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Eau Claire city buses are making a change to a popular route past a former K-mart.  Eau Claire Transit says buses used to stop at the store on East Clairemont Avenue but they won’t anymore because of its deteriorated parking lot.  Instead, buses will now use nearby Ridge Road just to the north.  The K-mart that used be on the East Clairemont parking lot has been closed since 2015.

They ‘threw out the trash,’ that’s how Milwaukee police say a local woman described helping Dariaz Higgins dispose of his daughter’s body.  Prosecutors yesterday charged Deloise Lipsey with aiding a felon.  They say she was at Higgins’ side the entire time he was on the run from police, including when he dumped his daughter’s body in rural Minnesota. 

Hansen’s IGA is taking over the Gordy’s on West Clairemont Avenue in Eau Claire.  That location is the only Gordy’s not sold to Nash Finch at auction.  The store is expected to open in mid-April.  There is no word if the store will close during the transition.  They plan to retain all current employees.   

A new report is showing the financial stress affecting Wisconsin dairy farmers.  The report released yesterday indicated that there were 50 cases of farmers filing Chapter 12 Bankruptcy between June 2017 and June 2018.  That’s an increase of a dozen, with 28 of the cases located in the Western District. 

The first woman who helped Jayme Closs to safety after she escaped her alleged abductor is being recognized.  Jeanne Nutter was among six child welfare professionals honored in Madison yesterday with the 2019 Caring for Kids award by the Department of Children and Families.  Nutter was walking her dog in rural Gordon when Closs approached her for help after escaping the home of alleged captor Jake Patterson.

Candidates for five at-large seats on the Eau Claire City Council are meeting with voters.  CVTC’s Business Education Center was the site of a candidate forum and meet and greet last night.  The event had been delayed six weeks because of winter weather.  The top five vote-getters of the ten candidates will each serve a three-year term in at-large seats on the council.

A decision by the State Building Commission could impact UW-Eau Claire’s Phillips Science Hall project.  The commission didn’t recommend any capital building projects proposed by Governor Evers, but also didn’t exclude any.  The 109 million dollar investment would help to replace the science hall building constructed in 1963.  The current building has major issues, including the lack of a fire sprinkler system.

The Wisconsin DOJ is withdrawing the state from a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act  [[ ACA ]].  Governor Evers said throughout his campaign that he intended to pull the state out of the ACA lawsuit, but his effort was stopped when Republicans passed lame-duck laws last session limiting his authority.  Today, Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess issued a temporary injunction blocking the lame-duck laws and State Attorney General Josh Kaul submitted a series of filings

The Wisconsin unemployment rate is down to a near-record low.  The Department of Workforce Development released its numbers today showing the state’s jobless rate dropping to two-point-nine-percent in February from the three-percent reported over the prior five months.  The record low for the state is two-point-eight-percent reached in April 2018. 

An employee with the City of La Crosse is charged with possessing child pornography.  Francis Devine is a La Crosse Division Fire Chief and he was charged yesterday.  A criminal complaint shows he was arrested over the weekend after a tip came in to the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children.  Devine has been working for the city for 19 years and has been put on administrative leave.