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A professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire says the smoky haze from the wildfires in the West is not going to affect air quality. Haze is blanketing the skies over the Midwest this week because of smoke from the wildfires in California and Oregon. Smoke is traveling between 30-and-40-thousand feet above ground in the jet stream. That high up, the smoke won’t affect anyone sensitive to allergens in the air.

Do not wait. That’s the advice from Wisconsin Election Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. She is telling voters across the state to return their absentee ballots as quickly as possible to avoid any problems in getting them to their local clerks, and getting their vote counted. Wolfe yesterday said over a million voters have already requested an absentee ballot. She expects that number to go up. Wolfe said all absentee ballots must be returned to local election clerks by 8 p.m. on Election

The two Eau Claire County board members who want answers about missing and possibly misspent money in the county’s Department of Human Services will have to wait a little longer. A county committee last night scuttled the proposal for a forensic audit at DHS. Supervisors Mark Beckfield and Steve Chilson asked for the audit after a county employee was charged with stealing money from DHS, and after DHS has been seven-and-a-half million-dollars over budget for the past three years.

Wisconsin’s governor says he’ll extend the state’s face mask requirement if he can. The governor told reporters yesterday that he is looking to see if he can extend the mandate past the 28th of this month. The governor is facing a lawsuit from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty that challenges his power to extend his mask order. The Wisconsin Supreme Court back in May also checked the governor’s power when they struck down his Safer at Home order extension as too broad.

Prosecutors in Dunn County are not saying why it took so long to bring felony sexual abuse charges against a man from Boyceville . The D.A. filed three felony charges Monday against 55-year-old Franklin Bignell. Investigators say he repeatedly assaulted a young girl for years. The abuse was reported back in 2004, but no one filed any charges. Bignell faces 120 years in prison if convicted.

After spending the summer on-and-off of Chicago’s travel ban list, Wisconsin is once again on the outs with the city to the south. Chicago yesterday advised people against traveling to Wisconsin because of the coronavirus. There is no ban, just an advisory. Visitors from Wisconsin were told they’d have to quarantine if they went to Chicago this summer. The new advisory skips that for Chicago residents who come to Wisconsin.

There is still no official word on the next step for Big Ten football. A number of news outlets yesterday reported the conference will return to the field, likely on October 17th, but no one is confirming anything. University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says the Big Ten usually announces things as a group, she says football will not be a ‘team by team’ thing. There are however unanswered questions about how a return to football will work, and what has

Wisconsin’s governor says reopening UW campuses was the right call, even if it led to a spike in coronavirus positives. Governor Tony Evers yesterday said he supports the decision to bring students back to campus this fall. Just about every UW school is reporting a jump in positive coronavirus tests since students returned, with UW-Madison seeing the most. The governor says the coronavirus will likely continue to be an issue til at least this time next year.

Pink slips are going-out at Kohl’s headquarters in Menomonee Falls. The company yesterday said it is cutting 15-percent of its workforce there. There’s no word on just how many jobs that will be. Kohl’s Jen Johnson says the move is being driven by the coronavirus. There are no plans to close any stores. Kohl’s laid-off 250 people earlier this year, but that was before the outbreak began.

The Kiwanis Club of Eau Claire, “serving the children of the world” is Eau Claire’s oldest service club and is a part of a global organization committed to serving the world’s children one community at a time. The Kiwanis Club of Eau Claire will be presenting Acres For Joy locatedat E3130 County Rd HH in Eleva, with a check for $25,000 as a part of its 100 year signature project. Acres For Joy, “where horses and humans connect and help