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This is your WFHR Daily News Roundup for locally grown radio 97.5 FM and 13.20 AM and WISC country 105.5 FM WIRI in Wisconsin Rapids.
For WFHR and WIRI News, I'm Alyssa K.
Portage County DA has issued charges in the July 6th double homicide in the town of New Hope.
John L. Schulfer has been charged with seven total felony charges, including two counts of first degree intentional homicide as a repeater and two counts of causing mental harm to a child repeater among other charges.
Schulfer will have his first Portage County court appearance on August 1st at 1.15 PM. He's being held in the WAPACA jail on a $2 million cash bond.
Wisconsin has its first confirmed case of West Nile virus this year. Joanne Croulott's reports.
Department of Health Services, Disease Epidemiologist Rebecca Osborne says most people who get infected may not even be aware,
but symptoms include fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, rash and fatigue.
The confirmed case was in Barron County, a man in his 60s.
Mosquitoes collected in Milwaukee and Lafayette counties have tested positive for the virus.
To avoid mosquito bites, supply insect repellent, wear long sleeves and remove any standing water from your property.
Since the arrest in April, attorneys for Jenny Wickey have been requesting a reduction in her $2 million bond amount.
Wickey was arrested on 14 felony charges, including fraud and theft. Wickey owns two restaurants in Nikusa, West River Cafe and Little Mexico.
The first request for bond reduction in late May was denied. A month later, on June 24th, Wickey's bond was reduced to $1 million.
Now late last week, Wickey's cash bond has been adjusted down to $200,000.
Despite the court denying the bond modification, they still lowered the cash required to secure her release from jail.
If she's able to make bond, Wickey is not allowed to leave the state of Wisconsin, sell any major items without permission of the court or open or reopen any business without the approval of the Department of Revenue.
Nearly 70 active large-scale wildfires are burning over a million acres in the U.S. alone.
And much of this wildfire activity is happening in the Pacific Northwest, as well as Canada.
And most of the recent ones are caused by dry lightning strikes that happen in dense, wooded areas with remote access.
This is really no difference in any other year, other than the fact that it is a little bit earlier.
That's Katherine Coalay, a Wisconsin DNR wildfire prevention specialist.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the fire control program staff from the state have been mobilized across the Western U.S.
and even into Canada to help combat the blazes.
Once you get notice of a resource order, you can be mobilized within 24 hours.
Both personnel and engines from Wisconsin have been moved to over 65 out of state fire assignments so far this year.
But how can we afford to send resources when we have our own problems here?
You know, these experiences, they bring that back to Wisconsin.
It's a way for us to improve our program here. They share those experiences.
Hey, we did this thing out in Oregon, and it was really cool.
And there was a neat way to fight this fire.
And those strategies are brought back to Wisconsin.
So we learn and grow from those experiences when we bring those resources back.
Since we've had recent widespread rain and green vegetation across the state,
wildfire activity here has subsided with a minimal fire risk in Wisconsin.
Now this has allowed the DNR to shift focus and help support national wildfire efforts.
Right now, 20 different DNR staff have been moved to 12 different states,
but three wildland fire engines currently stationed in Oregon.
There are also six DNR staff in northern Manitoba and another DNR engine responding to fires in California.
Wisconsin fire fighters and engines are slated to be on assignment for about two weeks
or until the fire severity subsides.
For civic media news, I'm meteorologist Brittany Marlowe.
And I'm Melissa K for WFHR WIRI News.
Are the Packers tough enough?
Hi, I'm Mike Clemens with sports in Green Bay, where the Packers training camp continues.
I asked GM Brian Goodikens if the team has been physical enough in the playoffs against teams like the 49ers
or the Eagles.
Quite frankly, over the last couple of years, I felt really good about our physicality and our toughness
and our ability to play that kind of game.
You know, but I think there were probably times in the past where I was kind of like
we need maybe to be able to be a little more physical of a football team, but not over the last couple of years.
Baseball.
The Brewers with another win, 9-3 over the Cubs, Milwaukee now with a two-game lead over Chicago,
who is manager Pat Murphy.
It's a game of people.
Those people are at their best self.
If Vaughn starts worrying about like, well, what if the next year, what can I, I'm going to set a record.
All bets are off.
Oh, I got 19 steals.
I got to get to 20.
No one cares.
You know what I mean?
No one will care about your baseball card.
That's Pat Murphy with sports.
I'm Mike Clemens.
On your entertainment beat, I'm Pete Schwabba.
Three-body problem is moving forward with a two-season cast.
The show about a Chinese scientist who inadvertently signals aliens, then discovers they are headed towards Earth,
and will arrive in a couple decades, was a critics darling after season one.
The scientists band together with a detective to help stave off an existential planetary threat.
Claudia Dumont and Ellie Delang joined the cast, season two of three-body problem drops in 2026 on Netflix.
Here's a Pete Pick.
It's an oldie, but a goodie.
For whatever reason, I never got around to watching the show Dexter until this past weekend.
The showtime drama thriller about a forensic scientist who is a serial killer, but only kills those he deems deserving,
is at times suspenseful, thoughtful, and complex.
The show dropped in 2006 and ran for eight seasons.
If you're looking for mystery accompanied by some dismemberment, you have several seasons to binge,
and all of them can be streamed at Paramount Plus.
In the Weird Get Weirder news after the Coldplay concert Kisscam incident involving astronomers CEO and the company's head of HR,
who have both been let go, the company has hired NEPO Baby and publicity hound Gwyneth Paltrow as its temporary spokesman.
Astronomer definitely has a sense of humor about itself since Paltrow is the ex-wife of Coldplay Frontman Chris Martin.
Some people parlay and ask her when into better creative work.
Then there's Paltrow, who will try to sell anything.
Director Richard Linkletter and actor Ethan Hawk teamed up again for the film Blue Moon.
A biographical drama with lots of music tells the story of Lauren's heart,
who is Richard Rogers' partner before he connected with Oscar Hammerstein.
The film is not expected to hit theaters until October of this year,
but it's knocking the socks off most critics with 96% on rotten tomatoes.
Multiple times the Linkletter Hawk collaborations have led to an Oscar nomination for Hawk.
The first steps were big steps for the Fantastic Four Ed last weekend's box office.
To know and surprise, the new Marvel Disney effort finished in first place after being aided by good reviews to rake in 117 million domestically
and 240 million bucks globally.
This is the fourth summer blockbuster to open with over 400 million at the gate.
It was all big studio competition for the remaining four spots of the top five.
Superman finished in second place with a healthy 25 million in its third week of release.
Jurassic World Rebirth came in third with 13 million bucks in its fourth week of release.
F1 Racing Flick, F1 finished in fourth place with just over 6 million bucks and the Smurfs finished in fifth place with 5.5 million dollars in its second week on the big screen.
Let's keep going to the movies, folks. From our show, it's fun.
Tune in to Nightlight with me, Peach Waba, weeknights from 6 to 8 p.m. on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Mostly cloudy with some smoky haze in a sprinkle or even a thunder shower possible today are high in the mid to upper 70s.
Tonight will drop down into the low-to-mid 50s tomorrow sunshine with a high of 77.
I'm meteorologist Sean Cable. Temperature now 65.
Thank you for watching.