Green Bay News

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Mike Pelfrey pitched eight strong innings, his longest outing in three years, and the Minnesota Twins avoided a series sweep by beating the Milwaukee Brewers 2-0 on Sunday.

Eddie Rosario and Eduardo Escobar had RBIs for the Twins, who otherwise struggled with runners on base. Glen Perkins worked a scoreless ninth for his major league-leading 21st save in as many chances.

Pelfrey (5-2) allowed eight hits and struck out seven. He has yielded only three earned runs over his last four starts, spanning 28 innings. This was his longest performance since April 21, 2012 – his last outing before Tommy John surgery.

Minnesota, which entered fourth in the majors with a .298 batting average with runners in scoring position, finished 2 for 12 in those situations after going 1 for 6 on Saturday.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – Martin Truex Jr. slapped the top of his No. 78 Chevrolet, thrust his right fist toward the sky and bounded straight into his girlfriend’s arms.

They hugged, kissed and Truex lifted her into the air.

Truex has stood by Sherry Pollex’s side through her fight with ovarian cancer. Pollex was strong for Truex when his career was in flux following a scandal that cost him a shot at a championship and his ride.

Sunday at Pocono Raceway, they were set for an overdue celebration.

Truex led the most laps for the fourth straight race, only this time he was in front on the one that mattered most, breaking through for his first Sprint Cup victory since 2013.

“This is easily the biggest win of my career,” Truex said.

Truex won the race and NASCAR’s version of a popularity contest in victory lane. Rival drivers, owners, crew members popped by for high-fives and congratulatory messages. Dale Earnhardt Jr. hugged Pollex. Jimmie Johnson fist-bumped Truex.

“He’s had more to overcome personally and professionally than probably anybody sitting in that seat right now,” Johnson said.

Truex and Pollex, a couple since 2005, have endured their share of personal and professional heartache over the last 18 months. Pollex, was diagnosed with cancer last summer and she had various organs removed, including her ovaries, fallopian tubes and part of her stomach.

Furniture Row owner Barney Visser told Truex he could sit out the rest of the season following Pollex’s diagnosis and still keep his ride for 2015. Truex, though greatly appreciative, declined the offer. Truex found the track therapeutic and kept him focused on something other than her disease.

But he was always a steady support system for Pollex.

“She showed me what she was made of,” Truex said.

Pollex tweeted a selfie with Truex and the Pocono trophy from victory lane that said, “Chemo Monday victory lane Sunday.”

“It never gets any better than this,” Truex said. “It takes time to heal things, especially with what Sherry and I went through. This makes you forget all about it. Sherry’s here healthy and she’s as excited as I am.”

Truex took another hit when his grandmother, Roberta, died Wednesday in the family hometown of Mayetta, New Jersey.

“I think the racing Gods were hanging out with my grandma today,” Truex said.

Truex dominated off late restarts down the stretch to snap a 69-race winless streak.

Truex’s Furniture Row Racing team had brought the same car to the track each of the last three weeks, with smashing results. Truex didn’t win but he led the most laps at Kansas (95), Charlotte (131) and Dover (131). He added 97 more at Pocono.

Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Johnson, Joey Logano and Kurt Busch.

With a new car at Pocono, Truex raced to his third win in 347 career starts. Truex is the 10th driver to win a race this season and qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.

Truex made the Chase in 2007 and 2012 – and should have made it in 2013.

“As long as they don’t kick me out before then, I’ll be in it,” Truex said, laughing.

Truex’s career seemingly hadn’t recovered since he was booted from the 2013 Chase in the aftermath of the Richmond scandal. NASCAR determined that Michael Waltrip Racing manipulated the outcome of the race in a bid to get Truex into the Chase.

Truex slumped in 2014, his first year with Furniture Row after four seasons with MWR. He had just one top-five finish, led all of one lap the entire season and was a dismal 24th in the standings.

“It was just miserable,” Truex said.

With his girlfriend by his side, Truex has stormed his way toward the best start of his career in his second season. He has 13 top 10s in 14 races with four top-fives.

“Tomorrow we are still going back to normal life and we always try to remember that and be ourselves and remember why we are here,” Truex said. “And how thankful we are to be here and how lucky we are to be doing this.”

He’s feels at home – and suddenly loaded with success – at Furniture Row.

One reason for the turnaround: Furniture Row promoted Cole Pearn from lead race engineer to crew chief, replacing Todd Berrier.

“I was honestly pretty calm most of the way until we kind of came off Turn 3 and I started cheering and I started getting a little choked up at that point,” Pearn said.

FRR, a one-car operation based in Denver, far removed from NASCAR’s North Carolina hub, made the Chase in 2013 with Kurt Busch. Regan Smith had the only other win for Furniture Row in 2011.

Truex’s only Cup wins came in 2007 at Dover and 2013 at Sonoma.

Truex is second in the points standings and has done it without any help from teammates. Truex’s team shares a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing and he’s often considered a fourth RCR driver. RCR has alliances with single-car teams, with AJ Allmendinger and Casey Mears also under the organization’s umbrella.

Truex’s win ended a recent of run of Hendrick Motorsports domination at Pocono. Hendrick drivers had won the last five races at the track, highlighted by Earnhardt’s sweep last season.

No one seemed to mind Sunday.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

PARIS (AP) – Stan Wawrinka won the French Open by beating No. 1-seeded Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in the final Sunday, thwarting Djokovic’s bid to complete a career Grand Slam.

The eighth-seeded Wawrinka, so long in the shadow of his Swiss Davis Cup teammate and pal, Roger Federer, collected his second major title after last year’s Australian Open.

In doing so, Wawrinka put a stop to Djokovic’s 28-match winning streak and left the 28-year-old Serb ruing another close call at Roland Garros. This was the third time in the last four years that Djokovic lost in the final at the clay-court tournament, the only major title he has never won.

This one ended, fittingly, with a down-the-line backhand winner from the 30-year-old Wawrinka. That’s his best stroke and considered among the best in the game. He tossed his racket overhead, then met Djokovic at the net for a hug.

Wawrinka, who earned 1.8 million euros (about $2 million), was making his 11th French Open appearance, equaling Federer and Andre Agassi for most attempts before winning it.

This was also Djokovic’s 11th French Open, and he has so far been unable to clutch the trophy he so dearly desires. He has won eight Grand Slam titles, with five at the Australian Open, two at Wimbledon and one at the U.S. Open.

He’s made quite clear how much it would mean to him to become the eighth man in tennis history with a full complement of at least one title from each major tournament. Djokovic has now lost in the semifinals or final seven times, including the last five years.

In 2012 and 2014, losses in the final came against nine-time champion Rafael Nadal. And while Djokovic finally managed to clear the considerable hurdle that Nadal presents by defeating him in the quarterfinals, this time it was Wawrinka who stood in the way.

And he was too good, using the same brilliant one-handed backhand and booming serves that eliminated Federer in the quarterfinals.

After Djokovic appeared to be climbing back into the match by racing to a 3-0 lead in the fourth set, Wawrinka reeled off six of the last seven games. He broke to within 3-2 when Djokovic netted a forehand on a 31-stroke exchange, one of many lengthy points in a terrifically played match.

Wawrinka got another break, the final one he’d need, for a 5-4 edge, with – yes, of course – a down-the-line backhand winner, then served out the victory.

He had lost 17 of his past 20 matches against Djokovic but was better on this sunlit afternoon.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

MENASHA – Some scary moments for a 12-year-old boy at Hart Park in Menasha Sunday afternoon.

Police say around 2 p.m. he fell while skateboarding near the sidewalk/terrace area and a man grabbed him.

The man tried to drag the boy into his vehicle. But the boy was able to hit, kick, and claw at the man and get away.

The suspect is described as light skinned with numerous tattoos on his arms and neck. He may have scratches on his arms.

The man was wearing a curved brimmed baseball hat with a Blue Jay logo. The hat was light blue with a dark blue logo.

A passenger in the vehicle is described as a white man with blonde, spiked hair and a nose ring.

The vehicle is described as a silver SUV, similar to a Dodge Durango, with Illinois plates. A partial plate of “X9″ was obtained. There were scratch marks on the rear quarter panel on the passenger side.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Menasha Police Department at (920) 967-3500. Police say if you see the suspect vehicle or the man, call 911 immediately to report.

WEYAUWEGA – Nearly one week since a century-old trolley car was uncovered behind the walls of an old home in Weyauwega, the property owner says she wants to see the car preserved.

“You’re not going to get it out of the yard the next day,” said Sharon Krapil of her and her husband’s original plans to have the lot behind their home cleared by Monday of the 1905/1906 Chicago Surface Lines interurban trolley car No. 1137.

Krapil has resigned herself to knowing the construction of her new back yard will have to wait, as the piece of history will need a bit more time to find a more permanent home.

“I still want to see it go to the city, or to a museum. I don’t want it to go to an individual to be put in a back yard. Who’s going to learn anything from it, or value it? There’s too much history here.”

A city committee is expected to have a preliminary discussion about the trolley find Monday evening.

She says the amount of interest has been overwhelming. Not just from people here in the Weyauwega community, but from those across the state, as well as out of state.

Like Frank Sirinek, who made the 400-plus mile journey from his home in northern Illinois on Saturday.

“The car, itself, was in better physical condition than some of the equipment we’ve received through the years that were outside most of their lives.”

Sirinek, 80, has been with the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill. for more than 50 years – and part of the restoration process for a fully restored sister car to 1137, No. 1374.

Sirinek says the museum has no need for the car and using it for parts is unnecessary.

“We’re encouraging the folks on the property to try to save it and preserve it, and the first thing they should do – I suggested – is call a boat company,” to shrink wrap the wooden trolley car, to preserve it from the rain and elements, until it can be removed and restored.

A cost that varies, Sirinek says, depending on the condition of the trolley and how much time is needed to restore it.

Sirinek is urging it stays in Weyauwega, as it’s been a part of a hidden history for at least 60 years. But an existence electric rail enthusiast die-hards, like him, knew about for some time.

“We were in Weyauwega 25 years ago and saw the house and hoped to see a glimpse of the streetcar,” he said. “But there was no one in it, there was a lock on the door, and no one was home in the house.”

The house, now gone, behind Krapil’s own home, has bit her with a bit of the train-bug herself.

“Would you call yourself a trolley aficionado now?” I asked her.

“Not quite!” she said, “But I’ve learned so much history about this car.”

A history – and future – that still hangs in the balance.

OSHKOSH – At the First Congregational Church in Oshkosh, two groups joined forces Sunday.

“It started out as a big potluck. At first there were like eight people and then the next year there were 50 and now we have, sometimes, up to 300,” said Mike Flanagan, the Oshkosh Race Unity Project organizer.

• Click here for more information on the Oshkosh Race Unity Project

Flanagan started the Oshkosh Race Unity Project 22 years ago. This year the unity project welcomed a new group called Freedom Summer Comes Home.

Both organizations share the same goals: Respecting, understanding and appreciating all races and cultures.

“I think it breaks down those barriers. We all, kind of, live in our separate groups and segregated groups and so we want to try to bring people together,” said Lee Sosnoski, Freedom Summer Comes Home organizer.

• Click here for more information on Freedom Summer Comes Home

The event helps to break the ice through music and dance. Organizers also provided information to help people learn about tolerance and acceptance of other races.

“I think developing those lines of communication and understanding and appreciation, even love for each other. We’re meant to be different and appreciate that,” Sosnoski said.

When it comes to diversity in Oshkosh, here are the facts:

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau an estimated 66,083 people lived in Oshkosh in 2010.

Of that population almost 89 percent were white, about 3 percent were black, about 3 percent were Asian, 2.7 percent were Hispanic, less than 1 percent were Native American and Alaska Native and 1.7 percent were two or more races.

Originally from the Ivory Coast, Mamadou Coulibaly moved to Illinois 24 years ago to go to college.

“Culturally, I felt it was very different that where I was in southern Illinois,” said Mamadou Coulibaly.

Now a professor at UW-Oshkosh, Coulibaly loves living in the Fox Valley.

“Racially, I was definitely the minority, but I felt welcomed,” Coulibaly said.

While the people at the event may not look the same, they were willing to embrace their differences and learn from each other.

PORT WASHINGTON – You can own a piece of history! The Port Washington Breakwater Lighthouse is up for grabs. In an effort to save tax dollars and preserve the past, the U.S. General Services Administration announced it is looking or a steward.

The Port Washington breakwater light is located at the entrance to the Port Washington Harbor. It is important to the community and mariners.

“It`s really a symbol of what Port Washington is about. It depicts the maritime history of what Port Washington has been. It also has influence on what the commercial part was, because without that lighthouse, we would not have had the power plant or harbor built,” Wayne Chrusciel with the Port Washington Historical Society said.

Built back in 1935, the art deco tower is situated on a 990-foot-long breakwater. As part of the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act Program. The agency is offering it at no cost to eligible entities such as federal, state and local agencies, non-profit corporations, educational agencies or community development organizations.

“The U.S. Coast Guard is trying to get away with owning the lighthouses and trying to give them back to the community — have them repair and preserve the history of the lighthouses,” Kevin Chapman with the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Currently, the Coast Guard does some maintenance on the breakwater light, but it needs to be repaired and preserved.

“Every six months we make sure the light is working properly and the sound signal so vessels that are underway In Lake Michigan can see the lighthouse, hear the lighthouse and get back to port safely. The windows are broken and there’s a couple holes in the observation deck,” Chapman said.

It is a beacon of light to boaters and community members alike. The new stewards may have to do a little sprucing up, but it’s just minor labor compared to the large historical and sentimental value.

“We`d like it to keep as part of the community so whatever work can be done we encourage and support,” Chapman said.

Any organization interested in acquiring the Port Washington Breakwater Lighthouse has 60 days to submit a letter expressing interest in it, and complete an application.

MUSKEGO, Wis. (AP) – Police are holding the driver of a sport utility vehicle after he struck and killed two bicyclists in Muskego this weekend.

Authorities identify the victims as 45-year-old Paul Brown of Franklin and 54-year-old Anthony Oliver of Oak Creek.

WISN-TV reports the two were riding bicycles on State Highway 36 when they were struck just after 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Police say Brown died at the scene and Oliver died at a hospital.

Police say the 20-year-old South Milwaukee man who was driving the SUV was arrested on suspicion of homicide by negligent operation of a vehicle.

RACINE, Wis. (AP) – An Andean bear living at the Racine Zoo has been diagnosed with cancer.

The Racine Zoological Society announced that Hallie has been diagnosed with oral cavity cancer.

During a routine dental exam for Hallie last month, the zoo’s veterinary team noticed something not right with the tissue surrounding a tooth and an area surrounding the jawbone. Results from tissue samples sent to a lab indicated cancer.

The Journal Times of Racine reports surgery to remove the cancer is not considered possible because it would require surgeons to remove Hallie’s entire lower jaw, making reconstruction impossible.

Zoo staff decided against surgery and say they will ensure Hallie has a good life for a long as possible and as long as she is not in pain.

DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) – The brother of a slain sheriff’s deputy had forgotten the names of those involved in the killing more than a decade ago. Then came a daring prison break: Two convicted murderers hid dummies in their beds and used power tools to cut their way to freedom.

The cunning escape from an upstate New York prison on Saturday had hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement officers searching for one of the deputy’s killers and another man imprisoned for dismembering his boss.

Richard Matt and David Sweat staged what Gov. Andrew Cuomo called “a really elaborate, sophisticated operation” that ended at a manhole cover blocks away from the prison.

The men had filled their beds inside the Clinton Correctional Facility with clothes to appear as though they were sleeping, cut into steel steam pipes and shimmied out of the prison. On one pipe cut in the escape, investigators found a note with a crude Asian caricature along with the words, “Have a nice day.”

Sweat, 34, is serving a sentence of life without parole after he was convicted of first-degree murder for killing a sheriff’s deputy in Broome County, New York, on July 4, 2002. Matt, 48, is serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the kidnapping, dismemberment and killing of his former boss in 1997.

Steven Tarsia, brother of Deputy Kevin Tarsia, said finding out his brother’s killer had escaped “turns your world upside-down all over again.”

He said just the other day, he had been trying to remember the names of the men responsible for his brother’s death, and “I couldn’t remember their names.

“All of a sudden, I remember them again,” he said.

Tarsia told The Associated Press on Sunday he couldn’t imagine how the men could have gotten power tools and escaped without help, but “I don’t know why anybody would help them.”

Cuomo said it was impossible to believe nobody heard the noise of the tools.

“They were heard, they had to be heard,” Cuomo told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Sunday.

Roadblocks were set up in the area around the village of Dannemora, which is about 20 miles from the Canadian border, and bloodhounds and helicopters were being used to track down the men, officials said.

Beth Nichols, an employee of the Dunkin’ Donuts across the street from the prison and a few hundred yards from the manhole where authorities said the men emerged, said the situation was “nerve-wracking.”

She said one employee had a panic attack Saturday after being told about the prisoner breakout. “She got really scared, and she cried,” Nichols said. The employee lives a walk away on the same road, but authorities would not immediately allow her to enter her home; her mother picked her up.

Dannemora occupies just over 1 square mile within the northern reaches of the Adirondack Forest Preserve and is surrounded by forest and farmland. The stark white perimeter wall of the prison, topped with guard towers, borders a main street in the village’s business district.

Cuomo on Saturday called described the two men as extremely dangerous. He asked the public to notify the police should they encounter the men.

“It’s very important that we locate these individuals,” he said. “They are dangerous and we want to make sure they don’t inflict any more pain and any more harm on New Yorkers.”

The two men’s adjoining cells were empty during a morning check, said Anthony Annucci, the acting state corrections commissioner.

“A search revealed that there was a hole cut out of the back of the cell through which these inmates escaped,” Annucci said. “They went onto a catwalk which is about six stories high. We estimate they climbed down and had power tools and were able to get out to this facility through tunnels, cutting away at several spots.”

Investigators were probing how the men acquired the tools – and if any were missing from contractors at the prison.

Officials said it was the first escape from the maximum-security portion of the prison, which was built in 1865.

Canadian broadcaster CTV News reported that officials are concerned the men may attempt to enter Canada through Ontario or Quebec, and safety alerts have been broadcast to police officers in the Greater Toronto Area.

Sweat is white, 5 feet 11 inches, with brown hair and green eyes and weighs 165 pounds, police said. He has tattoos on his left bicep and his right fingers.

Matt is white, 6 feet tall, with black hair and hazel eyes, according to police. He weighs 210 pounds and has tattoos including “Mexico Forever” on his back, a heart on his chest and left shoulder and a Marine Corps insignia on his right shoulder.

Sweat and another man fired 15 rounds into Deputy Tarsia in 2002 shortly after using a pickup truck to break into a Pennsylvania woman’s house, stealing rifles and handguns, authorities have said.

And nearly a decade after the 1997 kidnapping, murder and dismemberment of his former boss, William Rickerson, in upstate New York, Matt was returned to the U.S. from Mexico where he had fled to and, later, was arrested for fatally stabbing another American outside a bar in a robbery attempt. He was convicted in 2008 of Rickerson’s death.

A family member of Rickerson reached by phone declined comment to The Associated Press.

3:15 p.m.

New York state is offering a $100,000 reward for information that leads to the capture of two convicted murderers who broke out a maximum-security prison.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says Sunday the unusual step is “appropriate” for the situation.

In a conference call with reporters, Cuomo detailed the lengths Richard Matt and David Sweat went to in their escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border.

He says the men cut through a steel plate, broke through a brick wall, had to shimmy through a steam pipe and cut through a steel lock and chain to open up a manhole cover.

Cuomo says it would have taken days to do what they did.

Authorities say the men could be anywhere in the state, or left it altogether.

___

1:45 p.m.

An employee at a Dunkin’ Donuts across the street from an upstate New York prison where two convicted murders made a daring escape says the situation has been “nerve-wracking.”

Beth Nichols says one employee even had a panic attack after being told about Saturday’s prisoner breakout. The employee lives walking distance away on the same road, but authorities would not immediately allow her to enter her home. Her mother picked her up instead.

Convicted murderers Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility. Authorities say they used power tools to cut into steam pipes and shimmy to freedom.

Nichols says two correction officers came to the shop carrying photo IDs of the escaped prisoners and said they were dangerous and shouldn’t be approached if seen.

___

10:15 a.m. EDT

The brother of a man killed by one of two murderers who escaped from a maximum-security prison says the prison break has turned his world “upside-down all over again.”

Steven Tarsia tells The Associated Press he couldn’t believe it when he found out David Sweat and fellow inmate Richard Matt broke out of an upstate New York prison.

Sweat was convicted of first-degree murder for killing Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Tarsia in 2002.

The inmates used power tools to cut their way to freedom and emerge from a manhole cover blocks from the prison. They were reported missing from their beds at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

Authorities are investigating how they could have gotten the tools.

Steven Tarsia says he thinks they must have had help, but can’t imagine why anyone would have helped them.

___

8:15 a.m. EDT

New York’s governor says two convicted murderers “had to be heard” as they cut through steel and escaped from a maximum-security prison.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Richard Matt and David Sweat broke out of the Clinton Correctional Facility in “a really elaborate, sophisticated operation” that involved shimmying through a steam pipe.

The men were reported missing from their beds at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

Roadblocks were set up in the area of the prison, about 20 miles from the Canadian border. Bloodhounds and helicopters were being used to track down the men.

Cuomo said officials were reaching out to the families of the men’s victims.

___

1:45 a.m. EDT

Hundreds of law enforcement officers have spent the night searching for two convicted murderers who escaped a maximum-security New York state prison.

Officials say Sunday officers from local, state and federal agencies are seeking 48-year-old Richard Matt and 34-year-old David Sweat.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the duo used power tools to cut through steel pipes at the Clinton Correctional Facility near the Canadian border.

They were discovered missing at about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.

Cuomo says their escape was the result of “an elaborate plot.”

Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for killing a sheriff’s deputy in 2002. Matt was sentenced to 25-years-to-life for the kidnapping, dismemberment and murder of his former boss in 1997.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Searchers have resumed looking for a missing boater on Lake Mendota in Madison.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports a man reportedly jumped into the lake from a sailboat near the Union Terrace on Saturday and did not surface.

The Dane County Sheriff’s Office, Madison Fire Department and UW Life Saving responded to a report of a possible drowning just before 6 p.m.

Rescue boats and divers searched for the man but were unable to find him. The search resumed Sunday morning.

Authorities have not released the man’s name.

TOWN OF BEAVER – The Marinette County Sheriff’s Department says one person was killed in a rollover accident around 11:50 Saturday night.

Deputies responded to 41st near W4th Street for a report of a rollover accident and found a northbound vehicle with three teens failed to negotiate a curve, entered a ditch and rolled over.

A 17-year-old male was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two of the occupants, a 17 and 18-years-old, were ejected from the vehicle and were flown out by Flight for Life to St. Vincent Hospital.

No word on their injuries.

Speed is believed to be a contributing factor in this accident and remains under investigation.

This is Marinette County’s second fatal traffic fatality of the year.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The group of state Department of Natural Resources scientists that Republican lawmakers targeted for cuts has been working on a number of politically charged issues in recent years, including climate change, pollution and mining.

Republicans say the cuts are designed to refocus the DNR on more practical research projects that help hunters and anglers. But Democrats say the GOP wants to slap the researchers down as political payback.

“It has to be political,” Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, a member of the Legislature’s budget committee, said of the cuts. “The public hasn’t called for this. Most people in the state want decisions about the environment to be based on science, not politics.”

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, included provisions in his state budget to slash 17.5 researcher positions from the DNR’s Science Services Bureau, which would leave it with 12.85 research positions. The budget says only that the positions no longer serve the DNR’s core mission. Asked to expand on Walker’s rationale, the governor’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said in an email that Walker is focused on streamlining state government and making it more efficient.

The Bureau of Science Services’ biennial research plan released in 2013 called for extensive study on how climate change has affected the Great Lakes, Wisconsin’s river ecosystems, and the state’s forests, wildlife and fish. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, of the 96,200 hours the bureau worked in fiscal year 2013-14, 2,800 hours were spent on climate change-related research.

The plan also called for research into what it termed “emerging” pollutants such as prescription drugs, hormones and industrial additives and agents. It also called for developing ways to predict and mitigate how sand, iron and sulfide mining affects air and water, plants and animals, and creating new monitoring strategies for newly permitted mines.

The bureau’s fish and wildlife-forestry sections undertook 109 projects in the 2012-13 and 2013-14 fiscal years, according to the Fiscal Bureau. Thirteen involved pollution research. One involved providing research to the DNR’s water division on recommendations for monitoring parameters in iron mining applications.

All of those issues have been politically sensitive for Republicans, who by-and-large reject the notion that human activity is causing climate change, despite a preponderance of scientific evidence that it is, and oppose over-regulating industrial pollution. Two years ago, they completely revamped Wisconsin’s mining laws to clear the regulatory path for a giant iron mine just south of Lake Superior.

Republicans on the Legislature’s finance committee approved the position cuts earlier this month. Committee member Tom Tiffany, a Republican state senator from Hazelhurst who authored the mining regulation overhaul, led the charge, writing a motion to keep the cuts in the budget.

Committee Democrats accused Republicans of retaliating against the scientists for their work on climate change and mining. They demanded the GOP turn its ire toward DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, a Walker appointee who approved the bureau’s research plan. Republicans didn’t offer a direct defense, although Tiffany assured the Democrats that other DNR divisions could absorb the work and dismissed their complaints as hyperbole.

Tiffany denied in a phone interview that the cuts are retaliatory, but he said he doesn’t think the office has helped sportsmen. The bureau’s deer population estimates, for example, led to too many antlerless permits in northern Wisconsin over the years and the region’s herd still hasn’t recovered, he said.

Integrating the scientists’ tasks within the DNR’s divisions will improve focus on practical projects rather than “theoretical” issues such as climate change, Tiffany said.

“Let’s make sure we’re doing applied science that benefits people here in Wisconsin,” Tiffany said. “Let’s offer more opportunities for sportsmen rather than going off on something that’s theoretical.”

More than 90 percent of peer-reviewed scientific literature supports the notion that the world is warming due to human activity, especially burning fossil fuels.

The science bureau’s director, Jack Sullivan, declined to comment. DNR spokesman Bill Cosh said the agency hasn’t yet identified which research positions would be eliminated. But he stressed other managers and scientists will carry on their work. He also pointed out that Stepp’s administration is the first to adopt a policy on scientific integrity.

“What these cuts require us to do is to better prioritize the research,” Cosh said in an email. “Regardless of where our scientists are located or where they are, this policy is in place to assure we have sound science that we will use to make decisions.”

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee police say a man and a woman were shot as they sat in a parked car.

The shooting happened just before 9 p.m. Saturday.

Police say the 21-year-old woman was shot several times and is in critical condition. The 30-year-old man’s injuries are not life-threatening.

The shooting is under investigation.

GREEN BAY – This week’s Cooking With You guest is Nichole Garcia!

Nichole joined FOX 11’s Emily Deem on Good Day Wisconsin to create some meals that are perfect for summer.
Sweet & Spicy summer Salad

1 Red bell pepper diced into small pieces
1/2 a container of strawberries diced into small pieces
1 pkg or bunch of spinach
1 pkg of boneless skinless chicken breast sliced into bite sized pieces
1 bottle Cajun spice
1 bottle chili powder spice
1 bottle of raspberry vinaigrette
1 pkg of candied pecans

Coat the chicken on both sides with the Cajun seasoning and sprinkle lightly chili powder to desired heat. Brown/Blacken chicken in saucepan or on grill.

In a bed of spinach place 4-5 strips of chicken, sprinkle red pepper, strawberries and pecans on top, drizzle raspberry vinaigrette.

Everything Burgers

1 lb ground chicken, turkey or beef
1/2 pkg spinach super finely chopped
1/4 of an onion super finely chopped
1/2 cup oats
1/2 a bag of finely shredded cheese (your choice)
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 egg

In large bowl mix all ingredients together well. Make patties out of mixture. Pan fry or grill 3-5 minutes on each side.
Serve on a bun with French fries or chips!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon grated ginger
2 to 3 pound flank steak

Directions:

Whisk together first 5 ingredients. Pour over flank steak in glass dish or re-sealable bag. Cover dish or seal bag and marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Remove from marinade and grill until desired doneness, about 4 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove to a plate or cutting board and let rest 5 minutes. Slice into thin strips against the grain on a diagonal.

SHERWOOD- No charge for admission to state parks, forests, recreation areas and trails. Special activities at some locations.

It’s an excellent opportunity to reconnect with your nearest State Park or to sample a new one. Camping fees are not waived.

Good Day Wisconsin spent the morning at High Cliff State Park in Sherwood.

Click on the videos to learn more.

ASHWAUBENON – It will be a soggy Sunday morning.

Rain and storms are likely to hit the area this morning and last until this afternoon.

It will be cloudy and breezy today with a high of 77.

Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with a chance for afternoon storms.

The high will be 79 degrees.

The warming trend continues with 80 degree temps by Tuesday.

DANNEMORA, N.Y. (AP) – Federal and New York State authorities are on the hunt near the Canadian border for two escaped prisoners from the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, a maximum security facility.

Another part of the investigation is focused on how the pair got their hands on the power tools they used to cut through steam pipes and escape through a manhole. Authorities say both inmates are convicted murderers and dangerous.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says 48-year-old Richard Matt and 34-year-old David Sweat are “dangerous individuals” who escaped through an elaborate plot.

Authorities say Matt and Sweat were discovered missing from the prison Saturday morning.

Sweat is serving a sentence of life without parole in the slaying of a Broome County sheriff’s deputy in 2002. Matt is serving 25 years to life for the beating death of a man in 1997.