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The Wisconsin Department of Health Services yesterday recommended against trick-or-treating this year. DHS says going house-to-house is not a good idea in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, and that kids and parents will be outside doesn’t matter. DHS says there is a risk of spreading the virus. Ultimately, it will be up to local cities and towns to decide about trick-or-treating. This, as the CDC is out with new guidance for Halloween in hopes of preventing trick-or-treating becoming a super spreader

The list of people waiting to hear from Wisconsin’s unemployment office is growing. The Department of Workforce Development yesterday said over 700 thousand claims are waiting to be processed. Some of those claims date back to March. DWD is not offering an explanation as to why so many people are in limbo over their jobless claims. The governor last week asked the former head at DWD to resign.

The state of Wisconsin is back on Chicago’s travel ban list. Chicago yesterday added Wisconsin to its list of places where visitors who come to the city must quarantine for two weeks before heading out. Wisconsin spent the summer coming-on and jumping-off the list. Chicago’s public health managers say the recent spikes in coronavirus positives in Wisconsin makes the state too risky. City health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady says Wisconsin is in “poor control” when it comes to COVID-19.  Wisconsin, Montana, Idaho, Minnesota and Puerto Rico will be added to

The coronavirus didn’t scare anyone away from UW-Madison. The school yesterday said it set a record for enrollment this fall, with 45-thousand-537 students. That’s up about 200 students from last year. This year’s freshman class has just over seven-thousand-300 students, that is down a bit from last year. UW-Madison says 64 percent of students are either from Wisconsin or Minnesota, which offers in-state tuition.

The doors at Eau Claire’s Children’s Museum will stay locked for a while. Museum managers yesterday said the museum will not reopen before sometime in 2022. Museum director Michael McHorney says the coronavirus wiped-out the museum’s ability to stay open. McHorney originally said the museum would close for good, but yesterday said the museum will be a part of Eau Claire’s future, in one shape or another.

Students at UW-La Crosse who went home during the school’s coronavirus lockdown are going to have to prove they are not sick to get back on campus. The university yesterday released its reopening plan. The 15 hundred or so students who went home this month will need to provide a negative coronavirus test, or test negative before they can return to campus. About 15 hundred other students stayed on campus during the lockdown, they will simply have to be tested

The Chippewa County Sex Offender Notification Committee has determined that a Level III notification would be undertaken in regard to the community placement of convicted sex offender Donald A Newell who will be released from the Wisconsin Department of Corrections on September 29th. Newell will return to Chippewa County where he is required to live. At this time the Department of Corrections does not have a permanent address for Donald Newell and will consider him homeless once released.   Donald Newell

Governor Tony Evers is extending the COVID-19 mask mandate.  The governor signed a new order today which will remain in effect through November 21st.  The extension is part of a new emergency declaration prompted by the surging number of coronavirus cases on college campuses.

It is National Voter Registration Day and the final push is on to get Americans 18-years-old and older to register to cast their ballots for November’s general election.  The deadline to register is 29 days prior to the election which this year is October 5th.  The city of Madison’s clerk’s office has over 230 voter registration drives scheduled this week and many voters will be able to register from home at: My Vote-dot-Wi-dot-gov. 

U.S. News & World Report ranks Ozaukee County one of the healthiest communities in the country.  In a survey released today the county received high marks for population health, their economy and infrastructure, education and public safety.  In the final analysis U.S. News rated Ozaukee County at number-11 on the list of the country’s 500 healthiest communities.