Green Bay News

GOLETA, Calif. (AP) – The cost of cleaning up the oil spill that fouled beaches last month on the California coast has reached $69 million so far, an official of the pipeline company said Wednesday.

Costs are running at $3 million a day, and there is no timetable for when the cleanup will be complete, Plains All American Pipeline’s on-scene coordinator, Patrick Hodgins, told The Associated Press.

About 76 percent of 97 miles of coastline – mostly sandy beaches – have been cleared of oil. Crews are using tools to scrape oil off rocks and cobble beaches.

“The beaches are fairly clean,” said Coast Guard Capt. Jennifer Williams, one of two federal response coordinators.

The May 19 spill occurred after an onshore pipeline operated by Texas-based Plains All American ruptured, leaking up to 101,000 gallons of crude.

About 21,000 gallons entered a storm drain and washed out to the Pacific Ocean off Santa Barbara County.

The spill was smaller than the 1969 oil platform blowout off Santa Barbara County that blackened miles of coastline and killed thousands of shorebirds and other wildlife.

The cause of last month’s break has not been determined, but documents released by federal regulators after the spill said testing conducted in early May found extensive external corrosion along some sections of the pipeline.

Find more information on summer programs in Appleton parks.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has passed a resolution urging state and local police departments to use body cameras.

The non-binding resolution was passed on Wednesday by a vote of 421-6. The vote comes in the wake of several high-profile police shootings and other incidents.

In Texas, a white police officer resigned Tuesday after he was filmed pinning a black teenage girl to the ground. The officer also had pulled his gun on other teens.

Congressman Al Green of Texas sponsored the resolution. Green, a Democrat, said body cameras bring much-needed transparency to police work and can protect officers against false allegations.

Police agencies across the nation are considering using body cameras, though some are grappling with who should have access to the videos.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin authorities have now lifted the control zones around all farms in the state that had been struck by the Midwest bird flu outbreak.

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said Wednesday that the affected farms all remain under quarantine until further notice.

But it says quarantines on other poultry operations in those last five control zones, which were all in Barron County, are now released.

Wisconsin hasn’t reported a new case of avian influenza since May 4. But State Veterinarian Paul McGraw says bird owners, whether commercial producers or backyard enthusiasts, still need to watch them closely for signs of illness and to practice good biosecurity.

Wisconsin has had 10 detections since early May, which have cost its chicken and turkey producers nearly 2 million birds.

ASHWAUBENON – A local student is nationally recognized for something out of the ordinary.

Puja Patel, a fifth grader at Valley View Elementary School in Ashwaubenon, is one of the semi-finalists in the 2015 National Handwriting Contest.

Out of the 300,000 students entered, ages kindergarten through eighth grade, Patel is one of the top 18 students in the contest.

The school celebrated her achievement Wednesday with an assembly.

Officials say the purpose of the competition is to stress the importance of handwriting as a skill even in a digital age where texting and typing are more common.

“Most importantly, it is to recognize the importance of handwriting as a critical skill for literacy that is both for reading and for writing. And secondly, it is to recognize those students who have become accomplished with their handwriting ability,” said John Hanzalik of Zaner-Bloser Publishing.

The competition included both private and public schools across the country.

 

ST. MARTIN ISLAND, Mich. – Plans call for a remote island north of Door County to become part of a federal wildlife refuge.

In recent years, a group called The Nature Conservancy has bought up most of the 1,300-acre island from a private landowner. The plan is to transfer it to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to become part of the Green Bay Refuge.

Click the play button above to watch aerial video of the island.

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. (AP) – A Vermont man has escaped jury duty – by getting dismissed for wearing a prisoner costume.

James Lowe of Barnet says he was released from jury duty on Tuesday when he showed up to court wearing a black-and-white-striped jumpsuit with a matching beanie.

The Caledonian Record reports that Lowe showed up on time and joined other prospective jurors before the start of the selection process. Deputies directed him to an empty courtroom to meet with the judge, who told him to leave.

Lowe says the judge told him he could’ve been found in contempt of court. That could’ve meant a fine or jail time.

Lowe says the juror instructions don’t restrict clothing, but that he’s happy to be released because of his work schedule and family obligations.

GREEN BAY – A 32-inch concrete barrier helped keep Josh Lamkin’s car on the Leo Frigo Bridge Monday afternoon.

“I do have a little bit of light tread on the back of my tires, so I felt the tires start to give way a little bit so I slowed down even a little bit more to about 55 (mph), and then all of a sudden I just felt it completely give way and fish tail,” said Lamkin.

With wet road conditions, the rear wheels of his car ended up on the outer barrier of the bridge.

“I think that if I wouldn’t have hit the brakes as hard as I could, I probably would have gone over the side,” the 21-year-old said.

Wisconsin DOT engineer Randy Asman said the barrier performed the way it was designed.

“Way back when, when that barrier type was introduced and designed, it’s designed at various angles for various vehicles,” said Asman. “Was it tested for a car going backwards at the angle that it did? I would venture to guess it probably wasn’t. However, with that being said, it still prevented the bad from happening with the car going over the top.”

Asman says the DOT doesn’t plan to inspect the barrier, which is designed to handle everything from a small car to a large semi truck.

“There’s enough steel in there, there’s enough concrete. It will redirect most crashes without a doubt,” he said. “We don’t go out inspect them all the time. If it was a bigger vehicle, by all means we definitely would. But in this case, those barriers have enough reinforcement in them to definitely handle a collision like that.”

A Green Bay driving instructor says the video is a reminder for everyone behind the wheel to watch for changing road conditions.

“Slow it down,” said Kris Engebretson, the owner of Advanced Driver Training. “Be cautious of wet road conditions, and keep in mind it can happen in just even a twelfth to an eighth inch of water, you can easily lose control of that car.”

Engebretson says while it may be your first instinct to brake while hydroplaning, drivers should instead stay off the brake and gas pedals.

The 26-year veteran teacher also urges everyone to check the condition of their tires.

Lamkin says he was planning to get new tires this week.

“Which might actually change from new tires to a new car,” he said.

Lamkin says he wasn’t using cruise control, and he wasn’t ticketed for the crash.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The engineer in last month’s fatal Amtrak crash wasn’t using his cellphone to talk, text or download anything just before the train sped off the tracks, investigators said Wednesday, addressing one big question about what might have caused the accident but only deepening the mystery of what did.

Eight people were killed and about 200 were injured in the crash in Philadelphia. For reasons still unknown, the train accelerated to 106 miles per hour in the minute before it entered a curve where the speed limit is 50, investigators have said previously. In the last few seconds the brakes were applied with maximum force, but the train was still traveling at over 100 mph when it left the tracks.

In its updated report Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said an examination of the cellphone of the engineer, Brandon Bostian, also indicated he didn’t access the train’s Wi-Fi system while he was operating the locomotive.

Bostian suffered a head injury in the May 12 crash, and his attorney has said he doesn’t remember anything after the train pulled out of Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station, the last stop before the derailment.

Bostian provided investigators with his passcode to the phone, allowing them access to the data, the NTSB said.

While investigators have ruled out the most obvious uses of the phone before the crash, they have not eliminated some others such as the use of an app, NTSB board member Bella Dinh-Zarr said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on train safety Wednesday. The agency says that to determine whether the phone was powered off, investigators in its laboratory have been examining its operating system, which contains more than 400,000 files of metadata.

Investigators are also obtaining a phone identical to the engineer’s and will be running additional tests to validate the data. Bostian’s phone was used to make calls and send text messages the day of the accident, but inconsistencies in phone records presented difficulties, NTSB Chairman Chris Hart told Congress last week. The voice and text messages were recorded in different time zones and may not have been calibrated to the times of other equipment on the train, such as a camera focused on the tracks and a recorder that registers how fast the train was moving and actions by the engineer, he said.

Accident investigators have said previously that they have not found any mechanical problems with the train. The track had been inspected not long before the crash.

On Tuesday, the House passed a transportation spending bill that includes $9 million for Amtrak to install inward-facing cameras in locomotive cabs. Five years ago, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration require railroads install the cameras so investigators would have a video and sound recording of what was going inside the cab in the event of an accident.

Regulators convened an industry-labor advisory committee to work on possible regulations last year. But the committee has been unable to reach a consensus, and the railroad administration has said it will pursue regulations without the committee’s endorsement. However, it could be years before regulations are proposed and then made final.

Rather than waiting for regulations, Amtrak will install the cameras on trains in the Northeast Corridor on its own, the railroad’s president and CEO, Joseph Boardman, said recently.

The NTSB recommendation on cameras was made as the board wrapped up an investigation into the Sept. 12, 2008 head-on collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, California. The Metrolink train ran through a red signal. Twenty-five people were killed and scores injured. The NTSB faulted the Metrolink train’s engineer for the collision, saying that he was distracted by text messages he was sending while on duty. However, that was a deduction because investigators didn’t have a complete record of the engineer’s actions that a camera would have provided.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Dinh-Zarr also urged the swift installation by railroads of positive train control, a technology that can prevent trains from derailing because of excessive speed, as well as collisions between trains. NTSB first recommended trains have the technology in 1970, and has since investigated 140 accidents that it could have prevented, she said.

Congress mandated in 2008 that Amtrak, commuter railroads and freight railroads install positive train control by the end of this year. Amtrak still has to do extensive testing of the system but will meet the deadline in the busy Northeast Corridor between Boston and Washington, officials have said.

Most railroads, however, will not make the deadline. Robert Lauby, the railroad administration’s associate administrator for safety, said 29 percent of commuter railroads will make the deadline and about half of the rest estimate they will be ready by 2018. But the nation’s largest freight railroads don’t expect to be ready until the end of 2020, he said.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Beaten and raped and her cellphone taken away, a woman who was kidnapped in Tennessee was able to get access to her attacker’s phone and send a text message to her sister, giving police an electronic trail to the Louisiana hotel where she was being held.

Multiple news media outlets report 34-year-old Lee Meadows of Clarksville, Tennessee, was arrested Saturday and charged with battery by strangulation, second-degree battery, false imprisonment and forcible rape. He is being held at the St. Tammany Parish Jail in Louisiana.

Slidell, Louisiana, police say when the attacker briefly left the room, the woman got his phone and sent a text to her sister indicating she was being held near New Orleans.

Police said Tennessee authorities were able to trace where the text was sent, leading officers to the hotel.

WAUPACA – A 21-year-old woman is behind bars after selling heroin and methamphetamine to undercover drug investigators.

Deputies say Tori Clark of Waupaca sold the drugs to investigators on three separate occasions since April of 2015.

Clark faces multiple charges including manufacture/delivery of both methamphetamine and heroin and bail jumping.

A small island north of Door County may soon be part of a national wildlife refuge.

GREEN BAY – The Ho-Chunk Nation is making a big splash with a donation to an area project.

The tribe says it will donate $100,000 to help renovate Colburn Pool in Green Bay.

Colburn Park pool plans (WLUK)

Colburn Pool is the Green Bay area’s only outdoor Olympic sized pool.

The renovations are expected to cost $4.5 million.

The city is pitching in $3.5 million.

The Friends of Colburn Pool are trying to raise the other million.

ST. MARTIN ISLAND, Mich. – A small island north of Door County may soon be part of a national wildlife refuge.

The Nature Conservancy recently bought most of St. Martin Island to protect it.

This illustration provided by The Nature Conservancy shows area of St. Martin Island the group owns.

The 1,300-acre island is located in Michigan waters about five miles north of Washington and Rock Island.

One of the former owners recently shuttled researchers to the island.

Martha Luber Pelrine eased the 42-foot “Saint M” out of the harbor at Little Sister Bay Tuesday morning. It’s 28 miles to St. Martin Island.

“I’m always enthusiastic to come out here,” said Luber Pelrine, who lives in Little Sister Bay.

Boat is the only practical way to get there.

“It’s just a magical place. You feel like you’re in the wilderness, yet you’re an hour away from Sister Bay,” said Luber Pelrine.

The skeleton of an old boat fades into the ground at St. Martin Island, June 9, 2015. (WLUK/Eric Peterson)

Luber Pelrine’s family owned much of St. Martin Island, and two years ago, sold the land to the private conservation group The Nature Conservancy. A second acquisition last year increased conservancy property to about 95% of the island.

Researchers Mike Grimm and Kari Hagenow will spend several days on the island.

“Find out what’s here, when it’s here, and how many of these species are here,” said Grimm, a conservation ecologist with The Nature Conservancy.

Researchers say St. Martin is a major stopping point for migrating birds.

“Most of the records that we get are really from just identifying the birds by their calls or their songs,” said Grimm.

“Warblers are really quite spectacular. By the way, that calling above us is a great crested flycatcher, that bird there,” he said as the sound carried over the island.

A 1940s logging cabin is a reminder of past human activity at St. Martin Island in Lake Michigan, June 9, 2015. (WLUK/Eric Peterson)

No one lives on the island, but human history is not hard to find. Rusty nails struggle to hold buildings together. Cabins at an old logging camp show signs of decades of neglect.

“The people would go to Washington Island to pick up their mail and to buy food,” said Luber Pelrine.

The island is remote, and the plan is to keep it that way. The goal for the Nature Conservancy is to transfer the island to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It will become another one of the islands in the Green Bay Refuge that the fish and wildlife service owns and manages.

And as Luber Pelrine casts off, she says St. Martin Island will be in good hands.

“We were just a family that was interested and loved St. Martin Island. But people that know what they’re doing now are taking care of it. So that’s where it should be,” she said.

The Nature Conservancy plans to transfer ownership of the island to the federal government this fall.

Photos of a bear that was seen wandering in Mike and Margie Reetz’s yard in Greenville, June 10, 2015.

GREENVILLE – Hide your picnic baskets. Or, in this case, bird feeders.

One Greenville couple had an up-close encounter with a bear on June 10, 2015.

Mike and Margie Reetz shot several minutes of home video as the bear was in their yard. The animal ate corn from the ground, cleaned out a couple of bird feeders and explored a pond on their property.

The couple say in the 41 years they’ve been in their home, they’ve never seen a bear in their yard before.

Click the play button above to watch extended video of the bear’s visit.

Click on the links to the left to see photos of the bear and to learn more about what to do if you encounter a bear.

(CNN) – The most popular gift for dad this Father’s Day, is a special day out. That’s according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation, which found consumers will spend about $2.6 billion on a gift like baseball tickets or a family meal.

Another popular option, letting him choose his own gift. 39 percent of Father’s Day gift buyers said they’ll purchase a gift card, for a total of $1.8 billion in spending.

Americans will spend another $1.7 billion on clothing for dad, and $1.6 billion on electronics.

Overall, Father’s Day spending should ring up an additional $12.7 billion for retailers, versus the 21.2 estimate they spent for Mother’s Day.

Why the gap in spending between mom and dad? Website Retail-Me-Not says it could be a matter of timing, with June weddings, graduations, and summer vacations putting a strain on spending around the day.

For those still looking for Father’s Day ideas, a survey by Retail-Me-Not found the gifts most requested by dads include gift cards, clothing, and gadgets. The items they’re least likely to treat themselves to are clothing, shoes, or home goods and tools.

And gifts aside, almost half of dads in the Retail-Me-Not survey said what they really want for Father’s Day, is to spend time with their family.

 

GREEN BAY –  It’s not just the players and coaches getting ready for the season.

The first of three planned job fairs for the new 1919 Kitchen and Tap restaurant begins Wednesday.

It goes from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Wednesday in the Lambeau Field atrium.

The Packers food service provider, Delaware North is hosting the event. It says it’s looking for everything from dishwashers to bartenders to servers.

Those who attend can fill out an application there, and will be able to interview for a spot during the fair.

The next one is scheduled for Friday, from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The third one is Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

If you can’t make any of the job fairs, you can apply online, here.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Coast Guard admiral picked by President Barack Obama to lead the Transportation Security Administration is as concerned about reports of rampant security gaps at airports as lawmakers, he said during a confirmation hearing Wednesday.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Neffenger told members of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee he will fully identify those gaps and close them if he is confirmed by the Senate.

Neffenger has been nominated to replace John Pistole, who left his post as TSA administrator in December.

TSA in recent weeks has come under scrutiny from lawmakers amid reports of serious security breaches.

Last week it was revealed that auditors from the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general were able to sneak mock explosives, weapons and other items through TSA security checkpoints in 67 out of 70 times tries. Another report released earlier this month disclosed that 73 airport workers with unspecified ties to terrorism were allowed to work in secure areas.

Neffenger said Wednesday that the inspector general reports were disturbing to him and they show a need to “refocus on the mission.”

“It doesn’t surprise me that there are people out there who have found ways to beat the system,” Neffenger told lawmakers. “But the question is how you are going to deal with that.”

When pressed by Republican Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska to grade the agency’s performance, Neffenger said only “they aren’t where they need to be.”

“The day you think you’ve got the security system right is the day that you are going to be defeated in that security system,” Neffenger said.

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says in an opinion column that there’s “no reason” changes he championed to public education in Wisconsin can’t be pushed nationwide.

Walker doesn’t say in the column published Wednesday in the Des Moines Register which specific parts of his education agenda enacted in Wisconsin he would want to see nationwide. Walker is positioning himself for an expected run for president.

In the column, Walker touts the curtailing of teacher union rights he signed into law in 2011. He says the changes replaced a “broken system in Wisconsin” by doing away with protections for seniority and tenure.

He says, “we need to push big, bold reforms” and “if we can do it in Wisconsin, there is no reason we can’t push positive education reforms across the country.”