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WJFW News

Fire Destroys Crandon Home, Leaves Family Homeless Submitted: 06/27/2012

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CRANDON - Wednesday was a scary reminder for people with fire pits in their yards. A fire broke out just before two yesterday morning, and destroyed a Crandon home.

When Sam and Nicole Tomlin went to bed Tuesday night all was quiet. But just before two a.m. they woke up to the sound of glass breaking, and a raging fire on their front porch.

"Fire doubles in size every minute so it doesn't take long. It probably burned a half hour, you know, totally," says Chief Darrell Wilson, from the Crandon Fire Department.

The Tomlin's and their children got out safely. But that half hour was long enough to make part of the roof cave in, and burn almost everything inside beyond recognition.

All of the human family members made it out ok, but some pets weren't so lucky.

"A cat and a litter of little ones perished," says Chief Wilson.

Chief Wilson says the family had a raised fire pit on the front deck. The Tomlin's told him they threw water on it before they went to bed. But Wilson says it's been hot and windy enough out it easily could have just dried and kept burning.

"And they thought being as they had 10, 12 inches of clearance, that would be ok, but it's not. Elevated fire pits or any burnable thing should be at least a minimum from any combustible material," says Chief Wilson.

The Red Cross is helping the Tomlins. If you'd like to help them out too please email lstemm@wjfw.com and we'll connect you with a Red Cross representative.

Story By: Lyndsey Stemm

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Eagle River library presents new design Submitted: 06/18/2013

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EAGLE RIVER - You can put songs, books and even movies on a device smaller than your hand.

With that kind of technology, you wouldn't think real, brick-and-mortar libraries would be as busy or need as much space.

But in Eagle River, the Olson Library is busier than ever.

The library's foundation started planning for expansion in 2007.

It held an open house to begin its next step in fundraising Tuesday.

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Kemp Street construction pushed back to July 8 Submitted: 06/18/2013

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RHINELANDER - Independence Day always brings a flood of visitors to the Northwoods.

Closing one of Rhinelander's major streets could create a big headache.

But we learned today that major construction on Kemp Street won't start until after July 4th.

The city and contractors decided today to start the Kemp Street part of their sewer project during the week of July 8th.

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City Council votes to recognize domestic partnerships Submitted: 06/18/2013

STEVENS POINT - Stevens Point moved one step closer to recognizing same-sex partnerships last night.

The city council voted to offer domestic partner benefits for city workers.

The change would allow city workers to cover their partners under their health insurance. It would apply to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

Milwaukee, Madison and Racine are among Wisconsin cities that allow something similar.

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Maahs sentenced to six months in jail Submitted: 06/18/2013

ANTIGO - Former Antigo football coach John Lund went to jail for three months for his involvement in a marijuana ring.

The man who sold the drugs to him will be locked up for at least twice that long.

Bradley Maahs was sentenced to six months in jail today. Maahs will also serve more probation time after his stay in jail.

If his probation is revoked for bad behavior, he would go to prison for a year and a half.

He pleaded no contest to delivering THC.

Maahs has two months to report to Langlade or Shawano County Jail.

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Black bear attacks man in Burnett County Submitted: 06/18/2013

BURNETT COUNTY - A man survived a bear attack in Northwestern Wisconsin yesterday.

He's now recovering at a hospital in the Twin Cities.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says a black bear attacked the man in his yard.

It happened near Shell Lake in Burnett County last night around 9:30 p.m.

DNR carnivore specialist David MacFarland says the man's dog apparently had initiated contact with the bear before the man was attacked.


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Assembly Republicans want to restrict public access to mining site Submitted: 06/18/2013

MADISON - Wisconsin Republicans want to make sure protestors don't interfere with the mining exploration project in Iron and Ashland counties.

Representative Mark Honadel is trying to persuade Republican leaders to limit public access to the mining sites.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Monday the changes won't appear in the spending plan.

But he said Republican leaders are working on other options with the state Department of Natural Resources.

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Antigo looks to Langlade Hospital to take over ambulance service Submitted: 06/18/2013

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ANTIGO - The city of Antigo doesn't want to run an ambulance service anymore. It's just too expensive. Instead, the city's new hospital may take over.

"We have a great ambulance service now and that's our biggest concern here is being able to maintain that... As with a lot of people our problem is financial," said City of Antigo’s Mayor, Bill Brandt.

Each year it costs around 2 million dollars to run the ambulance service for Antigo and 10 surrounding townships.

About half of that is paid by the city and county through taxes... The other half is paid by the user fees.

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