d rather see more targeted coronavirus relief for people who really need the help. Johnson says two thousand-dollar checks would mean eight thousand-dollars for a family of four, but would also add 464 billion to the national debt. Johnson says someone will eventually have to pay that bill.

Wisconsin Health Department officials are confirming 27-hundred-and-55 new coronavirus cases in the last day.  The total number of confirmed cases statewide now tops 477-thousand with nearly 28-thousand cases still active.  There were 35 additional death reported today raising the death toll in Wisconsin from COVID-19 to four-thousand-818. CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM WI DHS

Flags will fly at half-staff on Saturday to honor a volunteer fire chief who died from coronavirus.  Governor Tony Evers today ordered flags lowered on state buildings in honor of Chief Donald Kittleson of the Clayton Volunteer Fire Department.  Kittleson died December 17th after contracting COVID-19 on the job.

Looking for something SAFE and FUN to do this weekend?  Get out and enjoy the Sculpture Tour, and your last chance to vote for People’s Choice!  To provide an entertainment option for New Year’s weekend, Sculpture Tour has extended the vote for People’s Choice until Sunday night at Midnight.  You can walk off some of those Christmas calories, it’s easy to safe distance, you’re outside, you can hit the after Christmas specials at downtown shops and galleries…AND you get to help

 Joe Clark, who inspired the 1989 movie “Lean on Me,” has died in Gainesville, Florida at the age of 82.  Sara Lee Kessler reports. Photo Credit: deadline.com

Iowa-based Hy-Vee is joining other pharmacies in giving COVID-19 vaccinations to people in long-term care facilities and nursing homes. About a month ago, Hy-Vee advertised for 500 pharmacy technicians for its vaccination program and they gave their first vaccines at a nursing home in Minnesota Tuesday. Hy-Vee says 100 residents and staff at the healthcare facility were given the Moderna vaccine. They’ll get another shot in 28 days.  Hy-Vee is expanding its vaccination outreach in Wisconsin and in eight Midwestern states. 

The Eau Claire City-County Health Department wants to know what your top health concerns are. A community health survey for Chippewa and Eau Claire counties is available online. The health department says they need public input to make health improvement efforts over the next three years.  CLICK HERE TO CHIME IN