MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ) - A plea hearing is scheduled next month for the former treasurer of the Wausaukee Rescue Squad on embezzlement charges.
Forty-one year old Amanda Stumbris was in Marinette County Court Friday, but had her hearing delayed until January 24th.
Stumbris is accused of taking more than $132,000 from the squad bank account over a three year period.
She used a debit card to withdraw cash, using part of the money taken to cover gambling expenses.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A Wisconsin congressman says he is frustrated by the lack of information about negotiations on the fiscal cliff solutions between President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner.
Eighth District Congressman Reid Ribble says the Senate and the House of Representatives are not getting regular, comprehensive updates.
Ribble says his constituents are asking what’s going on and he doesn’t know.
The Republican says members of Congress are being told to get ready for a long week when they return to Washington, D.C.
Ribble says the majority leader has told them that Congress will stay in session until the situation is resolved, including being at work next weekend. Ribble told WTAQ on Friday that both sides need to understand they can't get everything they want and tells his constiuents to prepare for increased taxes.
TOWNSHIP OF ANIWA, WI (WTAQ) - A two-vehicle crash in Shawano County leaves one person dead.
Authorities say it happened around 11:45 a.m. Saturday on Sugarbush Road, just south of Now Road, in the Township of Aniwa.
A pickup truck was driving northbound when a car headed southbound crossed the center line and into the northbound lane. The driver of the truck says the car then turned sharply in front of the truck, and the truck slammed into the passenger side of the car.
Both vehicles ended up in the east ditch of Sugarbush Road.
Authorities say the car's driver didn't have a pulse when they arrived on the scene. They have determined he wasn't wearing a seatbelt at the time of the crash. The pickup's driver had minor injuries.
The crash is still under investigation, and officials say names will be released when the incident is closed.
WAUSHARA COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - A Wisconsin State Patrol squad car is totaled after a single-vehicle crash in Waushara County.
Officials say it happened just after 1 p.m. Saturday on Highway 21 at North Madison Street in the Village of Coloma.
Authorities say the officer was turning around to pursue a speeder when his vehicle hydroplaned and hit a power pole.
The officer was taken to the hospital to be checked out but was released without injuries.
NEW HOLSTEIN, WI (WTAQ) - Fire damages a trailer home in Calumet County Saturday afternoon.
Officials say it happened on Highway HH in New Holstein.
Fire crews say the blaze was contained, but the home sustained fire and smoke damage.
No one was injured.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire and have not released an estimated dollar amount for damages.
CHICAGO (WTAQ) - On a day when the Chicago Bears offense could do little, the Green Bay Packers went into Soldier Field and won their 2nd consecutive NFC North division title in a 21-13 victory Sunday.
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers finished the day 23-of-36 for 291 yards and 3 touchdown passes, all to wide receiver James Jones.
The Packers (10-4) defeated the Bears (8-6) for the sixth straight time.
Bears quarterback Jay Cutler finished 12-of-21 for 135 yards and 1 TD with 1 interception. On the downside, kicker Mason Crosby missed two field goal attempts and the Packers turned the ball over twice.
The Packers have now won 8 of their last 9 games.
Get a full recap with Mark Daniels and Nick Vitrano on the 5th Quarter, Monday at 5 p.m. exclusively on 97.5/1360 News Talk WTAQ.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Humana is looking to add to its workforce in Brown County.
On Monday, the health insurer announced it's adding approximately 40 full-time customer care jobs in the Green Bay area.
Company officials say it's looking to fill the jobs immediately, with new hires beginning in January 2013.
Click here if you are interested in applying for a position with Humana.
Humana currently employs more than 3,100 workers at its De Pere and Green Bay locations.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Things get real at Green Bay schools.
Only hours after talking about holding lockdown drills at Green Bay schools, schools in the east quadrant of the district went into level 2 lockdown at 2:05 p.m. Monday.
It was lifted 45 minutes later.
Manager of School & Community Relations Amanda Brooker says police informed them of a man with a knife that was on the loose in the area.
Students were confined to classrooms while lessons continued and no one was let in or out of the buildings during the lockdown.
Parents were left waiting outside as they waited to pick up their kids from school.
Lockdown drills are still planned for later this week at all schools.
Brooker says this was also the first use of their new automated phone and email message system.
After the initial lockdown order, staff prepared a message and the system started dialing and sending messages out about five minutes later. The system contacted more than five-thousand effected parents. Brooker says that process took about 20 minutes or less to reach the effected parents.
Brooker says normally they would post a message on social media, but everything moved so fast they didn’t get to it.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The Green Bay Area Public School District wants parents and students to be aware of the security measures the district has in place.
So in the wake of the tragic mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, district officials and Green Bay Police are trying to bring school security to the forefront.
"You do what you practice and if you practice how to be safe, then there's a better chance that your life may be saved," said Barbara Dorff, the district’s Pupil Services executive director at a press conference Monday morning.
This next week, the district plans on meeting with faculty and staff to review security practices. All 36 schools will practice lockdown drills from Wednesday morning through Friday afternoon.
There are three levels of lockdown in the Green Bay public schools.
Schools are on level one for the majority of the day. That means all exterior doors are locked, no one gets in or out of the building without being identified, and teachers teach with their doors closed and locked.
The second level of lockdown means no one gets in or out of the school, students are kept in their classrooms and teachers continue to teach. This is common when there is a possible public safety concern or a crime is committed near a school.
The highest lockdown level doesn’t allow anyone in or out, lights in the school are turned off and students stay locked in their classrooms – lining up along the wall hidden from view in the doorway. There are also panic buttons throughout schools to alert authorities of an emergency.
"I think you should be thinking about school safety,” said Green Bay Police Lt. Todd LePine. “I think everybody in this room should, I think the police should. I think the whole community should be thinking about it. We all have a stake in this."
Meaning parents need to talk to your own kids about security and being safe in schools.
Green Bay schools also have ten armed school resource officers throughout the district. Officers also have universal key fobs to get in the schools.
Green Bay police say as recently as a month ago, officers began walking through schools to get familiar with the buildings. Officers can even pull up school layouts on the computers in their squad cars.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The Wisconsin State Patrol has released its report on a July high-speed pursuit that ended after a Brown County Deputy lost control of his squad car and crashed into a Milwaukee woman’s car.
The report findings will be important in a lawsuit filed by the 27-year Milwaukee woman who was severely injured in the crash.
The report finds that the Deputy Ruben Meisner was not aware of stop sticks deployed along Highway 41 at that location.
He was the lead car in the pursuit of a stolen Dodge Viper.
The report also hints that Deputy Mesiner may have been following to close. The report's author also says there appears to have been enough time for another Deputy to pull the stop sticks back.
After the Viper ran over the sticks, Deputy Meisner was warned over the radio to watch out for the sticks.
Second later, Deputy Mesiner took evasive maneuvers, crossing the median and slammed into Michele Lecker’s car.
Law enforcement are trained to drive over stop sticks if they are left in the road way.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - It’s a forecast that Santa Claus will love before he flies here on Christmas Eve.
Heavy snow and blizzard conditions are possible from Wednesday night into Thursday for the vast majority of Wisconsin – and the National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch.
Expect mostly cloudy skies Wednesday and there is a chance of light snow late in the day with little accumulation, which could make the roads slippery. Fox 11 reports high temperatures will reach near 35° (normal high in Green Bay is 27°).
Wednesday will be generally cloudy and quiet with a high near 34° then things get interesting overnight.
A large, potent winter storm will be pushing into the Great Lakes region late that night, and will continue through Thursday and into Thursday night. The snow will be heavy at times and right now it looks like most of northeast Wisconsin will get 6-10" of snow from this system
For now at least, Eau Claire and the northwest part of the state could escape the storm – and the far southeast might get a mix of rain and snow before it turns to all snow near the end.
Six to 12 inches are being predicted for all of southwest Wisconsin, Madison and most south central areas – along with places east of a line from Marshfield to Antigo to Iron Mountain Michigan.
And starting on Thursday, those places could get wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour – creating blowing and drifting snow plus blizzard-like conditions.
The National Weather Service says the exact track of the storm is still a bit uncertain. But there now appears to be a good that most of the state will get at least a half-foot.
Far southeast Wisconsin could get 4 to 6 inches, with some icy conditions possible.
NEW LONDON, WI (WTAQ) - Authorities in New London are investigating after a crossing guard was struck by a vehicle Monday.
Police say Sally Tschurwald was at the intersection of Beacon Avenue and Lawrence Street when she was hit.
Tschurwald was wearing a florescent yellow-reflective traffic vest and was placing the crosswalk sign in the intersection when it happened.
Tschurwald was injured, but is expected to recover.
The New London Police Department would like to remind people to stop for pedestrians in crosswalks
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Gas utility workers from Wisconsin Public Service are home for the holidays, after spending two weeks on the East Coast helping those affected by Hurricane Sandy.
Crews from the Green Bay, Oshkosh, Wausau, and Stevens Point service departments arrived back on Sunday, after a stint which lasted just over two weeks.
Kelly Zagrzebski from WPS said most of their work involved inspecting and re-lighting furnaces and other appliances.
Any time your home or business is damaged in a storm, Zagrzebski says experts should inspect appliances before they’re turned back on – and that’s especially true for gas appliances.
Wisconsin Public Service has no current plans to send additional crews out East – but Zagrzebski says that can change as quickly as the weather.
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) - Officials in Outagamie County are ready for the major winter storm hitting Wisconsin starting late Wednesday night.
Outagamie County Executive Thomas Nelson says highway crews are ready and officals are reminding drivers to proceed with care.
“This can be a dangerous time of year,” Nelson said in a release. “Given increased holiday travel and the potential for severe weather, it pays to be prepared. Getting stranded during a winter storm can be a matter of life and death.”
Outagamie County has 57 snow removal units available, including trucks, graders, loaders, and snow blowers. In addition, the highway department stockpiles nearly 9,000 tons of salt for de-icing roads.
“Drivers should plan their travel, selecting both primary and alternate routes,” said Nelson. “And it’s a good idea to share your itinerary, so that if you don’t arrive on time, officials will know where to search for you. If your car should become disabled, stay with the vehicle, running your engine and heater for short intervals.”
MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - With a major winter storm heading for most of Wisconsin, state emergency management officials are reminding you to be prepared.
Here are some tips for you:
Have an emergency winter weather survival kit in your vehicle. Your kit should include water, snack food, a first aid kit and booster cables. If you have a cell phone make sure you have a power adapter you can plug into the lighter.
Check the roads and take your time. You may need to delay or cancel travel plans on Thursday. Call 511 or go to 511wi.gov for the latest road conditions across the state. You should allow extra time if you travel. Also, keep at least a half tank of gas in your vehicle in case of an emergency and let friends and family know where you are traveling to and when you should arrive.
If you are staying at home, make sure your emergency kit is stocked with food that can be stored and eaten without electricity in case there is a power outage. Also, make sure you have extra water, flashlights with extra batteries and medications.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The city of Green Bay says the downtown St. John’s Evangelist emergency homeless shelter is in violation of its conditional use permit that allows 64 people in the shelter at night.
The city attorney sent the Green Bay Catholic Diocese a letter last week saying it has until Wednesday to comply or face further enforcement.
The Diocese made the letter public at a news conference on Tuesday where Deacon Tim Reilly accused Mayor Jim Schmitt of having a personal vendetta against the shelter.
Schmitt was one of several calls made to police recently concerning St. John's homeless residents. Schmitt reported a drunken homeless man who was urinating in a park across from his home.
Schmitt later called an emergency meeting of the protection and welfare committee last Monday.
There he took issue with the way the shelter operates, calling for the shelter to do more with the homeless during the day. Police say there are increasing nusiance calls about the homeless during the day.
Schmitt called for the temporary emergency shelter to do what the NEW Community Shelter does, by focusing on recovery. Schmitt even called what the emergency shelter does now “un-Christian” because they don’t help homeless residents get on their feet.
Plans are in the works between the city and Lutheran Social Services to establish a downtown drop in resource center that would focus on recovery.
At the meeting, Schmitt hoped to convince the council members that the shelter was violating its conditional use permit. But that didn’t happen, instead the committee members called for a special committee on homelessness.
Schmitt wanted the committee to refer the permit violation to the Plan Committee which meets in January.
At the news conference Tuesday, the Diocese remained defiant in taking in the homeless. The shelter claims its operational plan, which must be submitted as part of the conditional use permit, allows for them to have an overflow of up to 20 people.
The city letter sent to the shelter said they counted 86 people staying in the shelter on one night last week, two more than even what the shelter claims it can take in.
MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has declared a state of emergency in anticipation of a major winter storm that's due to arrive overnight into Thursday.
“I issued this executive order to make sure Wisconsin is prepared for whatever this winter storm may bring,” Walker said in a news release. “Mobilizing our state agency resources during this storm will ensure we leave nothing to chance when it comes to protecting the citizens of Wisconsin.”
The Wisconsin State Patrol and National Weather Service are urging people to avoid traveling in the storm.
Walker’s office says emergency operation centers will open at 8 p.m. Wednesday. At that time, the E.O.C. status will be set at level 3 (it is at level 4 under normal conditions).
Snow will start to accumulate mainly after midnight tonight with a possible 1 to 3 inches on the ground by Thursday morning. Snow will be heavy at times Thursday and most locations will see between 9 and 12 inches of snow by Friday morning.
North winds will also increase resulting in possible blizzard conditions for a time. Travel will be hazardous all day Thursday in Wisconsin as well as Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. Travel may even be impacted on Friday, although the snow accumulation will have ended.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The City of Green Bay is declaring a snow emergency effective at 3:00 a.m. on Thursday, December 20, 2012 due to the pending winter storm. The snow emergency is in effect for all streets within the corporate limits of the City of Green Bay. Snow emergency restrictions will remain in effect until Noon on Friday, December 21, 2012.
Due to the predicted large snow accumulation and extreme conditions, residents are urged not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Reduced traffic contributes to resident safety and allows DPW to do its most effective job at clearing streets. During the snow emergency, the following restrictions will be enforced:
1) No vehicle can park on any street (day or night) until the snow emergency is over 2) Overnight on-street parking will not be granted for the duration of the snow emergency 3) Vehicles found parking on-street during the snow emergency will be tagged, ticketed and towed at the owner’s expense 4) On Friday morning, if your street has been plowed then you may park on-street even though the snow emergency may still be in effect
Again, the snow emergency will remain in effect until Noon on Friday, December 21 unless otherwise announced by the City.
All Green Bay residents and property owners must follow these snow emergency restrictions so DPW can clear roads in a safe and efficient manner.
BELLEVUE, WI (WTAQ) - This major winter storm that's upon us has grabbed the attention of local law enforcement.
24 Brown County sheriff's deputies will be on the road, driving squad cars and even snowmobiles.
One of the major concerns is along the Highway 41 project. In many places, road construction has squeezed traffic to two lanes with no shoulder.
Authorities say drivers should allow extra time and slow down because any accident can snarl traffic for hours.
“There's nothing we can do except try to siphon the traffic upstream of it off the ramps. Back the other stuff up. And all the rescue will come in against the traffic direction to unplug the mess,” says Brown County Sheriff's Captain Randy Schultz.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A memorial service is planned in Green Bay Thursday, to remember homeless people who died on the streets.
The St. John the Evangelist homeless shelter normally holds the annual service on the shortest day of the year.
Laura Robinson is the shelter’s ministry team coordinator. She says they’ve identified five people who died in the last year while being homeless. A candle will be lit for each of those people, along with a sixth to represent those who went unidentified or unnamed.
Similar memorial services are planned in La Crosse, Racine, and Kenosha.
Robinson tells Wisconsin Public Radio that the homeless have much shorter life expectancies than others – and they’re more likely to be victims of violence.
The Green Bay Catholic Diocese oversees the shelter, which is only open during the cold weather season. Around 60 people have spent the night there this fall – and Robinson says more people are expected later in the winter at Green Bay shelters which already have waiting lists.
