GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - An aging outdoor pool in Green Bay is going to be renovated.

The Green Bay City Council approved the plans Tuesday night for Colburn Pool.

It's a project that has been in the works for around six years.

On a 7 to 5 vote, the council accepted Miron Construction's bid to rebuild the pool.

The city agreed to pay $3.5 million, if supporters came up with $1 million for the pool.

The construction bid actually came in $2.3 million over budget.

The council agreed to borrow that much money to fund the difference.

NEENAH, WI (WTAQ) - The Winnebago County Sheriff's office is investigating two, two-vehicle crashes on northbound Interstate 41 near Main Street.

Authorities were called to the area at about 1:30 this morning.

Deputies said they discovered one, two-vehicle crash involving a 2001 Chrysler Town & Country that had been rear-ended.

The striking vehicle continued north into Outagamie County without stopping. No description available of the striking vehicle.

Nearby, deputies said they found a 2000 Ford Taurus that had been rear-ended by a 2001 Ford Windstar, closing the northbound lanes of the interstate.

Deputies say the driver of the Ford Taurus was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The driver of the Ford Windstar left the area on foot and has not been arrested.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - With the significant snowfall accumulation in the last two weeks, Lambeau Field will be in need of snow removal Thursday morning, Dec. 22, in advance of Saturday’s game between the Packers and the Vikings.

To get the stadium ready for the game, the Packers are inviting spirited, hearty shovelers – as many as 650 – to brave the elements and assist with the process.

Those interested are asked to report to the Mills Fleet Farm Gate on Lambeau Field’s west side, beginning at 8 a.m. on Thursday, and continuing through the day as needed.

Shovelers need to be at least 18 years old and will receive $10 per hour, with payment to be made immediately upon completion of their work.

The Packers will provide shovels to all who come to help.

OCONTO CO., WI (WTAQ) - The sheriff's department in Oconto County are piecing together what lead to the death of a 36-year-old man after an argument with a 17-year-old.

Jason Fotopoulos died of injuries suffered during the confrontation at the teen's home on Shady Alberts Lane in the Town of Chase.

Sheriff Michael Jansen says they were neighbors.

"The 36-year-old was a friend of the family where the 17-year-old was residing at."

During the altercation, Fotopoulos was knocked to the ground and seemed to have trouble breathing.

The teen performed CPR on the man but was unsuccessful.

"I expect, but I'm not making that decision, that the D.A. wants to have him (17-year-old) appear in court, if not yet today, by tomorrow, prior to the weekend," Jansen said.

The investigation is ongoing.

The 17-year-old is being held in the Oconto County Jail awaiting charges.

APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) - A woman who allegedly caused her daughter's death pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

Keshia Waupoose is scheduled to stand trial April 11 on a count of second-degree reckless homicide, according to the district attorney's office.

Waupoose allegedly came home after a night of drinking on August 27, 2015.

She fell asleep in a makeshift bed where her 3-month-old daughter was sleeping.

Police said at some point, Waupoose laid on the child.

The autopsy listed the cause of death as asphyxia.

ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ) - The Salvation Army of Greater Green Bay wrapped up its Christmas Assistance Distribution on Wednesday.

The 2 day event took place at Shopko Hall in Ashwaubenon and ensured that thousands of kids in the area will have something to open up on Sunday morning.

Spokesperson Kathryn Kroll says the kindness of the community this year was truly overwhelming.

"This year we were able to help over 1,800 families thanks for the generosity of everyone in our community that donated to the cause."

A total of 4,774 children are ensured to have gifts under the tree on December 25.

Kroll says this year they had a large donation of bikes that were the big ticket item.

"We are so grateful to everyone that donated and so grateful to all the volunteers that helped us out these last couple of days to make this happen," said Kroll.

Kids were able to receive 3 gifts, instead of the normal 2, due to the abundance of donations.

HORTONVILLE , WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - The first of a two-day hearing last night in the case of Hortonville's Police Chief.

Chief Michael Sullivan is accused of a variety of violations including harassment and discrimination.

WLUK covered the hearing.

In front of a standing-room only audience, Hortonville's Police and Fire Commission listened to arguments on the validity of allegations against Sullivan.

James Macy is a private attorney representing the village.

“You've got a violation of rights. You've got a violation of policies and you've got some pretty serious matters.”

Greg Gill is the attorney representing Sullivan.

“The chief is going to tell you through the course of these proceedings that he has made mistakes. He used some off-colored language when he was in the shop with the other cops. He'll also tell you that those things he said he wished he sure as heck wouldn't have said.”

The things Sullivan allegedly said were laid out through extensive witness questioning and statements.

“Chief Sullivan's response was that dumb (expletive),” said Andrew Kolosso, a safety adviser for the Hortonville School District, describing what he said he heard Sullivan say in response to learning an officer was expecting twin babies.

“He would call her fat (expletive) or hair lip,” said Sgt. Brian Barr of the Hortonvile Police Department of what Sullivan allegedly called a village official.

Other violations he is accused of include disclosing confidential information, telling employees there would be repercussions for filing grievances, and misusing village resources.

The hearing is set to resume 5 o'clock this afternoon. Sullivan has been off the job and getting paid since mid-October.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Construction crews working on the Hotel Northland were invited to a "thank you" lunch Wednesday.

The meal commemorates the progress done on the historic downtown building.

Project officials say they hope major construction will be done as early as March with the hotel opening by summer.

Officials also say the process of restoring the building has been long but seeing the original fixtures come to life is exciting.

Marketing director Brigette Breitenbach...

"While we've spent months and months replacing HVAC and plumbing and electrical and all of those things are going to make this building terrific, what we're starting to see now is the restoration of the woodwork and the tile and the light fixtures and those are the really exciting details"

Hotel officials say the project is nearly 70 percent complete.

MADISON, WI (WRN) - Wisconsin’s governor says “just about everything’s on the table” when it comes to possible changes to public assistance programs in his next state budget, including a shift in focus towards getting more parents receiving state aid into the workforce.

Governor Scott Walker hinted to reporters last week that changes were being considered.

In an end of the year interview with WRN Wednesday, the governor said he wants to focus those efforts on getting as many able-bodied adults into the workforce as possible.

“Just about everything we do is going to be focused on how does this help enhance and improve the workforce in Wisconsin”

The governor noted that many of the changes to public assistance programs his administration has made so far have been aimed at childless adults, such as a requirement that individuals receiving FoodShare benefits be actively seeking employment.

Now, Walker said the “next step” is getting people into the workforce, regardless of whether or not they have children.

Walker indicated he’s open to expanding programs that help them enter the workforce, such as getting people childcare assistance so they can enter the workforce and helping people obtain the skills needed to fill available jobs.

“My focus in this budget and in this next two-year legislative cycle is overwhelmingly going to be focused on workforce issues”

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Significant snow fall in recent days has left the Lambeau Field stadium with several inches of heavy, wet snow.

650 shovelers showed up Thursday to help out with the removal of the all the white stuff before Saturday's Packers versus Vikings match up.

Expert shoveler and recent cancer survivor Arletta Paavola says when she was going through treatment, she was hoping she'd be well enough to help out.

"I remember back in early September that it would be great if I'd get to shovel again at Lambeau," said the 55 year old.

And she kept up with the best of them. This was Paavola's 7th year helping remove snow from the stadium rows, seats, and steps.

Packers facilities manager, Todd Edlebeck says the warmer temperatures definitely affected the density of the snow.

"It's a little heavy today because the temperatures are a little warmer. So, it's a little bit slower but we're going very well."

But what happens if it snows again before Saturday?

"At that point we determine how much we have and then we'll get the seats and the steps cleaned. We'll try to salt it to get it to melt but it's really tough to get it out at that time," Edlebeck said.

Helpers were paid $10 an hour for their services with some lining up as early as 3 a.m. to get in line. The Packers provided the shovels.

Saturday's game at Lambeau starts at 12 p.m.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Thanks to the help of the Green and Gold, the Salvation Army received a sizable donation.

The $110,862 donation was raised through Green Bay Packers autograph signings and bell ringing.

Throughout the holiday season, multiple Packers players, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers, signed autographs for fans at Lambeau Field in exchange for donations.

The Packers raised a total of $38,018 over five weeks. Rodgers matched the autograph signing donation, totaling $76,036.

On Dec. 13, Packers staff and employees rang bells at the Bay Park Square Mall for Packers Give Back Day.

The event raised a total of $19,826, which was matched by the team up to $15,000, totaling $34,826 in one day.

The Salvation Army uses the money to help needy families, seniors, and the homeless in Green Bay. 

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - Police are looking for the driver of a vehicle that hit a pedestrian overnight.

The crash happened around 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, when the pedestrian was walking south along Jackson Street.

Oshkosh police say when the person was crossing Pearl Avenue, a vehicle headed east hit the pedestrian on the front passenger side.

The vehicle then continued east on Pearl Avenue.

The vehicle was described as a dark-colored, older four-door vehicle.

The pedestrian was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Anyone with information is asked to call Oshkosh police at (920) 236-5700.

Anonymous tips may be left with Winnebago County Wide Crime Stoppers by phone at (920) 231-8477, by sending a text message with the keyword IGOTYA to 274637 or online.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Travel could get messy Friday as Wisconsinites hit the road for the holidays.

Meteorologist Jeff Last with the National Weather Service says they're tracking a weather system that will produce light snow across the region.

"The snow will start in this area probably late morning, it will start to accumulate during the early to mid-afternoon and continue through about 8 p.m. or 9 p.m."

Last says to expect 2-3 inches with the hardest fall during evening commute time.

Most of the state will be feeling Old Man Winter.

"We are looking at a widespread 2 inch snowfall over almost all of Wisconsin, with about 3 inches or so anywhere from Green Bay down to near Milwaukee, west to La Crosse and Madison," said Last.

Expect rain on Sunday night which could produce slick spots on the highways as a cool and breezy Monday moves in.

HORTONVILLE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - The fate of Hortonville's police chief is now in the hands of the village's police and fire commission.

Nine total hours of testimony over two days concluded Thursday night in Chief Michael Sullivan's hearing on misconduct violations.

Taking a seat as a witness in his own case, Chief Sullivan reiterated his attorney's belief that he was the subject of a witch hunt.

Sullivan said that became his belief after a conversation with Jim Macy, a private attorney the village hired for Sullivan's case.

“He slid the paper forward, tapped his finger on it and said ‘chief, even if you are innocent of everything here, there is no way you can come back from this,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan is accused of harassment, discrimination, threatening officers if they file grievances, disclosing confidential information, and lying about the facts of this investigation.

On the first day of the hearing, several witnesses testified to Sullivan using foul language on the job.

Sullivan denied saying many of the things witnesses testified to. Sullivan also explained his side of certain allegations, and also admitted to others.

After the hearing, Sullivan spoke to WLUK and reiterated he has made mistakes.

“Nobody is perfect. There is only one person that's perfect and we'll celebrate his birthday this weekend.”

Sullivan has been on paid administrative leave since mid-October.

The police and fire commission is expected to decide whether Sullivan deserves any punishment in about a month.

GREEN BAY (WTAQ-WLUK) - A May 1 trial has been set for a Manitowoc doctor charged with overprescribing pain medications.

Dr. Charles Szyman faces 19 federal counts of allegedly "knowingly and intentionally distributed and dispensed unlawfully, and attempted to distribute and dispense unlawfully, a controlled substance outside of his professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose."

The complaint lists 19 incidents between May 4, 2012 and Feb. 18, 2015 involving 12 different patients. The allegations include prescriptions for oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine, amphetamine, hydromorphone and hydrocodone.

According to the indictment, a patient on June 23, 2014 received 3,800 tablets of morphine and oxycodone of varying strengths along with 30 fentanyl patches.

Szyman faces up to 20 years in prison on each count if convicted.

The trial is scheduled for five days at the federal court in Green Bay, according to court records.

Wisconsin regulators also suspended his license.

Proceedings on if his license should be revoked will likely wait until after the criminal case is completed, state officials have said.

BERLIN/MILAN (RUETERS) - The suspect in the Berlin Christmas market truck attack was killed in a shoot-out in a suburb of the northern Italian city of Milan on Friday, Italy's interior minister said.

Marco Minniti told a news conference that "without any shadow of a doubt" the man was 24-year-old Tunisian Anis Amri, wanted for the attack in Berlin.

A police source said earlier Amri was identified by fingerprints.

Minniti said a routine police patrol stopped Amri in a Milan suburb in the early hours of Friday morning. The man took out a pistol and opened fire, injuring one of the police officers.

The officer is now recovering.

Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack, in which the truck mowed through a crowd of people and bulldozed wooden huts selling Christmas gifts and snacks beside a famous church in west Berlin.

One of the 12 dead was the Polish driver from whom the truck had been hijacked. His body, stabbed and shot, was found in the cab.

Police across Europe have been searching for the assailant since the attack on Monday.

Amri was caught on camera by German police on a regular stake-out at a mosque in Berlin's Moabit district early on Tuesday, Germany's rbb public broadcaster reported.

Danish police had also said a man matching his description was seen in Aalborg in northern Denmark.

The Berlin attack has put Europe on high alert over the Christmas period.

In the early hours of Friday morning, German special forces arrested two men suspected of planning an attack on a shopping mall in the city of OberhausenIn in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The men - two brothers from Kosovo, aged 28 and 31 - were arrested in the city of Duisburg on information from security sources, police said.

A police spokesman said there was no connection between the Duisburg arrests and the Amri case.

Amri had been identified by security agencies as a potential threat and had had his application for asylum rejected, but authorities had not managed to deport him because of missing identity documents.

(Reporting by Michael Nienaber in Berlin and Anneli Palmen in Duesseldorf; Writing by Jeremy Gaunt; Editing by Louise Ireland and Alison Williams)

MADISON, WI (WRN) - The leader of Democrats in the state Assembly has no plans to run for governor. Representative Peter Barca of Kenosha says he’s focused on his job leading minority Democrats.

“I don’t have any campaign committee or any effort underway whatsoever to look at a statewide race at this juncture in my life,” Barca said.

While Barca is not interested, he noted that several other Democrats have been mentioned as potential candidates for 2018.

“You could have a very broad primary for governor this time, and that may be exactly what’s needed,” Barca said. “Sometimes having large primaries, candidates catch fire and the public becomes aware of them.”Governor Scott Walker says he’s putting off a decision on seeking a third term until after the next state budget is passed.

Governor Scott Walker is putting off a decision on a third term until after the next state budget is passed.

Assembly Democrats voted last month to retain Barca in the leadership role, with no members running in opposition.

He has held the position since 2011, after Democrats lost control of both chambers and the governor’s office.

BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - Last night's nasty weather was at least partly responsible for a close call on the highway.

A Brown County Sheriff's deputy, and a tow truck driver, were helping someone get their car out of the ditch on I-41, just north of County Road S in The Town of Lawrence when another car, driven by a 19 year old man, slammed into them at high speed.

The wrecker lunged forward, knocking the Deputy and wrecker operator to the ground violently. The tow truck then struck the squad car.

The tow truck even went over the top of the Deputy and Wrecker driver causing them to crawl out from under the wrecker following the crash.

The 19 year old was trapped inside of his vehicle and had to be extricated. He suffered serious but non- life threating injuries.

The Deputy and Wrecker Driver were transported to area hospitals. They suffered minor injuries, were treated and released.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, which is being led by the Hobart Lawrence PD.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The Oneida Seven Generations Corp. and Green Bay Renewable Energy filed a federal lawsuit Friday against the City of Green Bay, seeking damages from a failed waste-to-energy plant project.

In 2010, the Oneida Seven Generations Corp. received city permission to build a power plant fueled by municipal solid waste. However, after construction started, the city revoked the conditional use permit.

Now, the tribal corporation is seeking to recover damages.

"The City's irrational decision to revoke the CUP based on a manufactured rationale shocks the conscience and constitutes a violation of OSCG's constitutional right to due process. As a proximate result, OSGC has sustained over $5 million in out-of-pocket expenses, lost profits of approximately $16 million, and substantial legal expenses, including attorney's fees to try to convince the City to reconsider its decision, and to pursue the state court and these federal court proceedings. The City has left OSGC with no choice but to bring this lawsuit seeking to recover the significant damages it incurred as a result," the suit states.

The plantiffs ask for a jury trial. No court dates have been set.

The city has not been formally served with the suit yet, and is not ready to comment at this point, according to the City Attorney's office.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court previously ruled the city improperly revoked the plant's permit.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Salvation Army volunteers struck gold while counting red kettles Thursday night.

Volunteers reported finding a total of 33 coins - valued around $37,000 - in five different kettles.

The coins are all one-ounce gold American Eagle 2016 coins, valued around $1,130 each.

“This is an unprecedented coin donation in The Salvation Army,” said Major Bob Mueller, Greater Green Bay Coordinator.

“Many Salvation Armies receive one, or maybe two, gold coins throughout their Christmas Campaign, but I’ve never heard of a command receiving this many.”

The five kettle locations were Walmart, Festival Foods, Walgreens, Sam's Club and Woodman's.

The money collected from Salvation Army red kettles go to help local families in need.