Local Rhinelander Headlines

Crews get ready for Pond Hockey tournament

EAGLE RIVER - An ice issue didn't stop crews from getting ready for the 10th anniversary Labatt Blue/USA Pond Hockey Championship at the Amsoil Eagle River Derbytrack in Eagle River this weekend.

Teams from all over the country are in the Northwoods for the tournament, which runs from 9 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

Crews have been making ice and carving the tournament's 24 rinks for the last two weeks, after the event moved from its intended location on Dollar Lake due to player safety concerns.

Full story: WJFW

Oneida County Dive Team plunges into their work

WOODRUFF - First responders in the Northwoods respond to a lot of different situations. Whether it's a car accident, house fire or snowmobile accident, they're there to serve and protect.

In order to help people in need, they need to make sure they're prepared. Sunday, the Oneida County Dive Team practiced on Clear Lake to make sure they can save lives.

"I'm anxious to get into the water," said Oneida County Dive Team Member Steve Loka.

Full story: WJFW

Howard Young Medical Center welcomes community members to tour new cardiology suite

MINOCQUA - Workers at medical centers do all they can to save lives every day. In order to find the root of a heart problem, medical workers need state of the art technology.

Howard Young Medical Center in Minocqua opened its doors to show the community it's new suite.

The One Heart Cardiology Suite is a collaboration between Marshfield Clinic and Howard Young foundation. It's been up and running since October. It's the first to have CT camera in the state.

Full story: WJFW

Environmentalists: Manure spills endangering Wisconsin water

GREEN BAY - Environmental advocates warn that manure spills are putting Wisconsin's water supply at risk.

Livestock operations have spilled at least 4.8 million gallons of manure since 2009, according to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources data.

More than 3 million gallons of manure spilled in 2013 and 2014. The numbers could be even higher because the DNR's records don't include cases that are still under investigation by the agency.

Full story: WJFW

Walker's cuts to SeniorCare could leave some struggling

MADISON - Wisconsin's older residents say Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to cut funding for the state's popular SeniorCare program could leave them struggling to make ends meet.

Walker's proposal would require SeniorCare enrollees to first sign up for the Medicare Part D prescription drug program and use state benefits under SeniorCare as a supplement. The cut could save the state $15 million over the next two years.

Walker resurrected the plan after the Legislature rejected the idea in 2011 with bipartisan opposition.

Full story: WJFW

Police: Driver shot dead in Milwaukee road-rage incident

MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police say road rage is suspected in an early morning shooting that left a driver dead and his passenger wounded.

Police say the shooting happened just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday after a 25-year-old Milwaukee man lost control of his vehicle and ended up in the ditch.

Someone approached the vehicle and shot and killed the driver and injured his passenger, who also is 25. The passenger is expected to survive and is being treated at a hospital.

Full story: WJFW

Bikini run raise thousands of dollars for breast cancer

MINOCQUA - People can find different ways to raise money for breast cancer in the Northwoods. In Minocqua, a group of brave girls raced on snowmobiles in nothing but bikinis for breast cancer.

Cruiserfest held its fourth annual bikini run on Lake Minocqua Saturday. 14 girls braved the cold temperatures racing between 70 and 100 miles per hour. About 2,000 people came out to watch the race.

Event coordinator Michelle Bird says they wanted to bring something new to the event.

Full story: WJFW

Thousands of hockey players come to Eagle River, celebrate 10th anniversary

EAGLE RIVER - Mother Nature can change plans sometimes.

USA Hockey had to change venues for The Labatt Blue/USA Pond Hockey National Championship this year because of poor ice conditions on Dollar Lake. But the change didn't stop thousands of hockey players from coming to Eagle River to play.

"Thankfully, we found a great Plan B [at the Amsoil World Championship Derby Track] and it's working out great," says USA Hockey senior director Ashley Bevan. "Guys are having fun, they're skating hard and it's great weather here in Eagle River."

Full story: WJFW

Wisconsin tax agency on high alert for fraudulent filings

MADISON - Wisconsin's tax-collecting agency says it's on high alert for any fraudulent filings of income tax returns via TurboTax software.

Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, resumed filings of state tax returns Friday evening with increased anti-fraud measures, a day after halting the process when some states reported a rise in fraudulent filings. TuboTax filings have not been interrupted in Wisconsin, however.

Revenue Secretary Richard Chandler says the state's e-file and computer systems have not been compromised.

Full story: WJFW

Authorities investigate 'bizarre' Green Bay child porn case

GREEN BAY - Detectives say they found a fantasy world of provocatively posed dolls and displays of children's underwear when they raided a Green Bay home in search of child pornography.

Authorities say the detectives also seized computer storage containing around 7,000 images of child porn, with some victims appearing to be as young as 3 months.

Brown County Sheriff John Gossage says the suspect "obviously has some kind of psychosis."

Full story: WJFW

Dane County tries new app to get CPR for cardiac arrest

MADISON - A new smartphone app could shave critical moments off the time it takes to get help for someone in cardiac arrest.

The Madison Fire Department and Dane County EMS are teaming up with Meriter-Unity Point Health to launch the "Pulsepoint" smartphone app in the Madison area.

At the push of a button, the app alerts people who have CPR training to assist someone who goes into cardiac arrest within a quarter mile of them. It also alerts the 911 center.

Full story: WJFW

Milwaukee police board will take up Manney appeal in March

MILWAUKEE - A former Milwaukee police officer who is appealing his firing after he shot and killed a man in a park last year will have a trial before the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners in March.

Christopher Manney was fired in October, months after he shot Dontre Hamilton.

Manney, who is white, said he acted in self-defense when he shot Hamilton 14 times in April. But police Chief Edward Flynn said Manney ignored department policy and treated Hamilton, who is black, like a criminal by frisking him. Hamilton's family has said he suffered from schizophrenia.

Full story: WJFW

Wisconsin students to take scaled-back standardized tests

MADISON - Wisconsin students will take a new kind of standardized test next month.

The online test is expected to be more rigorous than the traditional pencil-and-paper exam it's replacing. But a technical glitch means school districts will get a scaled back version instead of a more complex system that isn't working properly.

As a result, the Department of Public Instruction says, it won't pay the full $11.1 million cost and it will negotiate a new price with the test vendor and creators. The state has paid about $1.2 million so far.

Full story: WJFW

Marshfield man charged with stealing $46,000 in Packers ticket scam

WISCONSIN RAPIDS - A 37-year-old Marshfield man is charged with 15 counts of theft after authorities say he took more than $46,000 from 15 Wood County residents in a Green Bay Packers ticket scam.

Patrick Blachut was charged Friday.

The criminal complaint says Blachut approached 15 people in September and offered to sell them Packers tickets. Several paid more than $6,000 each for what they thought would be season tickets.

Full story: WJFW

Crews flush fire hydrants to avoid last year's freeze problems

The cold temperatures burst many of Antigo's water lines. That's why crews are out flushing fire hydrants and checking water temperatures.

Crews have been checking on the water three times a week. They'll keep doing that until springtime.

Last year the cold temperatures burst some main water lines. That caused flooding in streets. Many people had frozen pipes.

Full story: WJFW

Possible funding freeze could mean bad news for proposed off-road vehicle park

CRANDON - A budget proposal from Gov. Scott Walker could kill a proposed off-road vehicle park project in Forest County.

According to project data, the off-road vehicle park relies heavily on state -funded Knowles-Nelson stewardship grants. However, Walker's budget would practically freeze funding for the stewardship program for the next 13 years.

Many Northwoods counties use the Knowles-Nelson grants to buy land. They then use money from timber sales off of stewardship land to help fund operations in their counties.

Full story: WJFW

Phelps kindergartners go dog sled racing

PHELPS - Many young kids learn about cars and buses as ways to get around. But he kindergartners in Phelps learn about another way of travel: dog sledding.

On Friday the class got to ride on a dog sled. Phelps Elementary School has a small kindergarten class of six kids. They all got a chance to ride on a dog sled. Teacher Pam Klessig thought of the idea.

"We're doing transportation in social studies, so I thought this would be a really cool mode of transportation the kids weren't familiar with," Klessig said. "So we thought we'd try it."

Full story: WJFW

Snowshoe race at Treehaven

TOMAHAWK - Snoeshoers from around the state will meet at Treehaven in Tomahawk Saturday for the Treehaven Tromp. Dozens of snowshoers will run in 5K and 10K races starting at 10 tomorrow morning. The race organizers believe that this year's race will host the most number of racers since the race started in 2012.

"Every year has grown since, this year is our biggest ever, we've already got just shy of 100 people registered," said Treehaven Assistant Director John Heusinkveld. "We allow registrations at the door, so we're expecting well over 100 people tomorrow. It's the Northwoods version of the Boston Marathon...with snow."

Full story: WJFW

Poor ice conditions force Northwoods outdoor events to move

MINOCQUA - Pond hockey in Eagle River won't be the only Northwoods outdoor event this weekend moved because of poor ice conditions.

Cruiserfest needed to move to a different part of Lake Minocqua to keep snowmobile racers safe.

The races usually take place near the Thirsty Whale, but poor ice conditions and a strong current forced organizers to move the event to Torpy Park.

Full story: WJFW

River Valley Bank unveils its Merrill Makeover Program

MERRILL - River Valley Bank in Merrill wants to give back to the community. In that spirit, the bank unveiled its Merrill Makeover Program last week.

The program will help people in Merrill upgrade their homes, but the bank doesn't want to do all the work alone. It hopes local businesses will contribute to the effort as well.

"We've spoken with a number of businesses in the area, ranging from furnishing places to building supply places, who have expressed interest," said River Valley Bank Manager Elizabeth Messner.

Full story: WJFW

Robo Hodags build impressive robots and emphasize comradery

RHINELANDER - Teachers believe the success of Rhinelander high school's robot club, the Robo Hodags, comes from more than its members' engineering skills. It's also because of their passion and dedication to the robot club and each other.

For high school seniors Kenny Routheaux and Sam Hext, the Robo Hodags team is about more than programming and textrix parts. It's about a place where they can do what they love and share that with peers.

"It's hard to describe how much robotics has kinda come to mean to me," said Hext.

Full story: WJFW

Taxpayers may be quizzed to prove their identity

MADISON - Wisconsin revenue officials say some taxpayers may be asked to take a short quiz to verify their identity.

The Wisconsin Department of Revenue estimates the four-question quiz launched last year saved nearly $50 million in fraudulent or inappropriately filed claims.

The department will review more than 60,000 returns filed over the weekend and earlier this week.

Full story: WJFW

UPDATE: Names released from deadly crash in Marathon County

SPENCER - The Marathon County Sheriff's Office released the names Thursday of three people killed in crash near Spencer Wednesday night.

The release says 22-year-old Erasto Montes of Medford, James and Christine Saxild, both 71 of Bruce, WI died in the crash.

The crash happened on State Highway 13 around 5 p.m. Wednesday near Spencer.

Full story: WJFW

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