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Police suspect an animal rights group is behind a recent string of deer stand vandalism cases as local Dunn County hunters are fed up.  Law enforcement calls the Animal Liberation Front a “terroristic organization” that operates in 40 different countries, and says that they are behind at least three vandalism cases in the county this year.  Investigators are offering a seventeen-hundred dollar reward for information leading to an arrest in these cases.

Eau Claire residents are urged to attend Friday night’s first citywide summit organized by local council members.  It starts at five o’clock at the Grace Lutheran Church on West Grand Avenue where council members and other city officials will be on-hand to answer questions from residents.  No registration is necessary, but officials are encouraging residents to arrive early.

This year’s Chippewa Falls Oktoberfest is giving back to the local community in a big way.  More than seventeen-thousand dollars was donated to local community groups courtesy of the Oktoberfest Festmeister and Festmeisterin Thursday, all raised through donations at the three-day event in September.  The money will be split among thirty-five groups who helped in the planning and execution of the German heritage event.

The new “boot and tow” program is paying dividends for the La Crosse Police Department in its first year.  The department says it has collected about seventy-seven-thousand dollars in fines since last year.  Nearly two-hundred and thirty vehicles have been booted due to lack of payment on previous tickets.  After a boot is placed on a vehicle, the owner has 24 hours to contact authorities before being towed.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Western Wisconsin is celebrating another successful Harvest Gala after Thursday night’s event at the Florian Gardens in Eau Claire.  The night was highlighted by guest speaker Sally Schaeffer, Senior Director of the Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy Institute, who lost her seven-year-old daughter to epilepsy on Mother’s Day back in 2014.  Since that day, Schaeffer says she’s dedicated her life to sudden death awareness, teaming up with other parents who have lost their children to the disease.   

The statewide jobless rate has risen for the third straight month.  The latest unemployment rate for Wisconsin is three-point-three percent, up from a flat three percent in October.  The number is still historically low but they also continue a trend of higher year-over-year increases that began three months ago.  On the other hand, one local economist says the rate was so low early this year, it could only go up.

A new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows that taxes that residents pay as part of their personal income have dropped over the last 20 years.  The report shows the two percent drop is one of the largest in the nation but the state still ranks 19th highest in state taxes.  That’s according to U.S. Census data for 2017.

With winter bearing down on the state, Governor Tony Evers is asking Republican budget leaders to release funding for homeless programs.  The three-point-seven million dollars would go toward emergency shelters and help low-income people with housing costs.  The funding passed the Assembly but is stalled in the State Senate.

Today, Governor Evers issued an Executive Order, relating to a proclamation that the flag of the United States and the flag of the State of Wisconsin be flown at half-staff as a mark of respect for Army Pfc. Eugene E. Lochowicz. You will see the flags flown at half staff beginning on sunrise Saturday, November 16, 2019 and ending at sunset.

A man is in U.S. Marshals custody after a two-state chase that ended in Saint Croix County.  The county sheriff’s office says it was notified that U.S. Marshals were chasing a sexual assault and kidnapping suspect heading into Wisconsin from Minnesota Wednesday afternoon.  A deputy was able to wreck the suspect’s truck on Highway 35 near Hudson, leading to his arrest.