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Nearly 2,100 individuals and businesses have applied to grow or processindustrial hemp in 2019, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection reports, with more applications expected in the next week or so. “This is a dramatic increase from last year,” said Brian Kuhn, director of the department’s Plant Industry Bureau, which houses the hemp program. “We attribute much of the increase to removal of industrial hemp from the controlled substances act as part of the 2018 farm bill late

Two former Eau Claire employers are running out of time to pay enough restitution to avoid more jail time.  If you were paging through the The Leader-Telegram, you likely saw the reports that Larry Lokken and Kay Onarheim have paid almost 70-thousand dollars in restitution for stealing from taxpayers but they still have over 600-thousand dollars left to pay.  If the money isn’t paid in the next 16 months they’ll both serve and extra five years in prison.

It is freezing cold, but not cold enough for folks to get to the ice caves on the Apostle Islands.  The National Parks Service says the ice is too slushy for visitors to head out to the caves on Lake Superior.  This is just the latest disappointment for ice trekkers.  The caves at the islands haven’t been open to visitors since the winter of 2014-2015.  *PHOTO CREDIT: Travel Wisconsin

Eau Claire is about eight inches of snow away from having the snowiest winter on record.  Reports show 81-point-four inches of snow has fallen since July 1st of last year, the fourth most all-time.  If the city gets at least eight inches of snow between now and June 30th, it would break the snowiest year ever in 1996-97 when 89-point-three-inches of snow fell.  Wisconsin police are hoping to be a little less busy responding to crashes this month.  The Wisconsin Department of Transportation

The Eau Claire school board is continuing talks about Memorial High School’s new athletic complex at it’s meeting tonight.  Reports show a proposal is being considered that calls for the school district to match an over one-million-dollar donation made by Eau Claire residents.  With that proposal improvements would include installing artificial turf at the school’s track, resurfacing the track, and installing new lights, among other improvements.  If the proposal is accepted plans are expected to be made by September. 

The number of babies being born in Wisconsin is declining.  According to data from the Department of Health Services, just shy of 65-thousand babies were born in 2017, the lowest since 1973.  A demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says a drop in teen pregnancy is partially responsible for the decline.  He says less than four percent of total births in the state were teen births. 

Wisconsin’s lieutenant governor says Republicans in Madison are violating ‘the will of the people’ by saying ‘No’ to Governor Evers’ new budget.  Mandela Barnes was in Wausau last week to talk about the governor’s proposed state budget.  He says Republicans are living in their own little bubble if they think that can stop the ideas included in the spending plan.  The budget would raise taxes by a billion-dollars over the next two years, and spend six billion more on everything

Local activists are helping community members get involved in the state budget process.  The first of a series of half-day workshops to be held throughout the state took place in Middleton.  Organizers say the workshops are designed to help people learn how the budget process works and how to contact lawmakers with concerns. 

A student-led production in Eau Claire is raising awareness about human trafficking in the area.  Traffick was written, directed, and produced by Memorial High School Documentary Theatre students.  The students held three performances over the weekend at the Haas Fine Arts Center on the UW-Eau Claire campus.  All proceeds from the performances will go to Fierce Freedom, an organization that educates the community about spotting and stopping human trafficking.

The biennial U.S. Championship Cheese Contest is about to begin.  Volunteers spent last Thursday at the WOW Logistics warehouse among 100-million pounds of aging cheese as a backdrop, and unpacked, labeled, and repacked a record over-25-hundred entries for the contest.  The event begins tomorrow in the atrium of Lambeau Field.