The April local unemployment rates show the effects of the statewide Safer at Home order on communities across the state. The city of Fond du Lac’s April unemployment rate was 18.2 percent, after a March rate of just 2.9 percent. Fond du lac County’s jobless rate last month was 16.3 percent and the unemployment rate in Dodge County was 12 percent. Fitchburg had the lowest unemployment rate in the state at 9.9 percent […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Republicans at a sometimes heated legislative hearing are faulting leaders in Gov. Tony Evers' administration for not doing enough to ensure unemployment claims are processed quickly during the pandemic. Wednesday’s hearing laid bare the partisan debate over who is to blame for the backlog of unprocessed claims. Republicans accuse Department of Workforce Development Secretary Caleb Frostman of not being prepared for the surge in unemployment applications […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers says that Wisconsin local governments will share in $200 million from the federal coronavirus relief bill to help with expenses related to the pandemic. Evers on Wednesday announced that $190 million will be allocated to every Wisconsin county, city, village and town based on a formula that takes into account population. Federally recognized American Indian tribes will share $10 million. The money can […]
Wisconsin National Guard specimen collection teams collected over 4,100 specimens May 26 and its cumulative total collected for COVID-19 testing topped 72,000 as 25 teams continue to operate across Wisconsin supporting local health departments and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services with COVID-19 testing efforts. The teams, comprised of more than 600 Citizen Soldiers and Airmen in total, established mobile testing sites at locations ranging from correctional facilities and health […]
Wisconsin Democratic U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin has introduced bipartisan legislation designed to help the agriculture economy and food supply chain with the tools needed to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Baldwin says the Farming Support to States Act would provide $1 billion for food and agriculture aid to states, with substantial funding targeted to states based on their contributions to regional and national food systems. Baldwin says as agricultural prices plummet, farmers […]
Republican state representative Joan Ballweg of Markesan says her office is helping residents who have been waiting for weeks to receive their unemployment benefits. While the state’s unemployment soared to 14.1 percent in April, so has the criticism over the speed in processing claims for benefits. As of last week more than two million weekly claims had been filed, but more than 675,000 were unpaid. Ballweg says her office is […]
The Better Business Bureau Serving Wisconsin is warning residents about a new scam involving COVID-19 tests. The BBB’s Susan Bach says the scam offers people at home test kits to learn if they have been infected with the coronavirus. Bach says don’t fall for it. Bach says the tests are not FDA approved and you probably won’t even receive an actual test kit. Bach says most of the scams are being […]
The Fond du Lac County Public Health Officer says there was another significant jump in COVID-19 cases over the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Public Health Officer Kim Mueller says there were 25 new cases reported over the weekend bringing to 182, the total number of positive cases in Fond du Lac County. Mueller says a lot of the people who tested positive were already quarantining themselves because of their exposure […]
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin circuit courts can to resume in-person hearings and jury trials if they create plans to protect participants and observers from the coronavirus. The state Supreme Court suspended in-person hearings and jury trials in March, ordering judges to move trials to a date after May 22. The court late Friday allowed circuit courts to resume in-person proceedings on a county-by-county basis if each court prepares a […]