Green Bay News

Green Bay – Baseball teams punched their tickets to the WIAA State Tournament at Fox Cities stadium next week with sectional wins. Click the video for highlights.

Kimberly, Notre Dame and Bay Port are all headed to the big dance.

For a list of all of the baseball brackets, click here.

Madison – St. Mary’s Springs took home the gold medal, winning the Division three golf tournament at University Ridge Golf course in Madison, by 16 strokes, while Notre Dame finished one shy of the title for the second year in a row. Click on the video for highlights.

Led by Colin Ahern and Brady Sarauer, who tied for fifth, St. Mary’s Springs ran away with the competition.

However, Notre Dame finished one shot behind Arrowhead for the second year in a row to take back to back silver medals.

Individual medalist honors went to Neenah’s Sam Galloway, who birdied the final hole to win the Division one title with a two day total of two under par.

Bay Port finished third in division one.

For all the scores from state golf, click here.

TOWN OF HARRISON – A video showing two men rescuing a deer on Lake Winnebago, is making the rounds on the internet.

The men TOLD fox 11 the young doe was struggling in 16 feet of water.

Now thousands of people have seen the video, thanks to a posting on Facebook.

Matt Van Thiel and Josh Krueger caught more than they bargained for on a fishing trip Saturday.

They found a deer in Lake Winnebago, about a half mile off shore.

“That’s one thing that still puzzles Josh and I, is how a deer would swim out that far,” said Van Thiel.

The two men tried to guide the doe to more shallow water, but it was rough going.

“That wasn’t working. The wind was picking up. You could tell the deer was struggling, breathing heavy,” Van Thiel explained.

“It was a stressful situation, but we knew we had to do something,’ said Krueger.

So while Krueger drove and made the video, Van Thiel bear hugged the animal, carrying it alongside the boat.

The deer was exhausted and did not struggle against Van Thiel.

“Fighting the current and the speed of the boat, holding on to a large deer, a larger deer, it was pretty stressful on the arms!” he exclaimed.

Eventually they got the doe to more shallow water and though it’s hard to see in the video, she made it out of the water, on to shore.

“I just wanted to make sure that we had it on video so that we could share the video, because I don’t know if people would’ve believed us if they hadn’t seen the video!” exclaimed Krueger.

Seeing is believing and now a lot of people are sharing in the story. Krueger’s video was recut by the sportsman’s blog OB Outdoors. It’s gone viral.

“It’s over ten thousand shares now,” said Krueger.

“I think it’s pretty cool, but something like this, you don’t do it for the fame or the recognition. You just do it because it’s the right thing to do,” Van Thiel told us.

Although the DNR recommends people leave animals alone in the wild. The two men said they would not change what they did.

“Me and Matt are both outdoorsmen and, basically, when it comes down to it, we respect nature and when something’s struggling…we just felt we have to do the right thing,” Krueger explained.

By the way, the two men say they caught more than a deer that day. They say they had a successful day fishing before saving the deer.

XENIA, Ohio (AP) — Authorities estimate up to 1,100 piglets may have died when a semitrailer carrying 2,200 piglets overturned on an Ohio highway.

Agencies and volunteers worked to corral the animals after the crash Monday night on U.S. Route 35 in Xenia Township, near Dayton. Crews picked up squealing pigs by their hind legs.

Some may have escaped into wooded areas. Deputy Chief Greg Beegle of the township’s fire department says authorities rounded up those they could find before ending the search. He says 1,100 were taken to Greene County Fairgrounds to await transportation. The truck was traveling to Indiana from South Carolina.

Beegle says pigs killed were crushed, suffocated or thrown from the truck.

Authorities say the uninjured semitrailer driver lost control, slamming into a guardrail. A female passenger had minor injuries.

GREEN BAY – Josh Lamkin doesn’t normally take the Leo Frigo bridge home from work. But, he did Monday.

“Once I got over to the middle point, we hit a thick patch of rain that came through, so I hit my windshield wipers on all the way. So I started to slow down, because I don’t like that bridge to begin with. So, I slowed down to about 60 miles per hour. Cruise wasn’t on,” said Lamkin.

That’s when he says he started hydroplaning and losing control.

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

“Right here is where I had the first contact,” he said. “It just kept hitting across the girder and it just kept hitting and hitting and hitting it.”

As he dangled over the side, Lamkin says his thoughts turned to his girlfriend Alissa Jakopovich, and their unborn baby girl, at home.

“As soon as I smacked on the concrete girder and I was just thinking about the baby and I was just afraid that I was going to die. I was pretty scared,” said Lamkin.

Lamkin says he unbuckled and crawled out to safety. His car was later towed, and he was able to drive it home from the lot.

“I was going to actually get new tires this week, which might actually change from new tires to a new car,” he said, with a chuckle.

Lamkin and his girlfriend are now trying to process everything that happened.

“Another foot and he would have just been overboard. So I’m just really thankful he wasn’t,” said Jakopovich.

Lamkin says from now on, he’ll be taking an alternate route.

“Are you ever going to drive that bridge again?” FOX 11’s Kelly Schlicht asked Lamkin.
“Not for a very long time,” he said.
Lamkin will not be ticketed for the crash.

GREEN BAY – An increase in activity at Green Bay’s Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary has the park planning a $3 million expansion.

When it was built in 1985, the wildlife sanctuary’s nature center building had no plans to host the classes it does today.

“We’ve just found our existing facility to be inadequate to meet the demands of all those different groups,” said Mike Reed, director of the wildlife sanctuary.

The groups range from 4-year-old kindergarten classes to retirement-aged programs. The offerings have increased in recent years, which have led to more sanctuary visitors.

“We’re a free park, so we don’t take attendance, but all our parking lots are full and people are parking along the roads,” said Reed.

The extra activity has the sanctuary’s fundraising group looking to generate the money to expand the nature center building.

“We’ve had so many donations and people in the community that has supported the sanctuary and have given us donations from the water fall to all those buildings, so we just hope it continues,” said Dave Van Lanen, the president of the Friends of the Wildlife Sanctuary.

The plan would add 15,000 square feet to the east end of the building.

“This addition would include some additional classroom space for our programming that we have waiting lists for and then also some more general space for our general public,” said Reed.

The earliest construction could begin is next spring. However, it won’t begin until the necessary money is collected.

Green Bay’s parks committee provided initial approval for the fundraising Tuesday evening. It still needs approval from the full city council.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Assembly has passed a bill that would end Wisconsin’s SAGE program.

The Student Achievement Guarantee Program provides aid to schools that maintain an 18-to-1 or 30-to-2 teacher-student ratio for poor students in kindergarten through third grade. Schools enter into five-year contracts under the program.

The bill would prohibit new SAGE contracts or renewals beyond one-year extensions for deals expiring at the end of this school year. The measure would create a program called Achievement Gap Reduction. That program would allow existing SAGE schools to earn aid by implementing tutoring, coaching for teachers or maintaining SAGE class ratios. Unlike SAGE, all participating grades wouldn’t have to meet the ratios.

The Assembly passed the bill 62-37 Tuesday. The Senate passed it in May. It goes next to Gov. Scott Walker.

Photographs show the route within Clinton Correctional Facility that two inmates used to escape.

NEW YORK (AP) — Veteran newspaperman Vincent Musetto, who wrote one of the industry’s most famous headlines, died Tuesday at age 74.

His family said he died three weeks after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the New York Post reported.

Musetto was a longtime news editor and film critic for the Post. He wrote the headline “Headless Body in Topless Bar,” which appeared on the newspaper’s front page on April 15, 1983, for a story about the killing of a bar owner who was shot and beheaded.

Musetto said in a 1987 interview with People magazine the killing and decapitation were known early in the reporting process but staffers had to confirm the topless dancing occurred at the bar.

“Someone said it might be a topless bar, but we weren’t sure, and then the idea of the headline came around, so we were really questioning to make sure it was a topless bar,” Musetto recalled in the interview. “We sent the reporter, this girl, and she so determined that it was a topless bar. I just wrote it, and everyone said, ‘Ha ha,’ but I didn’t think it would live in infamy.”

The Post’s editor-in-chief, Col Allan, said he will remember Musetto for his humor, warmth with colleagues and a “sharp, critical eye.”

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Assembly has passed a bill that would impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for violent felons who illegally possess a gun.

The Assembly passed the bill on a voice vote Tuesday. It goes next to the state Senate.

Under the bill, that felon would face a mandatory minimum of three years in prison. If a felon uses a gun to commit a violent felony, he or she would face a mandatory minimum of five years in prison plus the three years for possession.

Felons who commit less severe violent felonies with a gun would face a mandatory minimum of three years for possession plus a minimum of one-and-a-half years to three years depending on the crime.

The mandatory sentences would end in mid-2020.

GREEN BAY – The Redevelopment Authority of Green Bay approved a project that would bring high end housing and retail to the 300 block of North Broadway.

The Barracks at Fort Howard is developed by New Town Redevelopment, LLC, contractor DeLeers Construction, Inc. and Creative Business Services / CBS-Global.

The Barracks at Fort Howard will fill an empty site at 321-325 N. Broadway. Construction costs are estimated at $5.5 million. Euro style 1,2, and 3 bedroom condominiums will each display a luxurious interior design with both private and shared balconies. Underground secure parking for all residences will be provided.

The developers of the project expect the Barracks at Fort Howard to break ground in the Spring of 2016.

MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) – The white police officer whose video-recorded actions at a North Texas pool party resigned from the police force Tuesday.

Officer David Eric Casebolt resigned from the McKinney Police Department after almost 10 years on the force, said his attorney, Jane Bishkin of Dallas.

A viral video showed him pushing a bikini-clad black, teenage girl to the ground on Friday and brandishing his gun at other black teens after he and other officers responded to complaints about the pool party at a community-owned McKinney swimming pool.

McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley had placed the 41-year-old former Texas state trooper on administrative leave after the incident.

Bishkin declined to say where Casebolt is now and said the officer had received death threats. The attorney said she would release more information at a news conference Wednesday.

The incident has prompted criticism of the affluent suburb of McKinney north of Dallas, which is among the nation’s fastest growing cities, has highly regarded public schools and was ranked by one publication as America’s best place to live.

People who demonstrated this week at a McKinney school against the police response often used the city’s name in the same sentence as Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri – cities where use of force by police triggered widespread protests and violence.

The NAACP is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review the procedures of the McKinney police force, stopping short of asking for a formal investigation. A review of department policies is needed to ensure officers are responding appropriately to calls involving minorities, the local NAACP chapter said.

Casebolt had been accused of excessive force in a 2007 arrest as part of a federal lawsuit that named him and other officers. The officers arrested Albert Brown Jr., who authorities say was found with crack cocaine during a traffic stop. Brown, who is black, accused the officers of forcibly searching him after pulling down his pants and slamming his head against a car hood. A defense attorney denied Brown’s accusations. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.

McKinney also has been the target of lawsuits accusing it of racial segregation in public housing.

A lawsuit filed in 2008 accused the McKinney Housing Authority of restricting federally subsidized public housing for low-income families to older neighborhoods east of U.S. 75. The lawsuit said that in the Dallas area, 85 percent of those receiving so-called “Section 8″ housing vouchers are African Americans. The 2000 census found McKinney’s east side was where 68 percent of the city’s black population lived, while neighborhoods west of U.S. 75 were 86 percent white.

In 2007, 2,057 of the 2,485 housing units run by landlords willing to accept federal rent subsidy vouchers were on the east side. The lawsuit was settled in 2012 with a consent decree, which is an agreement to take specific actions without admitting guilt.

A message left with the housing authority seeking comment wasn’t returned Tuesday.

The scrutiny contrasts McKinney’s high ranking for its quality of life. A Time Inc. publication last year ranked the city the best place to live in America, with a median family income in excess of $96,000 and job growth projected at 13 percent. Crime is comparatively low and like other metropolitan suburbs in Texas, McKinney has seen unprecedented expansion. Its population has tripled in the last 15 years to approximately 155,000. About 75 percent of residents are white while nearly 11 percent are black.

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Associated Press writers Terry Wallace in Dallas, Jill Craig in McKinney and Juan A. Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.

GREEN BAY – Choosing almost guaranteed safety at a baseball game versus sitting as close to the action as possible is a delicate balance, but one that teams put solely on fans.

Questions about ballpark safety have come about after a woman was hit by a broken bat at Fenway Park on Friday. Tonya Carpenter, 44, is now in fair condition after she was hit in the head when a bat broke and sailed into the seats along the third-base line.

In the wake of the incident, Major League Baseball’s commissioner says fan safety at stadiums will be re-evaluated.

Safety is something teams – even those in summer bat leagues like the Green Bay Bullfrogs – are always aware of.

“Obviously, we want good baseball – we want to win – we feel we have the product on the field to go with it, but additionally, we want the fans when they’re coming here to have a good time, enjoy it, have fun and be safe,” said Liz Kern, the Bullfrogs general manager.

With a scheduled away game for the team, that gives staff a chance to clean up the soggy field at Joannes Stadium on Green Bay’s near east side. Seven games into the season and the summer wood bat league team has already had three sellouts.

“Been seeing a lot of success on that end,” said Kern.

All the while, the team looks to improve the fan experience.

Last year, the team replaced the old chain link fence that ran past both dugouts and replaced it with high visibility, major league-style netting.

“These are the vertical posts that used to run and what we did is we took it down to two feet, and then we replaced that with the netting,” Kern showed me Tuesday morning.

Kern says coming to a game is never completely safe, pointing to the fan party decks in the left and right field corners that are open to the field of play, without net protection.

“If you’re right there (near the field of play), you got to be alert, you got to be on your toes, and it is a baseball game, after all,” said Kern. “So things can happen from broken bats, to foul balls, or different things like that.”

One of the great things about watching a baseball game in person is being close to the field. Close to the players, to the action, to the game itself. But there is an implied sense of liability that fans need to understand when wanting to get close to the action.”

That liability, in many cases, is spelled out on the tickets, and announced throughout a game.

Compared to Joannes Stadium, the netting at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute stops before the dugouts.

As the MLB says it will re-evaluate fan safety at stadiums, any changes could make their way to the minor leagues, including the Timber Rattlers.

“If the MLB makes changes, no doubt changes would likely trickle down to the minor leagues,” said Timber Rattlers President Rob Zerjav in a statement to FOX 11.

He went on to say if fans have concerns “about not paying attention to the game, to sit elsewhere in the stadium.”

The Bullfrogs next home-game will be Friday. The Timber Rattlers won’t be home again until the 25th – after a 12-game road trip and the league’s all-star game.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – San Francisco supervisors have approved the inclusion of a health warning on ads for sugary sodas and some other drinks, saying such beverages contribute to obesity, diabetes and other health problems.

Observers believe San Francisco would be the first place in the country to require such a warning if it receives final approval.

The ordinance passed Tuesday would require the warnings on print advertising within city limits -billboards, walls, taxis and buses. It would not apply to ads appearing in newspapers, circulars, broadcast outlets or on the Internet.

The ordinance defines sugar-sweetened beverages as drinks with more than 25 calories from sweeteners per 12 ounces. Advertising for such drinks as Coca-Cola Zero would not require a warning, but ads for regular Coca-Cola would.

The ordinance also requires warnings for other sugary drinks such as sports and energy drinks, vitamin waters, iced teas and certain juices that exceed the 25 calorie limit.

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MADISON (AP) – The state Assembly has passed a bill that would make lying about serving in the military a crime.

The Republican authored bill would make falsely claiming military service or a military award a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months in jail and $10,000 in fines. If someone makes those claims intending to commit or aid another crime he or she would be guilty of a felony punishable by up to six years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

The Assembly passed the measure in April. The Senate added the Bronze Star to the list of awards a person can’t falsely claim in May. The Assembly passed the amended version of the bill on a voice vote Tuesday.

The bill now goes to Gov. Scott Walker.

OSHKOSH – One man was arrested after officers took 475 marijuana plants and more than 43 pounds of the drug in a recent drug bust.

64-year-old Gerald Walters was arrested and charged in the case.

Deputies say the bust happened at his home on Fahley Road in the Town of Vinland.

The Winnebago Co. Sheriff’s Office has called a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to release more details.

FOX 11 will be following up on this story and will have more details as they become available.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House has voted to make permanent a moratorium that prevents states from taxing access to the Internet.

Under current law, the moratorium ends Oct. 1.

The House passed the bill Tuesday by a voice vote that did not require a recorded vote.

Lawmakers say allowing states to tax Internet access would expose users to the same kind of taxes and fees that often show up on telephone bills.

The moratorium was first enacted in 1998. State and local governments that already had Internet taxes were allowed to keep them under the current moratorium.

But under the bill passed Tuesday, those jurisdictions would no longer be able to collect the taxes.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

MADISON (AP) – The state Assembly has approved a bill reworking election recount fees.

The Assembly passed the measure on a voice vote Tuesday. The Senate approved it last month. It goes next to Gov. Scott Walker.

Currently recounts are free if the margin is less than 10 votes with fewer than 1,000 votes cast or less than half-a-percent in larger elections.

Requesters pay $5 per ward if the margin is 10 votes in smaller elections or falls between half-a-percent and 2 percent in bigger contests. Requesters pay full costs if it’s greater than 2 percent.

Under the bill, recounts would be free if the margin is less than 10 votes with fewer than 4,000 votes or no more than 0.25 percent in larger elections. Otherwise requesters would pay full costs.

MADISON (AP) – The state Assembly has passed a Republican bill making it easier for former police officers who worked in other states to carry concealed weapons in Wisconsin.

Under current Wisconsin law, former officers who worked in other states but now reside in Wisconsin must travel back to the state where they worked to undergo annual firearm trainings with their former agency to qualify for a federal concealed carry permit valid in all 50 states.

Under the bill, those officers could undergo annual firearm training with the Wisconsin Department of Justice and could file their federal application through DOJ, saving them a trip back to the state where they worked each year.

The Assembly passed the bill 89-10 Tuesday. It now goes to the Senate.