State wide recounts for the 2016 presidential election are happening. Little has changed Donald Trump’s victory. Legal director at FairVote Drew Spencer Penrose said, “In any election, the actual change in the margin of votes is very, very low.” Green Party candidate Jill Stein paid $3.5 million to have a recount in Wisconsin after reports of fraud. By Wednesday morning, Trump widened his victory by 146 votes. An incident recently happened though. After the recount, 412 votes missing ballots were found in a backroom in Greenfield, Wisconsin. After finding more missing recounts than they expected, their count is still off. (Submitted by Claire Doering)

A new business opening in Stevens Point offers the perfect opportunity for some group fun.   Co-owners Justin and Jennifer Fonfara are planning to introduce Stevens Point Escape Room: Tactical Escape 101, 23 Park Ridge Drive in Suite 2k, during a soft opening at 2 p.m. on Friday, followed by a grand opening on Dec. 22. Real-life escape room games are a type of physical adventure game in which people will be locked in a room with other participants and will have to use elements of the room to solve a series of puzzles, find clues, and escape the room within a set time limit. The business will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, closed on Christmas Day, and from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Day. The cost will be $25 per person, though as part of an opening special the cost is to be $15 from Friday, Dec. 9 through Dec. 21. (Submitted by Claire Giese)

According to National Public Radio, the United States Army Corps of Engineers has decided to halt the construction and re-route the North Dakota Access Pipeline. The protestors at Standing Rock, North Dakota rejoiced but many think the battle isn’t over and plan to stay through the winter. Thousands of people, including 2,000 United States veterans, migrated to Standing Rock to protest the 1,172-mile pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline plan was to tunnel underneath the Missouri River and the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, possibly contaminating the drinking water and harming the surrounding environment.  (Submitted by Josh Andrews)

A new van has been donated to the Stevens Point Area YMCA by Mary and Bob Berard. The van will be used year-round for Adventure Club, Teen Leader’s Club and Girls Night Out. During the summer it will be used to transport YMCA campers to Camp Glacier Hollow which is located 14 miles from Stevens Point. The van will help increase the number of youth and teens attending camp and allow them to visit and explore natural areas located outside of Stevens Point. (Submitted by Mallory Buetow)

The members in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America Club (FCCLA) are donating their time in the Comfort in a Crisis Community Service Project. The packages will include numerous items like pillow cases, journals, decorated pens, fuzzy socks, toys and more. On Dec. 6 the members of FCCLA put together and packaged all the donated items after school in adviser Brett Lesniak’s classroom. The club officers and Lesniak are working together to send the boxes by next week to the Stevens Point Crisis Center. (Submitted by Nicole Brezenski)

SPASH winter sports are in full swing to start their season. The SPASH boys basketball team is currently ranked #1 in the state with an impressive win over #7 ranked De Pere Tuesday night. The team is without junior Joey Hauser to start their season which is a huge lost but he hopes to return from an ankle injury soon. They play Bay Port Saturday night at SPASH. SPASH boys hockey is also starting off on the right skate. They are currently ranked second in the state behind Hudson. The boys had a very impressive win over their rival and last year’s conference champion Wausau West. Sophomore Cole Caufield leads the state in points scored with 24.  (Submitted by Thomas Hatton)