Green Bay News

GLENMORE – Submitted June 15, 2015, with the caption:

“Tornado crossing Dickinson Rd. in Glenmore”

MADISON (AP) – While Scott Walker’s fellow Republicans were grousing about his budget plan and part of his proposal to overhaul higher education, the governor was more than 1,000 miles away, gripping the wheel of the Mt. Washington cruise boat on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee.

And when lawmakers met Monday night to reach a final deal on other elements of that budget, the likely presidential candidate was in Canada on his fourth international trip in less than five months.

Absentee governors are part of the political landscape when a presidential campaign begins and some want to run. There’s no getting around the need to raise money, make national appearances and organize early in important states. What may distinguish Walker, though, is the grief he’s getting from his own party.

One GOP lawmaker has dissed his spending plan as a “crap budget,” and it gets worse than merely a rhetorical slap. While Walker has been courting voters, party activists and donors in advance of his expected announcement that he’s running for the 2016 party nomination, state GOP lawmakers, in concert with Democrats, have crushed some of his biggest ideas this year.

And that works against one clear advantage governors like Walker can bring to national politics – a record of achievement in public policy that many candidates coming from the Byzantine, often gridlocked chambers of Congress can’t match.

Walker played into that theme last week in addressing a Utah retreat held by 2012 nominee Mitt Romney. Walker said flatly of senators in the presidential race: “They have yet to win anything and accomplish anything.” That was a dig at Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

In Wisconsin, however, lawmakers voted to restore money the governor wanted to cut for K-12 schools. They rejected his proposed changes to a popular prescription drug program for Medicaid recipients, scrapped a merger of state agencies he wanted and voted against the governor’s plan to make the University of Wisconsin system independent of state laws and oversight.

Walker has benefited from a state Senate and Assembly controlled by Republicans his entire four-plus years as governor. When he won re-election in November, he predicted that decisive action on his budget by the enlarged Republican majorities in the Legislature would serve as a contrast to a dysfunctional Washington.

“We’re going to be even more aggressive now because I think we have an even stronger ally in the Legislature,” Walker told his Cabinet.

Now it’s a struggle to find agreement on Walker’s proposed $1.3 billion in borrowing for roads, likely to be reduced, and a financing plan for a new $500 million arena to keep the Milwaukee Bucks from leaving the state. “We may have a crap budget, but we’re going to make it better,” freshman Republican state Rep. Rob Brooks told fellow lawmakers in May.

Walker says he’s as engaged as ever on the budget, and talks with his chief of staff more than a dozen times a day, no matter where he is. “The budget is a priority for us,” Walker said this month.

But it’s clear he will not get as much as he proposed back in February, or have it done faster than usual.

None of this has stopped Walker from making the rounds in early voting states such as Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire.

In late May, he courted party activists aboard a sunset dinner cruise as a legislative committee back home rejected his plan to give the University of Wisconsin more independence or cut state support for it by $300 million. But the panel did agree on $250 million in cuts to the 26 campuses, including the flagship in Madison.

“We are bowing to the pressure of a guy on a boat in New Hampshire,” Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach said during that debate. “He’s not out there extolling the virtues of his idea of cutting $300 million from the university system because he’d probably be thrown off the boat. You don’t brag about the cuts.”

The committee also kept Walker’s call to remove tenure protections from state law, a proposal that’s garnering attention nationally from academics who fear weakening tenure protections will catch on elsewhere.

Even with delays and squabbling, Walker is likely to walk away with some big wins: on lifting an enrollment cap on statewide private school vouchers, on new drug screening for public aid recipients and on lower property taxes. Those are all sure-fire crowd pleasers on the Republican presidential circuit.

At least in Walker’s view, he’s getting enough done so that he could tell his lake cruisers: “If we can do it in a blue state like Wisconsin, we can do it in the Granite State and all across America.”

LA CROSSE (AP) – Wildlife experts say black bear sightings in southwest Wisconsin are increasing phenomena as more of them have been seen bellying up to backyard bird feeders.

Dave MacFarland of the state Department of Natural Resources’ Wildlife Management Bureau says the bear population was sparse in the ’80s, with the animals present mostly above the forested area of central Wisconsin, above Jackson Clark and Juneau counties. But he says bears can now be found as far south as Richland and Sauk counties.

MacFarland tells the La Crosse Tribune that there are more bear sighting around this time of the year because it’s mating season.

He says the increase in sightings isn’t cause for alarm.

MADISON (AP) – The co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee says there is no deal yet to complete work on the two-year state spending plan.

Republican Sen. Alberta Darling said Tuesday that the Joint Finance Committee will not meet on Wednesday to finish the budget as hoped. Darling says the goal is to meet Thursday or Friday.

Darling says Republican legislative leaders are still struggling to come up with a plan to pay for roads and transportation projects. She also says there is not agreement yet on financing for a $500 million Milwaukee Bucks arena or what changes to make to the state’s prevailing wage law.

Myranda Tanck, spokeswoman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, says Monday’s meeting was productive and lawmakers will continue to talk Tuesday.

Ingredients:

2 T-Bone or Porterhouse steaks, cut 1-1/2 inches thick (about 2 pounds)
Wood chip foil packet (see cook’s tip)
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon steak seasoning blend
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt

Chunky BBQ Sauce:

1/4 cup drained canned pineapple chunks, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup mild barbecue sauce

Directions:

Combine pineapple, onion, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and vinegar in small saucepan. Cook over high heat 2 to 3 minutes or until liquid is syrupy, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to medium; add barbecue sauce. Cook and stir about 1 minute or until heated through. Set aside.
Combine 2 tablespoons brown sugar, steak seasoning and chili powder in small bowl; press evenly onto beef steaks.

Place wood chip foil packet on one side of grill directly on medium, ash-covered coals. Place cooking grid over coals. Place steaks in center of grid, not directly over foil packet. Grill, covered, 19 to 24 minutes (over medium heat on preheated gas grill, 20 to 25 minutes) for medium rare (145°F) to medium (160°F) doneness, turning occasionally. Carve steaks across the grain into thin slices and season with salt, as desired. Serve with Chunky BBQ Sauce.

GREEN BAY – Three friends, campers and food lovers have released a new book called “Pudgie Revolution! Pie Iron Cookin’ For Food-Lovin’ Campers.  Jared Pierce, Carrie Simon and Liv Svanoe joined us on the Fox 11 Weather Deck to talk about their love of pudgie pies.  Their book is filled with different takes on the pudgie pies which are grilled sandwiches made in a pie iron over a campfire or even a grill.  The authors shared two recipes with Good Day Wisconsin.

PACKER BACKER

Ingredients:
Brat bun (butter bread)
Boiled beer brats, sliced in clins
Sauerkraut
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Yellow pepper, chopped
Green peppers, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Yellow mustard

Tip: Press bun into pie iron and patch any holes with extra bun pieces.

BERRY CINN-FUL

Ingredients:
Cinnamon roll dough, large (grease iron)
Strawberries, sliced
Dark chocolate, pieces
Pecans, chopped

Tip: Flatten cinnamon roll dough between sheets of waxed paper. Cinnamon bread works great, too!

For more inspiration, follow Pudgie Revolution on Facebook!

NEW YORK (AP) – The woman who resigned as head of a local NAACP branch after her parents said she was white said Tuesday that she started identifying as black around the age of 5, when she drew self-portraits with a brown crayon, and “takes exception” to the contention that she tried to deceive people.

Rachel Dolezal said Tuesday on NBC’S “Today” Show that some of the discussion about her has been “viciously inhumane.”

Dolezal carefully constructed a life as a black civil rights activist in the last decade in the inland Northwest.

She has resigned as president of the Spokane, Washington branch of the NAACP, lost her position as a part-time African studies instructor at a local university, lost her job as a freelance newspaper columnist and become the subject of a probe by the city Ethics Commission.

The furor has touched off national debate over racial identity and divided the NAACP itself.

Dolezal, a 37-year-old woman with a light brown complexion and dark curly hair, graduated from historically black Howard University and was married to a black man. For years, she publicly described herself as black and complained of being the victim of racial hatred in the heavily white region.

The uproar that led to her resignation began last week after Dolezal’s parents said their daughter is white with a trace of Native American heritage. They produced photos of her as a girl with fair skin and straight blond hair.

“I really don’t see why they’re in such a rush to whitewash some of the work I have done, who I am, how I have identified,” she said.

Asked when she started “deceiving people,” she replied, “I do take exception to that.”

5:00 a.m. (CDT)

The Houston Independent School District has announced that district schools and offices will be closed Tuesday as a precautionary measure as Texas prepares for Tropical Storm Bill to make landfall.

School officials say they’ve determined the heavy rainfall predicted for parts of the Houston area may make driving dangerous Tuesday afternoon. Schools and offices are expected to re-open at their regularly scheduled time Wednesday.

Tropical Storm Bill is expected to make landfall somewhere between Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, and High Island, up the coast from Galveston by Tuesday morning. The storm is expected to then move inland over the south-central part of the state.

According to projections by the National Weather Service, parts of North Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma could get up to 9 inches of rain over the next five days, and Missouri could get more than 7.

___

3:50 a.m. (CDT)

The National Hurricane Center says little change in strength is likely before Tropical Storm Bill makes landfall in Texas on Tuesday morning.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds remain near 50 mph (85 kph) and Bill is expected to weaken as its center moves inland.

The tropical storm is centered about 55 miles (90 kilometers) southeast of Port O’Connor, Texas, and is moving northwest near 13 mph (20 kph).

___

1:30 a.m. (CDT)

Tropical Storm Bill is expected to make landfall in Texas by morning and then move inland over the south-central part of the state.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Tuesday that Bill was centered about 95 miles (155 kms) southeast of Port O’Connor, Texas, and about 120 miles (195 kms) south-southwest of Galveston, Texas. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast of Texas from Baffin Bay to High Island.

Bill had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving northwest at about 13 mph (19 kph).

The center says some slight strengthening is possible before landfall, after which Bill is expected to weaken.

The storm was expected to produce rain accumulations of 4 to 8 inches over eastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma. Western Louisiana and western Arkansas could see 2 to 4 inches.

___

1 a.m. (CDT)

The eastern half of Texas is preparing for renewed flooding as Tropical Storm Bill approaches the Texas Gulf Coast.

The National Hurricane Center predicted the storm would make landfall Tuesday morning somewhere between Baffin Bay, south of Corpus Christi, and High Island, just up the coast from Galveston.

Galveston County officials already have directed voluntary evacuation of the low-lying Bolivar Peninsula, where Hurricane Ike wiped out most structures in 2008. School districts from Galveston to the Houston suburbs have canceled Tuesday’s classes.

According to projections by the National Weather Service, parts of North Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma could get up to 9 inches of rain over the next five days, and Missouri could get more than 7.

The forecast follows historic rains and floods last month.

JEFFERSON, Wis. (AP) – Health officials say a dead bird has tested positive for West Nile virus in Jefferson County.

It’s the first reported case since the county began tracking the virus last month. The virus is transmitted by a bite from an infected mosquito. Health officials say you can cut your risk of an infection by getting rid of standing water on your property and using mosquito repellant.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says an estimated 80 percent of people infected with the virus never experience symptoms. Most of the remaining 20 percent will develop symptoms such as fever, headache, muscle pain, a skin rash, swollen lymph nodes and sensitivity to light.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Documents filed in federal court in Milwaukee show a construction company owner has agreed to plead guilty to defrauding the government and to pay $1.6 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit.

Scott Watry, of Watry Homes, is accused of paying employees less than the mandated prevailing wage to do federally funded work at a public housing project in Milwaukee. He’s accused of telling federal officials he was paying the proper rate and then pocketing the difference.

The Journal Sentinel reports a plea agreement calls for Watry to pay about $660,000 in restitution to the employees of his New Berlin construction company and $1 million to the government. Federal prosecutors will recommend a sentence of one year and a day in prison. Watry’s brother-in-law, Jermaine Knight, earlier agreed to plead guilty in the case.

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) – All of the lions and tigers that were missing after severe flooding swamped Tbilisi’s zoo have been found dead. One jaguar remained unaccounted for, but zoo staff said they have little hope that it survived.

The discovery of the last of the missing lions and tigers on Tuesday as the waters receded eased fears in the capital of Georgia, an ex-Soviet republic, that some of the big cats were still wandering the hills of the city.

At least 15 people were killed and up to 10 are still missing after an intense downpour that began late Saturday turned a stream that runs through the city into a raging torrent that destroyed houses and tore up roads. About 40 families lost their homes.

Zoo spokeswoman Mziya Sharashidze said eight lions, all seven of the zoo’s tigers and at least two of its three jaguars were killed. Only two of the zoo’s 14 bears survived, while nine of its 17 penguins died, she said.

Ivane Daraseliya, chief veterinarian for the zoo, said staff on Tuesday found the carcasses of three lions, a tiger and two wolves.

A young white lion named Shumba, one of the zoo’s most beloved attractions, was found shot in the head on zoo territory on Sunday. Most of the animals appeared to have been killed when water and mud inundated their enclosures.

The flooding also killed hundreds of homeless dogs at a private shelter near the zoo, shelter staff said.

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) – Authorities say five people are dead and eight others injured in a balcony collapse in Berkeley

Officer Jennifer Coats of the Berkeley Police Department says many of the injured have critical, life-threatening wounds.

She says police received the call about the incident shortly before 1 a.m. PDT Tuesday.

Arriving officers found that the balcony on the fourth floor of an apartment building on Kittredge Street had collapsed.

Coats says officers are still investigating at the scene and she doesn’t have any information on how it occurred or what the people were doing on the structure at the time.

HOUSTON, Alaska (AP) – Fire crews are battling two serious wildfires in Alaska that are threatening hundreds of residences and have forced numerous evacuations.

The most recent fire erupted Monday and burned six structures and prompted hundreds of residents to flee homes on the Kenai Peninsula, roughly 150 miles south of major wildfire that started a day earlier near Willow in the heart of the state’s sled-dog community.

The Willow-area blaze prompted volunteers to join in making sure that both people and their sled dogs as well as other animals were safely evacuated.

The fire is raging near a far-flung community of about 2,000 people living along a 20-mile swath along the Parks Highway, a major road connecting Anchorage and Fairbanks.

The Willow area fire started about 1 p.m. Sunday and quickly grew to 10 square miles. Residents were under a voluntary evacuation order, and the highway was intermittently closed because of the heavy smoke that enveloped the area.

The fire on the Kenai Peninsula was first reported in the early afternoon Monday as a 1-acre grass fire near the community of Sterling, but by early evening it had expanded to 640 acres was threatening some 200 homes.

Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources said in a news release that the “explosive wildland fire on the Kenai Peninsula forced the evacuation of hundreds of homes,” but did not provide a more precise figure.

It said that it’s still unclear if the six burned structures are homes or some other buildings.

There have been no reports of any serious injuries in connection with either fire.

Willow is home to the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, except this year when little snow forced the start farther north.

Up to 20 mushers, both recreational and professionals, live in the area, and the community mobilized to help get the dogs out of the fire’s path.

“The word went out that those dogs needed rescuing, aside from the people, but the dogs can’t rescue themselves,” said Steve Charles, a member of the Willow Dog Mushers Association. He’s a recreational musher to can get on the trail right outside his back door.

The club had also planned for a day like this but never had to execute until Sunday. Vern Halter, an Iditarod veteran and now borough assemblyman, said about 500 dogs were moved in about two hours.

About 200 of those dogs ended up with four-time Iditarod champion Martin Buser at his kennels in Big Lake about 20 miles from the fire. He also was taking in displaced residents, including veteran Iditarod musher DeeDee Jonrowe, who lost her home.

“Everybody’s relieved that their dogs are safe and here, but the people that have lost their homes, they are dejected,” Buser said Monday afternoon in a phone interview. “And people that their homes got spared are elated.”

Buser said there’s “a house full – or a kennel full – of diverse moods around here.”

He said people are bringing food for the dogs and displaced residents, who are staying at either a visitor’s center or a bed and breakfast at his kennel and tourism business.

Charles believed his home was far enough from the fire, but the wind-whipped fire grew quickly on Sunday, forcing him to find shelter for both him and his 13 dogs.

“I didn’t realize I would have to be evacuating myself,” he said at the American Red Cross evacuation center at Houston Middle School. His own dogs were along a chain line attached to a fence. Charles said he’s heard from neighbors that his house was spared.

On Monday, Gov. Bill Walker took an aerial tour of the fire, which has burned at least 25 homes and up to 20 other structures including sheds and outhouses. Walker later said he accepted the Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s request for state disaster declaration for the affected area.

Officials said Monday afternoon that the fire was zero percent contained, with the weather expected to continue to be warm and dry. One firefighter has been treated for heat exhaustion.

Robin Edgell only had time to grab one thing when she fled her home in Willow: “Pictures, the only things that can’t be replaced,” she said outside a motorhome parked at the Red Cross evacuation center.

Edgell said the fire moved quickly on Sunday, and she described as just “horrific.”

“You just see huge, billowing clouds of smoke in the air,” she said. “And the wind’s blowing, and you feel the direction it’s blowing. It’s like it’s blowing the clouds right at us, the fire’s coming.”

Tankers have unloaded retardant, and a helicopter dropped loads of water as more aircraft planned to join the fight. Nearly 200 personnel were battling the blaze and elite hot shot crews were expected to arrive on Monday.

The same lack of snow that forced the Iditarod to start this year in Fairbanks rather than Willow is part of what is fueling the fire, along with low rainfall this spring and hot, dry, windy conditions now.

“It’s in the 80s right now, and we usually don’t get that kind of weather,” said Casey Cook, the emergency manager for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. “So all those combine to make it a very heavy fire fuel area.”

WAUPAUCA – The sweet taste of summer will be back in Waupaca this weekend.

Strawberry Fest first started back in 1989.

The festivities kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday morning in downtown Waupaca, with arts and crafts, the strawberry shortcake eating contest and music and entertainment among other things.

FOX 11’s Pauleen Le spent the morning getting a taste of what’s in store for this year’s Strawberry Fest.

For more information on Strawberry Fest, click here.

DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) – Two escaped murderers remained at large as a woman charged with helping the killers flee from a maximum-security prison by providing them hacksaw blades, chisels and other tools made a second appearance in a New York court.

More than 800 law enforcement officers on Monday kept up a methodical search for Richard Matt and David Sweat, who escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border on June 6.

Prosecutors say Joyce Mitchell, a prison tailoring shop instructor who had befriended the inmates, had agreed to be the getaway driver but backed out because she still loved her husband and felt guilty for participating.

Mitchell, 51, made her second court appearance in Plattsburgh on Monday wearing a striped prison jumpsuit and a bulletproof vest. She waived a preliminary hearing, and the case headed to a county court.

“Basically, when it was go-time and it was the actual day of the event, I do think she got cold feet and realized, ‘What am I doing?'” Clinton County District Attorney Andrew Wylie said Sunday. “Reality struck. She realized that, really, the grass wasn’t greener on the other side.”

Wylie said there was no evidence the men had a Plan B once Mitchell backed out, and no vehicles have been reported stolen in the area. That has led searchers to believe the men are still near the prison in Dannemora.

Sweat, 35, was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy. Matt, 48, was doing 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnap, torture and hacksaw dismemberment of his former boss.

Mitchell was charged Friday with also supplying a punch and a screwdriver to the two inmates. Her lawyer entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. She has been suspended without pay from her $57,000-a-year job overseeing inmates who sew clothes and learn to repair sewing machines at the prison.

Authorities say the convicts used power tools to cut through the back of their adjacent cells, broke through a brick wall, then cut into a steam pipe and slithered through it, finally emerging outside the prison walls through a manhole. Wylie says they apparently used tools stored by prison contractors, taking care to return them to their toolboxes after each night’s work.

Workers have welded shut three manholes, including the one from which the convicts climbed out.

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY – For awhile in the Fox Cities, it seemed like the rain was coming down in buckets.

“Within 60 to 90 minutes this afternoon we received over 2.3 inches of rainfall in certain areas,” said Outagamie County Emergency Management Director Lisa Van Schyndel who told FOX 11 the sheriff’s department called in extra man power.

They did it to be ahead of the game, get those resources rolling and they should be back to normal staff shortly,” she explained.

Several roads were closed in communities like Grand Chute and Appleton.

In Kaukauna the river was swollen and turbulent.

“Road flooding and ditches and fast running water in those ditch lines,” said Van Schyndel.

Van Schyndel told us at some points the water was a few feet deep on roadways. She said there were some issues with farm fields in more rural areas of the county too.

“Some of the water that went over the roadway on some of the country roads took some of the corn that was up and took it to the other side of the roadway,” Van Schyndel explained.

Now that most of the water has receded, emergency management is focused on what’s next.

Personnel will inspect any reports of property damage and damage to roads and ditches.

However, Van Schyndel is worried about possible rain later in the week.

“The ground is so saturated right now that it can’t take any more,” she said.

She’s asking people to be prepared.

“You wanna make sure your sump pumps are working,” Van Schyndel advised.

And warning drivers to play it safe if the roads flood again.

“Sometimes what looks to be minor flooding is major flooding and you don’t wanna take that chance with your vehicle,” she warned.

The Salvation Army on North Street in Appleton says it will be giving out flood clean up kits this week.

GREEN BAY – Some people kicked off the work-week right with the first Downtown Green Bay Food Walking Tour.

The main idea is to give downtown hotel customer service workers an idea of the variety of downtown restaurants that are unique to Green Bay so they can in turn help their own hotel guests.

Organizers hope it will also keep those out-of-towners downtown.

“Why come all the way to Green Bay just to do something no different than you can do at any other suburban strip mall anywhere in North America? What’s the point, you’re here, enjoy it, use it,” said Kevin Smith, Quality Inn and Suites.

About 20 people took part in Monday’s tour from three downtown hotels — the Hyatt, Quality Inn, and St. Brendan’s Inn.

The Wis-DOT is announcing lane restrictions and closures for the WIS 441 Project June 15 though June 19 in Winnebago, Outagamie and Calumet counties.

The closures are needed to reconstruct the Racine Road/County P interchange, realign US 10/WIS 441 mainline and construct roundabouts.

The Westbound US 10/southbound WIS 441 off-ramp to Racine Road/County P closed Sunday night and will be restricted until fall 2016.

Drivers seeking Racine Road/County P can exit westbound US10/WIS 441 at County AP/Midway road and turn right to Racine Road/County P for an alternative route.

More details on the project can be seen here.

Drivers are asked to use caution in work zones and should be aware of reduced speed limits.

(AVN/AuBC-TV) QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA – How about having a beer– and getting your veggies too?

A craft brewer and a vegetable grower in Australia have teamed up to make ‘carrot beer.’

The beer is made of 16 percent carrot juice.

There’s another beer produced in the area, that’s made of ‘finger limes’.

OSHKOSH – For students, summer is also a time for learning.

Alison Zimmerman and Dawn Funnell are participating in Fox Valley Tech’s very first Girls in the Shop summer camp because they have a passion for welding.

“I signed up for a class thinking I might like it and I actually ended up loving it and so I want to pursue a career in welding and engineering, kind of a mix,” said Zimmerman.

As for Funnell, she’s always been interested in design and in her eyes, welding is an art from.

“I very much enjoy the art form of welding, I guess, because it’s not something everyone can do. It takes a lot more skill,” said Funnell.

During the weeklong camp, the girls will learn how to use graphic design software and various machines.

“They’ll know a lot of things especially about what they’re capable doing and that’s kind of the main point here,” said Jessica Lloyd.

Welding instructor Jessica Lloyd will be teaching the 16 high school-aged girls who enrolled in the class.

“It always starts with an idea and something you want to make and we have to find a way to communicate our ideas,” Lloyd said.

Lloyd has been a welder for the past few years and she’d like to see more women interested in the field.

“I’d be in the shop with about 60 men and I’d be the only woman out in the shop,” Lloyd said.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor an estimated 369,610 people work in the welding industry.

Women represent 4.8 percent and the welding industry is projected to grow 6 percent from 2012 to 2022.

“I’m finding from the employers that I talk to, just being an instructor and an educator, I’m finding that they can’t come up with employees fast enough to fill the job needs and the openings that they have,” Lloyd said.

As the young women continue to cut and bend metal, a future in welding can have its benefits.

The labor department says welders will be in high demand as buildings, bridges and highways age.

Throughout the week, each student will design and build a table which they’ll get to take home.