WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - Wausau police say they know what started a fire at the Days Inn on Saturday night.

Detective captain Greg Hagenbucher says the cause of the fire is electrical. "It started in a wall, and it may as a result of some flooding that happened early on Saturday on the second floor." The flooding was caused after a tub overflowed for an extended period of time over the afternoon.

Guests were quickly evacuated to other motels in the area, and fire crews spent most of the night fighting the fire. Damage was mostly contained to the west side of the building thanks to some fire stops built into the walls.

A number of people living and staying the motel were displaced, and Hagenbucher says new housing has been found for them. "The Plaza hotel across the street took everyone from the Days Inn, and they took them for two days. The Red Cross is working with the Days Inn management is working to get them back into their rooms and retrieve belongings and things like that."

One person was injured in the fire with minor injures and transported to a hospital.

Insurance adjusters from Days Inn are now at the scene to make their reports.

SCANDINAVIA, Wis. (WSAU) -- Waupaca County officials have released the name of the man killed in a rollover crash on Saturday.

Sheriff’s investigators Investigators say 23-year-old Dairion Lawrence of Iola was ejected from his vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. Lawrence died after his vehicle left Highway 49 and rolled over at approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday in the Town of Scandinavia.

The cause of that crash remains under investigation.

MEDFORD, Wis. (WSAU) -- A plea deal has been reached for the Taylor County woman accused of trying to kill her children. 

37-year-old Heidi Mann will avoid a jury trial. Online court records from yesterday’s status conference indicate that a tentative agreement has been reached and the matter will be scheduled soon for a plea and sentencing hearing.

Mann is accused of trying to kill four of her six children by carbon monoxide asphyxiation inside of the family car last March. Court documents say Mann tried to kill them believing they couldn’t deal with their parent’s divorce.

The children, ages 11, 8, 5, and 3 all survived.

WAUPACA, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Waupaca County man convicted of killing his girlfriend has filed an appeal. 25-year-old Kevin J. Lombard was sent to prison this past May for strangulation/suffocation and homicide.

Lombard told investigators he got into an argument with his girlfriend Amelia Schmitz at a hotel August 12 of 2012. He said he tried to quiet her and restrain her by putting her in a headlock. They then fell off the bed and she became limp.

Lombard had entered a guilty plea to the charges, and was sentenced to thirty years in prison followed by twenty years on supervised release. Now, Lombard wants to appeal his conviction. The files were forwarded to the Appeals Court yesterday.

He remains incarcerated at the Wisconsin Resource Center in Winnebago awaiting word from the appellate court.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Woodson Art Museum is getting some federal funds to help put on an exhibition next year.

The Woodson is one of 150 groups getting a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help support art in rural and urban communities. Marketing director Amy Beck says the funding will go towards an upcoming program. "It is to support an exhibition we'd planned already, and programming that will be really exciting to bring this to life. It's 'Upcycled Style' by Nancy Jedd."

The funding will also help provide for a 4 day residency for Judd who will be running a class called 'From Garbage to Gucci.' Beck says the entire show is all about designs and creations with recycled materials. "She makes things like dresses out of shredded tires and things that wouldn't be really comfortable to wear. But the idea is to get people thinking about the creative ways they can reuse materials."

The $10,000 dollar grant is part of the $2.5 million Challenge America Fast-Track program aimed at supporting non-profits around the country. The new show opens up April 15 of next year.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- Plans are now fully underway for the new science building at UW-Stevens Point.

The campus has secured both funding for the project and a lead designer. Potter Lawson out of Madison will be doing the architectural work for the project. Chancellor Bernie Patterson says the expansion has been a long time coming. "We've expanded some buildings, and remodeled some of the buildings, and expanded the science building and remodeled the natural resources building, but this will be our first new standalone academic building in 40 years."

The building will not only hold classrooms but also research facilities, something the college needs room for. Patterson says the campus has been steadily getting research grants and wants the space. "We were awarded about 5 million dollars which is about 22 percent of the funds available statewide, so there's a significant amount of research going on here."

The $75 million dollar facility will house new biology and chemistry research units, 7 new classrooms, 2 lecture halls and new faculty and staff offices. It will also house the new campus herbarium and animal care facilities. But the old facility won't be going away, according to Patterson. "We're going to keep the old science building as well. The astronomy program will remain in the old science building, and the part being vacated will be remodeled and repurposed as we continue to expand in the science area."

Construction has been scheduled for the summer of 2015.

SHAWANO, Wis (WSAU) A man is under arrest in Shawano County for allegedly producing bath salts that people were using to get high. 42-year-old Mike Waldner was charged after sheriffs deputies got a warrant to search his home in Aniwa on December 10th. At first, Waldner refused to open the door. Deputies and Antigo police forced their way inside.

Police say several chemicals used to manufacture bath salts were found.

Waldner will face up to five felonies, including maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession of drug manufacturing equipment with intent to distribute.

He's been held in the Shawano County Jail on $10,000 bond. His next court appearance is December 23rd.

WAUSAU, Wis (WSAU) A Wausau School District investigation into the controversy over Christmas concerts is compete. It was reviewed in closed session last night, and will be released to the public in the near future - perhaps as soon as today.

Wausau attorney Kevin Terry conducted the investigation. He presented his 18-page report yesterday. Its findings are not public yet. The school board went behind closed doors to "consider social or personal histories of specific persons" involved in the issue. One school board source tells WAOW-TV that discipline involving school staff was not discussed. Superintendent Kathleen Williams was ill last night, and did not attend the meeting.

The school board reversed an earlier decision to limit religious-themed music at holiday concerts and to cancel performances at elementary schools after community protests in October. Since then the Wausau West Master Singers group has been reinstated, and most elementary schools held their concerts before the holidays.

The school board says the findings of the investigation may be posted on their web site shortly.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- The proposed 40-unit student housing development proposed for Stevens Point has been defeated.

Alderman Mike Wiza successfully amended the development agreement to include 192 parking stalls instead of the planned 73 stalls. He didn’t believe the original developer’s proposal was good for the city. “They’re looking to put up a five-story building, which (nothing like it) is anywhere near that area, and they didn’t provide, in my opinion, ample parking there, having 180-some beds but only providing 73 parking spots, and they tried to tweak it up saying we’ve got 11 bike spots and two moped spots for 182 people. That was not appropriate.”

Along with the parking requirement, several council members including Wiza were not pleased with using $500,000 in Tax Incremental Financing incentives to build a structure that doesn’t create jobs. “If someone wants to do a development like that, where they’re not really creating the jobs, they’re not contributing much to the community at large, or to the taxpayers, I don’t think they should be doing it with taxpayer money. I think they should be doing it on their dime.”

Developer Jack Fisher from CCFS Group LLC, Mayor Andrew Halverson, and Community Development Director Michael Ostrowski all declined to be interviewed, but when asked if the project is dead, Halverson said, “It sure looks that way.” Wiza says a different site plan might be more acceptable to the council. “The developer can certainly come back with an alternative plan. I can’t speak for the developer, but I guess based on the statements, he said it wasn’t financially feasible without the TIF funding, and was really impractical physically with the amount of parking spots that we require.”

Wiza says he’s hopeful more proposals are offered for development. “Anyone can come up to us with a project at anytime, so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities that it could come back in a different form, and hopefully, something a little more palatable.” The nearly five-hour city council meeting brought some discussion from aldermen, and a great deal of public comment, with about half a dozen of the opponents speaking several times during public hearings against specific aspects of the development. There were six separate public hearings on the agenda, and four of them affected the apartment proposal.

Council members voted to adjust parking standards, and landscaping standards, but had a split vote on the $500,000 incentive funding and the actual development agreement. Both of those were not approved.

There has been some redevelopment along Division Street over the past couple of years, but there have been a couple of projects that failed to advance... this apartment complex and another development on the former Cooper Motors property.

(Our interview with Alderman Mike Wiza can be heard on our website, here.)

ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Cedar Creek Mall is now in receivership. Stoney Rivers is the lending company that controlled the property. Foreclosure papers were filed in Marathon County court December 6th, and the court appointed attorney Rebecca Demarb as the receiver last Friday. Demarb could not be reached for comment.

Stoney Rivers attorney Brian Thill confirms that buyer Tom Timblin has defaulted on about 15 million dollars in five different loans. There is the primary land contract which still has about 10 million of the 12-point-5 million owed, and loans for $3,000,000, $1,500,000, $300,000, and $150,000.

Current Owner Tom Timblin says he's been trying to work things out with the company. "I understand the land contract is up and they have all the legal rights in the world to take the mall back. I was trying to negotiate or do a buyout, but we couldn't agree on the price so it looks like they're going to get the mall back." Timblin says he's been making payments. "We've been current on our monthly mortgage for the entire 7 years and we're current right now, paid through the end of November. All of our bills are paid. I'm troubled by Creske's attorney saying the bills aren’t being paid, they're clearly paid."

As far as filling the mall, Timblin says he's been having trouble finding major tenants. "It's difficult times, difficult situations, it's tough competing with Rib Mountain. It's tough getting the national tenants here because they want to be by Walmart and Sam's Club."

Timblin says he won't be fighting the matter. "We're not quite sure where we stand right now, but the Creskes want the mall back and we're not going to stand in the way of that."

Timblin has been in the real estate development business for 35 years in Wausau, West Bend, and Beloit Wisconsin, as well as Naples, Florida. He bought the Cedar Creek Mall from Ed Creske in 2007.

MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) -- A Wausau woman will spend the next 22 months in prison for drug distribution.

44-year-old Sandra J. Timm was given that sentence Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman. Timm pled guilty to distributing methamphetamine from her Wausau house October 3rd.

Investigators had an informant buy the drug from her twice, and then they found 25 grams of the illegal drug when they executed a search warrant.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- Portage County prosecutors are adding some more charges against an Oshkosh man for violating his restraining order against the UW-System campuses again.

Prosecutors are charging 34-year-old Jeffrey Decker with violating a restraining order, disorderly conduct, and obstruction charges after he showed up at a meeting at UW-Stevens Point on December 7th. The University banned Decker from all UW System properties after convincing a Dane County judge to issue a restraining order in 2011. System officials say Decker was being disruptive in protests over the way Chancellor Bernie Patterson and his staff were handling student fees and finances.

Decker claims that the order is unconstitutional because it violates his First Amendment rights. The status of that restraining order is still in limbo while it works its way through the court system, but Portage County prosecutors say they believe it is still in effect until a ruling is made by the State Supreme Court.

Decker is scheduled for a pretrial conference January 13.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The appeals are all done for the Weston couple found guilty of second-degree reckless homicide for relying on prayer instead of medical attention for their daughter.

Dale and Leilani Neumann appealed their conviction all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that court decided December 4th they would not take the case, affirming the decision of the lower courts.

Attorney’s met Tuesday to discuss the Neumann’s options. The defense wants no jail time, while the prosecution wants the couple to at least serve the unusual sentence they received from now-retired judge Vincent Howard. That sentence is for each to serve a month in jail each year for six years plus spend ten years on probation. Howard stayed the jail time until the appeals process could be completed.

11-year-old Madeline Neumann died of a common and treatable form of diabetes in March of 2009.

Dale and Leilani Neumann will appear before Judge Greg Huber January 30 to find out if they will have to start serving the jail sentence, and when.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The two people from Marshfield that were caught with a large quantity of marijuana have entered not-guilty pleas in court.

23-year-old Alyssa Clapper of Marshfield and 25-year-old Aaron Keuntjes of Greeley, Colorado face numerous drug possession, manufacturing, trafficking, and paraphernalia charges after they were picked up in traffic stops November 19th. Officers located over eleven pounds of marijuana in their vehicles.

Both Clapper and Keuntjes remain in the Wood County jail, unable to make bonds of $4,000 and $10,000, respectively. They are scheduled to return to court at 9:00 a.m. January 10th for pretrial conferences.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Marathon County Board of Supervisors agreed with the Executive Committee, and decided to seek a judge’s opinion about a new rule against board members recording closed session meetings. 

The County Board decided in August to establish a new rule prohibiting its own members from recording audio or video of closed session meetings, even if the person recording it was rightfully attending that meeting. Last Wednesday, we reported that the county’s Executive Committee and Supervisor Oliver Burrows agreed that the county should seek what’s called a declaratory judgement. This will let a judge decide if the new ordinance is legal without either the county or Burrows filing a lawsuit.

The full board agreed Tuesday that this was the appropriate thing to do. Corporation Counsel Scott Corbett believes the county’s new ordinance is acceptable, but he is concerned because no other county has such an ordinance. Burrows believes he has a constitutional right to maintain an accurate record of what is said, in case their actions are ever questioned in court.

A majority of the County Board agreed a judge should review the new ordinance.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- The investigation into Wausau School District’s recent music controversy is over, but the report has not been made public.

School Board President Michelle Schaefer issued a statement Tuesday confirming the report by attorney Kevin Terry was given to the board December 16th. Schaefer says the report has not been made public because they need to, “follow the procedures of Wisconsin’s Public Records Law applicable to documents which contain information about the actions of identifiable public employees.”

Schaefer says the law requires the district to, “afford individuals named in the Report the opportunity to augment its contents or possibly object to its release.”Schaefer says the School Board will be meeting soon to discuss the required procedures.

The President did not indicate if that board meeting would be in open or closed session.

UNDATED (WRN)   It’s an unwelcome winter bug. Public Health Madison and Dane County has been receiving reports of what is likely norovirus, sometimes called the winter vomiting bug, an illness that comes on quickly and produces vomiting and/or, diarrhea.

“It’s really important to stay home not make food for other people when you’re sick, and for a couple of days after, especially at this holiday time. It’s a great time to spread it,” said Amanda Kita-Yarbo, communicable disease epidemiologist with the public health agency.

Kita-Yarbo said it’s also important to wash your hands properly with soap and water – a quick pass under the faucet is not going to protect you or others, especially when handling food.

Alcohol hand sanitzer will also do the job. Norovirus is capable of spreading very quickly from person to person. The most common forms of transmission are either by touching a surface contaminated with the virus, or by eating food that has been contaminated by an infected person who prepares or serves it.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - A sex offender will be released back into the Wausau area next week.

49-year-old Terrence Steppert is set for release December 24th. Steppert was originally convicted of three counts of sexual assault back in 1985. Since then he's had multiple parole and probation violations sending him back to jail.

He'll be sent back to the GPS monitoring program and live in a transitional facility near the marathon County Courthouse. Steppert is a lifetime registrant on the sex offender registry.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- An arrest has been made in connection with the death of a UW Stevens Point student.

22-year-old Jordan C. Peterson was found dead November 17th when a roommate returned to their apartment after a weekend away. An autopsy showed Peterson died of a heroin overdose.

Police have arrested 26 year old Erik E. Olsen of Hancock. Investigators believe Olsen supplied the drug to Peterson, and have recommended charges of first-degree reckless homicide.

Peterson was a senior biology pre-med student originally from the Markesan area. Many of his family members are now in central Wisconsin.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- Several community leaders joined Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation in Stevens Point to announce their future growth outlook.

Governor Scott Walker says the new customer service call center in the downtown business district is a perfect fit, and welcomes the anticipated 150 total new jobs. “They’ve got over twenty people they’ve hired thus far, and when they open up things beginning in the second quarter going into April, they’ll have about fifty long-term, and they’re looking within the next two years about 150 jobs, and they’re a cross section of folks directly on the phones, answering questions about student loans to administration and oversight.”

Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation’s Marc Storch says the hiring has already begun, and they are working at a temporary site. “Currently, we’ve hired twenty staff that will be line employees, along with three supervisors, a manager, a trainer, and a H-R (human resources) person, so we’re in good shape to kick this off. We’ll be hiring twelve more people right after the holidays, and then right before we move to the permanent site, we’ll hire twenty-four more.”

After moving, Storch says they can start training groups of 12 to 24 at a time, and also start hiring some students as part time help.

Storch says the choice of Stevens Point was made easy because of the efforts of city leaders and the knowledge of the community by a couple of long-time Great Lakes staff members. “It was actually five months that we spent exploring a variety of sites across the nation. We could have had sites virtually anywhere in today’s interconnected world, but it was the fact that coming here gave us the type of people and the type of community that we wanted.”

The temporary location is the former Sears and Shopko building at Church Street and Michigan Avenue. They are remodelling the former Dunham Sports building as their new state-of-the-art customer service center. Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation works with the U.S. Department of Education and private lenders to make college a reality for students, and assist those who take out student loans.

Governor Walker says the organization has also partnered with the state in an effort to close the skills gap, by launching the Wisconsin Workforce Partnership Grants. This three-year, $3.8 million grant program, focuses on skills training in the advanced manufacturing sector by fostering partnerships between the Wisconsin Technical College System and state businesses.

(You can listen to our interview with Marc Storch on our website, here.)