DOWNTOWN SHOPS HOPE TO BECOME FRIDAY NIGHT HOT SPOTS

 

Downtown hot spot?

Here is yet another reason to grab the family and head downtown for some local fun provided by the business sector. Beginning March 4, the first Friday of each month downtown business owners will be keeping their doors open longer (til 9pm) and holding special events to draw you in. Infinitea co-owner Drew Seveland is heading the “First Fridays” promotion, which unites downtown businesses and creates a weekend destination. With concerts, art crawls, art openings, various tastings, sales, and even a disco rumored to be among the events, there’s plenty of opportunity and reason to stop downtown. A fraction of the businesses participating thus far are: Tangled up in Hue, Eau Claire Regional Art Center, Turks Head Coffee House, Revival Records, The Local Store, and Obsession Chocolates.

IT’S OFFICIAL, THERE WILL BE A REFERENDUM ON APRIL 5

Not surprisingly, the Eau Claire school board has officially announced that there will be a referendum on the April 5 ballot. A referendum has been rumored since before last fall, but on Feb. 7 the board officially set the date. The referendum will ask Eau Claire area voters for about $55 million in extra funds to afford much-needed renovations and expansions at DeLong, Putnam Heights, Robbins, and Sherman, plus a whole new building to operate an early learning program. Groups advocating both for and against are already starting to lobby.

PROFESSORS’ SUPER BOWL ADS RESEARCH GETS ATTENTION

In the wake of the Super Bowl, the research findings of two UWEC professors about ad likeability was posted by more than 200 media outlets. Based on a decade of research, Chuck Tomkovick and Rama Yelkur posit, among other things, that celebrities and sex appeal do not mean success, however animals do have a positive correlation with likeability. Among the outlets posting their research were Kiplinger’s, The Telegraph, The Globe and Mail, and CNBC.

A POSSIBLE CHANGE TO HOW WE EVALUATE TEACHERS’ PAY

If proposals by the Wisconsin Education Association Council go through, the pay of Wisconsin teachers will soon be tied to their performance. WEAC, the largest teachers’ union in the state, has also called for higher pay for teachers who take on extra responsibilities outside the classroom, like mentoring, and for teachers who fill niche curriculum positions, like bilingual teachers. In addition, the proposals lay out a new teacher review process, in which new teachers would be reviewed annually by a panel of teachers and administrators during their first three years teaching. Established teachers would be evaluated every three years. The proposals are currently being discussed at the state level, but will most likely be implemented through local collective bargaining agreements.