LAKE TOMAHAWK - The DNR board approved a measure Wednesday that will eliminate in-person deer registration in 2015.
The department says it will save them money and be more efficient.
But that decision could mean less business for area registration sites.
The BP gas station in Lake Tomahawk registers about 500 deer a year.
It's the only registration location between Rhinelander and Minocqua.
The station's owners say most people who register deer also buy other things like pizza, beer and snacks.
The store depends on deer registration to get through the lull between the summer and snowmobile season.
"500 customers means a lot to us....It's going to hurt our businesses. We live in such a small community. Then it will be hard to survive," said BP Lake Tomahawk owner Meena Arora.
We called seven businesses that register deer in our area.
All but one said eliminating in-person deer registration will hurt business.
We also asked our Facebook Friends what they thought.
Brenda Yaekel posted, "I do not think they should take away from the local places that support hunting. Business is slow enough."
But hunter Gregory Dodge wrote, "I like the idea. I'm a long way from a registration station, over an hour round trip just to register a deer which takes under 5 minutes to do. They have been doing this out west for a long time with no issues."
You can call in deer registration or register deer online under the new system.
Future Wisconsin Project wants to bring more workers, manufacturers to Wisconsin
Submitted: 03/11/2014
RHINELANDER - The Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce group held a seminar at Nicolet College in Rhinelander Tuesday, to plan how to make Wisconsin more attractive to skilled workers and manufacturing businesses.
WMC's president believes the shortage in younger people in the industry has to do with two big misconceptions about manufacturing.
"The younger kids, as do their parents, have a perception on what manufacturing looks like and it's about 40 years out of date. If you're in an advanced manufacturing facility now, it's clean, it's high-tech, the engineers and technicians are working together," said Jim Morgan."We have a perception problem. I think we still have a definition of success that's says unless you have a four-year degree, you're not successful."
Morgan says groups like WMC work to change that perception. He believes workers with a two-year degree are just as successful in the industry.
So far, WMC held seminars at nine other technical colleges. For Rhinelander, more manufacturers could mean more economic independence.
"The Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce is looking to see how it can help and partner with local manufacturers to make the Rhinelander area a more favorable place for them to locate their businesses, as well as to attract and retain skilled workers to make those businesses successful," said Dana DeMet, Rhinelander Chamber of Commerce director.
Over the next six months, WMC will continue to look for ways to attract more workers and businesses to the state.
In December, it hopes to have 1000 representatives for a meeting in Milwaukee focusing on how manufacturing will benefit the state.
WMC also works with the University of Wisconsin system and the Wisconsin Technical Colleges.
MADISON - The Rhinelander Mock trial team can call themselves champions.
The team took state Monday afternoon in Madison.
he RHS Mock Trial Team has won the state tournament 17 times in the 31 years since it was established.
One of the co-captains says it takes both the coaches and the students hard work to be so successful.
The national mock trial championship is scheduled in May.
The team is trying to raise money to help with expenses.
Checks made out to the Rhinelander High School Mock trial team can be sent to the high school. _______________________________________________________________________
MADISON - Madison police say six people have been arrested in connection with a violent home invasion in which a pregnant woman was repeatedly sexually assaulted.
Police released details Monday about the incident that happened Feb. 23.
Authorities say several armed robbers forced their way into the home of a Madison couple at 4 a.m., demanded money and assaulted them for 40 to 50 minutes.
Several suspects sexually assaulted the woman, who was six months pregnant.
The residents walked to a local business to call 911 after the ordeal. They were hospitalized for their injuries.
Police say the suspects were targeting a different home and robbed the victims by mistake. Several items that were stolen have been recovered.
RHINELANDER - UPDATE: Monday, Mar 10, 2014; 10:45 p.m.
A temporary stop sign at a Rhinelander intersection will become a permanent fixture at the intersection.
The Rhinelander City Administrator Blaine Oborn says The City Council unanimously agreed to permanently keep the stop sign at the Davenport and Sutliff Street intersection.
The stop sign was put up at the three-way intersection during a construction project last summer.
The permanent signs could be in place in the next couple of weeks.
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Drivers might need to get used to a stop sign at one intersection in Rhinelander.
The City Council held a public hearing to decide if the temporary stop sign on Davenport and Sutliff should stay.
The stop sign was put up at the three-way intersection during a construction project last summer.
"We put up a temporary stop sign because we had the closure on Kemp, and we sent all the traffic this way," says Rhinelander City Administrator Blaine Oborn. "Once we had the stop sign up, a lot of people in the community started voicing support for keeping it."
Members of the community voiced their support for or against the permanent stop sign at the public hearing.
"People who live on the west side over here go straight through, it slows them down a little bit by having to do a stop sign," says Oborn. "The people on Sutliff that have to make a left or right turn, they really favor the three-way stop sign here because it makes it a lot safer for them."
The permanent signs could be in place in the next couple of weeks if the council approves the move.
MADISON - A bill that would allow Wisconsin schools to extend school days and shorten school years to save money is up for a vote in the Senate this week.
The bill would get rid of the requirement that schools teach for 180 days or lose state funding. Schools are still required to teach the same number of hours under the bill.
Another change under the law allows the state Department of Public Instruction to fund remedial courses and interim school sessions. The package is being viewed as a cost saving measure for districts that have seen state funding decrease in recent years.
Three Democrats joined the bill's Republican sponsors, and DPI and other education groups have voiced strong support for the proposal.
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