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Drinking, a lack of child care options, and the area’s closed hospitals are the top health priorities in the Chippewa Valley. Public health managers unveiled the results of their community survey yesterday Alcohol misuse,  accessible child care, and access to health care topped the list. Dunn County Health Department director KT Gallagher said the survey looked at each of the five counties in the Chippewa Valley, but those three were the top priorities in each county. She said the public

The search for a missing western Wisconsin woman has come to a happy end. The sheriff in Burnett County says they found 22-year-old Ashley Janisch yesterday in Forest Lake, Minnesota. She’d been missing since Sunday when she left her group home in Meenon Township. Ashley suffers from cognitive delays, and is under a court order to stay at the group home. The sheriff’s office says deputies got a tip that someone rented Ashley a hotel room in Forest Lake. Local

Wisconsin lawmakers are ready to look at the future for the University of Wisconsin. The legislature’s Study Committee on the Future of the University of Wisconsin System will meet for the first time tomorrow. The idea is to look at the trends that are impacting the university, as well as look at what the university’s needs are moving forward. There’s no specific goal to make cuts or close campuses, but that will surely be part of the committee’s discussions. The

Wisconsin’s election managers will talk about ballot drop boxes tomorrow. The Wisconsin Elections Commission will meet to plan out the guidance it will provide to the state’s election clerks about ballot drop boxes. The Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated drop boxes in a ruling last week. Now, the Elections Commission needs to set the rules. Ballot drop boxes were last used in 2022, and Election Commission managers say things have changed since then. The Commission says it will not be able

Advocates and the families of people in Wisconsin’s prisons addressed lawmakers yesterday and asked for accountability and outside oversight. Lawmakers listened to hours of testimony yesterday as part of their effort to get answers about the problems inside Wisconsin’s prisons. One group of advocates suggested a Minnesota-style ombudsman program that can both hold guards and wardens accountable, and be a place for inmates and their families to go with complaints. Prison officials say the problems continue to lie with a

There is more work coming for the crews at Oshkosh Defense. The company this week said it landed a contract to build heavy tactical vehicles for the military. The 232 million-dollar order will see more tactical vehicles built, as well as upgrade kits for older ones. The new order comes after Oshkosh announced a 27 million-dollar contract for military trailers last month. Oshkosh also got a 200 million-dollar deal last fall to build other military vehicles.

A pair of Wisconsin resorts made the best-of list for Travel + Leisure magazine. The magazine is out with its list of favorite travel destinations, and the Sundara Inn & Spa in Wisconsin Dells topped the list for destination spa. Sundara is the only one of the 15 spas on Travel + Leisure’s list that is in the Midwest. Kohler’s American Club Resort Hotel also made the best-of list. It is ranked eighth on the magazine’s 10 favorite resorts in

More than 18-thousand-500 riders used a new Amtrak train with stops in Wisconsin in its first full month of operation. The Borealis train runs both ways from Chicago to the Twin Cities, and stops in Milwaukee. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says it’s the first service expansion in longer than two decades. One train leaves Saint-Paul at midday, and another leaves Chicago in the late morning.

Crisis response readiness trainings will be held at schools across Wisconsin over the summer. The state Office of School Safety will hold the trainings about a standardized, action-based, and practical response to emergencies in schools. These emergencies include fires, natural disasters, and threats or acts of violence. Trainings will be one day only and have both lectures and hands-on scenario practice.  

Eau Claire, WI will host the 17th annual Kubb National Championships this weekend, July 12 – 14th, at the Eau Claire Soccer Park. This year’s event boasts teams and players from over 25+ different states and Belgium. The event is the 2nd largest Kubb tournament in the world, with an expansion from 128 teams in 2023 to 144 teams this year. Registration for this year’s tournament field filled up in 40 hours. The games begin on Friday with The U.S