Local Rhinelander Headlines

NATH Golf Scramble raises money for homeless shelter in Rhinelander

RHINELANDER - More than 100 people came out for the fifth annual Benefit Golf Scramble in Rhinelander Sunday afternoon. NATH, or Northwoods Alliance for Temporary Housing, hosted the event.

People paid $55 for nine holes of golf at the Northwood Golf Course, which also included a dinner later on in the day.

There were raffle prizes and two hole-in-one prizes, including a $2,000 shopping spree and a new car from Rhinelander Toyota/GMC.

Full story: WJFW

More than 50 mountain bikers came out for the RASTA Mountain Bike Race Sunday

RHINELANDER - The race was at the Washburn Lake Silent Sports Trails Area. All of the money raised went to RASTA; the Rhinelander Area Silent Trails Association, which maintains trails in the area.

This is the third year holding the event at the Washburn Trails, but the race started 20 years ago.
The race brings in a lot of avid and veteran bikers.

"We have some a good representation of some pretty good bikers here, we have past winners of state events," said RASTA board officer Brian Hegge.

Full story: WJFW

Panthers' Hauser commits to Marquette

STEVENS POINT - The SPASH basketball team won the state title this year, and one of their core players will take that success with him to college.

Sam Hauser will play for the Marquette Golden Eagles next year.
He went down for an official visit to the campus, and he had his mind made up before he got back home.

Hauser says new head coach Steve Wojciechowski's leadership made the decision easy.

Full story: WJFW

Ticket sold in Milwaukee wins Megabucks $22.5M jackpot

MILWAUKEE - The holder of a Megabucks ticket sold in Milwaukee is the winner of a record $22.5 million jackpot.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports (http://bit.ly/1FVAOAv) it's the first time the jackpot has been won in more than three years.

The Megabucks ticket for Saturday's drawing was sold by A&I Services convenience store on Howard Avenue.

Full story: WJFW

The man who hopes to break two world records all to raise money for children of fallen soldiers came to the Northwoods this week

ARBOR VITAE - Adam Sandoval started his motorcyle ride with his dog Scooter Trash Sandoval last November.

He plans to stop at every Harley-Davidson dealership in the country.

Sandoval made a stop in the Northwoods Friday and had some repairs done to his bike.

Full story: WJFW

Girls on the Run 5K completed ten weeks of training for more than 60 Northwoods girls

MINOCQUA - More than 200 people went to Minocqua Saturday for the Girls on the Run 5K.

The event was open to girls in the program and the community as well.

The money raised goes to the Girls on the Run scholarship fund. That helps provide partial scholarships to more than half of the girls that participate.

Full story: WJFW

Crandon baseball program enjoys multi-year winning streak

CRANDON - Winning a conference is no small task, but the Crandon Cardinal baseball team has done it four years in a row.

But more impressive than that is that they haven't lost a game since the 2012 season.

"These guys have done a fantastic job," says Head Coach Franz Gerber. "This is, for the seniors, they've gone 41-1 with a 40 game win streak in conference."

Full story: WJFW

Panel votes to cut University of Wisconsin budget by $250 million

MADISON - The Legislature's budget-writing committee has voted to cut the University of Wisconsin System budget by $250 million, eliminate tenure in state law, limit shared governance provisions and give UW more lexibility to save money.

The Joint Finance Committee voted to approve the changes Friday with all Republicans in support and Democrats against. The budget must pass the Senate and Assembly and be signed by Gov. Scott Walker before taking effect.

Walker had proposed a $300 million cut but the committee lowered it by $50 million.

Full story: WJFW

Second annual Tails on the Trails event hosted in Rhinelander Saturday

RHINELANDER - Dog lovers came out to the YMCA of the Northwoods in Rhinelander Saturday afternoon for the second annual "Tails on the Trails" event.

Owners could walk their dogs on the Stoney Pines Trail behind the YMCA. Every lap on the trails earned the owners a ticket for prizes later in the day.

The Northwoods K-9 Sports club brought out equipment for owners and dogs to use.

Full story: WJFW

Actor Dustin Diamond found guilty of misdemeanors in stabbing case

PORT WASHINGTON - A Wisconsin jury has convicted TV actor Dustin Diamond of two misdemeanors stemming from a barroom fight, but cleared the former "Saved by the Bell" actor of the most serious felony charge.

The jury's verdict Friday came just hours after the 38-year-old actor testified that he never intended to stab anyone in the fight last Christmas Day.

Diamond said he was trying to scare bar patrons in Port Washington after his girlfriend was punched in the face.

Full story: WJFW

Warming Northwoods temperatures, streams could damage trout populations

VILAS COUNTY - A warming climate could have significant impacts on Northwoods streams. Warming streams, in turn, could put pressure on trout populations in those waterways.

"If we think about streams, it is changing, and that's going to potentially change what can live here and the habitats that are available," said Dr. Noah Lottig, an assistant scientist at the UW-Madison Trout Lake Research Station in Boulder Junction. "We've seen that across a whole range of things and a wide variety of studies."

A report by the U.S. Geological Survey projects average temperatures on three streams in Vilas County could rise significantly by the year 2100.

Full story: WJFW

Unique easement protects Forest County farmland, fields, wetlands, historic buildings

ARMSTRONG CREEK - Liz Wywialowski gets a certain feeling when she comes back to her old family farm near Armstrong Creek.

"You would see me breathing deeply," she says, drawing in a lungful of oxygen. "Even now, there's nothing like clean, fresh air."

Liz grew up on this farm, and now owns the place, though she lives in southern Wisconsin. Her father built the majestic cedar-sided barn with her brothers, finishing it in 1944.

Full story: WJFW

Students at White Lake School learn about invasive species

WHITE LAKE - Students in White Lake spent the day outside of the classroom learning about invasive species today. It was the 16th annual Spring Lake Day at White Lake. It's part of the year-round Adopt-A-Lake program that teaches students about waterway and environmental preservation.

"Being on White Lake and being in the Northwoods, aquatic invasive species education is extremely important," said Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator John Preuss. "And a good way to reach out to people is through our students and through our youth."

Elementary students from White Lake School learned about the different aquatic invasive species such as purple loosestrife, and Eurasian watermilfoil. They also learned how to prevent them from spreading.

Full story: WJFW

Merrill police donate car

MERRILL - A Merrill public safety center can now use a new patrol car for training. The Merrill Police Department donated one of their retired police cars to the Northcentral Technical College's Public Safety Center of Excellence. The donation marks the end of Crown Victoria police cars for the city.

"We've just retired our last Ford Crown Victoria," said Merrill Police Chief Ken Neff. "A couple of years ago, Ford stopped manufacturing the Crown Victoria as a fleet vehicle. For years we've had Crown Vics, but now we've gone to the Ford Taurus and the Ford Explorer."

The department usually takes cars out of use every three years because of mileage. Merrill police officers said Crown Victorias offered more room and dependability than most cars, but the new cars may be more useful during a critical time of year.

Full story: WJFW

Three Lakes Town Board will pay to keep Laurel Lake Campground open

THREE LAKES - Eleven campgrounds in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest closed this year after the U.S. Forest Service reduced its funding and services.

The cuts happened because fewer people have been visiting the campgrounds in the last few years, but the Three Lakes Town Board will pay to keep one of its grounds open for the 2015 season.

The Laurel Lake Campground in Three Lakes would have closed without the town board's funding.

Full story: WJFW

Finance committee votes to eliminate DNR positions

MADISON - The Legislature's finance committee has adopted Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to eliminate 80 positions within the state Department of Natural Resources, including more than half of the researchers in the agency's science bureau.

Walker's budget includes provisions that would eliminate about 19 researcher positions from the science bureau as well 11 natural resources educator spots. According to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, four of the scientist positions and two of the education positions are vacant. The changes would leave the science bureau with about 18 researchers and the agency with seven educator positions.

Full story: WJFW

Committee rejects Walker plan to freeze land buys

MADISON - Wisconsin lawmakers have rejected Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to block the state Department of Natural Resources from purchasing any land through its stewardship program for at least the next 13 years.

Walker's budget would place a moratorium on stewardship land acquisitions until debt service on purchases already made drops to $1 for every $8 spent since the program began in 1989. The program won't reach that ration until 2028.

Republicans who control the Legislature's budget committee voted 12-4 on Friday to adopt a wide-ranging motion affecting the DNR's budget.

Full story: WJFW

Rhinelander senior Bryce White enjoyed a special year in athletics and music

RHINELANDER - Rhinelander senior Bryce White had a special senior year in athletics.

"To be able to come in and play three different sports I've never done before, I mean that's a huge privilege," said White.

Because of a worry for conflicting schedules, Bryce White decided not to play baseball his senior year. Instead, he gathered the ninth most receiving yards for football in the state, became the sixth man for the Great Northern Conference champion basketball team, and was the best high jumper in the GNC.

Full story: WJFW

UW budget cuts expected to be $250 million

MADISON - The Legislature's budget-writing committee plans to reduce Gov. Scott Walker's proposed $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System by $50 million.

The Joint Finance Committee planned to vote on the cut Friday.

The Republican-controlled panel does not plan to go along with Walker's plan to give UW more independence from state laws and oversight. That independence was designed to help UW deal with the budget cut.

Full story: WJFW

Northwoods business uses social media to show more people a view from above

MINOCQUA - One Northwoods business gives people a bird's eye view. One year into the business venture, Northwoods Zip Line in Minocqua is happy with the business they are doing.

"It's like seeing the Northwoods with a new set of eyes," said Multimedia Manager Herbert Wunar.

"Not many people can say they've been zipping 40 or 50 feet in the air in the woods," said guide Chris Hagen.

Full story: WJFW

Mental health experts change the way they look at alcoholism

STEVENS POINT - Mental health experts keep changing the way they think about alcoholism.

The American Psychiatric Association has rethought what it means to be an alcoholic. As a result, the process of diagnosing someone as an alcoholic may not be as straightforward as it was in the past following changes in the newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM.

The current edition of the DSM (DSM-V) is the main reference tool for mental health experts.

Full story: WJFW

Wisconsin may be first to license teachers without degree

MADISON - Wisconsin may be the first state in the country to certify teachers who don't have bachelor's degrees under a provision put in the state budget last week.

An analysis of the proposal by an attorney for the Legislature released Thursday shows that preliminary research found no other state allows teachers without a degree in the classroom, except for career and technical education.

The proposal added to the budget last week would allow anyone with relevant experience to be licensed to teach non-core academic subjects in grades six through 12.

Full story: WJFW

Eliminating DNR positions could take 95 more jobs with it

MADISON - A new report says Gov. Scott Walker's budget plan to eliminate about 30 Department of Natural Resources scientists and educators could cost the agency dozens more positions.

A memo from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau produced on Tuesday notes that if the DNR creates layoff groups consisting of scientists and educators, state law would require the agency to eliminate all limited-term and positions in those classifications before it could eliminate permanent positions. According to the memo, the DNR currently has 95 LTE positions in its science bureau and educator program.

The Legislature's budget committee is set to consider Walker's proposal during a session Friday. The committee could approve the plan, tweak it or delete it from the budget altogether.

Full story: WJFW

Eagle River artist creates unique furniture pieces

EAGLE RIVER - The Northwoods can be a good place for an artist to settle and develop his or her craft.

A fourth-generation craftsman from Eagle River now creates beautiful pieces of furniture on land that his grandfather bought.

Carl Gromoll of Gromoll Woodworks planned to go into medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but the Vietnam War protests at UW changed his thinking.

Full story: WJFW

WPS makes progress on project to reduce power outages

RHINELANDER - Losing power when severe weather hits causes big problems for some people in the Northwoods. It's something that Wisconsin Public Service wants to work on.

Two and a half years ago, WPS began identifying power-outage problem areas throughout the Northwoods. Last summer they began work on the System Modernization Reliability Project, a five-year initiative to bury roughly 1,000 miles of overhead power lines.

"We buried 185 miles the first year, which was really kind of the start of the whole process," said Senior Regional Electrical Engineer Richard Reitz. "We've never done a project of this magnitude. This year we're targeting a little bit over 200 miles, and then there'll be more each year after that."

Full story: WJFW

Tree research could clean ground pollution

RHINELANDER - Tree research in Rhinelander may help improve ground pollution around the world. Scientists at the U.S. Forest Service Northern Research Station want to use trees to clean the soil using a process called phytoremediation.

"Planting the trees and re-mediating these polluted sites helps the ecology of the area, so it contributes to environmental sustainability and environmental health," said USFS Research Geneticist Ron Zalesny. "It contributes socially to 'greening' up spaces and third, it can have economic gains."

Scientists have done local research on phytoremediation since the 1990s. They've found that certain types of willow and poplar trees help clean up contamination such as heavy metals and industrial solvents. Ultimately, the research could help clean communities worldwide.

Full story: WJFW

Analysis says voucher expansion could cost $800 million

MADISON - A new analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau says a Republican-approved expansion of the private-school voucher program could cost up to $800 million over the next decade.

The estimate was prepared at the request of Assembly Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca who released it publicly on Thursday.

The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee last week voted to lift a 1,000-student enrollment cap on the statewide voucher program. Initially, vouchers would be available to only 1 percent of the district's total enrollment, and after 10 years there would be no cap.

Full story: WJFW

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