Ramada Convention Center customers will be able to enjoy a drink and cigarette in an outdoor area next to the downtown facility despite concerns about the appearance of a fence to be installed at the site.

A Chippewa Falls woman has pleaded not guilty to charges that she embezzled more than $170,000 from her Altoona employer in 2006 and 2007.

Changing the Huber Work Release Center into a minimum-security jail cellblock should be considered in tight budget times, an Eau Claire County committee said.