Green Bay News

GREEN BAY – If you thought you loved your smoothies, wait until you try a “smoothie bowl.”  Fitness and nutrition buffs Kari Merrill and Carrie Gerend have been experimenting with different variations. Merrill is a personal trainer at Western Racquet in Green Bay.  Gerend is her fitness buddy and a teacher. Merrill says smoothie bowls are thicker than traditional smoothies, allowing you to use a spoon to eat them.  She also likes to dress them up with fun and nutritious toppings such as fresh berries, coconut and granola. Merrill has made such combinations as papaya, peach and pineapple and one with avocado and papaya.  Merrill suggests making them for breakfast, a snack or even as dessert.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee police say one of the department’s district stations was closed and searched for possible explosives.

Authorities say an unknown male caller threatened to blow up the District 5 station. Officers closed it to the public Tuesday about 9 p.m. while the station was searched.

Nothing was found. Detectives are working to identify the caller.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – Police in the ex-Soviet republic of Georgia say a tiger that broke loose after severe flooding at a zoo has killed one man and wounded another.

The Tbilisi zoo had previously said all lions and tigers missing after the flooding had been found dead and only one jaguar remained unaccounted for.

The Interior Ministry says police killed the tiger, which was hiding at an abandoned factory turned into a construction market when he attacked the men Wednesday.

Zoo officials had said Tuesday that eight lions, all seven of the zoo’s tigers and at least two of its three jaguars were killed in the flooding in Georgia’s capital caused by heavy rains over the weekend.

BEAVER DAM, Wis. (AP) – Beaver Dam officials have changed the city’s rules on service animals after a woman took a baby kangaroo into a McDonald’s restaurant.

The Beaver Dam Daily Citizen reports the city’s Common Council voted 14-0 Monday night to define a service animal as a dog or miniature horse, but not a kangaroo. Police can cite people who try to use other animals.

According to police, the woman had the baby kangaroo wrapped in a blanket and tucked in an infant car seat when she took it inside McDonald’s in February. The woman has said the kangaroo is a therapy animal to help her cope with emotional distress.

City Attorney Maryann Schacht said changes are in reaction to the woman’s actions. She says changes comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

APPLETON – Downtown Appleton will be buzzing today with fresh produce and local art.

The Downtown Appleton Farm Market is also held on Wednesday afternoons in Houdini Plaza.

FOX 11’s Emily Deem spent Wednesday morning with vendors to see what the market has to offer.

The market is from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.

The Wednesday market is a smaller, more intimate event for people.

KAUKAUNA- No one was injured in an overnight house fire in Kaukauna.

The fire broke out around 10 p.m. Tuesday at a home on West Henry Street.

Fire officials say a dehumidifier started the fire and smoke filled the house.

All four people in the home got out. They are staying with relatives.

The fire caused $15,000 in damage.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 medium cabbage, shredded or 1 pound bag coleslaw mix
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
2 tablespoons red onion, finely diced
Half pound bacon, cooked and crumbled
8 ounces crumbled bleu or gorgonzola cheese

Directions:
In a big bowl whisk together first 5 ingredients. Season with a little salt and pepper. Toss in remaining ingredients. Refrigerate at least a few hours before serving.

TOWN OF SHARON, Wis. (AP) – A 12-year-old boy has died and his 11-year-old sister has been airlifted to a hospital after an all-terrain vehicle he was driving crashed in central Wisconsin.

The Portage County Sheriff’s Office says the accident was reported around 7:30 p.m. Monday on private land in the Town of Sharon. The sheriff’s office says an off-duty nurse was trying to revive the boy through CPR when first responders arrived, but efforts were not successful.

According to the sheriff’s office, the boy’s sister was a passenger on the ATV. She was flown to an area hospital.

The sheriff’s office says an investigation into the accident is ongoing.

NEENAH – Beer and wine tastings have been around Wisconsin for a long time. Moonshine tasting, not so much.

But thanks to a relatively new Wisconsin law, moonshine and other liquor tastings are now possible.

The Shinery in Neenah, was inspired by the moonshine tasting rooms of Tennessee.

“A lot of people are looking for something different and one of a kind . So we give them the whole experience here. You can come in, you can taste,” explained Co-Owner Lisa Reissmann who told FOX 11 this is one of the first businesses of its kind in Wisconsin.

She told us she and her husband decided to open up shop thanks to a state law passed in April.

“It allowed liquor to be sampled. We had been thinking of this idea for quite some time. So we just thought it was the perfect time to get on it,” said Reissmann .

For those who don’t know, moonshine is a corn whiskey. It comes in many different flavors and alcohol contents from 40 to 105 proof.

According to Reissman the difference between the moonshine they sell and the stuff made in someone’s back yard, is this is all legal.

“It’s done through the proper channels and everyone pays their taxes. So that’s the main difference,” she explained.

But are there any concerns from law enforcement about people doing tastings of this potent stuff? Officers we’ve spoken to say no.

“They have strict guidelines that they have to follow, which is giving only one half ounce per customer,” explained Lieutenant Lori Seiler with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department.

“That allows us the opportunity to give you a couple flavors to taste,” added Reissmann.

Reissmann told FOX 11 this isn’t a bar, you can’t just hang out and drink.

“We are constantly talking about moderation and responsibility,” she said.

Officers told us while the law allowing liquor sampling is still new, it’s something they’ll be keeping an eye on.

Something Reissmann told us she takes to heart.

It is important that we stick with that law because it IS the law,” she said.

The Shinery had its grand opening Saturday.

GREEN BAY – Green Bay East High School is in need of volunteers as it cleans up from water damage.

The school is in danger of losing an extensive costume and prop collection.
Four decades worth of costumes, rack after rack, line the basement at East High School.

“If you need something in pink, we have a pink rack,” said Lucinda Roberts, the East High School Fine Arts Institute Director.

But now, there’s also a dirty water line from flash flooding leaving its mark on the collection.

“We are in danger of losing most of it because a lot of it got really wet. The problem is even though they were on racks, you can see that they’re wet, there’s silt on them, you know and then the problem is mold grows so quickly and it’s already got that musty smell,” said Roberts.

The unique basement structure underneath the 90-year-old building of Green Bay East High School allowed more water and mud to come in with the heavy rains on Monday.

Roberts says the water has also damaged this large collection of antiques in this prop room.

Roberts says the props and costumes have a big value. She says that’s because the school had hoped to rent them out to other places for drama productions. The funds would go toward expanding the fine arts institute to include a musical theatre program in fall 2016.

“We’re kind of getting desperate. With it being wet, if we don’t take care of it in the next few days, we’re going to lose a tremendous amount of it. Over half of this will be gone because it will just be destroyed. There are boxes that just got soaking wet and are falling apart,” said Roberts.

Roberts says local dry cleaners have offered discounts for cleaning the clothes. But before that can happen, this large space needs to be cleaned out.

“We need labor, folks that can help carry stuff,” said Roberts.

Roberts hopes volunteers will spare some time to save the decades-old legacy of drama productions housed in these rooms.

Volunteers can arrive between 9 am to 3pm Wednesday to help haul the items out of storage. Check in will be at the Green Bay East High School main office.

TOWN OF MENASHA – Crews worked on cleaning up quite a mess after a dump truck overturned, spilling dirt and other contents on the roadway.

It happened just before 8:00 p.m. in the Town of Menasha near the corner of West Prospect Avenue and County Road CB.

Authorities are still on scene and say, right now, they are not sure how it happened.

GREEN BAY – The work is well underway for Lambeau Field’s second-ever major concert, even though Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean are still four days away from taking to the stage.

It takes three to five days to get Lambeau physically country concert ready. However, before the 150 workers and 45 equipment-filled trucks actually arrived to build the stage, preparations took eight to ten months.

“It’s figuring out how many forklifts do we need, how many trucks do we need to get and of course finding enough workers,” said Terry Charles with PMI Entertainment Group.

Most of the workers are from Wisconsin, with just a few people from the tour who go show to show helping set things up. Each morning they set down a white surface where they are working called terratrak. It’s supposed to protect Lambeau’s grass.

“When the workers are done, that is lifted off the field and stacked, so the grass again gets air and rain and whatever happens,” said Charles.

After the 2011 Kenny Chesney concert, the field suffered some damage. The Packers are expecting something similar this time.

“We know there is going to be some wear and tear on the field this time around, hopefully it’s nothing too major, but we’ll get at that right away and get this field ready for the season,” said Aaron Popkey, a spokesperson for the Packers.

The Packers are also preparing for the six hour concert, making sure ticket takers, ushers, and concession stands are ready to go. They are treating it similar to a game day, and say fans should do the same, especially with rain in the forecast.

“So what that means is no umbrellas, come prepared for the weather, bring your rain gear, those types of things,” said Popkey.

Gates for the rain or shine event open Saturday at 4:30.

PMI says it has sold about 50,000 tickets to the concert, which is about 5,000 more than the 2011 concert. There are still tickets left, if you’re interested in going.

WILD ROSE – Thousands of tiny walleye are settling in to their new home.

The Wild Rose Hatchery is among hatcheries around the state raising the sport fish this summer, and releasing them this fall.

It’s part of a multi-year, statewide program to put more walleye into the water.

25,000 tiny walleyes crowded the tanks in a Department of Natural Resources stocking truck.

The fish arrived from a Northwoods hatchery to the Wild Rose hatchery Tuesday morning.

In all, 75,000 walleye were delivered this week.

“They came in as a small fingerling, an inch and a half in size. The strategy is to get them as large as possible before stocking, said Steve Fajfer, Wild Rose Hatchery Operations Supervisor.

And with the pull of a small gate, the fish were on their way to their temporary home.

Thousands of minnows in seven ponds mingled with the small fry, but not for long.

“They hauled well on the truck. If they can come off the truck, and they’re actively feeding as soon as they hit the water, you know, they’re not too stressed out,” said Jake Seifert, Wild Rose Hatchery Pond Foreman.

“We will raise these fish through the summer. And by the end of September, they should be 7-8 inches long. And they should have a much better chance of survival than they are at only an inch and a half today,” said Fajfer.

Fajfer says Wild Rose is part of the Wisconsin Walleye Initiative. It’s a plan funded in the state budget to produce more walleye for lakes across the Northwoods.

“It costs about a dollar, to a dollar and a half to raise a fish up to eight inches long. So the walleye initiative has given the department money to buy forage to raise these fish to a larger size,” he said.

As part of the initiative, Wild Rose is able to use all of its 15 ponds. The ultimate goal is to raise about 80,000 large fingerlings.

“It’s a nice feeling to have walleyes, and that Wild Rose is now into walleye production. That’s always a good feeling to get them in the ponds, and watch them grow,” said Seifert.

60,000 walleye from Wild Rose are scheduled to be stocked this fall into nine lakes and flowages across Northeast Wisconsin.

GRAND CHUTE – Outagamie County officials say they are planning for what could come later this week as people still continue to mop up from Monday’s storms.

“Hoping with the dehumidifiers and the blowers that we’ll get it dried out and take care of any mold that could be growing,” said Becca Szczepaniec, as industrial fans whirred loudly in her basement, the damp carpet cleaner scented air acting as a small reminder of what’s been a frustrating 24 hours.

Szczepaniec moved into the home in December with her husband. Despite seeing a portion of the finished basement fill with several inches of water from Monday’s storms and not having flood insurance, Szczepaniec says the damage wasn’t too bad.

“I think the biggest thing is the pad for the carpet, but that’s really not that expensive,” she said. “Really, it looks; it just hit half of our basement.”

While flood damage numbers are hard to come by in Outagamie County, it’s enough of a problem that the County Emergency Management is directing people to contact the agency’s hotline to notify them of any damage. The hope is to better direct Red Cross help and free clean up kits to people in those areas.

Now that the rains have subsided, a big question and concern for Outagamie County Emergency management and county officials is what’s next.

“And what’s next could be more rain Wednesday night and after that we could have more rain as soon as the weekend, Thursday and Friday,” said County Executive Tom Nelson. “So the big question is, are we going to have enough dry weather, is there going to be enough sun between now and then to try and pull out some of the moisture and saturation that we’ve seen happen.”

Moisture that’s making money for foundation repair and sealing businesses, as Monday’s rains finally caused people’s basements to runneth over.

“It’s the accumulation of the rain, three days ago it rained for 12 hours,” said ABT Foundation Solutions General Manager Dave Brehmer, “And that really saturated the ground, it allowed the ground to soak the water in, now we get the rain as we had yesterday and as you can see the streets, the flooding, the water simply had nowhere else to go.”

Like into Szczepaniec’s basement.

“This is why we have savings, so we just got to be smart,” she said, and hopes it doesn’t happen again.

The Outagamie County Emergency Management Damage Hotline is: (920) 832-5464.

WRIGHTSTOWN – Attention drivers, 65 is out and 70 is in parts of our area.

County road crews began changing the signs Tuesday morning.

If you’re driving above the new 70 miles per hour speed limit on 41 in Outagmie County, there’s a chance Trooper Mark Haessly will pull you over.

“If people choose to exceed speed limit, we as state patrol troopers, county sheriff’s deputies, local police officers, are blessed with discretion. We will decide to issue a written warning or issue a traffic citation,” said Trooper Haessly.

About 470 signs will be installed along numerous stretches of highways and Interstates.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation wants to remind drivers to pay attention to the speed limit signs.

You’re not allowed to drive 70 miles per hour until the sign is posted.

The speed limit increase will include most of Interstates 41 and 43, in our area.

However, some stretches will stay 65, so look for the signs.

• Click here to see where the speed limit will change

If you start to see orange signs and cones, Haessly says you’re required to slow down.

“The construction zones in Winnebago County and Outagamie County are still posted 55 miles per hour,” Haessly said.

As cars and trucks continued to zip by Haessly says when you’re out on the road always pay attention.

“Traffic fatalities are up in Wisconsin this year and we as law enforcement are attributing the increase in traffic fatalities to the nicer weather, the low fuel prices and of course there’s driver behavior,” Haessly said.

GRAND CHUTE — The WIAA State Baseball Tournament began on Tuesday as two teams from our area took the field at Fox Cities Stadium.

In the first game of the day, Kimberly squared off against Kenosha Indian Trail. The Papermakers jumped out to a two nothing lead in the 1st inning. That is all the run support Kimberly pitcher Brice Swick would need. as they advanced to the semifinals with a 3-0 win. They play River Falls at approximately 6:00 p.m. tonight.

The Bay Port Pirates were hoping to earn a trip to tonight’s semifinal round as well. They took on Oconomowoc in another Division 1 quarterfinal game. Oconomowoc got on the board first with a RBI single . That would be all the scoring in the game as Oconomowoc’s Logan Wonn beat Bay Port’s Connor Hock in a pitchers duel, 1-0.

Notre Dame plays in a Division 2 Semifinal game with River Valley tomorrow at approximatley 8:00 p.m.

BELOIT, Wis. (AP) – The police chief and deputy chief in Beloit have been put on administrative leave.

The reason for the action hasn’t been given. City Manager Lori Curtis Luther announced the move in a news release Tuesday that said a consultant’s review this spring raised questions about leadership and management by Chief Norm Jacobs and Deputy Chief Tom Dunkin.

The Janesville Gazette and Beloit Daily News reported that the department has been under pressure over an increase in homicides and violent crime last year, as well as morale issues.

Luther’s release said the city was launching an internal investigation.

Robert Mihelich, an attorney for Jacobs, says the management of the department didn’t cause homicides to increase. He says Jacobs and his staff put a plan in place to attack the problem.

ONALASKA, Wis. (AP) – Police say emergency crews have recovered the body of a woman from Lake Onalaska, a large pool on the Mississippi River.

Onalaska Police Chief Jeff Trotnic says a fisherman spotted the body of the 72-year-old Onalaska woman in the water about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, about 15 minutes after her car was found at a nearby wayside. Firefighters recovered her body.

The police chief says foul play is not suspected in her death.

The woman’s name has not been released.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the original idea for eliminating the state’s alternative minimum tax that would primarily benefit those earning more than $200,000 a year won’t be done as originally discussed.

The Republican Vos said Tuesday that how to structure changes to the tax are still being discussed.

Republican Rep. Dale Kooyenga said last week he wanted to eliminate the alternative minimum tax and replace the $63 million over two years with other tax increases and changes. He did not say what all of those would be.

But one idea he floated, to increase sales taxes collected on paying for hotel rooms online, an idea that drew opposition from the travel industry.

MADISON (AP) – Republican Sen. Ron Johnson says he won’t respond to a pledge designed to keep third-party money out of his U.S. Senate race until more details emerge about a political action committee founded by Democratic opponent Russ Feingold.

Johnson told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he wouldn’t decide on the pledge until he “got to the bottom” of reports that the Progressives United political action committee founded by Feingold spent only 5 percent of its income on federal candidates and political parties.

Feingold has defended the group’s work and labeled GOP criticism as the first attack of the 2016 race.

Feingold is seeking a rematch after being defeated by Johnson in 2010. The race is being closely watched nationally as Democrats try to regain control of the Senate.