MILWAUKEE - Emergency rooms at many Milwaukee area hospitals are being inundated with older patients who have severe flu-like symptoms.
Over the past 10 days, many of those emergency departments have been forced to divert incoming ambulances to other hospitals.
A Milwaukee Health Department official says five to eight of Milwaukee County's 11 hospitals have reported rolling diversions - temporary, periodic shutdowns of emergency departments except for life-threatening cases - because staff and beds are strained by an influx of patients hit hard with the flu.
Other cities around Wisconsin have not reported hospitals being inundated with influenza cases yet.
MINOCQUA - Cross Country skiing seems like it’s just you and nature, but there’s actually a lot of manpower and big machinery involved.
The trails at Minocqua Winter Park open Friday. Employees got ready for the skiers starting Sunday.
“That’s our roller. That’s the first thing we do when we get a lot of snow we roll it and it knocks the air out of the snow and packs it down," said Eric Dwito, one of the people who grooms the ski trails.
Preparing the snow makes the trails better for skiers.
EAGLE RIVER - Most of us know businesses demand hard work to begin. Northland Pines fifth graders found out just how much work it takes to start their own business.
Students worked in groups to create a business that sold a product they could make themselves. Today students' businesses were open in the school's library.
"Our business is called 'Cozy Candles' and we're making candle holders. Some of them are glass jars and we hot glued sticks to them," said Olivia, 5th Grader and Entrepreneur.
CRANDON - More than 1,000 toys will bring Christmas cheer to a Northwoods community. A local business spent a month rounding up toys and saving money to give back to their community.
The Potawatomi Carter Casino and Hotel donated toys to people in need in the Forest County community. This is the fourth year employees of the business have held the toy drive.
RHINELANDER - Footprints in the snow led police to another burglar in Rhinelander. Police say Kevin Kurek was breaking into garages late last month.
But he left a trail of footprints from garage to garage. An observant neighbor followed the footprints and called police.
At any one time we only have a couple of police officers in the city being able to be out there observing and what's going on the citizens are our biggest asset because they are with all the citizens in town,” says Rhinelander Police Chief Mike Steffes. “We have over 8,000 sets of eyes that can keep an eye on what's going on keep an eye on their property keep an eye on their neighbors’ property.
Police say they found the 22-year-old less than a mile away from a home on Dorr Avenue. Police were able to match the print in the snow to the bottom of Kurek's shoes which read "Globe."
Anytime there's a fresh fallen snow it’s an opportunity for officers to be able to use that snow to track the suspect,” says Steffes. “If we don't have that fresh fallen snow sometimes we have to use other assets that we have available to us like the dog.”
Rhinelander Police Chief Mike Steffes reminds everyone to keep their valuables locked during this holiday season.
“It’s very important for all homeowners and people who are visiting town to make sure that their vehicles are locked especially as we come into the holiday season because people are going to be purchasing valuables, purchasing presents for others, and they might be driving a long distances or stopping at family and friends homes with presents for other locations in their vehicles.”
Kurek faces four counts of burglary. He'll be in court next week.
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