News and Media

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -Maybe you’ve eyed the complex ropes course on the UW Eau Claire campus, wondering what it would be like to climb among the clouds? Well, once again this summer, you can! “We have that two hour program and that’s really strictly designed as a recreational experience, grou...Continue Reading

Nine and one-half years after it opened, Ray’s Market, Ridgeland, is about to change hands. Owner Ray Glaser has sold the business to longtime employee Ashlee Coates, of Colfax. She will take over on July 1, 2022. Coates, who has been working at the market for just over three and one-half years...Continue Reading

Northland Technical College in Rice Lake hosted a visit by Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday afternoon, when he congratulated the college and its partners — in the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and Impact Seven — on winning a $9.8 million grant for its Housing Opportunity and Mobile Education Solutions (HOMES...Continue Reading

Gov. Tony Evers is announcing up to $19.5 million in grants through the Workforce Innovation Grant Program will be awarded to Lakeshore Technical College, the Wisconsin Forestry Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and Northwood Technical College for projects that support long-term solutions to Wisconsin’s workforce challenges and promot...Continue Reading

Fifteen high school students from northwestern Wisconsin recently visited University of Wisconsin-Stout to participate in workshops that focused on STEM. As participants in the Upward Bound program, they tour and participate in many activities on campuses around Wisconsin and Minnesota. UW-Stout welcomed the students with three workshops that demonstrated what a polytechni...Continue Reading

For this local family, visiting their favorite place – Hawaii – and eating the local cuisine didn’t just give them years of memories, it gave them inspiration.  Ohana Pizza Company food truck owners Brandon and Jenni Balts are Wisconsinites through and through. Brandon grew up in Cameron before making his wa...Continue Reading

LOYAL, Wis. (WEAU) -Farmers across the Midwest are getting ready for Wisconsin Farm Technology Days next month. That’s especially true for the future site of this year’s event, Roehl Acres in Clark County. During the last three years, the 55-year-old family farm in Loyal has been working with Focus on Energy an...Continue Reading

Recently, Elon Musk announced plans for the Tesla Bot, a humanoid robot that stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall. Musk said the robot “probably won’t work.” I hope he is wrong. Many people have an adverse reaction to discussions of automation and artificial intelligence. While I understand those fears, I believ...Continue Reading

It’s one thing to come up with clever business ideas. It’s another thing to get them smoothly from planning to execution. The road to innovation is paved with plenty of detours, potholes, and one-way streets. While some of them are unavoidable and unexpected—like a global pandemic—others can be anticipated. And tha...Continue Reading

The University of Wisconsin-River Falls expects to begin construction next year on a $117 million academic building aimed at addressing growing demand for science and technology-related degrees. Now, the project must get the approval of the state Building Commission, which rejected the proposal during the 2021 state budget process. During it...Continue Reading

Over the past couple of months, CEDC has been discussing ways to improve and grow our quality workforce. Throughout many of our Business Retention and Expansion (BEAR) visits with local employers, the topic of worker depression and mental health arises in the conversation as an issue. That is in par...Continue Reading

This is what we call an all-in-one sports experience! Valley Sports Academy held A ribbon-cutting ceremony on Monday, June 13, welcoming local businesses and community members into the facility to meet the directors and coaches and tour the space. Valley Sports Academy is a 116,000-square-foot, multi-sport training facility in Lak...Continue Reading

After four years of serving the Chippewa Valley music scene, a local music shop is taking its next big step. Bennett Guitar Company is a musical repair, retail, music lesson, and service shop located in Artisan Forge Studios in Eau Claire. Dallas Bennett opened the business in 2018, and since the...Continue Reading

It is a thrilling time to be in the life sciences. Investment and employment in this sector have seen unprecedented gains, especially since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, the speed of innovation has accelerated, as demonstrated by the rapid development and production of mRNA COVID-1...Continue Reading

One of the major societal effects of the Covid-19 pandemic — aka The Big Reset — has been rapid and widespread growth of remote work, as companies allow more employees to perform tasks from their homes…or elsewhere. The biggest shift has been among office-based businesses, which require fewer on-site worker...Continue Reading

The head of Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) says the state’s “entrepreneurial spirit” is reflected in the 42 percent boost in new businesses formed during the pandemic. “It’s actually really exciting, because you could imagine that in the face of a pandemic, folks would retract, right?” WEDC Secretary and CEO Miss...Continue Reading

An economist with UW-Madison argues the state should focus more on developing “homegrown” businesses rather than recruiting companies to move to Wisconsin.  “Going out and trying to recruit that business is not a good use of their time,” Prof. Steven Deller said yesterday during a rural innovation event held in Beloit...Continue Reading

Several times over the years, Dennis Miller has struck up conversations with younger Eau Claire residents during which he’s mentioned Uniroyal. For the city’s older generations, the name – or that of its predecessors, U.S. Rubber and Gillette – needed no explanation. For most of the 20th century, the massive factor...Continue Reading

Supply chain struggles…labor shortages…rising costs…crises — These are just a few of the massive challenges today’s manufacturers face, paired with some of the greatest demand ever seen. Determining the best path forward for success now and in the future can be confusing and daunting. While there’s no perfect one-size-fits-all solution...Continue Reading

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), the economic development organization for the state, not surprisingly, is located in Madison. However, unbeknownst to many, a WEDC representative is working in Sawyer County to help rural communities, or what he calls the “rural, rural areas,” in the northern part of the state. Davi...Continue Reading

Not only is Eau Claire getting the informative and exciting HMong, Economic Advancement, Research, and Equity (HERE) Conference hosted by the HMong American Leadership and Economic Development (HALED), but HALED is also bringing an authentic taste of Southeast Asia right to our backyard. On Sept. 15, the Little Mekong Night Marke...Continue Reading

After purchasing Connell’s Supper Club in Chippewa Falls 34 years ago, Lynn McDonough is retiring and passing the restaurant reins over to a long-time friend and employee, Randi McVinnie. As many of Lynn’s friends and colleagues put it, he is a legend in the restaurant industry. Lynn was president of th...Continue Reading

In recent years, record-breaking investment flowing into the life sciences sector has prompted unprecedented growth. As life sciences firms expand their facilities to keep up with demand, available space to accommodate these growing businesses — especially in well-known industry clusters like San Diego, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Are...Continue Reading

The Eau Claire Area Chamber of Commerce’s David Minor has received a pretty major award.  Minor, the chamber’s president and CEO, was chosen from among seven candidates as executive of the year by the Mid-America Chamber Executives (MACE), the Upper Midwest’s main resource for chamber resources and news,  at the group’...Continue Reading