APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Three people from the Wausau area were arrested Thursday after police say they were on Appleton East High School grounds with weapons.

Appleton Police Sgt Dave Lund tells WLUK the school's resource officer was walking through the hallways at the end of the school day and noticed two people who did not appear to be students at the school.

"Came across two individuals who he didn't recognize as being students at Appleton East High School"

After talking with the two individuals, staff went to check the parking lot of the school and found an unoccupied vehicle, not registered to be at the school. Inside the vehicle was a third individual.

The liaison officer then called for backup.

Lund said those officers spoke with the person in the car, then searched the car.

"Two handguns were found inside the vehicle. One of the handguns was loaded"

Police say a 21-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy are being held at the Outagamie County Jail on felony charges and a 16-year-old boy is being held in secure detention.

Officials say they believe the three individuals came to the school to seek retaliation against an Appleton East High School student.

Police say there were no weapons brought inside the school and they do not believe the general population of the school was in immediate danger.

Lund credits the good work of the school liaison officer.

"Fortunately it gets back to knowing our schools knowing the population within the school and our school resource officer making that contact. Really one of those reasons that we have our school resource officers there."

Due to the Easter holiday, there are no classes at the school today (Friday).

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - While it might take the public some time to notice a difference, Public Works Director Steve Grenier tells WLUK data from new smart traffic signals shows an improvement in traffic flow.

“What they are going to see is hey I used to make it through three lights and then I'd get stopped by the fourth one and now it seems like I can go the entire length of that street, or it used to take me seven minutes to get from this point to that and it's down to six minutes” Green Bay started using smart signals in 2008.

The technology started with wiring in the pavement, but Grenier says it has advanced to mounted camera systems.

“We can tell the camera to look at the first car that pulls up, or if that's causing too many calls in traffic, the signal is turning too much, we're adversely impacting a major street, you can take and move that box to the second car back or a third car back” The city chooses which intersections receive the new smart signals on a number of factors including the age of the current signal technology and volume of traffic.

“Number one primarily would be corridors,” said Grenier.

The intersection at Main and Mason on the east side will be one of the next intersections to change over.

Drivers like Green Bay's Shayna Robinson welcome the move.

“Maybe somebody isn't going to have to speed to get to work or get to something they're late for”

Douglans Winkler is a fan too.

“People's schedules have gotten tighter, so everyone is in a rush all the time, so it's probably a good thing”

The city budgets about $200,000 each year to change over one or two corridors or major intersections.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - With the public relations image of their company in tatters after of a paying customer being dragged off an airplane, a Green Bay PR consultant has some advice for United Airlines.

Susan Finco, with Leonard & Finco, cringed when she saw David Dow bloodied and dragged off the plane. United's initial response was cringe worthy too.

"They didn't say the rights things, they didn't do the right things, they were slow to respond".

Now that United has apologized and is trying to make amends, Finco says the airline needs to publicly state what sort of changes they're going to make with regard to treatment of passengers.

And get a passenger committee to be part.

"Convene them on a quarterly basis and get feedback from them".

And don't mess up again.

"Any future missteps will be magnified ten-fold".

As far as the lawsuit threatened by the attorney for David Dow, Finco says United Airlines has to do its best to settle this out of court.

Failure to do that, and have this episode replayed again in a courtroom, will only continue the PR nightmare for United.

"Just because they were legally within their right to do this doesn't mean they should have. And if that's their defense, it's not going to go well for them".

MENOMINEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - Still no word on when this spring's sturgeon spawning will begin on the Wolf River.

DNR Fisheries Biologist Ryan Koenigs says fluctuating weather conditions have it made difficult to predict since the pre-spawning behavior typically does not begin until water temperatures reach 52-58 degrees.

Within one or two days of the fish starting to spawn, Koenigs says the males begin "cruising up and down the rocks." 

Koenigs notes the uncertainty is farily common, with last year's consistently warm mid-April temperatures that made the start time more predictable serving as an outlier.  

Most often, Koenigs says the spawning takes place somewhere between April 20-26.

The sturgeon spawning is an annual celebration of the fish on the Menominee Indian Reservation.

A memorandum of understanding between the Menominee and the DNR calls for a minimum of 100 fish to be delivered to the Wolf River each spring for ten years.  This is year six.

After spawning, most fish are believed to return to the Lake Winnebago system.

Koenigs says deliveries of 46 and 59 sturgeon have been made to the Wolf River this spring, in addition to the 45-50 that arrived last fall.

However, Koenigs notes only 135-140 of the fish will be part of the spawning since 15 sturgeon are reserved for the Menominee Tribe's annual ceremony.

The tribe plans to smoke the sturgeon and serve them during a Saturday feast at Menominee High School.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The 1998 case of a missing University of Wisconsin-Green Bay student got national attention Friday.

The Amber Wilde case was featured on the TV show "Crime Watch Daily" on NBC26.

Green Bay Police Commander Jim Runge says keeping these cases like this one in the limelight, can help bring about new evidence.

"There's always a hope with something like this, and it has happened, that it will jog somebody's memory, somebody who's not aware of the case...develop new tips, new leads."

Runge says many of these cold cases are solved with new forensic technology.

"Probably 10 years ago, there was a homicide that was closed out of Green Bay 1 that was probably 30 years old, simply because of advances in DNA testing techniques."

He says with publicity like this, they get new tips and fresh information to help solve the crime.

If you have any information on the Amber Wilde case, call the Green Bay Police Department at 920-448-3200 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers, 920-432-STOP (7867) or www.432stop.com

GREEN BAY (WTAQ-WLUK) -- A decision was made Friday on who owns a historic hotel in downtown Green Bay.

Judge Atkinson ruled Keith Harenda the sole owner of the Hotel Northland. His partner, Mike Frantz, has no ownership rights. Redevelopment work has been slowed immensely since the start of 2017 due to an ongoing lawsuit between the project's two original developers.

Harenda considered himself the owner of the building after buying out Frantz.

Frantz claimed he still owns 50 percent and would like to have a say in the project through its finish.

According to Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt, workers should be back on the site May 1 finishing work on the 93-year-old hotel.

As of January 2017, crews said the hotel's work was 70 percent finished.

GREEN BAY,  WI (WTAQ) - A formal complaint has been filed against a Green Bay alderman.

According to WLUK, Zoe Van Oss brought forth the grievance against Alderman John Vander Leest following a conversation over the possible removal of Mayor Jim Schmitt from office.  

The council voted in February not to oust Schmitt, after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor campaign finance reporting violations.

After she sent Vander Leest an email expressing her support for Schmitt, Van Oss says he forwarded the email to her employer.  

Van Oss, an Ashwaubenon resident, calls the actions "bullish and alarming."

Through his attorney, Vander Leest has denied the allegations.

Vander Leest was one of the alderpersons who voted to remove Schmitt from office.

“Please note the attached email correspondence and recorded action Mr. Vander Leest forwarded my email to my employer. His intention was to cause me financial harm and to intimidate me at my work place because I did not agree with him. I also believe, had I been a man and not a woman, he would not have thought he could get away with this action,” Van Oss wrote. “I am seeking reassurance from the ethics board that the public has a right to voice their opinion with retribution or slander from a city official by contacting one’s employer to cause financial harm and loss of employment.”

In a five-page response, Vander Leest's attorney Tricia Nell requests the complaint be dismissed.

Multiple reasons are cited for the dismissal including: Van Oss not being a Green Bay resident, Van Oss not indicating any code violations that were committed, and Van Oss using her work email and phone to contact Vander Leest.

The city's Ethics Board will review the complaint 6 pm Monday at Green Bay City Hall.  

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - An annual Easter tradition is returning to Wisconsin.

Governor Scott Walker has announced the Easter egg hunt at his residence will take place Saturday as originally scheduled.

Due to safety concerns, the event was canceled Thursday when the search for suspected weapons thief Joseph Jakubowski was still ongoing.

Jakubowski was apprehended Friday morning in Vernon County.

TOWN OF WINNEBAGO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Water could soon be shut off to one Northeast Wisconsin town.

The state has sent letters to 24 property owners in the Town of Winnebago, stating their water service will be cut off August 1.  

The unincorporated community inside the Town of Oshkosh has relied on the state for water and sewer services.

Affected properties are near the state-run Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

For over 70 years, the nearby properties received state services since many of the homes used to belong to institution workers.

However, the mental health facility is now serviced through the City of Oshkosh while all other Town of Oshkosh residents receive water through private wells or are in sanitary districts that buy services from neighboring municipalities.

Both the Town of Oshkosh and the state have denied responsible for the Town of Winnebago's utilities.

The City of Oshkosh says it could provide Winnebago residents with service by either selling them water and sewer through a sanitary district or annexing the properties into the city.

Some residents say the latter would cost them $20,000-$30,000 as they would need to upgrade their property's utility infrastructure.

The township has hired a lawyer to help figure out its next step. 

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Wisconsin residents are urged to spend some time this week preparing for the worst.

Governor Scott Walker has declared April 17-21 as 'Tornado and Severe Weather Awareness Week' in the Badger State.

On Thursday, two mock tornado warnings are scheduled to allow people to practice their emergency plans.

The first warning is set for 1:45 pm, with a mock match to be issued at 1 pm.  

A second warning at 6:45 pm is meant to give families a chance to put their at-home drill to the test.

Mock alerts will be issued on NOAA Weather Radios, and many communities will sound their tornado sirens at those times.

If actual severe weather is expected Thursday, the drills will be postponed until the same times the following day.  They will be canceled if severe storms are also expected Friday.

The mock alerts will take place even if the sky is cloudy, dark, and/or rainy.

State Emergency Management Public Information Officer Tod Pritchard says this week is a good time for people to prepare for severe weather.

When the sirens do sound, he urges people to "listen, act, and live."  

Pritchard notes people should "listen for that warning and then take action quickly.  You're going to have a much better chance of surviving.

He encourages residents to suppress the basic human instinct of first wanting to obtain more information about what is happening.

While Pritchard says seeking shelter in a basement is the best course of action once the emergency sirens sound, he notes there is an alternative.

"Get underneath any kind of solid furniture, anything that you can put between yourself and the possible debris falling on top of you." 

In case disaster does strike a person's home, Pritchard says it is necessary to be prepared for 'survival mode.'

He encourages all residents to have extra food and water on hand along with a first-aid kid, necessary medications, and baby or pet supplies, if applicable.

Pritchard also urges people to purchase a weather radio, which keep people informed of developments during severe storms.

The National Weather Service says Wisconsin averages 23 tornadoes per year.  

Pritchard says the state had 17 in 2015 and 16 in 2016, all of those being low-level tornadoes.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Mental health has become an increasingly important focus of the Green Bay Police Department with an estimated 30 percent of all calls having a mental health component.

Back in January, the department hired two full time officers who strictly work 'mental health calls' in the city.

WTAQ sat down with Officer Barb Gerarden and Officer Kami Allen to get a better idea of what they do every day.

Allen says no day is ever the same.

"A lot of people get into police work because they like that," said Allen. "Typically my day...I have alerts on people so, say an officer makes contact with someone and they're off their medication and they're having some odd behavior and maybe they're thinking it's mental health related, they can put CCIT in the notes of the call and then I have an alert so anytime an officer puts CCIT, I get flagged on that call."

CCIT stand for Community Crisis Intervention Team which Allen says is essentially the code officer use if they think someone is mentally ill.

According to NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four people have a mental health diagnosis.

Officer Gerarden says people with mental illness are more often victims than criminals although society paints a different picture.

"If someone comes in the lobby, it's not uncommon that somebody's upset or experiencing some type of symptoms whether it's paranoia or homelessness," said Gerarden. "We are also getting calls from social workers asking us to do a joint home visit with them when one of their clients isn't doing well. We have a very good relationship with Adult Protective Services."

In 2016 the Green Bay Police Department had almost 600 emergency medical commitments.

"Another huge thing we deal with is repeated calls with someone where maybe they're calling in 2 or 3 times a day," Allen said.

Their job is not easy but there are aspects that make it all work it.

"It's just really knowing that you're making a difference and that's why we got into this," said Gerarden.

See the entire interview in the latest episode of Green Bay Crime in the video above.

ALLOUEZ, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) - Just 200 feet from Tom Funk's home, a guard tower, surrounded by wiring.

"Progress is progress, if they need to tear it down, build something else, that's fine" 

He has lived at his home in Allouez for 25 years and tells WLUK despite the uncertainty in what the future holds for the Green Bay Correctional Institution, he's happy with the neighborhood.

"It don't make any difference to me either way, if they leave it there or if they tear it down. I'm fine with whatever decision they make"

Jim Rafter, Allouez Village President, plans to attend a news conference Monday afternoon in regards to the changes.

"The prison is 100 years old, more than 100 years old, it needs help"

State Rep. David Steffen, R-Howard, is scheduled to reveal more details of his plan to close and replace the prison.

Rafter says he agrees with the decision to seek out alternatives. He says especially given the estimated $142,000,000 that state officials say needed to upgrade the prison.

"It's tax exempt. We don't realize tax revenue from it, and some estimates have potential development at $80 million."

Rafter added, the potential for commercial development could boost the village's economy.

"That's some of the most valuable property, and I'm not a realtor, but that is where some of the most valuable property in the area is."

Tom Bundez can see the prison from his home across highway 172.

"No one really likes to look a big prison around your house, so it's awesome move for the community. Even houses, anything residential, would be great improvement than what is is now."

The proposal, however, is still in the early stages.

If approved, Steffen has stated closing the prison and opening another could take up to five years.

KENOSHA, WI (METRO) - President Donald Trump will travel to Kenosha this week to speak at a local factory.

The White House is confirming the president will pay a visit to the Badger State on Tuesday.

State Rep. Tod Ohnstad told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Trump will visit the Kenosha headquarters of tool manufacturer "Snap-on".

It will be the president's first visit to the state since taking office.

The president had planned to visit the Menomonee Falls' Harley-Davidson factory in February, but the trip was canceled because of concerns over protests.

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - Oshkosh police are say a sex offender is moving into a different neighborhood within the city.

Officials say 57-year-old Ronald K. Spiering is now living at 325 Broad St. Apt. #3 as of Friday, April 14.

He recently lived at a shelter at 449 High Avenue in Oshkosh.

Spiering was convicted in three separate sexual assault cases since 1985, twice involving minors.

In 1985, Spiering was convicted of 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of a Child and then in 1995 he was convicted of 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of a Child.

Most recently in 2005, Spiering was convicted for 3rd Degree Sexual Assault of an adult female acquaintance by force.

He is on active supervision with the Department of Corrections until April 30, 2019.

If the public has questions or concerns, please contact the Oshkosh Police Crime Prevention Office at 920-236-5742.

For more information on sex offenders in your neighborhood, go to http://offender.doc.state.wi.us/public/

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Green Bay Police have more information about a Sunday morning chase and crash that killed one person.

Police releasing the following statement:

On April 16th at around 9:47am, a GBPD Officer was involved in a vehicle pursuit that originated in the area of 9th and S. Ashland.

The officer was in this area because of a suspicious person/check welfare complaint that an intoxicated male was trying to get into vehicles.

Complainant said the male was stumbling around, banged on her windows, tried to get into her vehicle and then went across the street and tried to do the same to her neighbor’s vehicles.

Officers responded to the area and attempted to stop a vehicle in the alley between Broadway and Chestnut driving erratically.

The vehicle initially pulled to the curb as if it was going to stop but took off. A pursuit was initiated.

The suspect vehicle fled and later jumped the curbed, crashed into a tree, and the vehicle split into two pieces. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Blood alcohol and toxicology tests are pending. The identity of the suspect driver is not being released.

State Patrol is handling the crash investigation/reconstruction.

Due to recent law changes, this is being handled as an officer involved death, therefore Appleton Police Department is handling the investigation.

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - One of the two men accused of stealing a pair of forklifts from an Appleton business has pleaded not guilty at arraignment.

Jason Havel of Appleton faces two felony counts of Theft of Movable Property Exceeding $10,000.

The 42-year-old is charged along with 52-year-old John Forbes, who was expected to waive his preliminary hearing Monday, for reportedly stealing two $13,300 forklifts from Valley Packaging and selling them to another business for $2,000 apiece.  

Havel has a pre-trial conference for the March 2016 incident set for July 11.

The two are also charged together in Winnebago County for allegedly stealing 1,700 cases of diapers from Valley Packaging.  Those diapers were being stored for the Fox Cities Diaper Bank, which provides assistance to low-income families.

Both are due back in a Winnebago County courtroom on May 15: Havel for a pre-trial conference and Forbes for an arraignment hearing. 

MARINETTE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - The two Marinette residents accused of burglarizing a Stephenson convenience store and leading police on a subsequent manhunt were back in court Monday.

The public defender's office said it had not yet found a lawyer for Chad Setunsky.  

While Ashley Niewierowski's attorney was ready to proceed with a preliminary hearing, nothing happened since prosecutors want the pair's court activity to be held jointly.

Both are facing felony counts of Burglary, First Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety, and Fleeing a Traffic Officer along with misdemeanor counts of Theft and Criminal Damage to Property for allegedly stealing the ATM machine from Corner Convenience store on April 8 and leading police on a high-speed pursuit where officers reported they were the target of gunfire.

Setunsky and Niewierowski were taken into custody the next day.

Both are due back in court April 26.

PRINCETON, WI (WTAQ) - A preliminary hearing has been set for the 29-year-old Princeton man accused of murdering his girlfriend and burning her body.

At Antonio Contreras' status conference in a Green Lake County courtoom Monday, the hearing was announced for April 25.  Another status conference is set for the day prior.

Contreras faces felony counts of First Degree Intentional Homicide, Arson, Mutilating a Corpse, and Possession of a Firearm as a Felon for reportedly shooting Grace Reiter-Rudolph in the head at least four times following March 12 argument.

He reportedly admitted to drinking and smoking meth earlier that night.

Once she was dead, Contreras allegedly burned their rental home in an effort to destroy the evidence and then fled to Florida, where he was taken into custody a couple days later.

If he is convicted, Contreras faces life in prison.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A June 26 trial date has been set for a Manitowoc doctor accused of over-prescribing drugs.

Charles Szyman has pleaded not guilty to 19 federal charges of unlawfully prescribing prescription pain killers.

A status conference was held Monday in federal court.

The trial is scheduled for four days.

According to the indictment, Szyman "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 Wisconsin Medical Examining Board has suspended Szyman's medical license.

Holy Family Memorial Hospital, where Szyman worked for 16 years, terminated him in 2015.

SHEBOYGAN, WI (WTAQ) - Sheboygan Police are investigating the death of a 3-month-old child.

Crews were dispatched the 1000 block of Pershing Avenue just before 4 am Saturday for a report of a child who was not breathing.

The infant was taken to Sheboygan Memorial Hospital where the death pronouncement was made.