WAUSAU - If you drink and drive, don't expect to get away with it. Especially when you've already been caught seven other times. A Weston man is facing his eighth drunken driving charge.
Twenty-nine year-old Cole Knapp appeared in Marathon County Court today. Prosecutors say an officer tried to pull Knapp over for a traffic violation May 11 when Knapp took off.
Knapp eventually stopped and got out of his vehicle with his hands in the air.
During a background check, Knapp fled on foot and was arrested a short time. He has seven previous OWI convictions dating back to 2002 in Bayfield, Ashland, Lincoln and Marathon counties.
He spent more than two years in prison from his last drunken driving conviction in 2010. Police say Knapp has never held a Wisconsin driver's license.
LAC DU FLAMBEAU - In Vilas County the courts have a new option for treating drug and alcohol offenders, instead of putting them behind bars.
Today the new Wellness Court was named in Lac du Flambeau. Circuit court judge Neal Neilsen and Tribal Court Judge Gary Smith will work together to help those involved with drugs and alcohol get the treatment they need.
"A traditional court would, more than likely sentence the person to jail or prison, and we've seen studies where that just doesn't work anymore. We need to get creative," said Lac du Flambeau Tribal Chief Judge, Gary Smith.
RHINELANDER - State budgeting can sound like a dry topic. For many people, and even elected officials, it is.
But when a state budget impacts your child's school directly, people tend to pay attention.
Some people in Rhinelander think Wisconsin is not giving its fair share to districts in northern Wisconsin. They met in town tonight to talk about it.
Staff and parents in the School District of Rhinelander want to make sure state officials know just how much they're hurting. They met tonight to hammer that point home.
"Because there are fewer of us in northern Wisconsin than in the big cities, we're going to have to be louder," says Kelli Jacobi, District Director of Instruction, and future Superintendent.
Rhinelander voters passed a $3 million referendum in February. That meant the district could raise more money from property taxes. But it doesn't fix a bigger problem - how much money the district gets from the state.
"There's a huge discrepancy in terms of the school funding formula because it's based on property values and has nothing to do with income," says Marta Kwiatkowski, District Director of Business Services.
That creates an odd situation. Rhinelander is considered a high property value district. That means it doesn't get a whole lot of financial help from the state government. At the same time, it's a high poverty district too.
"If you look at the income, our income is approximately $35,000 on average, where state average is $52,000," says Kwiatkowski.
The wide difference between property values and actual family incomes in Rhinelander creates a challenge. It's been that way for years - since the state Legislature set up school funding rules.
"It's kind of a situation that wasn't taken into account when the current school funding formula was established," says Jacobi.
Now, the only thing school districts like Rhinelander can do is push hard for their state legislators to help them financially.
"We say, hey, what are you going to do for us? We did it for you because we voted you into office. If we don't like (what you're doing), we're going to find somebody that we will like and vote them in," says Brian Carpenter, a parent and middle school teacher.
A temporary fix could be a plan by Senate Republicans Mike Ellis and Luther Olson. They suggest raising the amount of funding devoted to each student by $200 over Governor Walker's budget proposal. Rhinelander leaders strongly support that plan.
"We let people know what our concerns are, what our problems are, and that we need help," says Jacobi.
RHINELANDER - Rhinelander needs new businesses to fill empty stores downtown.
This past weekend 26 properties had an open house. It was organized by Downtown Rhinelander, Inc. (DRI) and Flanders Reality Group. Finding the right home for a business can be hard. But the event tried to help those on the hunt.
"This way, you know, your here, you look, your able to talk to someone who knows the property. And you can really make a really good decision right now today," said Maggie Steffen, DRI Executive Director.
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