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There’s new talk of a merger between Eau Claire and Altoona’s fire departments. Eau Claire Deputy Chief Matt Jagger says the city already provides EMS service for Altoona, and there have been talks about a full fire merger in the past. He says the new talks are not yet final. The biggest sticking point will be the cost. Both cities say they will need to add new equipment, and Altoona may have to hire more full time firefighters. No one

Eau Claire school board members are saying No to a push to teach ‘voter education’ as part of the regular lesson plan. The school board on Monday rejected a resolution being pushed by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards that would add voter education classes as part of a ‘well-rounded education.’ Board member Marquell Johnson says some parents may see teaching voter education as indoctrinating students. The Association of School Boards has a long list of resolutions it wants to see local

School leaders in Altoona are looking to ask taxpayers for money this spring. The city’s school board will vote tomorrow night on whether to put a 26 million-dollar tax hike on the April ballot. Superintendent Heidi Eliopoulos says they want to buy the National Business Institute and turn it into an elementary school. Eliopoulos says Altoona is growing, and that means the city’s schools need to grow as well.

Expect a lot more burgers and root beer floats on the menu for folks in Altoona. The new A&W in the city opened yesterday, and as expected there was a crowd waiting for those cheese curds and happy to get a float for lunch!

The owners of the recycling center that burned in Whitewater are promising to rebuild. Manager Dan Jongetjes with John’s Disposal says they will use this week’s fire as motivation to come back stronger. He said the business is ‘here to stay.’ Fire investigators have not yet said what caused the fire that gutted part of John’s main building. Whitewater leaders say none of John’s garbage trucks were damaged, so garbage and recycling service in the city shouldn’t be too disrupted.

  The University Club on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus will reopen later this month.  The University of Wisconsin announced this week the University Club will reopen on January 23rd with a new casual dining concept called University Commons.  The University Club closed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and was unable to reopen because of financial losses.  Now the Wisconsin Union is managing the club and has support from over 400 Wisconsin Union staff and students.

Wisconsin ranks second-to-last when it comes to racial progress.  That’s according to a new study from WalletHub, which puts Wisconsin only ahead of Washington, DC.  WalletHub says it uses 21 key indicators of equality and integration to make its rankings, and Wisconsin ranks in the bottom five in eight of them.  Wisconsin also ranks last in racial poverty rate gap.  WalletHub says the state with the most racial progress is Hawaii.  Washington, DC has the least.

On Monday, January 9, 2023, at 5:57 p.m., the Barron County 911 Center received a call of a structure fire at 1285 2nd Street, Turtle Lake. The report came in that a male subject may still be in the residence. Deputies from the Barron County Sheriff’s Department along with the Turtle Lake Fire Department, Cumberland Ambulance, Turtle Lake Police Department and the WI State Patrol all responded to thescene. The Turtle Lake Fire Department upon arrival started an immediate attack

There won’t be any movement in Lily Peters’ murder case until the summer. The judge in the case yesterday turned down a request from the D.A.’s office to move the hearing on whether the suspect in the case should be tried as an adult from August til June. The suspect’s lawyer says he cannot move the case up on his schedule. Once the juvenile court hearing is done, it will likely be several more months before the case actually gets

A new jury is hearing the evidence against a Kenosha County man who was originally convicted of killing his wife back in 1998. The Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Mark Jansen back in 2021, and banned prosecutors from using a letter from his dead wife that said Jansen should be the suspect if anything ever happened to her. That letter was key in the first trial. Jansen’s second trial started in Kenosha yesterday. His first trial lasted seven weeks,