Home

Eau Claire’s Catholic schools are giving parents an option to let kids learn from home this fall. The plan for Regis Catholic Schools is for in-person classes, five days a week. There is also a virtual option. Regis Schools’ President Kelly Mechelke says they are working with the city-county health department to make sure kids are safe and socially distanced when they come back to class in two weeks. CLICK FOR MORE INFO

 If you were at Half Moon Beach in Eau Claire on Monday, you may want to get a coronavirus test. The city-county health department yesterday said it traced a coronavirus case back to the beach. The person who tested positive says they were at the beach in the afternoon and evening.

UW President Tommy Thompson is talking about the benefits of borrowing a billion-dollars to get past the coronavirus, but he is not saying how the school would pay the money back. Thompson yesterday told UW Regents they need the power to borrow to cover the school’s coronavirus losses. He said most six billion-dollar entities have their own lines of credit. State lawmakers will have to agree to the borrowing. That may be tough, given the two billion-dollar deficit Wisconsin will likely face

The state of Wisconsin is giving people more time to pay their power bill. The state’s Public Service Commission yesterday agreed to extend the ban on utility disconnections until October 1st. Power companies in the state have been banned from shutting-off service since March. Wisconsin’s yearly winter utility disconnection moratorium is set to begin November 1st. The PSC is suggesting that people who are behind on their bills make payment arrangements as soon as possible.

Getting into the University of Wisconsin-Madison just got easier for high school juniors and seniors. UW Regents yesterday agreed to not require an SAT or ACT test for two more years. That means students applying until the 2023 school year don’t have to take a standardized test. Regents say the coronavirus’ disruption to high schools is leaving many students without a chance to take the test. UW-Madison has said for years it wants to move away from test scores, and instead

Kayne West’s bid to be on the Wisconsin ballot this November is over. The state’s Election Commission yesterday voted not to put West on the ballot because he missed the state’s filing deadline by several minutes. West’s lawyers said they were 14 seconds late last week. The Election Commission says the campaign was actually several minutes past the 5 p.m. deadline. Republicans in Wisconsin are not happy with the decision, Democrats in the state say they are glad to see that West cannot potentially

Wisconsin Health officials say 740 new coronavirus cases and seven deaths are confirmed in the last 24 hours.  There have been 39 people hospitalized in that time and the positivity rate has risen slightly to seven-point-five-percent.  The seven-day average is 718 new cases per day.  The seven additional deaths brings the total number of lives lost to the virus to one-thousand-and-67.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development says the state’s unemployment rate dropped from eight-point-six-percent in June to seven-percent in July.  The national unemployment rate released today is ten-point-two-percent.  Despite the decrease, Wisconsin’s jobless rate is more than double what it was this time last year.

A third suspect is in custody in connection to the shooting death of an eleven-year-old girl.  Madison police say 17-year-old Jerry Ward is booked into the Dane County Jail on a looting charge related to protests on State Street.  But police are referring charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder to the Dane County District Attorney in relation to Anisa Scott’s death.