Five Things That Happened in the Valley While We Were All Distracted by COVID-19

Tom Giffey |

Yes, some of these headlines are a little old.
Yes, some of these headlines are a little old. (Photo: National Archives)

1. THERE WAS AN ELECTION

True, the April 7 spring election got a lot of attention, but it was mostly because of questions of whether it would be postponed (it wasn’t) or turned into an entirely mail-in affair (it wasn’t) or if everyone who requested an absentee ballot would get one (they didn’t). Not a lot of attention was given to the fact that new local leaders were elected. In the City of Eau Claire, for example, Mai Xiong defeated Dale Poynter for an open seat on the City Council, becoming the first woman of Hmong heritage to serve (and shifting the gender balance on the council to six women and five men). At the state level, liberal challenger Jill Karofsky beat conservative incumbent Daniel Kelly for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a race watched nationwide.

2. EAU CLAIRE’S FIRST MURDER IN THREE YEARS

Eau Claire experienced its first homicide in three years on March 20. If that troubling fact comes as news to you, it’s probably because it occurred during the first surreal days of the pandemic in Wisconsin – between the closure of schools and the statewide “Safer at Home” order. The victim was 29-year old Edwin Garcia-Smith, who was shot to death in an apartment on Eau Claire’s south side. Two Chicago men now face charges in the murder; a third suspect died before he could be apprehended.

3. NEW SCHOOL LEADER

In late April, the Eau Claire school board hired Michael Johnson to replace Mary Ann Hardebeck as superintendent of the 11,000-student school district. Johnson, who will start July 1, is currently assistant superintendent of South Washington County Schools in Minnesota. A native of Phillips and a UW-Eau Claire grad, Johnson once taught at Memorial High School.

4. DOES ANYONE WANT TO BE ON THE SCHOOL BOARD?

Speaking of the Eau Claire school board, it’s had something of a revolving door lately. Only two names were on the ballot for three seats in the spring election (the third seat was filled by a write-in candidate). Right after the election, two board members – Laurie Klinkhammer and Eric Torres – announced they were resigning. Combined with the resignation of Joe Luginbill last fall, that means four of the board’s seven members are new since December.

5. UNIVERSITY FURLOUGHS

A multimillion-dollar budget crunch caused by the coronavirus pandemic has led to furloughs of employees at UW-Eau Claire, UW-Stout, and other UW System campuses. At UWEC, Chancellor Jim Schmidt announced that all faculty and staff would be taking intermittent six- to 12-day furloughs over the coming year. Meanwhile at UW-Stout, Chancellor Katherine Frank has instituted furloughs for 115 employees while temporarily reducing the workloads of 67 others.