EAGLE RIVER, Wis. (WXPR) -- The cold weather has been a concern for some, but the cold has helped promoters get the 51st World Championship Snowmobile Derby track ready in Eagle River.

The event begins Thursday through Sunday with vintage snowmobile races, with the World Championship racing competition the following weekend.

Track owner and coordinator Chuck Decker says the cold has given them a boost. "Probably one of the best years ever to get the track prepared...making the ice and making the snow. Probably one of the best race tracks in the history of the derby."

Tens of thousands of visitors come each year. Decker says the addition of vintage snowmobile racing this first weekend has brought in much interest. "We haven't got a final count on the entries yet, but I'm sure it's going to be close to what it was last year, around a thousand entries, It takes about four days to do all the running, Thursday is a practice day. Three full days of racing, a huge amount of racing to get through and one of the best shows to watch."

Decker says the following week most of the top race drivers on the planet will be at the World Championship.

Chamber of Commerce officials estimate the two weekends of racing mean millions of dollars go into the Eagle River area economy.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- Marathon County health officials continue their efforts to get mercury out of the community with their thermometer trade in program.

Environmental health and safety director Dale Grosskurth says the program is fairly simple. "We have seven sites that people can bring a mercury thermometer to, and in exchange for dropping off thermometers, they can get a digital thermometer, free." The county works with a number of agencies, including Marathon County Solid Waste and the Wausau and Rib Mountain water districts to help collect the mercury.

Collections were down this past year, according to Grosskurth. "Each year we monitor the number of thermometers we take in, and this year we had 4, which is the lowest we've had in the number of years we've had this program." But he says those numbers are always changing on what's going on in the community."

The department is also working with dentists, manufacturers and contractors to try and reduce mercury waste from fillings, electronics and other home appliances. If you think you have a mercury-containing thermometer, you can exchange it for a digital thermometer at one of the following locations.

Marathon County Health DepartmentWausau Fire DepartmentRothschild Municipal CenterRib Mountain Fire DepartmentSchofield Municipal CenterKronenwetter Municipal CenterMosinee City Hall

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- State Representative Mandy Wright says she's trying to continue her efforts as a teacher on a number of committees in the State Legislature.

Wright has been named ranking Democrat in both the Education and Urban Education committees and says she's working to protect schools in the state. She says Republican efforts to try and divert funding to charter schools should come with responsibility. "Public funds should go to public schools, and if they do go to private schools, those schools should have the same accountability measures the public schools have."

There's also been talks from Republicans to cut off the state from the Common Core standards being proposed by federal officials. Wright says says the Common Core Standards are not out to mandate the way kids learn. "It doesn't mandate any particular testing, it doesn't mandate any particular curriculum. It just sets some standards, it's just the goalpost for what you want kids to learn so they can be successful on those test. And the testing and the accountability measures are completely different issues."

Wright says she's staunchly opposed to efforts that would would cut charter schools off from district control and says that the argument for allowing parents to have a choice in their school is a hollow one. "It erodes the choice for parents, because once you enroll your child... Sure, you can unenroll them and take them to another school, but there's a lot less transparency in a lot of these privatized schools under this bill."

The bill is AB549, and will be up for a public hearing on Thursday.

UPDATE:  Marathon County Sheriff's investigators confirm they are recommending animal cruelty charges against the owner of the dogs.  The District Attorney's office says they have not yet received the request for charges.  The name of the owner has not been made public.

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WAUSAU, Wis (WSAU)  Nine dogs were taken in for shelter by the Marathon County Humane Society yesterday because of the extreme cold. The animals were tethered outside at a property in Hamburg. The Humane Society took action because the dog's water was frozen.

At the time the animals were taken in, it was -15 with a wind chill of -40. Vets say even healthy dogs can't keep themselves warm in those conditions. The animals have been checked at the humane society shelter in Wausau. They're all in good shape.

The Marathon County sheriffs department is investigating whether any charges will be filed against the owner.

KRONENWETTER, Wis (WSAU)   A group of homeowners are suing the Village of Kronenwetter over a special property tax assessment to pay for flooding and drainage problems. 29 people have joined the lawsuit. They say the costs of handling the water problems should come from the village's general fund.

A consultant’s report recommends that the village pay 55-percent of the drainage improvements, with the other 45-percent coming from landowners in the Golden Pond neighborhood. Those special assessments are between $400 and $2,000. Some neighbors say they're being assessed because they live nearby, even though they've never had flooding or drainage problems on their land.

Marathon County Judge Greg Huber will hold a hearing on the case in March.

NEILLSVILLE, Wis. (WSAU) -- Investigators have released the name of the man that died in a Clark County traffic crash Tuesday evening.

He was 52-year-old Floyd L. Colvin of Neillsville.

Sheriff James Backus says Colvin was the only occupant of the Chevy pickup that left highway 73 about a quarter of a mile west of Highway K in the Town of Washburn. Colvin rolled the truck at about 7:00 p.m. and was ejected from the vehicle. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Backus says they believe Colvin was not wearing a seat belt. The sheriff says speed was probably not a factor in the crash.

This is Clark County’s first traffic fatality for 2014.

RHINELANDER, Wis. (WXPR) - ­­­­­­­­­An autopsy on a Rhinelander man who died early New Year's Day after an altercation has been released.

­­­­­­­­­­48-year-old James R. Tanner died in the ambulance outside Sackett's bar on Brown Street in Rhinelander. Police Chief Michael Steffes said minutes before Tanner had allegedly thrown a punch at 62-year-old John A. Klucarich. Chief Steffes says a disc jockey at bar, 59-year-old Gregory Dryden, allegedly grabbed Tanner and directed him toward the bar then put him on the floor. Klucarich received less serious injuries.

Wednesday, Steffes says an autopsy found the cause of Tanner's death. "The preliminary autopsy results indicated that Mr. James Tanner had a fractured sternum and a part of the fractured sternum punctured his heart, causing his death.” Steffes adds, “We have completed our investigation into the altercation and we've submitted all police reports, witness statements to the District Attorney for his review and prosecution decision. We're encouraging anyone who witnessed the altercation that has not spoken to the police department to contact us as soon as possible so their witness statement can be included in that information." Steffes says callers can remain anonymous. ­­­­

ANTIGO, Wis. (WSAU) -- There's a plea deal in the works for a former Langlade County deputy charged with sexual assault of a child.

Marathon County prosecutors say 26-year-old Michael Brayton is accused of having sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl. She also told police that Brayton sent her a number of nude photos of himself. During the investigation, it was found that Brayton has had relationships with four high school girls.

Brayton is currently facing 22 charges, including 2nd degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement, and exposing genitals to a child. Prosecutors say none of the crimes took place while he was on duty with the department.

He'll be in court for a plea hearing January 27.

Sheriff's officials say Brayton resigned from the department in June of 2012.

MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) -- A Friendship man was sentenced to federal prison for bank robbery.

58-year-old Randy Glenn Paulson will spend the next nine years behind bars for using a firearm and demanding cash from tellers at the Grand Marsh State Bank last July 3rd.

The bank teller did not give Paulson any cash, but did give her car keys to him when a bank customer did not respond to him. The car was recovered a short distance from the bank, but Paulson wasn’t arrested until July 11th in Villa Park, Illinois.

Paulson entered a guilty plea last October to the crime.

RINGLE, Wis. (WSAU) -- Firefighters had to put out a small blaze at a house in Ringle Wednesday evening.

The fire began shortly after 6:00 p.m. when the residents were trying to thaw water pipes. It took less than fifteen minutes to contain the fire. There were no injuries.

Weston and Hatley firefighters assisted Ringle at the scene.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- Wisconsin’s Legislative session is underway, and one of the newest Representatives is settling into his new role. That’s 69th District Representative Bob Kulp.

One of the first things Kulp had to do was set up his office in Madison. As a freshman legislator, Kulp gets one staff member, and he says several qualified people wanted the opportunity to help him and his constituents. “We interviewed quite a few people, and really chose the gentleman who was there in the (former Representative Scott) Suder legislative session, so we’ve continued that. It will be a familiar face. Jim Emerson is very adept at handling concerns and at everything in the building.”

Kulp says many of the bills that will be considered between now and April are already in the pipeline, so he’s been studying them and forming his opinions, making notes, and deciding how he will vote once they come up on the Assembly floor. “Already coming down the pike, there’s quite a few bills that I’ve co-sponsored that are dealing with just clearing up idiosyncrasies and craziness within different aspects of state legislation, so that really is the primary concern.”

Kulp is also a businessman back home in Stratford, and says that will help him understand the impact various proposals have on jobs, job creation, and business in general.

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- If you ever run for public office, remember to get more nomination signatures than you absolutely must have.

That’s a lesson learned the hard way this week for a challenger to a Wausau City Council seat. Guy Wieseler turned in his nomination papers on time Tuesday, but he only turned in twenty-one signatures. That’s one more than the minimum required. City staff members discovered that five of Wieseler’s supporters did not live in his district, which made his application invalid.

Wieseler will now have to run as a write-in candidate in the April 1st election.

He is challenging incumbent David Nutting in District 3.

COLBY, Wis. (WSAU) -- A registered sex offender will be getting out of prison Friday. 

The man getting out of prison is 29-year-old Phillip A. Eggers, and is a lifetime registered sex offender. Clark County investigators say Eggers will be living in the Colby area, and will be on extended supervision. He will be wearing a monitor.

Eggers has completed his incarceration for a second-degree sexual assault of a child conviction. He was convicted in Portage County in 2005 and was on extended release, but had that revoked in April of last year, putting him back in prison.

Eggers is 6 feet 5 inches tall, 200 pounds, and has brown hair and hazel eyes. 

NEWS BLOG (WSAU) -- There was a house explosion in the Town of Wausau earlier this morning. It happened just before 7am near the intersection of Pioneer Lane and North 85th Street.

Neighbors heard the explosion and called 911. Sheriff Scott Parks says they were on the scene quickly after the 911 call. "We had a squad relatively close, could see that there was a fireball. They arrived on scene and could see there was substantial fire coming out of the residence." Neighbors reported that the blast rattled their windows and shook their homes. None of the nearby structures were damaged.

The home was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. The house is said to be a total loss. All of the outer walls of the house are charred and are no longer standing. Marathon County emergency management director Steve Hagman says crews are still trying to determine if anyone was inside at the time of the explosion.

Parks says they were cautious at the scene because of the explosion. "In the process of the fire and first responding deputies, they noticed devices that were suspicious in nature, so they contacted the Bomb Squad to make sure that everything was safe." But he can't say what the devices are right now. "No not yet, because they used some techniques to disrupt the devices they thought were suspicious, so until we can actually put everything back together, that's when we'll first make determinations."

The State Fire Marshal is on the scene to help in the investigation

It's unclear if there were any injuries. No further information is being released.

MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) -- A former Rhinelander man will spend the next 10 years in prison and have to repay over $1.3 million for defrauding insurance companies.

43 year old John Henricks III was sentenced today in federal court for using the U.S. Mail to defraud insurance companies. Federal Judge Barbara Crabb laid down that sentence after Henricks plead guilty to the charges last August.

Prosecutors say Henricks used his prior business, Custom Collision, to defraud 19 auto insurance companies. Henricks would stage auto accidents and send in false work orders in order to collect insurance on the vehicles. Assistant US Attorney Tim O'Shea says Oneida County officials did the bulk of the work. "They recognized that this was an important case, they recognized that it was important to do the hard work to hold Mr. Henricks accountable, and the credit in this 10 year sentence goes to the Oneida County sheriff's department.

Oneida County sheriff's officials have been trying to recover some of that money, but Sheriff Grady Hartman says Henricks has spent time trying to hide or get rid of the money so it can't be collected. "We're not going to be able to find all the money for restitution, Mr. Henricks is going to have to make some payments on that after he's done with his lengthy prison sentence."

In court today, Judge Crabb said Henricks "couldn't be trusted to tell the time of day" and refused the routine lowering of sentence for admitting guilt. He'll spend 121 months in federal prison.

The case isn't quite over though. Sheriff Hartman says they're still looking into things. "We're pleased that this part is over. We have some follow up investigation to do, possibly bringing more people in as a result of that." Officials say Henricks coerced employees at the auto shop to take part in the fraud.

MERRILL, Wis. (WSAU) -- The Merrill School District is without a band director after accusations of inappropriate behavior. 

High School Band Director Matt Callope was placed on administrative leave one week ago, and resigned Tuesday after being accused of questionable behavior with a student. School district officials have not said exactly what that questionable behavior is.

An internal district investigation was about to begin when Callope left his job after serving four years. Merrill Police are now in charge of the investigation.

STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) -- Five non-profit organizations were able to benefit from a social media contest. It’s called 10K For A Cause, and was organized by Sentry Insurance. In all, the insurance company’s foundation donated $20,000 in funds to the five finalists at an awards luncheon Thursday.

Heather Maves is a Communications Specialist for Sentry. She approached Sentry’s Foundation, which approved the simple voting contest. Maves says they prepared their Facebook site, and then opened up nominations to the public. “So I asked the public to nominate a charity, any charity, nationwide. The charities that received the most nominations would go on to become finalists, and there (were) five finalists.”

The public launch was November 22nd, and Maves says the majority of the nominations came from Wisconsin, and they came quickly. “In eighteen days, we received over three thousand nominations for charities, so it was more than we could have ever expected. The campaign was very well received by the community.”

The rules were simple. The most votes before January 4th wins. The five finalists were Evergreen Community Initiatives, The Humane Society of Portage County, Camp Kesem at UW Madison, the Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation, and the Boys and Girls Club of Portage County.

Maves says Sentry Insurance Foundation President Jim Weishan presented the checks Thursday. “The four runners up each received $2,500, and the grand prize winner received a check for $10,000 today. The grand prize winner was the Midwest Horse Welfare Foundation.”

Weishan thanked all of the organizations and their volunteers for what they do in their communities.

(Our interview with Heather Maves can be heard on our website, here.)

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- An annual fundraiser is a week away for Wausau’s YWCA. It’s their 12th Annual Men Who Cook event.

YWCA’s Ann Saris says the evening features great food prepared for your table at the Grand Theater’s Great Hall the evening of Saturday, January 18th. “It’s a really lovely evening. It’s actually a sit down meal, a four or five course meal. Some of the guys are actually chefs by day. A lot of them are hobby chefs who are really good at it. They work as doctors, financial planners, small business owners, and these guys really outdo themselves.”

Saris says the event helps pay for many projects and ongoing activities through the YWCA including their child and family development center, youth camps, 7th grade diversity camp, and personal development programs for adults. Saris says this is their biggest fundraiser of the year.

Over the year, the YWCA has been a starting point for several other community organizations. “We kind of pride ourselves on looking for needs in the community and filling the gaps, and in that process over the decades, we have started up The Women’s Community, the Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers and Sisters, League of Women Voters, a lot of support groups, immigrant support groups, the first (local) breast cancer support group, all kinds of things.”

Men Who Cook will feature professional chefs and hobbyists as well, and Saris encourages people to come out for an entertaining and filling evening. “It starts at six o’clock with just a social hour, and then dinner is served at seven o’clock, and desert somewhere around 8:30 p.m. with a lot of fun and stuff going on in between.”

Tickets for Men Who Cook are $75.00 in advance, and can be ordered online at their website. 

(Our interview with Ann Saris can be heard on our website, here.)

RHINELANDER, Wis. (WXPR) -- A 46 year old former Woodruff­ area woman has been sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to repay nearly three­quarters of a million dollars in restitution and fines. She had entered guilty pleas to embezzling the money over several years from the family business where she worked.

Lisa Saykally admitted to stealing $660,000 from Aqualand Manufacturing in Woodruff over 8 years. With tax ­related fines added in, the amount for repayment is $727,000.

Prosecutor Jodie Bednar­ Clemens said Saykally destroyed the family trust by using the money for a lavish lifestyle. Saykally's sister-­in-­law, Nadine Kuehneman said the family didn't suspect Saykally would be stealing from them.  "How could anyone steal money from a business and do it month after month year after year for more than a seven year period of time, totalling more than $650,000 without someone figuring it out."

Kuehneman said the business nearly went under, several people lost jobs and income because the money was disappearing into Saykally's personal accounts.

Bednar­ Clemens said the coldness of the thefts required a prison term of at least 8 years.

Judge Patrick O'Melia said prison was needed, but said Saykally had to be out of prison and earning money to repay at least some of it.  "It's more than that. It's theft from family. People that took care of you when you were young. And now you've drained their accounts, you've drained other family members accounts."

O'Melia also ordered related assets gathered from the illicit cash to be sold to begin the repayment, though he admitted it will be nearly impossible for Saykally to pay all the money back.

Saykally will spend several years after prison in either extended supervision or probation. She must maintain full employment as one of many conditions once released.

WAUPACA, Wis (WSAU)   A trial date has been set for a Clintonville woman accused of neglecting horses on her property. 71-year-old Barbara Thiry will face a Waupaca County jury on April 9.

She's charged with 15 counts of animal neglect after five horses were seized late last year. A neighbor at a farm she used to run in Kewaunee says horse heads and carcasses were found in a barn there. It's thought that the surviving horses were moved from Kewaunee to Clintonville last September. Those animals were malnourished and didn't have proper shelter, according to a criminal complaint.

Thiry has already entered a not-guilty plea.