Shawano County officials are in the process of authorizing spending up to $300,000 for a house that sits on land needed for a possible courthouse expansion project.

The house at 217 W. Third St., Shawano, is on the block west and south of the current courthouse. If a new courthouse and housing pod for the jail are authorized by the county board this spring, the site of the house would be needed for the project.

A former Oconto Falls High School teacher facing nearly a dozen felony counts relating to sexual misconduct waived his preliminary hearing in Oconto County Circuit Court on Feb. 13.

Judge Jay Conley accepted Gayle Gander’s waiver, with an arraignment now scheduled for 3 p.m. March 26.

Gander, 60, remains free on a $75,000 cash bond.

Anglers will soon have another month to harvest brook, brown and rainbow trout in streams, ponds and springs.

Beginning this year, the harvest season will change from the first Saturday in May, Wisconsin’s general inland season opener, to the first Saturday in April.

Greg Smurawa and his bakery staff put in extra hours in the days leading up to Lent.

They needed to for Smurawa’s Country Bakery’s annual Paczki Day, otherwise known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday.

“We sell them every day of the year, but this is of course our busiest time,” Smurawa said. “We used to fill them by hand, but now we use a machine.”

Shawano County supervisors will get another update on the future plans for a new courthouse, jail and public library when they gather for their next meeting at 3 p.m. Feb. 25 at the courthouse.

Several dozen friends and family members of missing and murdered Menominee Tribe members gathered Feb. 14 to witness the unveiling of a red jingle dress to honor their loved ones.

“We’re holding this event so we can all come together and celebrate our missing family members,” said Alysse Corn, whose mother, Rae Tourtilliot, was murdered nearly 40 years ago.

Her killer has yet to be found.