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The state of Wisconsin is asking towns and cities to start testing for a new chemical.  The state’s Department of Natural Resources yesterday sent letters to 125 local water treatment plant asking them to start the tests for chemical pollution.  The chemicals, known better as PFAS, can come from firefighting foam and other industrial uses.  DNR says it wants to see how common PFAS pollution is before coming up with a plan. 

Never pay anybody for work they haven’t done, and never give anyone your banking or insurance information.  That’s the advice for folks in Wisconsin who are cleaning-up after last weekend’s storms.  The Better Business Bureau and local utilities are warning folks in the storm zones about storm related scams.  Many of the scammers offer to help with repairs, then never follow through.  But the BBB is also warning of insurance and bank fraud schemes where scammers call and try and get personal

It is Aviation Week in Wisconsin.  The governor today signed a proclamation celebrating the 130 public airports in the Badger State which accommodated six-million passengers last year.  Oshkosh is hosting the World’s Greatest Aviation celebration  this week.  More than ten-thousand aircraft are available with an estimated 170-million-dollars in sales.  More than half-a-million-people are expected to take in the show which runs through Sunday. 

As tourism grows in the Stevens Point area, so does the need to find places for visitors to stay.  To help expand the availability of short term rentals, Mayor Mike Wiza says the city has completed the process to allow homeowners to offer Airbnb or VRBO rentals.  Homeowners can get more information at Stevens Point-dot-com and search for short-term rentals. 

The Union Pacific Big Boy No. 4014 locomotive will roll into Altoona from the west, tomorrow, Tuesday, July 23rd , at 1 PM. You can see the world’s largest steam engine at the Union Pacific yard adjacent to the 1400 Block of Spooner Avenue between the hours of 2 PM and 5 PM. Union Pacific’s historic Big Boy is touring the Union Pacific system in 2019 to commemorate the transcontinental railroad’s 150th anniversary. The No. 4014 locomotive is the world’s

After a day’s delay due to some nasty weather, the Buffalo County Fair Horse Show took place on Sunday at the Loomis Lazy L Arena in Mondovi, WI. Fourteen 4-H members from Buffalo and Pepin County participated in pleasure competitions in the morning and a gymkhana fun show in the afternoon. Events for premium included Halter, English, Western, and Trail. The horse exhibitors would like to thank Lazy L for the use of their facility, and all of the volunteers

In its 20th year, the Chippewa Valley Book Festival is opening up another chapter this fall. This year’s festival will be held October 21–October 27, 2019. The majority of events are open to the public and are FREE. This year’s festival will feature eighteen authors and more than twenty events. Here are some of the people behind the pen that you can expect to see: Rebecca Makkai – 2019 Pulitzer Prize Finalist, Andrew Carnegie Medal in Fiction, Los Angeles Times Book

A Richland Center man is in custody in connection with a theft from a salvage yard in Viroqua, southeast of La Crosse.  The theft was reported earlier this month and an investigation led to the arrest of Jeremy Stankovich over the weekend.  Stankovich will appear in court on August 7th. 

The County Highway S bridge over Lake Wissota in Chippewa County is closed today.  The bridge is closed for construction and could stay closed for up to three weeks.  Boats can still pass by the bridge but cars are being detoured. 

Thousands of people are still without power because of severe storms over the weekend.  According to Barron Electric, most outages in the area are north of Eau Claire starting near the Village of New Auburn and going north to Cumberland.  At one point last Friday up to ten-thousand people were without power in Barron County.