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The fountain at Eau Claire’s Wilson Park looks to be on its way out. The city is looking to replace the fountain with a splash pad. The fountain has been out of action since it suffered a ‘catastrophic pipe failure’ last year. Eau Claire says the splash pad will cost about 150 thousand-dollars. The plan is to start work on the new pad this summer.

A new report says Wisconsin schools will get less money next year than they did in 2011. The left-leaning Wisconsin Budget Project yesterday said that inflation-adjusted state aid to schools is down about one percent from a decade ago. The group says that doesn’t include the billions of dollars that local taxpayers have agreed to spend on schools, or the money that Wisconsin is spending for school choice programs. The Budget Project says lawmakers chose to cut taxes over the past decade, rather than spend more

The owner of a Wood County cheese company is charged with stealing from more than 80 dairy farmers.   Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul announced today that Michael Moran, owner of Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Company is charged with felony theft.  He’s accused of forging the names of farmers on underpayment checks and converting the funds for his own use.  The attorney general says the dairy producers suffered over 21-thousand-dollars in losses.

State and local leaders are urging Wisconsin residents to participate and be counted in the 2020 Census.  Forms will be available April 1st by mail and online and Census workers will also be canvassing neighborhoods.  The information collected determines the number of seats each state has in the House of Representatives as well as how much funding will be allocated for community projects.  Each Wisconsin resident generates nearly 16-hundred-dollars in federal funding for critical services in the state.

A pole shed in Elk Mound has over 50-thousand dollars’ worth of damage after a fire.  Fire officials say the fire broke out on 570th Avenue early Wednesday morning and it took about 45 minutes to put out.  There are no reports of injuries and it’s unclear what caused the fire.

Wisconsin lawmakers are looking to have some public employees and school teachers work a bit long. A new plan at the statehouse would raise the retirement age for the Wisconsin Retirement System to 59-and-a-half years-old. That’d be up from the current retirement age of 55. Cops and firefighters would be exempt. The retirement wrinkle is just part of the plan. State Senator Duey Stroebel is including the change as a way to offset his other plan which would allow retired teachers to come

A state lawmaker from Eau Claire wants to phase out the state voucher school program.  Currently families can enroll kids in private schools and still receive tuition assistance from tax dollars.  Earlier this week, Jodi Emerson of Eau Claire co-authored the Public Education Reinvestment Act.  It would do away with the voucher system and reinvest that money into public education.

Wisconsin residents can no longer register online to vote in the Spring Primary but voters can still register in person.  The deadline for registration was yesterday.  Anyone still wanting to vote can bring proof of residence and a photo ID to their precinct on the day of the primary.  It takes place on February 18th.

A new report says almost half of Americans aren’t using all of their vacation time.  According to the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, the lack of vacation takes a toll on the economy.  The department claims the economy would see an increase of about 150-billion dollars and about three-million jobs if all Americans would use all their vacation days.