WAUSAU, Wis (WSAU) - A series of improvements to Wausau's Wastewater Treatment Plant has earned the city and a local design firm a statewide award.

Wausau and Becher-Hoppe won the State Finalist Engineering Excellence Award from the American Council of Engineers Companies of Wisconsin Monday for their work on the plant. The city installed a set of micro-turbines to the Wastewater plant in 2010 to help recapture methane gas from the facility and turn it into useable power for the plant. Another improvement added an aeration blower system to help circulate air and improve efficiency.

Those improvements are expected to save the city 900,000 kilowatt hours of power and 70 therms of natural gas each year.

MARSHFIELD, WI (WSAU)   -  Marshfield’s Common Council will host a special joint meeting Tuesday night with the city’s Police and Fire Commission.

City administrator Steve Barg they’ll be discussing how they can improve the way they work together under the city’s system of ‘optional power.’ Barg says they’ll start by defining, “the rightful roles of the Police and Fire Commission, and then compare that with the rightful role of the Council which is largely in this case going to be financial, administrative, those types of oversights.”

Barg says that joint meetings of this type could happen on a bi-annual basis in the future. That meeting starts at 7:00 Tuesday night in the Council Chambers of Marshfield City Hall.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - Duct tape as art? The Marathon County Public Library thinks so.

Third through sixth graders will learn how to make some common household objects out of the venerable tape tonight at the downtown Wausau library. Library assistant Amy Ryan says duct tape isn't just for sticking things to each other anymore. "I think it's now coming into its own as a craft medium."

Tweens will be learning how to make wallets, flowers, cell phone cases and other helpful objects with the tape. Ryan says they're trying to get more kids out doing crafty things. "Things they can use around the house."

The event starts tonight at 6:30. Duct tape will be provided for the students. For more information call the library at 715-261-7220.

MERRILL, Wis (WSAU)  The Merrill School Board will discuss an apparent violation of the district's email and computer policy by the school board president when it meets in March. Lin Kautza sent an email to the entire school district staff thanking them for their support after she won a spot on the ballot after this month's primary. And she asked for the staff's continued support in the general election in April.

There are two possible violations. First, school district email and computers are not allowed to be used for political purposes. Second, the district's list of staff email accounts can't be used for non-official business. It's not clear what the penalties might be for violating those policies.

Kautza has been traveling outside the country, and has not been available for comment. The school district's lawyer has been asked to review the situation. It will be on the school board's agenda when they meet in March.

STEVENS POINT, Wisc (WSAU)   Portage County will be allowed to remove junk cars and scrap metal that have been illegally stored on land owned by a suspect in a criminal investigation. Charles Jost is one of three people accused of illegally cashing his mother's social security checks for more than 30-years. Marie Jost hasn't been seen since the 1980s, and is presumed dead.

Sheriffs investigators were looking for evidence that Marie Jost's body may have been hidden on the land in question. They searched the property late last year and found small unidentified bone fragments that may be from an animal. They'd also found multiple violations of the county's solid waste and scrap metal rules. They land in Amherst Junction was being used as an unlicensed salvage yard.

Monday's court ruling gives the county the authority to clean up the land, and to bill the owner for the costs.

WAUSAU, Wis (WSAU) A shot was fired on Wausau's west side early Monday morning. It happened around 2:30am on the 600 block of 10th Avenue near Bridge Street.

Police say a man who was on-foot in the area was approached by a would-be robber in a ski mask. He said the man had a gun, and demanded that he empty his pockets. The victim says he ran from the scene, and the suspect fired a shot at him and missed. Police have confirmed that a shot was fired, but are not releasing any more information about the incident.

The case remains under investigation. No arrests have been made.

TOMAHAWK, WI (WSAU) -  Two people were hospitalized Tuesday afternoon when a pickup truck collided with a school bus north of Tomahawk. 

State Patrol investigators say the pickup was pulling out of a driveway on Lake Nokomis Road near Stillman Road just after 4:00 p.m. right into the path of the approaching school bus. There were 15 students on the bus.

One boy on the bus and the 64-year-old male driver of the pickup were hospitalized at Sacred Heart Hospital in Tomahawk. Everyone else escaped injury. No names have been released, and the remaining children were turned over to their parents at the scene.

SPENCER, WI (WSAU) -  Spencer Police are investigating the attack of a woman who was jogging Monday night. 

The 42-year-old woman victim was attacked by a stranger on east Willow Drive at about 8:00 p.m. The woman said the attacker was a black man wearing dark clothing. She told Spencer Police the man put his hands around her neck and tried to pull her into the nearby ditch. She escaped when she kneed the main in the groin and he let go.

The victim was able to run away and call her husband for help. Anyone with information about the incident or the alleged attacker is encouraged to call Spencer Police or your nearest law enforcement agency.

Call the Spencer Police Department at (715) 659-5453.

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) -  Marathon County will soon have a new emergency response team for very special situations. It’s called a Tactical Emergency Medical Service or TEMS team. Josh Finke helped coordinate the proposal with the City of Wausau, the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department, and members of Aspirus Medivac staff.

He says the team will combine emergency medical technicians with SWAT team members to have emergency medical help on scene during dangerous missions. "Our part of it is from an EMS standpoint providing tactical EMS care with our primary focus being to an injured officer if there would ever be an injury during a tactical event.”  Care could also be provided for other victims at the scene.

Finke says the medical team members will use the same protective gear in the field as the SWAT teams without the weapons, and both officers and medical staff will be cross trained.  "It teaches EMS personnel tactical movements, so more police related movements and it teaches police some EMS care,so it's kind of a combined class that teaches both ends of the environment, and it focuses on trauma care."

Wausau City Council approved the TEMS team Tuesday night. Finke says implementing the program shouldn’t take long now.  "We're hoping to get something going here in the next 60 to 90 days.  We've had a lot of discussions already with the Sheriff's Department and we're very close.  We've worked with the state to get a license for this program already.”

The TEMS team will service all of Marathon County once training is complete. Finke says the concept was developed on the west coast and is becoming popular now in the midwest. This is the thirteenth licensed TEMS team in Wisconsin.

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) -  A major Wausau redevelopment and construction project was notably absent from City Council discussion Tuesday night. That’s the Thomas Street reconstruction project. This is the east-west artery crossing the river in the middle of town that is only two lane and recently lost federal funding due to city mistakes.

City Council President Lisa Rasmussen is one of the council members that is not satisfied with the lack of action on Thomas Street.  "The fact remains is that this council owes the residents of Thomas Street and the businesses along Thomas Street looking for some closure and looking to relocate better than what they’re receiving tonight.”

Rasmussen supports going forward with the four lane expansion of Thomas Street with funding from TIF district number six, because she doesn’t want Wausau to repeat the mistakes made several years ago with Bridge Street.  "We need to look at it from an emergency management standpoint, from an urban planning standpoint, and from a financial standpoint, because if we underbuild Thomas Street right now and we find that we have to rebuild it in sixteen years like we had to do with Bridge Street, if we have to go out and acquire property again, we're going to be acquiring it at prices in the future that are way higher than they are today.”

The Council President is hoping this can be discussed very soon during a committee of the whole, so a decision can be made and the city and affected residents and businesses can put this issue behind them.

When questioned about TIF #6 funding, Rasmussen says the geographically large development district has more than enough development underway and in planning to handle the cost of Thomas Street.  "Even if we remove some property from the tax rolls with Thomas Street, there are so many projects on the docket that generate positive cash flow that TIF #6, I've been assured by our finance director, is healthy and it will get healthier as these other projects come along.”

The council did not discuss or vote on Thomas Street Tuesday night, since the funding failed to get approval at the committee level.

WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) - One of Wausau’s newest facilities is quickly becoming one of it’s busiest. The Wausau Curling Center just opened a couple of months ago, and already, they’ve attracted several bonspiel tournaments.

Cal Tillisch is one of many people involved in the design and construction of the center. So far, he says they have hosted one of the largest women’s bonspiel’s in Wisconsin, a 72-team event which was the largest tournament ever held in Wisconsin, the Badger State Games, a nation’s largest ever high school bonspiel, and they will be hosting the high school state championships.

Tillisch says they were just awarded another major national event.  "We recently put in a bid to host the United States Senior Men's National Bonspiel.  It's the largest participation event sponsored by the United States Curling Association, and Wausau Wisconsin was awarded it over St. Paul Minnesota.”

He says this national bonspiel will be good for the center, and for several hospitality businesses in and around Wausau.  "It's about 80 teams from about 13 states around the United States.  It's a huge success for us.”

Tillisch compares the Wausau Curling Center to a master’s-level golf course, where everything is designed to be as top notch as possible.  "We built this facility to have master's-style curling ice, and make it the very, very best, and with the combination of our ice and rocks and Wausau's great hospitality, we don't think anybody can beat us.”

One of the reasons Wausau Curling Center is attracting so much attention is the Olympic regulation sized ice sheets and state-of-the-art ice making equipment. Tillisch says even the building is designed so that when the sun rises, it is not warming a wall near the playing surface.

Tillisch says he would not be surprised if future Olympians end up training in Wausau.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - UW-Marathon County will celebrate 30 years of helping students this weekend in Wausau with the annual EATS fundraiser.

EATS is the Educational Assistance Through Scholarships program, and was started in 1983 to help worthy students get an education in Wausau. UWMC Foundation director Brad Zweck says there'll be plenty of things to do. "EATS has remained very popular, and it's a chance to have people on the campus and have a great time."

This year's event will feature over 35 area chefs and restaurants with soups, appetizers and entrees to taste, a wide selection of beer and wine from Trigs and Bull Falls Brewery, and some very special silent auction items. Zweck says it's their diamond anniversary, so they're going big. "We've got a $1000 gift certificate from Jim Kryshak Jewelers."

Tickets are still available in advance for $40, and you can find them online at www.uwmcEATS.com. The show gets started Saturday night at 6 pm.

KRONENWETTER, Wis. (WSAU) - Kronenwetter and Weston officials have agreed to continue pursuing public works partnerships despite Kronenwetter declining to hire Weston's public works director.

That vote come Monday night at the Kronenwetter village board meeting. The village will instead hire their own person to replace the vacant position. Kronenwetter administrator Richard Downey says further cooperation is not out of the question. "They've got a lot of seasoned employees over there that we might be able to use on contract work."

Weston administrator Dan Guild says his staff are always working to try and find cost savings. "Hopefully this is a conversation that we can build on and expand into other partnerships in the future." The two villages already share a building inspector, and have been working together to rewrite their zoning ordinances.

MARSHFIELD, Wis (WSAU) A Wood County man who's accused of trying to hire a hit-man entered a 'not guilty' plea on Monday.

Gabriel Campos is already charged with killing his estranged girlfriend Maisie McCollough. The new charges claim that he offered money, his car, and a riffle to a cell-mate at the Wood County jail to kill her new boyfriend.

The original charge dates back to September when McCollough was found stabbed to death in a bathtub. Campos and his 2-year-old son were found in a nearby motel. Police say they recovered the murder weapon in his car, and found blood in the vehicle and on his legs. The case is scheduled for trial in June.

STEVENS POINT, Wis (WSAU) The owner of a potato brokerage is charged with fraud for not paying several farms in the area for their crops. Thomas Lundgren, the owner of Spud City Sales, allegedly owes the farmers three-quarters-of-a-million dollars. His company's storefront in Stevens Point is closed.

Another farm in Ohio has asked that federal charges be filed under agricultural fraud statutes. They claim they're owed another $120,000.

Many of the impacted farms say not being paid for crops that were delivered in 2011 and 2012 will have an impact on this growing season, since money from previous years is used for seed and other supplies.

Lundgren is free on $25,000 bond. He'll be back in court on April 1st for a preliminary hearing.

WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (WSAU) - The Wisconsin Rapids police department is putting the former Daily Tribune building back to work thanks to the help of a local organization.

The Incourage Community Foundation announced this week that they're offering use of the building as a training site for the Police department. Sergeant Mike Potocki says officer training like this is crucial. "We're looking for access to train special response, K9 and other scenarios."

Potocki says experience in actual buildings as opposed to mockups at locations like the local technical colleges offers hands-on experience. "Every building is different, different staircases and architecture, and the variety is nice to have."

Those training sessions will start later this year.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) - Three local legislators want to help Wausau complete a proposed reclamation of the River District.

A bill introduced by State Senator Jerry Petrowski (R-Marathon) and Representatives John Spiros (R-Marshfield) and Mandy Wright (D-Wausau) would extend the life of Wausau's 3rd Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) district for 10 years. “This is important to the ongoing success of development in the area and will pay dividends over the long term,” said Petrowski. “Working together I believe we can get this done.”

City officials presented plans this month that would improve the area by remediating brownfields, develop a new waterside park, and remodel a number of currently blighted buildings into usable office and apartment spaces. Representative Mandy Wright says the program has great potential for the down town. "This would certainly bring more people and more foot traffic to the businesses around the riverfront."

The legislation, if approved, would bring an additional $17 million dollars to the TIF for use on the overall improvement of downtown.

AUBURNDALE, Wis (WSAU) The Wood County sheriffs department investigated a report that a student at Auburndale High School was planning to take a gun to school today. Sheriffs investigators say the report was unfounded.

The student who was the subject of the threat was interviewed. Investigators say the student didn't have access to a weapon, and they've determined the initial report was false.

Police will have an increased presence around the school as a precaution. There will be no checkpoints as students enter the building. The school district has also notified parents. Students who miss class today won't have the absence counted against them.

UNDATED (WSAU) The husband of Kira Steger Trevino has been charged with her murder.

37-year-old Jeffrey Trevino was in Ramsey County court in Minnesota and was charged with two counts of second degree murder. Both charges carry a maximum sentence of 80-years in prison. Trevino was arrested in connection with his wife’s disappearance after a search of their home on Friday. He's now being held on $500,000 bond.

During today’s court appearance prosecutors said they believe Kira Steger Trevino is dead based on blood found in the home and in her car. The vehicle was discovered in a remote part of a Mall of America parking ramp when she didn’t show up for work on Friday. Her purse and cellphone were found inside. Her body has not been recovered.

Prosecutors say the couple were having marital problems, and Kira was considering leaving her husband. A court filing also reveals that blood was found in the trunk of Kira’s car, and that blood was also found in a trunk liner that had been thrown out of the car. Police also say blood was found in the family’s basement, and on the wheels and rotating brushes of a carpet cleaner.

Police are also reviewing a gas station surveillance tape from 2am the night Kira disappeared. Her credit card was used for gas. The car is seen getting onto a highway traveling away from the family home.

Kira Steger Trevino grew up in Central Wisconsin. She is a 2001 graduate of D.C. Everest High School.

RHINELANDER, WI (WXPR) -  Rhinelander school district officials hope they've taken quick action to stem another round of "huffing" by students.

School Nurse Kerri Schmidt says there were reports that some students were using inhalants. “They were using body spray. As we know, inhalants come in all different forms and anything that’s aerosol can be inhaled. Different terminology is used, such as hugging, sniffing, bagging, and spraying, but these students were calling it huffing.”

Schmidt says while people use intoxicants in different ways, this particular buzz could be your last. “The biggest danger is it might be the last breath that they take. It’s like Russian roulette. You never know what is going to stop your heart or what casualty is going to happen. Some people will die the first time they huff. Others may die the 50th time they huff. It’s very high risk and it’s very addicting.”

Young people are led into this risky activity by a pack mentality, but Schmidt says the effort now is awareness. “I guess education is paramount, and what we really wanted to do was to educate the parents. Let them know that, hey, this is happening again.”

Schmidt says the parents were contacted and were encouraged to have the students seek further medical examinations.