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The head of Wisconsin’s Election Commission expects to see the number of missing absentee ballots shrink over the next few days. Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe told reporters yesterday that some of the gap between the number of ballots sent-out and the number of ballots returned by voters is a data entry issue. She says clerks have not reported all of their ballots yet. Wolfe said the commission is looking into reports of ballots from Oshkosh and Appleton that were found at

There are only three things that the DMV will do for folks in Wisconsin until the coronavirus outbreak is over. The Department of Transportation yesterday essentially closed all DMV offices in the state. People who need a CDL, a voter ID, or people who are new to Wisconsin and need a driver’s license can still get them by appointment-only. All other in-person visits to the DMV are being put on hold.

Wisconsin’s coronavirus count has passed a milestone. The state’s Department of Health Services yesterday said more than 100 people have now died from the virus. The official count late last night was 105 dead, and two-thousand-817 people infected. Less than 30-percent of people who are confirmed to have the virus have been to the hospital. Another 30-thousand people in the state have been tested and confirmed not to be sick. As far as locally, there are a few new cases

An Iowa man will not go to prison for stabbing a co-worker in a Chippewa Falls parking lot last October. A judge yesterday sentenced Anthony Avila to two years of probation. Avila pleaded guilty back in January to substantial battery charges. The victim in the stabbing survived.

Western Wisconsin’s congressman doesn’t want veterans to have to fill-out forms or wait for a stimulus check. Congressman Ron Kind yesterday wrote a letter to the IRS saying that veterans who are collecting their pensions should automatically get a check as part of the coronavirus relief stimulus. Kind says that would benefit hundreds of thousands of vets who do not file taxes each year.

Not even the Marshfield Health System is immune from the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. The hospital system yesterday announced that it is furloughing some workers. The furloughs will not apply to frontline healthcare workers, but there is no word as to just who will be sent home or from which hospital. Marshfield says it has had to reschedule non-emergency procedures, and close some clinic locations because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Kids in Altoona, like the rest of Wisconsin, can’t go to school. So teachers in Altoona decided to bring the school to them, kind of. Teachers drove through Altoona yesterday to parade for their students. Teacher Erin Lynees says it’s a way to show kids that they are still connected, even though school is on-hold.

The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in Wisconsin has risen by at least seven from yesterday.  The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says there have been 99 deaths from COVID 19 in the state.  But the DHS didn’t include two victims later reported in Milwaukee County which would bring the total to 101 deaths.  The state had an increase of 178 positive cases reported in the last 24 hours.

The Eau Claire County Parks & Forest Department announces that the Lake Altoona water level will begin to be raised to normal summer elevation beginning on Monday, April 20th. It has been determined that ice-off conditions now exist on the lake. Lake front property owners will have through April 19 to do any lake front improvements to their property before the level begins to rise on April 20. It is expected the lake level will be back to the normal

Senator Bernie Sanders is bowing out of the Democratic presidential race.  That clears the path for former VP Joe Biden to become the party’s nominee.  Speaking from his home state of Vermont, Sanders thanked supporters and said he’s proud that he was able to bypass a “corrupt” campaign finance system to fund his campaign.  The 78-year-old Sanders has long-called himself an independent “democratic socialist.”  He also ran for president in 2016, but lost to Hillary Clinton.