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The nationwide search for a missing Barron teen continues, while comfort dogs and counselors are being sent to the area school district to provide support.  Classmates, friends and staff are being helped to cope with the anxiety surrounding missing 13-year-old Jayme Closs.  Closs disappeared shortly after her parents were murdered early Monday morning in their home in Barron.  She is considered endangered and the Barren County sheriff is asking hunters to check out their cabins and property and report if

The state unemployment rate remains at three-percent or less for the eighth straight month.  The Department of Workforce Development released preliminary estimates for September showing the state added about 36-thousand private-sector jobs from September 2017 to September 2018.  There were about 23-thousand manufacturing jobs added over the same 12-month-period.   The record low for state unemployment was set in April at two-point-eight-percent.  

A bump in funding could send money to mental health. Some Dunn County supervisors are concerned about drug and mental health costs in relation to the 2019 county budget.  The budget was presented at a meeting last night and the Health and Human Services Department is considering a two-million dollar increase over last year’s budget to cover growing expenditures.  The potential two-million increase would raise the budget from ten-point-eight-million dollars to twelve-point-eight-million dollars.

Now we’re cooking…literally! Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Culinary Management teaching kitchen is now a certified practical test site.  The American Culinary Federation approved the state of the art kitchen to certify culinarians on over a dozen different levels based on education, experience, and exam scores.  Previously, students had to travel to either Minnesota, Madison, or Fox Valley to get their certification.  The kitchen’s first test date was last weekend.

After a press conference yesterday, we know a little bit more but there are still more questions than answers. The Barron County Sheriff says Jayme Closs was in the home at the time her parents were murdered.  James and Denise Closs’s deaths have been ruled a homicide by gunshot, as authorities continue to search for 13-year-old Jayme. The circumstances of their deaths remain unclear.  Police responded to the home early Monday morning after a 911 call that had no communication. The

Fake cash leads to charges for three people involved in a counterfeit money operation at an Eau Claire hotel.  Police say the suspects were running the operation out of the Quality Inn on Craig Road.  The arrests were made yesterday at the hotel and at the Walgreens on South Hastings Way.  Police say about a half dozen or so businesses were affected by the operation. 

President Trump will hold a campaign rally next week near Wausau.  He will be joined by Governor Walker, who faces a tough re-election battle with Democratic State Superintendent Tony Evers.  The president will also be advocating for Republican Senate challenger Leah Vukmir.  The rally will be at the Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee.

Chippewa County is looking at adding a second business park.  The county says it’s working on a strategic plan for the new park.  Officials are doing a feasibility study on the value of another industrial park.  The Lake Wissota Business Park has grown significantly over the past few years. 

A pilot program is looking to put drug-offenders in treatment rather than in jail.  Under the new program, people who commit nonviolent offenses because of an addiction to opiates or meth will be offered a choice between jail or rehab.  The state Department of Justice is making over 260-thousand dollars available for the two-year project.

Several sites in Eau Claire will be drop-off locations collecting shoebox gifts for children overseas.  Operation Christmas Child’s National Collection Week begins November 12th and Eau-Claire area residents hope to collect more than 52-hundred shoeboxes of gifts.  The Samaritan’s Purse sponsors the program.