Green Bay News

Photos of weather that rolled through the Northeast Wisconsin area June 8, 2015.

GREEN BAY – Traffic cameras showed a car with its rear wheels on the outer barrier of the Leo Frigo Bridge Monday afternoon.

The crash snarled afternoon traffic on the bridge which carries Interstate 43 over the Fox River, the state Department of Transportation said.

• Click here to see a current still photo of the bridge

The car was towed away within a few minutes.

FOX 11 will update this story with more information as it becomes available.

(SBG) – The Islamic State continues to pose a threat to the world, especially in the Middle East where it’s staying afloat financially by utilizing multiple strategies.

According to new research by the RAND Corporation, the number one source of revenue for ISIS is through extortion and taxation in Iraq (about $600 million in 2014).

It has also gotten about $500 million that has been stolen from state owned banks in Iraq. The third highest source of revenue comes from oil, specifically in taking over refineries and then selling it to local economies.

Last year it brought in about $100 million Simon Henderson, Director of the Gulf and Energy Policy program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said the control of those refineries by ISIS is not really having an impact on the world oil economy, but that could change in the future.

“The amount of money ISIS can get from oil is a reflection on how much territory it controls and how much of the local economy it controls,” Henderson said.

“At the moment it’s looking like it’s controlling more than it did last year so it looks like ISIS will be wealthier this year.”

Still there would need to be some major changes by ISIS for American drivers be impacted in what they pay at the pump for a gallon of gas.

“Where ISIS has the potential to impact the world oil market is, if it was for example, able to take over the whole of Iraq, including southern Iraq which is where most of Iraq’s oil is exported without much hindrance,” Henderson said, adding that any moves by ISIS toward Saudi Arabia, Kuwait or the United Arab Emirates could also change the game but would likely change U.S. military policy toward ISIS as well.

SUAMICO – A dark clump of bees weighed heavy on some young crabapple tree branches. Park ranger Jason Petrella noticed the swarm at the Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve early Monday morning.

“It does look like a dark object in a tree, and if you’re not sure what it is, you get too close,” Petrella said.

“All of a sudden you realize it’s bees, and you might want to start running. But they’re not actually too aggressive for the most part.”

Petrella says park workers warned people about the bees.

Nicole Schubring of De Pere and her two sons checked out the swarm from a distance.

“That was really neat. I didn’t see it at first, but just to see the huge nest that is there, makes you want to go closer, but I’m afraid to go closer,” said Schubring.

Park rangers say the bees live in a hive nearby and are part of educational program at the preserve.

“There’s an extra queen. So there’s another queen cell that happened in that hive, and she leaves and then some workers will go with her,” Petrella said.

Petrella says this is the third time the bees swarmed this spring.

Beekeepers Christine Allen and her mother, Gay Allen, were called in to break it up.

“About 10,000 bees, 20,000 maybe,” Christine Allen said.

“I came out here with a big Tupperware tote. I just shook them in there. I threw a box over the top, and that’s it. The last time, they started building a comb in there right away.”

Within minutes, it was all over.

A 10 out of 10. It was super easy,” said Gay Allen.

The beekeepers placed a small wooden box over the plastic container. The swarm is expected to move in to the new quarters.

“We’ll seal it up and put it in a proper box, and dump the bees back in there. Give them a real home,” Christine Allen said.

The owner of the bees was expected to take the hive away Monday night. Beekeepers say once the sun goes down, the swarm goes to sleep, and the bees are much easier to handle.

APPLETON – As the school year comes to a close, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley is making sure kids still have a nutritious meal to eat.

The clubs’ summer food service program began Monday in Appleton and Menasha offering free breakfast and lunch through Aug. 20.

Fox Valley Tech students are also helping with the preparation.

Along with the meals, there are a number of activities for kids to participate in.

The club’s leader, Greg Lemke-Rochon, says this is something the organization looks forward to each year, “Summer is a really very busy time for us at the Boys & Girls clubs. The opportunity to provide healthy, nutrition for kids throughout the course of the summer is really one of the things we feel best about, being able to do for our families and the kids that we serve.”

The U.S. Agriculture Department pays for the program for children who qualify for free or reduced-priced meals at school.

By summer’s end, organizers say as many as 75,000 meals may have been served.

MIAMI (AP) – A study appearing in the June issue of the journal Health Affairs has found that 20 of the 50 U.S. hospitals that charge the most for their services are located in Florida. All but one of them are for-profits.

Most states don’t limit what hospitals charge for their services, making it easier for hospitals to set excessively high rates. U.S. hospitals charged on average more than three times the Medicare-allowable costs.

The study comes amid a national push to increase transparency in hopes of curbing rising health costs.

The study encouraged lawmakers to require hospitals to publish cost data.

Some for-profit hospitals criticized the study, saying it did not account for the discounts and billions in charity care that they give low-income patients.

(CNN) – The price of stamps will be going down.

The Washington Post says a D.C. appeals court ruled the postal service can’t permanently sell stamps at 49 cents each.

Prior to January of 2014, stamps only cost 46 cents.

The increase was allowed by postal regulators after the postal service claimed it lost billions in the recession, however regulators said the postal service could only recoup about three-billion from the rate hike.

The cap will be reached this summer.

The court questioned how regulators came up with that figure, and said the postal service has to adjust to the current economic climate.

It’s unclear when the rates will go down and by how much.

NEW YORK (AP) — Souvenirs, everyone?

A $2 ticket on American Pharoah to win the Belmont Stakes may be worth a lot more money later than now. Or, people are hanging on to their own little piece of horse racing history.

Two days after American Pharoah became the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, more than 95 percent of those who spent two bucks on a win ticket have yet to cash them.

Of the 94,128 $2 win wagers placed on American Pharoah from Friday until Saturday’s Belmont, 90,237 (nearly 96 percent) remain live — uncashed — according to figures released Monday by AmTote International.

AmTote handles the wagering system for the New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont Park, Aqueduct and Saratoga.

For the 3,891 who cashed their $2 win tickets as of Monday, they received $3.80.

And for those still considering what to do, your deadline is March 31, 2016, or the money is returned to the state.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple’s iTunes helped change the way music-lovers bought their favorite songs, replacing plastic discs with digital downloads. Now the maker of iPods and iPhones wants to carve out a leading role in a revolution well under way, with a new, paid streaming-music service set to launch this summer.

With millions of listeners already tuning in to streaming outlets like Pandora and Spotify, analysts and music-industry sources say Apple has been gearing up to launch its own service, aimed at winning back some of those customers and nudging longtime iTunes users into a new mode of listening.

Apple is expected to announce the service at its annual conference for software developers, which kicks off Monday in San Francisco. In a keynote session, CEO Tim Cook and other executives are also expected to show off new features in Apple’s operating software for iPhones, iPads and Macintosh computers, as well as tools for building new apps for the Apple Watch. Analysts also expect enhancements to the mobile-payment service known as Apple Pay.

The world’s biggest tech company makes most of its money from selling handheld gadgets, like the popular iPhone, and other computer hardware. But Apple uses its annual World Wide Developers Conference to highlight the software, online services and apps that make those devices indispensable to consumers around the world.

Along with a new music service, industry experts had been expecting Apple to announce a new streaming-video package and upgrades for its Apple TV service. But that may be delayed, according to reports by the New York Times and the tech blog Re/code, which said Apple is still negotiating with broadcasters and isn’t ready to announce the video service.

That puts the spotlight on Apple’s music initiative. Analysts say the company needs to build a robust streaming business if it wants to maintain its central role in the popular-music ecosystem. Most recordings today are still sold through digital stores like iTunes, which opened in 2003. But those sales have declined, while streaming services are rapidly gaining subscribers and revenue.

“Streaming media is increasingly important to the computer-using experience, so it’s important for Apple to have a role there,” said Creative Strategies analyst Ben Bajarin.

About 41 million people globally now pay for streaming music from Spotify, Deezer and other outlets, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which says subscription revenue grew 39 percent last year to $1.6 billion. Overall download sales fell 8 percent to $3.6 billion.

Apple Inc. bought the Beats headphone maker and music streaming service for $3 billion last year, but publishers’ data confirmed by royalty tracking company Audiam shows Beats Music had just 303,000 U.S. subscribers as of December, compared to 4.7 million in the U.S. for market leader Spotify.

While Apple wouldn’t comment last week, a person familiar with its plans said Apple has an ambitious goal to sign up 100 million subscribers for a new streaming service that will cost $10 a month and compete with other on-demand services such as Spotify and Rhapsody. Beats users will be migrated over before eventually closing down, and buyers of songs and albums on iTunes will also be presented with the option to purchase a subscription instead.

Along with a lengthy three-month free trial period for the paid service, the company also plans to bolster its free offering, iTunes Radio, with a live online radio station featuring DJs like former BBC host Zane Lowe and artists Pharell, Drake, Muse and David Guetta.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations between the company and record labels were private.

“They are very late to the game on streaming,” said analyst Van Baker at the Gartner research firm. But he said Apple can still catch up by making it easy for iPhone owners to use the new service. That’s a huge pool of potential customers: Apple sold 61 million iPhones in the last quarter alone.

Aside from music, analysts expect Apple will tout improvements to other services like Apple Pay and Siri, the voice-activated digital assistant for iPhones and iPads. Apple has also hinted it will release programming tools for its new smartwatch.

Most apps available for the Apple Watch are extensions of apps that run on the iPhone. Independent app-builders like Jordan Edelson, CEO of Appetizer Mobile, are hoping Apple will release the code to build apps that interact directly with sensors and controls on the watch.

“That would let us build some really cool experiences,” added Edelson, who said it could make the watch more appealing to consumers who aren’t sure now if they need one.

Edelson also predicted Apple will introduce software that ties other products more closely together, such as apps that make the iPhone into a controller for television sets and other appliances.

That’s a smart strategy, said Forrester Research analyst Frank Gillett. “Once you start organizing your life around Apple products, you’re less likely to ditch your iPhone and go over to Android,” he said, referring to the competing technology from Apple’s rival, Google.

___

Nakashima reported from Los Angeles.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) – Radio hosts from the New York station that sponsored a major hip-hop concert where crowds clashed with police Sunday night condemned the unruly fans on Monday, some of whom threw bottles or tried to climb a fence to get in without tickets.

New Jersey State Police in riot gear blocked gates outside the Hot 97 Summer Jam at MetLife Stadium after officials said angry people tried to push their way inside, including some who did have tickets. An armored state police vehicle later began blasting a loud, piercing noise to try to disperse the crowd, and then police fired tear gas canisters.

Sixty-one people were arrested on charges including disorderly behavior, assault, trespassing and weapons possession, and 10 troopers suffered minor injuries, the New Jersey State Police said Monday.

“A small group of highly disruptive people ruined this concert for many others. They created a danger to ticket-holders, stadium employees and troopers on the scene. Our troopers took the appropriate steps to restore order to what was a brief and volatile situation,” Colonel Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said in a statement.

DJ Ebro Darden of the Hot 97 morning show said Monday that fans shouldn’t have tried to jump the fence to get inside the venue.

“We feel disappointed by the activity of a small group of people that really turned it into something it didn’t have to be, which was chaos,” Darden told WPIX-TV. “There were tens of thousands of people inside who had a great time. … We’re not going to allow a few people to jump fences, be aggressive with the state police and allow the doors to remain open.”

Police said Monday that the majority of the arrests occurred when people tried to climb fences and push past security. The troopers closed the gates to restore order and then briefly reopened them to let people with tickets in, but “they were closed again when non-ticket holders attempted to push their way in,” police said

They said some in the crowd then began throwing bottles and trash at police and security, and additional troopers were called in to assist. Police used noise generators, pepper spray and tear gas to try to get people to clear the area.

Janae Griffin, who drove from Baltimore for the concert but wasn’t able to get inside, said the parking lots outside were chaotic.

“People were throwing bottles across the crowd,” she said. “We got into a confrontation with a guy who was deliberately trying to vandalize a police car and was just making it worse of a situation than it needed to be.”

The concert is hosted annually by the radio station and was headlined Sunday by Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, Big Sean and Chris Brown.

Emmis New York, the company that owns Hot 97 WQHT-FM, said in a statement that refunds will be offered for ticket holders whose tickets were not scanned.

There have been past incidents between fans and police at shows at the Meadowlands complex, including bottles and CDs being thrown at police after people rushed the gates to try to get into a sold-out show in 1999. A year later, state police used pepper spray on concertgoers who used bolt cutters to try to cut through the fence to get inside.

State police said that 51 people were arrested at last year’s event and that more troopers were on hand Sunday.

___

Associated Press writer Josh Cornfield, in Trenton, and Nicki Mayo, in Washington, D.C., contributed to this story.

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — At least 200 people died in the explosion at a gas station last week in Ghana, the emergency services department announced as many people were still searching for missing relatives on Monday.

Flooding from torrential rains caused the fuel depot at a gas station to catch fire, killing those who had taken shelter there on Wednesday as well as many in the surrounding neighborhood. The disaster spotlighted shortcomings in the capital’s infrastructure.

Three days of mourning were declared starting Monday and in two days a memorial service will be held for the victims.

But for many residents searching through the hospitals and morgues of the city, they weren’t even sure if their missing relatives were dead or just being treated.

“I have been to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and found nothing that looked like my cousin. I have followed up to the 37 Military Hospital and Police Hospital only to be disappointed,” said Philip Dogbe.

Others hoped against all odds that even five days later, their missing loved ones would turn up in a hospital ward or just come wandering back home.

“I am only hoping that my brother is in one of the hospitals that l have yet to visit, being treated with burns. I am hoping he will come home,” said Richard Allotey.

One man waited outside a hospital, crying, as he related the last words he heard from his fiancée that he had been set to marry in October.

“I still remember her last words, ‘love you,'” said Kwadwo Nimo.

The crisis has intensified criticism of the government’s failure to improve the country’s infrastructure. Though the downpours this week have been especially bad, heavy rains in June are not unusual — yet drainage systems in Accra remain inadequate.

The city is also grappling with an energy crisis resulting in blackouts lasting as long as 48 hours, sparking large-scale demonstrations.

Schools, which were closed due to the flooding on Thursday, are set to reopen, said the education department, whose decision was contingent on the weather forecast.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The mother of detained Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian said Monday that Iran has charged her son for simply “reporting on a country that he loves,” as he addressed the judge overseeing his closed-door espionage trial.

Details of Rezaian’s second court hearing remained vague in Iranian media accounts, although the semi-official Tasnim news agency said the 39-year-old bureau chief defended himself in English. The agency said a translator later handed Judge Abolghassem Salavati a transcript of Rezaian’s remarks in Persian.

Rezaian faces charges including espionage and propaganda against the Islamic Republic, which the Post has said carry 10 to 20 years in prison if he is convicted. U.S. officials, the Post and rights groups have strongly criticized Rezaian’s trial, demanding he be freed.

Rezaian’s detention of over 300 days and his trial come as Iran negotiates with world powers over its contested nuclear program, leading many, including his mother, Mary, to suggest current events may play a role in his case.

“Someone believes that there is an advantage to holding him,” Mary Rezaian told The Associated Press outside her son’s hearing at Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. “Personally, I do not think so.”

Standing next to his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, Mary Rezaian said her son is “very tired, very distressed.” She also said she didn’t know how many more court hearings will be held or how the trial is going. Both she and Rezaian’s wife have not been allowed to attend the hearings, although Mary Rezaian has seen him twice briefly since she arrived in Iran a month ago.

“He is being accused of being a master spy when all he was doing was reporting on a country that he loves. So it is very hard for him. Very, very hard for him. And of course he misses his wife,” Mary Rezaian said. “So two years they have been married, one year he has been in prison. It is a very, very difficult thing.”

Salehi declined to discuss her husband’s trial, only saying: “I am not in a good state.”

Rezaian, his wife and two photojournalists were detained July 22, 2014, in Tehran. All were later released except Rezaian. At the hearing Monday, two other people detained with Rezaian were in court, according to Iran’s official IRNA news agency, without elaborating or identifying them.

Rezaian’s defense lawyer, Leila Ahsan, previously said that Salehi and one of the two unidentified photojournalists also would stand trial. Ahsan did not immediately return calls for comment Monday.

As in the May hearing, reporters gathered in front of the courthouse gate did not see Rezaian, his lawyer or the other two co-defendants. Authorities usually bring those charged in sensitive cases into the building through a gate closed to the public.

Rezaian is a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who was born and spent most of his life in the United States. Iran does not recognize other nationalities for its citizens.

Salehi, a reporter for The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, remains in Iran, barred from traveling abroad, the Post has said.

At Rezaian’s first hearing, the court alleged that Rezaian had written to U.S. President Barack Obama and also cited a trip he made to the U.S. Consulate in Dubai, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported at the time.

Martin Baron, the Post’s executive editor, has disputed the alleged correspondence, saying that Rezaian did not write to the president but merely filled out an online job application for the Obama administration after the 2008 election, a position for which he was never hired. Rezaian’s brother, Ali, said that Jason had visited the consulate in Dubai, but the only reason was to obtain a U.S. visa for his wife.

(CNN) – Get in on the sweetness while it lasts!

Starbucks has introduced six new Frappuccino flavors: red velvet, lemon bar, cotton candy, cupcake, cinnamon roll and caramel cocoa cluster.

All of them are blended with milk, ice and topped with whipped cream.

The new flavors are only available for a limited time and in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Starbucks Frappuccino.

APPLETON – Two sophomore girls plan to address the school board Monday night in an effort to change the dress code at Appleton West High School.

Cailey Lambrecht and Maria Chavez started a petition to loosen the dress code. They say it unfairly targets girls.

The district doesn’t allow such clothing items as hats, revealing shorts and skirts, tube tops, halter tops, backless tops or spaghetti straps that are less than one inch.

The principal at Appleton West says the policy is gender neutral and doesn’t single out girls or boys.

Monday’s meeting begins at 7:00 p.m.

BOSTON (AP) — Surveillance video released Monday of the fatal shooting of a Boston man suspected of plotting to kill police officers shows six plainclothes officers surrounding him before opening fire.

The blurry video shows Usaama Rahim, 26, walking through a CVS parking lot on his way to a bus stop in the city’s Roslindale neighborhood during the early morning hours of June 2.

Officers approach Rahim but back up as Rahim walks toward them in the parking lot. The officers draw their firearms, and Rahim, who is mostly obscured by a light pole during the altercation, falls to the ground.

It is not clear from the video what specifically led officers to draw their weapons or which officers discharged them. Police have said two officers — an FBI agent and a police officer — fired three shots. Officials released the original version of the video, which comes from a nearby Burger King restaurant, as well as a version that zooms in on the encounter.

Police Commissioner William Evans said Monday that the video “speaks for itself,” showing that Rahim, who is black and Muslim, was fatally shot after refusing to drop a military-style knife and that officers were backing away when they fired their guns.

“This guy had a malicious intent,” Evans said. “We averted a serious tragedy that day.”

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley said release of the video before his office’s investigation into the incident is complete comes as the public has demanded greater “transparency and accountability” when officers use lethal force. Media and technology, he said, have also made it easier for “rumor, speculation, and inaccurate information” to spread.

“For this reason, we’ve agreed to release certain video evidence earlier when it can help illuminate the facts, and when doing so won’t compromise the integrity of the investigation,” he said.

Authorities last week showed the video to black and Muslim community leaders and Rahim’s family and had promised to release the video publicly after Rahim’s burial, which was Friday.

Darnell Williams, president of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, said the video largely corroborated the police account of the shooting. But Abdullah Faaruuq, an imam at the Mosque for the Praising of Allah in Boston, suggested it was “inconclusive” because it’s not clear if Rahim had a knife in his hand.

Ibrahim Rahim, who leads a mosque in Oakland, California, suggested in the hours after the shooting that his brother had been shot in the back. But the family recanted those statements after viewing the video, saying they were based on erroneous third-hand information.

A lawyer for Rahim’s family did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Vincent Lisi, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office, said members of the FBI and Boston police’s Joint Terrorism Task Force attempted to question Rahim after they intercepted a message suggesting Rahim planned to carry out an attack on police officers.

Officials have said Rahim had also talked about beheading anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller before deciding to target police.

Authorities have said the terrorism task force had Rahim under 24-hour surveillance and had intercepted conversations between Rahim and his nephew, David Wright, who was arrested last week on a charge of conspiracy with intent to obstruct a federal investigation. It isn’t clear whether Wright has an attorney.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — The New England Patriots released linebacker Brandon Spikes on Monday as authorities investigated whether his Mercedes was involved in an accident after the car was found abandoned in a highway median near where three people were hurt in a vehicle that was rear-ended.

While it’s not clear who had been driving, the operator of Spikes’ 2011 Mercedes Maybach reported through the car’s OnStar navigation system that it hit a deer, Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio said in a statement. The car was found at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday with front-end damage in the median of Interstate 495 in Foxborough, near Patriots team headquarters.

“Whoever had been driving it was no longer at the scene,” Procopio said. “Investigation indicates the Mercedes is registered to Brandon Spikes. No deer was located.”

Around the same time, troopers got a report that a car in the same area as the abandoned car had been rear-ended by a vehicle the occupants did not see. Three people — a 52-year-old man, a 32-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy, all from Billerica — were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.

No connection has been established and no charges have been filed. Police say they have contacted Spikes and are investigating whether the incidents are related.

Phone and email messages left with Spikes’ agent weren’t immediately returned.

Spikes’ release is his second troubled parting from the Patriots.

He was placed on injured reserve on Jan. 6, 2014 in his fourth season with the team before its first playoff game after playing with an injured knee during the season. He questioned the decision to place him on IR and the Patriots didn’t re-sign him when he became a free agent. He spent last season with the Buffalo Bills after signing a one-year contract.

“It’s just great,” Spikes said upon joining Buffalo. “(To) be somewhere I’m wanted — that was the whole thing for me.”

On May 18 this year, he returned to the Patriots under a one-year deal to shore up a linebacking corps hit by injuries. Dont’a Hightower may not be ready for the season following shoulder surgery after New England’s win over Seattle in the Super Bowl, and Jerod Mayo played only the first six games before a right knee injury that required surgery ended his season.

“It just feels great to be home and I’m happy to be there,” Spikes said on May 29 during the Patriots organized team activities. “I’m here to work and make this ballclub. It’s that simple.”

He didn’t want to discuss his previous stint with the team that drafted him in the second round out of Florida in 2010.

“You can clearly see that me and the Hoodie (coach Bill Belichick) kissed and made up,” Spikes said. “I’m here. That’s in the past and I’m moving on. ”

A strong defender against the run, Spikes has played 66 NFL games with 384 tackles, two sacks, two interceptions, seven forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery.

NEW YORK (AP) — A tiny deer is generating a giant dose of cuteness in New York City.

The Wildlife Conservation Society sent out a baby announcement Monday. It’s a boy!

The southern pudu fawn — the world’s smallest deer species — was born May 12 at the Queens Zoo.

The fawn is still nursing but soon will be munching on leaves, grain, kale, carrots and hay.

The white spots on his soft brown fur will disappear as he grows up.

In his case, though, “growing up” won’t be much of a vertical process.

Southern pudus tend to be around a foot tall at the shoulder.

When they’re born, they’re only 6 inches high — and weigh less than a pound.

MUKWONAGO, Wis. (AP) – Authorities in Eau Claire County are searching for a man suspected of abducting a woman at a Walmart in southeastern Wisconsin.

Sheriff’s officials say the man is armed with a rifle or shotgun and fled on foot in the Town of Seymour following a high speed car chase earlier Monday.

Authorities say the suspect abducted a female employee of the Mukwonago (muk-WAHN’-eh-goh) Walmart. Her co-workers called police about 5 a.m. when she failed to return from a break. Store surveillance video showed the suspect’s car approach the woman and the driver forcing her inside. About seven hours later the vehicle was spotted at an Eau Claire convenience store, where the woman was able to escape.

Mukwonago police say the woman was able to tell officers who abducted her.

MADISON (AP) – The Legislature must act quickly to approve a $500 million financing deal to pay for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena or the agreement could fall apart, raising the prospect of more delays and the possible loss of the NBA team, community business and labor leaders said Monday.

Milwaukee area leaders came to the Capitol on Monday to make their pitch for the new Bucks arena at a news conference and in private meetings with lawmakers. The financing deal announced on Thursday by Gov. Scott Walker, Republican legislative leaders and Milwaukee officials must be approved by the Legislature and Milwaukee Common Council.

“We need the jobs, the tax revenue and economic vitality this project will create,” said Ralph Hollmon, president of the Milwaukee Urban League. “We should view it as an investment in our future.”

The plan has come under criticism from some conservatives because it relies on a $250 million contribution from taxpayers, which could grow to $400 million with interest. Current and former owners of the Bucks have committed another $250 million and will cover any cost overruns.

Lawmakers have been talking privately about whether there’s support to put the financing plan in the state budget or break it out separately. The $70 billion state budget is expected to pass later this month, and some backers of the Bucks deal worry that breaking it out into a separate bill could delay action for months or longer, putting the deal in jeopardy.

“Our overriding preference is to get this done,” said Steve Baas, lobbyist for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. “There are certainly land mines that go with pulling it from the budget that make it more difficult.”

The NBA could choose to buy the Bucks and relocate it if there isn’t significant progress toward building a new arena by 2017.

Walker, a likely presidential candidate, has argued for months that it will cost the state more in lost income-tax revenue if the NBA team leaves Milwaukee than it will to pay for a new downtown arena. Walker put the potential loss at $419 million over 20 years, while state taxpayers’ costs under the new arena deal are capped at $80 million.

Under the announced deal, the city would contribute $47 million, including building a new parking structure. The county would also issue $55 million in bonds and the Wisconsin Center District would issue $93 million in bonds.

Walker unveiled the deal last week using the slogan “It’s Cheaper to Keep Them.” The chambers of commerce, union and business leaders, real estate agents and others who held Monday’s news conference rallied around a different them: “Play it Forward.”

“At the end of the day this is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue,” Hollmon said. “This is an economic issue.”

All of those working on the arena deal, including Walker and politicians along with those at Monday’s news conference, said they were trying to educate the public about the deal to convince them of its merits.

“At the end of the day, we really need the community to get behind this important opportunity,” Hollmon said.

DE PERE – Leaders of the Green Bay area’s three Catholic education systems announced a new partnership Monday morning to grow Catholic schooling in the area.

“This is raising the bar for students,” said Rev. Dane Radecki, president of the pre-K-8th grade Green Bay Area Catholic Education (GRACE) at a press conference at the Dudley Birder Hall on the St. Norbert College campus. “(The three systems) have all the right ingredients and we want to aim high.”

Aim high at retaining and attracting students to the now early childhood through secondary education schools at GRACE, Nortre Dame Academy (NDA) and St. Norbert College.

The partnership lays out four initiatives, linking St. Norbert faculty and students with the GRACE schools for collaboration, provide at least half off tuition for children of faculty and staff at the three schools, provide a $5,000 grant for St. Norbert education majors who work for at least three years at GRACE or NDA schools, and collaborate on all levels of schooling, activities, sports, fundraising and alumni outreach.

“We have a shared interest in growing schools of Catholic education,” said St. Norbert College President Tom Kunkel.

FOX 11’s Bill Miston is working on this story and will have more on FOX 11 News at Five.