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 The Department of Workforce Development has plans to boost its call center operations.  The call center has been overwhelmed by people needing help with pandemic unemployment information.  Officials are hiring several hundred more staff to answer phones and expect to have around 500 people working from home to handle questions in the near future.

May is National Foster Care Month and children’s agencies across Wisconsin are hoping more families open their hearts and homes to these kids in need.  There are nearly seven-thousand children in foster care in Wisconsin with over 13-hundred waiting for adoptive families.  Most of the kids are school age five-to-14-year-old. 

The cost for regular gas in Wisconsin is up another dime-a-gallon compared to a week ago.  Triple-A says the average price statewide is a-dollar-76 today.  The national average is one-86.  Drivers in Appleton are paying a-dollar-68-a-gallon which is 67-cents more a gallon than last month.  The price at the pump is one-80 in Eau Claire, a-dollar-71 in Green Bay, one-84 in Milwaukee and a-dollar-71 in Madison.

The Eau Claire Area School District is reaching out to families to ensure asmooth transition as elementary school boundary changes take effect this fall. Last July, the Board of Education approved changing the boundaries for seven of the district’s elementary schools, including Lakeshore, Locust Lane, Longfellow, Northwoods, Roosevelt, Sam Davey and Sherman. The changes were in response to the capacity challenges the district has been experiencing at several schools in recent years. Under the board-approved plan, students entering fifth grade

A volunteer fireman was recenlty arrested for arson. It was on May 14th when the Barron County Sheriff’s Department arrestedb 32 year old Justin Cloud, of Barron. Cloud is being held in the Barron County Jail on 3 Counts of Arson and 3 counts of Reckless Endangering Safety. Over the past month Cloud, who also was a Volunteer Fireman with the Barron Fire Department, set 3 grass fires in the Barron Fire District. Cloud did respond to one of those

Some local health departments are continuing to encourage coronavirus prevention strategies.  After Governor Evers Safer at Home order was struck down by a state supreme court this week, the state has started to reopen and many Wisconsin residents are hoping life can return to normal.  But many counties are warning preventative measures continue to be crucial and more important now than ever.  Health officials said COVID-19 testing will continue to be offered next week, and the health department will work

The farmer’s market is opening this weekend. The Farmer’s Market at Phoenix Park Pavilion begins tomorrow and organizers say it will look a little different this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  Vendors will set up tables in a ‘U’ shape and people will start and end in the same places to monitor how many people are shopping at one time.  Vendors will be spaced at least six-feet apart and purchases of food will come pre-packaged.  Patrons are encouraged to keep

Two people killed in an accident in Wood County are identified. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office said 48-year-old Tia Garcia and 59-year-old Kenneth Szaflarski were killed near the Township of Auburndale yesterday afternoon when their car hit a truck on Highway 10.  Sheriff’s deputies said two people in the truck suffered minor injuries. 

As long as you can maintain social distance, you are free to go out in Eau Claire. That seems to be the overarching approach, but beyond that there are specific guidelines and most people will be taking it day by day as we inch back to business. The best bet so far seems to be checking on an individual basis as counties and businesses make their own decisions about when and how to open doors again. City-County Health director Lieske

For the second time in two weeks more than five thousand people tested negative for the coronavirus in one day. The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday said the latest round of testing produced 393 positive tests and five-thousand-487 negative tests. That is the largest single daily number of negative tests since Wisconsin started testing for the coronavirus in March.