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A new chapter is about to begin in Whitehall, as the Public Library is planning to construct a new building.  The library’s director say the temporary space on downtown Main Street is getting cramped.  The organization just received funds from the RCU Foundation’s “Rock the Riverfront” event, which raised more than 27-thousand for three local charities. The library is starting a capital campaign to pay for a new facility and just received a generous gift from a donor who had

Get out the red pen! We have a correction and an update from City Hall as Eau Claire City Council is using another approach to replace former president Kerry Kincaid than was proposed before. We had been talking about a plan to take applications and hear from candidates, followed by a vote for the winner –and that direction was rejected by the Council last night.  Opponents worried about the possible lack of experience of potential candidates.  So the edit is this:

Washington heads to Wisconsin! Trump will be here tomorrow for a big event at electronics manufacturer Foxconn.  The visit comes amid a controversy over Harley Davidson as the Wisconsin-based motorcycle company is having to ship some production overseas because of European tariffs. At the White House yesterday-conflict REVVED up, as Trump said Harley-Davidson is using the tariffs as an excuse to do something they planned to do already.

The chairs are pushed in around the table and we now have a plan from the Eau Claire City Council to replace the group’s president. The discussion at last night’s meeting resulted in the decision to take applications until July 19th before hearing from candidates on July 23rd.  A final vote is set to happen after that with the winning candidate taking over in August.

From the rails to the pedals… Altoona police are TRAINING to bring back and boost their bike patrol. The department is training officers to bike tactically so they can go out into the community to patrol.  The bike patrol squad rolled out in early May and more officers were trained last week.   Interesting side note to kick around during that water cooler talk today: it was on this day in 1819, that the bicycle was patented.

VROOOM! VROOOM! Tariffs are prompting a big change for Harley-Davidson. The Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer will shift some production from the United States to Europe in an effort to save some money.  Harley said the impact of the increase in tariffs could add up to 100-million dollars per year for the company.  About 16-percent of all new Harley-Davidson motorcycles are sold in Europe.

SMILE! Governor Scott Walker declared today “Cheese Day” (I know, I know…isn’t EVERY day sorta cheese day??) Walker will be around our state to announce $700,000 in dairy industry development grants. Q: What do you call cheese that is sad? A: Blue cheese. And on that note: Wisconsin producers are encouraging people to check where their dairy comes from.  Most dairy products are marked with a code that begins with two numbers and ends with one to five characters that can

Another dip is docked in the books. You know it as FATFAR. Quick  lesson from Professor Smartypants. it stands for: The Frenchtown Annual Tube Float And Regatta (Now you know!) It kicked off from Loopy’s yesterday down the Chippewa River despite recent flooding and high water levels.  Tube rentals had been suspended earlier in the week because of safety concerns, but the green light came just before the event made a splash.  Early head count is that more than a

No one is hurt after an aircraft caught fire at the Rice Lake Air Center.  Crews responded to the fire in a twin engine fixed wing aircraft yesterday afternoon on a runway.  There were two people in the plane and both escaped safely.  The pilot reported that something smelled “hot” on take-off and he made an emergency landing.  No word yet on what caused the fire.

A new report is being issued on Wisconsin’s foster care system.  The Speaker’s Task Force On Foster Care was created almost exactly a year ago to develop ideas to improve the child welfare system, which provides out-of-home care for thousands of children in the state, and developed thirteen bills aimed at supporting the system last November, eleven of which were signed into law by Governor Scott Walker. In addition to re-introducing the two bills that were not enacted, the report