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MERRILL - Merrill Police need your help identifying three people.
The police think they may have been involved in a theft of at least two TVs from Wal-Mart.
They believe the theft happened on Sunday around 6 p.m. Photos from video surveillance show the people putting large boxes in a minivan.
NORTHLAND PINES DISTRICT - It seems alternative educational programs in one Northwoods school district are becoming popular.
Enrollment is now open for the SOAR Charter Middle School, SOAR Charter High School, and Montessori Learning Center in the Northland Pines School District.
However, the charter middle school and some grade levels of the Montessori school have a waiting list.
ONEIDA COUNTY - During winter, it can be difficult to get tourists to visit the Northwoods. That's why one group is holding a contest to show off what the north has to offer.
The Oneida County Tourism Council kicked off the sweepstakes this week. Organizers hope the sweepstakes will encourage people to vacation in Oneida County.
"It's really nice because it's a great way to expose people to Oneida County who may be slightly familiar with it or are newly familiar with it," says Dana DeMet, President of Oneida County Tourism Council. "If nothing else we get impressions from people who would at least consider traveling here in the future."
MADISON - A Republican lawmaker is promising to bring back a package of bills to stiffen Wisconsin's drunken driving laws.
Rep. Jim Ott, a Mequon Republican, has been pushing for tougher drunken driving laws for years. He introduced a package of bills last session that included measures that would have changed third and fourth offenses from misdemeanors to felonies, imposed mandatory sentences and court appearances and allowed authorities to seize drunken drivers' cars. Only one measure imposing mandatory minimum prison sentences for seventh offenses and beyond and drunken drivers who cause injuries became law.
MADISON - Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he supports giving the University of Wisconsin System more flexibility.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker has been talking about giving the system more autonomy in his upcoming state budget proposal. No further details have emerged; Walker is expected to unveil the budget plan Feb. 3.
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker is proposing a partial freeze on tuition at Wisconsin's technical college system as part of his plan to help put people to work.
Walker on Thursday said his state budget would include a proposal to freeze tuition for technical college students who go into high-demand fields. He had promised to make that proposal during last year's campaign.
He is also calling for increasing aid for technical college scholarships and making all state aid to technical colleges dependent on meeting worker training requirements.
PORT WASHINGTON, WI - The actor who played Screech in the 1990s TV show "Saved by the Bell" has pleaded not guilty to charges resulting from a bar fight in southeastern Wisconsin.
Dustin Diamond and his fiancée, Amanda Schutz (SHUTS), appeared in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Thursday morning on charges stemming from the Christmas Day scuffle at a Port Washington bar.
Diamond is accused of stabbing a man after Schutz became involved in an altercation. The stabbed man told police he had shoved Diamond forcefully and didn't realize he had been cut until later.
MADISON - Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker is headed to New Hampshire for the first time in March.
His campaign confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that Walker will be giving the keynote speech March 14 at an event organized by the New Hampshire Republican Party.
Walker says in a statement issued by the New Hampshire state party that he looks forward to sharing what he called a "common sense conservative message with grassroots activists."
MADISON - The Forest County Potawatomi have filed a lawsuit challenging the federal government's rejection of compact language that would have left the state on the hook for reimbursing the tribe if the rival Menominee Nation gets a casino in Kenosha.
Arbitrators in November came up an amendment to the Potawatomi's gambling compact with the state that formally established the state was responsible for reimbursing the tribe for Kenosha-related losses and laid out a process for calculating payments.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs vetoed the language earlier this month.
WAUSAU - A Wausau man will spend nearly 40 years in prison for shooting and beheading a Minnesota man, according to online court documents.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kou Thao was arrested in April 2013 after the 58-year-old man's severed head was found in a car.
Thao originally faced a charge of first-degree intentional homicide. However, he accepted a plea deal for lesser charges in September.
MADISON - Sen. Tammy Baldwin is responding to an accusation that she didn't do enough to bring attention to over prescription of opiates at the VA Medical Center in Tomah.
Baldwin's office received a report on the problems in August from the Department of Veterans Affairs' inspector general. Baldwin shared the report with a constituent but didn't publicize it more widely until last week, after a report was published on the death of a Marine Corps veteran being treated at Tomah.
Baldwin then called on the VA secretary to order a comprehensive investigation at Tomah.
LAND O' LAKES - The Land O' Lakes Area Artisans formed in 2008 to promote the arts.
Since then, the organization has grown significantly.
More than 500 people took classes at LOLA's center last year, but the current art room, the Sandra Hardy Brown Memorial Classroom, is cramped.
WAUSAU - Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple expects to see continued growth throughout the Wausau metro area heading deeper into 2015. He believes the growing economy will help each community in the area differently.
Tipple says economic development will be vital to growing the tax base and maintaining the current level of city services.
"Economic development is the economic engine to getting more of a tax base to keep up with the increasing services and demands that we have on the city," Tipple said.
VILAS/ONEIDA COUNTIES - The Vilas County Sheriff's Office sends its evidence to the Dane, Lincoln and Oneida County Sheriff Offices, but that process takes time to get results back. Soon they'll be able to shorten that process by sending deputies to use Oneida County's forensic lab.
"Almost every crime nowadays is connected to some kind of computer device," said Oneida County Lieutenant Terri Hook.
That's why the Oneida County Sheriff's Office upgraded its forensic lab last spring.
Gov. Scott Walker's administration says the Menominee Nation's new gambling compact doesn't guarantee the state wouldn't have to pay a rival tribe hundreds of millions of dollars.
Walker has until Feb. 19 to approve the Menominee's request to build an $800 million casino in Kenosha.
The Ho-Chunk Nation's compact allows them to reduce payments to offset losses linked to a Kenosha casino. The Forest County Potawatomi contend their compact requires the state to refund hundreds of millions if the new casino goes forward.
WISCONSIN - A deadly bat disease could hurt bat populations in Wisconsin.
Once white-nose syndrome is found in a cave, more than 90% of bats in that cave could die.
White-nose syndrome has already hurt bat populations in some eastern and southern states.
THREE LAKES - Small Northwoods libraries don't always have the money to spend on things they want, like new furniture. The Demmer Memorial Library in Three Lakes spends most of its money on stuff the library needs.
But now a new grant will help the library get new furniture to make readers more comfortable. The $5,000 grant gives the library the chance to buy things that aren't in the library's normal budget.
One of the first things the library bought with the grant is a display that will help showcase newly arrived books.
CHICAGO - Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is out to convince an appellate court to revive his lawsuit challenging part of the federal health care overhaul.
Johnson sued last year over a requirement that congressional members and their employees seek government-subsidized health insurance through small-business exchanges. A federal judge tossed it out, saying Johnson didn't have legal standing to bring it.
Oral arguments in Johnson's appeal are set for Wednesday before the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
SAYNER - A volunteer ambulance service will make big changes with grant money.
The Plum Lake Ambulance Service in Sayner recently purchased new medical equipment with grant money from FEMA. This will help volunteer EMTs respond to calls.
The volunteers bought new training dummies for more than five thousand dollars. The ambulance service director says training and proficiency rates are critical.
MADISON - A proposed constitutional amendment would change the way the state Supreme Court chief justice gets picked.
The Senate passed it yesterday.
All Republicans were in support and all Democrats opposed the change.
MADISON - Wildlife workers worry a fungus deadly to bats will become a big problem in Wisconsin.
The disease has now spread into Dane County.
The Department of Natural Resources says that swabs taken from two bats from a single cave in November tested positive for the white-nose syndrome fungus.
MADISON - The state of Wisconsin and the Menominee Tribe have agreed to a new gambling compact over a proposed casino in Kenosha.
The compact requires approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker told the assistant secretary of Interior for Indian Affairs that the gambling compact was recently amended ``to help define the potential economic and fiscal impact of the proposed Kenosha casino.''
ANTIGO - An optimist club in Antigo takes care of Christmas trees with fire. For them, it's a safe, controlled way to dispose the trees.
The Antigo Optimist Club has been burning Christmas trees for close to 50 years. Club President Tonya McKenna Trabant says some people tend to drop off Christmas trees, but the city of Antigo collects most of the trees and drops them off near the Antigo High School.
"Then they gather them up and haul them over here. Instead of shipping them and dropping them off somewhere or having to dispose of them in a landfill, then they gather and we talk about a date with them. Then we set them on fire," said McKenna Trabant.
RHINELANDER - Wisconsin Democrats and left-leaning action groups believe Iowa's ideas can help improve Wisconsin's BadgerCare.
Leaders from Citizen Action of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Council on Children & Families argue that Wisconsin should accept federal money to expand Medicaid, known as BadgerCare in Wisconsin. They point to recent moves from Arkansas and Iowa.
Both states recently accepted federal funding to expand Medicaid in their states. The Obama administration also compromised with the Republican-led states over exactly how they would accept Medicaid money.
RHINELANDER - The case of a Rhinelander man's death went cold more than a decade ago.
Kenneth Wells' body was found in 2003 in the Wisconsin River in Rhinelander.
Now, 33-year-old Latoya Wolf is charged with being involved in Wells' death.
ONEIDA COUNTY - Wisconsin's Attorney General wants to help overturn a San Francisco law that requires gun owners to keep their guns locked when they aren't using them.
But a Northwoods sheriff's deputy says it's a good idea to use locks when storing your guns.
Wisconsin is the 26th state to oppose the San Francisco law. The law requires guns in private homes to be trigger-locked or locked in a container.
WISCONSIN - Health care costs related to smoking cigarettes continue to rise in Wisconsin, according to a recent University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee study.
Smoking costs the state about $4.62 billion in health care dollars. Fifteen percent of state deaths of adults ages 35 and older are smoking related.
But the overall smoking rates in the state are the lowest they've ever been.
RHINELANDER - You might need to answer more questions while filing your tax return this year.
The IRS began accepting tax returns on Tuesday, which is more than a week earlier than this time last year.
Accountants here in the Northwoods have started to see people come in trying to file their tax returns.
WISCONSIN - We'll need colder temperatures if we're going to see the ice caves this year, according to workers at the Apostle Island National Lakeshore. The caves were open by this time last year, but conditions aren't as good this season. The ice must be at least 8 inches thick, and there has to be ice in front of the caves for at least a couple of week before people can start walking to the caves. The ice also has to extend out into Lake Superior at least a couple of miles. Meanwhile the ice shelf needs to extend along the shoreline for several miles.
But right now, there isn't any ice. Neil Howk Assistant Chief of Interpretation for the Apostle Island National Lakeshore says workers were actually getting ready to open access to the ice caves last week, but the weather changed. "We were in our countdown period to opening the caves up, until the wind shifted last weekend and broke up the ice shelf and blew it out into the lake," said Howk. The ice will have trouble forming if temperatures stay in the twenties. "Now we're back to square one basically. We have to wait for the ice to blow back in and for the weather to get cold so more ice starts forming on the lake," said Howk. "And so it's going to take a while for that to happen."
RHINELANDER - The former Printpack building sits empty in Rhinelander. The Oneida County Economic Development Corporation hopes that will change.
Printpack opened its new facility on Highway 17 east of Rhinelander back in August. Economic workers hope to see another manufacturing company move into the area soon.
"Manufacturing space is in short supply in the state of Wisconsin currently," said Oneida County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Roger Luce. "And a facility such as this, I think it's close to 200,000 square feet, is what I would say, a carrot on the marketing shelf. In other words, we have something that is available that somebody could move into right away."
