Green Bay News

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson has appealed a federal court ruling temporarily denying her attempt to remain as chief justice.

Abrahamson on Wednesday filed an appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals of a decision earlier this month that allowed Justice Patience Roggensack to remain as chief justice for now.

Four conservative justices on the court voted to replace the liberal Abrahamson with Roggensack on April 29. Abrahamson filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that she can’t be replaced until her term ends in four years.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson on May 15 denied Abrahamson’s attempt to temporarily block the justices from voting to replace her. Peterson determined there was no harm in Roggensack serving as chief justice while Abrahamson’s lawsuit continues.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday it is investigating what the Pentagon called an inadvertent shipment of live anthrax spores to government and commercial laboratories in as many as nine states, as well as one overseas, that expected to receive dead spores.

“At this time we do not suspect any risk to the general public,” CDC spokeswoman Kathy Harben said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steve Warren, said the suspected live anthrax samples were shipped from Dugway Proving Ground, an Army facility in Utah, using a commercial delivery service.

Warren said the government has confirmed one recipient, a laboratory in Maryland, received live spores. It is suspected, but not yet confirmed, that anthrax sent to labs in as many as eight other states also contained live spores, he said. Later he said an anthrax sample from the same batch at Dugway also was sent to a U.S. military laboratory at Osan air base in South Korea; no personnel there have shown signs of exposure, he said, and the sample was destroyed.

“There is no known risk to the general public, and there are no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection in potentially exposed lab workers,” Warren said.

The anthrax samples were shipped from Dugway to government and commercial labs in Texas, Maryland, Wisconsin, Delaware, New Jersey, Tennessee, New York, California and Virginia.

The Defense Department, acting “out of an abundance of caution,” has halted “the shipment of this material from its labs pending completion of the investigation,” Warren said.

Contact with anthrax spores can cause severe illness.

Harben said one of the laboratories contacted the CDC to request “technical consultation.” It was working as part of a Pentagon effort to develop a new diagnostic test to identify biological threats, she said.

“Although an inactivated agent was expected, the lab reported they were able to grow live Bacillus anthracis,” she said, referring to the bacteria that cause anthrax disease.

The CDC is working with state and federal agencies on an investigation with the labs that received samples from the Defense Department, she said.

Harben said all samples involved in the investigation will be securely transferred to the CDC or other laboratories for further testing.

UPDATE: Oshkosh police say Catherine has been found safe.

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OSHKOSH – A Silver Alert is issued for a missing woman Oshkosh police say suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Police say 66-year-old Catherine “Kitty” Edminster was last seen walking in the 500 block of W. Bent Avenue in the city of Oshkosh. She was last seen wearing dark gray jeans and a yellow colored shirt.

She is described as being 5’03” and 150 pounds with short gray/red hair.

Authorities believe she could be headed to the Winneconne area.

If anyone has any information on Catherine’s whereabouts, please call the Oshkosh Police Department at 920-236-5700 or 911 if you believe she is in danger.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Unemployment rates dropped in all Wisconsin counties and the 32 largest cities in April.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported the latest figures Wednesday.

Click here to read the report.

Racine had the highest unemployment rate last month at 6.9 percent, which was down from 8 percent in March. The second highest was Beloit at 6.4 percent and Milwaukee at 6.3 percent.

The lowest city unemployment rate was 2.9 percent in Fitchburg, Madison and Sun Prairie.

County unemployment rates ran from a low of 2.9 percent in Dane County to 11.3 percent in Menominee County.

The local unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and therefore not comparable to the state unemployment rate which was 4.4 percent in April. The national unemployment rate was 5.4 percent.

GREEN BAY – There isn’t a concrete plan yet for how millions of dollars in excess Lambeau Field sales tax revenue will be spent, or even how if it will be split up among Brown County communities, however, Green Bay’s mayor already has a plan for some of the money.

Mayor Jim Schmitt wants to offer Green Bay’s portion of the money to recent college graduates for low interest, fixed mortgages.

Schmitt’s plan is under the assumption the expected $8 to $10 million in excess revenue will be returned to Brown County’s municipalities based on population. That would mean Green Bay would receive a one-time payment of $4 to $5 million.

Schmitt is calling his plan the GRAND program. It stands for Graduate Recruitment and Neighborhood Development.

Under the program, someone who graduated college within five years could get a 20-year fixed mortgage at a one percent interest rate. There would also be no closing fees.

Schmitt says the plan could end up being the highlight of his mayoral tenure.

“Financing is an issue and if the city can leverage that one time money that we’ll be getting to secure a 20-year fixed mortgage, I think we’ll have people that will buy homes,” said Schmitt.

Other city leaders say it is premature of Schmitt to announce this plan, considering there isn’t a set plan for the sales tax money.

“That hasn’t passed, so you can’t put it into one category or can’t promise it to one group until it passes,” said Tom De Wane, Green Bay’s city council president.

Potential guidelines for the program would include the home being at least 50 years old and the person graduating within the past five years.

FOX 11’s Ben Krumholz will have more on this story on FOX 11 News at Five and Nine.

GREEN BAY – Brown County’s top prosecutor says he will announce a decision Friday regarding a February incident in which police shot and killed a man.

Joseph Biegert, 30, was killed at his Plymouth Lane apartment Feb. 25. Police say they were called to Biegert’s apartment to check on him. While officers were there, police Biegert stabbed one of them; police then shot him.

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee has been reviewing a report from the state Department of Corrections. He says he will announce a decision at a Friday news conference on whether to file any charges against police in the case.

NEENAH – A ribbon cutting ceremony took place Wednesday for a new St. Mary Catholic Middle School in Neenah.

The school is celebrating the completion of its brand new middle school.

Features of the new building include wireless capabilities, a new chapel, and collaborative workspaces.

The school’s president, Helen Englebert, says they were in desperate need of the new building, “We had a deteriorating building that is on Doty Island in Menasha, there was a major need to improve the facility and provide a thriving learning environment for our students.”

The school holds approximately 200 students in sixth through eighth grades.

GREEN BAY – Banding took place Wednesday for four peregrine falcon chicks.

The chicks hatched at the Georgia-Pacific Broadway Mill.

The bands provide researchers important information on the birds’ movements and to help better understand their habitat needs.

Mike Kawleski, Georgia Pacific Public Affairs Manager says the falcons provide a great service to the building and surrounding area, “We’re really happy that they’ve chose our facility as a suitable habitat for them to nest. Obviously with the urban areas, there’s plenty of food source and that is pigeons. So we are no exception in that area so they help us out too.”

The falcons were placed on the Wisconsin Endangered Species list in 1975.

The Broadway mill has had falcons nesting at the facility since at least 2008.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Officials tell The Associated Press that the IRS believes the identity thieves who stole personal tax information from an agency website are from Russia.

The criminals stole the personal tax information of more than 100,000 U.S. taxpayers. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen declined to tell reporters where the crime originated.

But two officials briefed on the matter say the IRS believes they were in Russia, based on computer data about who accessed the information.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation.

The information was stolen as part of a sophisticated scheme to claim fraudulent tax refunds. It was taken from an online system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other tax filings from previous years.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — In a nondescript industrial park, beer geeks line up several times a week outside Bissell Brothers to get the latest batch of fresh beer — much like foodies seeking the freshest baguettes, pomegranates or kale.

Jeremy Ritz didn’t get the beer he wanted on a recent day because it was sold out. So he decided to buy some rye ale instead.

“To me it’s huge that I get talk to the guy who’s brewing my beer,” the middle school teacher said. “I love that.”

Bissell Brothers intends to make 3,200 barrels of beer this year. That’s tiny compared to the big craft breweries, which are stretching the meaning of “craft” under Brewers Association guidelines that allow them to retain the claim at up to 6 million barrels.

While Boston Beer Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and other large craft brewers continue to gain market share, the number of small breweries including “nanobreweries” at the other end of the spectrum is exploding, providing adventurous offerings to a new generation of beer drinkers who increasingly place a premium on locally produced beer.

“The craft beer revolution that is taking place right now is in large part of consumer’s desire to be connected with the things they’re eating, the things they’re drinking, the things they’re wearing,” said Dan Kleban from Maine Beer Co. in Freeport, which has grown over six years from a one-barrel nanobrewery to producing more than 9,000 barrels this year. “Customers are willing to pay a premium to have that kind of connection.”

The modern craft brewery movement started on the West Coast in the 1970s. New England became the epicenter of the second wave, led by Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, and Harpoon Brewing Co. Along the way, the amber lagers, brown ales and dark stouts have transformed from a novelty to a big business as a new generation became accustomed to sampling different styles of beer.

These days, Western brewers like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Greenflash are opening breweries closer to East Coast customers, and communities are competing with tax incentives to lure the businesses. Colleges are offering programs geared toward beermaking entrepreneurs.

Last year, 615 new breweries opened across the United States, bringing the total number, including the largest and the smallest, to 3,418, according to Brewers Association, the Colorado-based trade group representing craft brewers. That’s a level approaching the peak of 4,131 breweries in 1873, an era when lack of refrigeration and slow transportation necessitated local production of suds.

These days, craft brewers make about one in nine beers consumed in the U.S.; the industry has an aggressive goal of doubling that within five years, Brewers Association said.

“This is not a fad. This is slow, steady, stable growth,” said Julia Herz, craft program director at the Brewers Association.

Meanwhile, nimble nanobreweries and other pint-size beer makers are staying small and pushing the boundaries with hopped-up American ales, sour German Gose beers, oak-aged sipping beers and boundary-pushing flavors. Portland’s Rising Tide offers a beer made with coriander and local seawater that the brewery says adds “a tart and mineral character.”

Peter Bissell, co-founder of Bissell Brothers, said small breweries are poised to adapt quickly to market changes.

“The bigger the ship, the harder it is to turn. You have to be small enough to remain fluid to adapt to change in the industry,” said Bissell, whose brewery is growing but remains “always fresh, always local.”

These days, there are more than 60 breweries in Maine, a state with a population of just 1.3 million. And yet most of those breweries are thriving.

Kleban, who started Maine Beer Co. with his brother, said the beer industry is returning to its local roots, with customers who want to know what they’re putting in their bodies. Part of the challenge, he said, is to keep local brewies happy while resisting the urge to grow too fast to meet demand.

“You’re kind of in a Catch-22. People want you to grow, grow, grow, grow, grow. But they also don’t want you to be the big guy, because then you’re not the small guy — you’re the sellout,” Kleban said. “So you’re sort of damned if you do and damned if you don’t in a lot of ways.”

The nation’s largest beer makers, Anheuser Busch and MillerCoors, meanwhile, are buying up smaller breweries. MillerCoors owns Colorado-based Blue Moon. Anheuser Busch started Shock Top years ago and purchased Chicago-based Goose Island Brewing Co.

Anheuser Busch acknowledged the growth of microbrews by declaring itself a “macro brew” in a Super Bowl TV ad.

“The big guys are scared of the little guys,” said Amy Fowler of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, while buying some Bissell Brothers to take on a trip to Belgium. “They’re recognizing that there’s a threat.”

DETROIT (AP) — By the end of the year, nearly every major automaker will begin offering Apple’s CarPlay or Google’s Android Auto systems that will allow a car’s dashboard screen to look and function like a smartphone.

General Motors made a big move Wednesday, announcing that both systems will be available in seven 2016 Chevrolet models starting in the summer. The Apple system will appear in seven additional models. Earlier in the week, Hyundai unveiled the Android system for the Sonata.

More brands from GM and others will quickly follow with one or both systems.

Experts say the move to phone-based software threatens the automakers’ own glitch-prone touch screens. It’s also an admission by automakers that people like the way their smartphones work more than they like in-car systems.

FOND DU LAC – Mercury Marine is adding to its Fond du Lac headquarters.

The company broke ground Wednesday on a 45,000 square-foot expansion to its electro-deposition paint system.

Company officials say they’re working on developing a new state-of-the-art coating system, which protects boat engines from corrosion.

President of Mercury Marine, John Pfeifer, says the expansion wouldn’t be possible without the help of the community, “Over time, we’ve been very very successful here, because we got great partnership with the community and we got great employees. So that’s why we continue to invest right here in this main campus that we’ve got.”

The company employes approximately 2,800 people in Fond du Lac.

The project will be complete by January 2016.

MADISON (AP) – A key Wisconsin lawmaker negotiating a financing plan to pay for a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks says there’s no deal yet, but he’s still optimistic to reach an agreement by the end of the week.

Rep. John Nygren said Wednesday that there’s general agreement on a financing deal for the $500 million arena, but “I don’t think we’re there yet.”

Nygren is co-chairman of the Legislature’s budget-writing Joint Finance Committee. He and other lawmakers, along with Milwaukee officials and leaders of the NBA team, have been trying to reach a deal by the end of the week so it can be included in the state budget.

Without a new stadium by 2017, the NBA has said it will buy back the team and relocate it.

(CNN) – How about a pizza party on a plane?

That’s what Delta Air Lines served up for passengers on flights to Atlanta Tuesday. The flight was diverted to Knoxville, Tennessee because of bad weather in Atlanta

The food seemed to cheer up some passengers. Passengers on several other Delta flights reported similar pizza parties.

The company says it is making an effort to get food and drinks to delayed passengers if weather impacts their travels.

Over 100 flights were canceled Tuesday at the Atlanta airport.

BELLEVUE – A sheriff’s deputy pulled a man out of a burning vehicle – and it was all caught on video.

The Brown County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called to the Bellevue Street at Manderly Way just before 2 a.m. Wednesday. The vehicle was on fire in the ditch, with a man still inside.

The first officer to arrive, Deputy Zach Roush, went up to the vehicle and opened the door. He tried to get the driver to come out, but he was dazed and refused to cooperate, officials say. Roush then grabbed the man by the belt and pulled him out of the burning vehicle.

The rescue was caught on the dashboard camera in Roush’s squad car.

Watch the video:

The fire and smoke were so heavy that Roush almost called off the rescue attempt for his own safety, according to the sheriff’s office, as high winds blew the fire and smoke in unpredictable directions.

The driver was taken to the hospital and eventually booked into jail on suspicion of third-offense operating while intoxicated.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – One of the two Wisconsin girls charged with trying to kill a friend to please a mythical horror character would be better off in the juvenile justice system where potential treatment would be more suited to her needs, two psychologists testified in court Wednesday.

A judge in Waukesha County Circuit Court is expected to determine whether Anissa Weier, 13, should remain in adult court or be transferred to the juvenile system where a conviction would carry a lighter sentence.

Weier and her 12-year-old friend, Morgan Geyser, are accused of stabbing a classmate 19 times to gain favor with Slender Man, a fictitious character they believed could kill them or their families. The 13-year-old classmate survived the attack last May at a Waukesha park.

Dr. Michael Caldwell, a senior staff psychologist at Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center in Madison, met with Weier charged in the attack both in July and November. Caldwell testified Weier suffered from delusions at the time the victim was attacked.

“Her psychological maturity would have prevented her from thinking about or rationally evaluating some of those delusions,” Caldwell said. But he added that he believes Weier is no longer delusional.

“She’s at a remarkably low risk for any kind of violence,” he said, testifying for the defense.

Whether the judge decides to keep Weier in adult court or send her to the juvenile system, she would likely end up in the same place, Copper Lake School, a secure detention facility for girls in Lincoln County. The difference is the length of incarceration and treatment options.

If Weier remains in adult court and is convicted in the stabbing, she would be incarcerated in a juvenile facility until age 18, then transferred to an adult prison. If tried and convicted in juvenile court, she would likely be sent to Copper Lake, where she would be in secure detention for three years or less and receive treatment and supervision after she’s released.

Dr. Antoinette Cavanaugh, a forensic psychologist testifying for the defense, said the juvenile system is based on earning privileges, is more in tune with an adolescent mind, and offers the services the girl would need when re-entering the community. She said adult incarceration doesn’t provide “the same level of support or developmental services.”

Cavanaugh, who interviewed Weier and reviewed investigative reports on the case, said she has done well in school and has family support.

The defense has asked Judge Michael Bohren to declare unconstitutional the underlying law that put the case in adult court. There was no indication when the judge planned to rule on the defense motion.

Wisconsin law requires children as young as 10 to be charged as adults for some crimes. The burden then falls to the defendant to prove the case belongs in juvenile court.

(CNN) McDonald’s is trying to revive itself and as it does, it will no longer be releasing monthly sales reports.

The company’s CEO says it’s switching to a quarterly report system, a method most common among retailers.

The aim is to focus more energy on the long-term steps being used to revitalize the McDonald’s brand.

The end of the 12-year practice comes as the fast food joint battles a decline in sales.

Investors used the monthly reports to keep tabs on the company’s performance.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – An autopsy will determine whether a man had drugs or alcohol in his system when he fatally shot one worker and injured a second before killing himself at a North Dakota Wal-Mart store, police said Wednesday.

“It’s probably the next significant development in this case,” Grand Forks Police Lt. Derik Zimmel said. He did not know when autopsy results would be available.

Police said the shooting at the store in Grand Forks a few minutes after 1 a.m. Tuesday may have been random. Investigators have found no link between the gunman, 21-year-old Marcell Willis, and the store or the employees whom he shot.

“There’s no apparent motive that jumps out at this time,” Zimmel said.

“We just need to plug away and talk to witnesses and compile information and continue to flip over stones and rocks and compile every scrap we can,” he said.

Willis had been stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base, about a dozen miles west of the city, for a little more than two years and had achieved the rank of senior airman, the base said Wednesday.

Police on Wednesday identified the victims as Gregory Weiland, 70, of Grand Forks, who was killed, and Lisa Braun, 47, of Grand Forks, who was injured. Braun is in satisfactory condition, Altru Hospital spokeswoman Angie Laxdal said Wednesday.

Zimmel said authorities were not releasing the name of a third worker whom Willis shot at but missed.

Weiland, an overnight cashier, and Braun, the overnight grocery general manager, were near one another in the self-checkout area toward the front of the store at the time of the shooting, Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick said.

Weiland had worked for Wal-Mart for 24 years. It wasn’t immediately clear if all of those years were at the Grand Forks store. Braun has worked at the store since September 2009.

Braun’s 70-year-old father, Larry Friesz, who lives about 300 miles away in rural Flasher, said his daughter told him she expects to be hospitalized for up to four days.

Friesz said Wednesday that he was busy farming and hadn’t had a chance to visit his daughter but had spoken with her briefly by phone. He said she didn’t offer any details about what happened and he didn’t have specifics about her injury.

Braun did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.

Friesz said he is shocked by what happened.

“You always read about it,” he said of such violent incidents. “But when it’s your own kid, it’s different.”

Zimmel said police believe the airman fired only three shots before shooting himself.

Amy Mehs, Willis’ girlfriend who lives in Hatton, North Dakota, about 35 miles southwest of Grand Forks, was in tears when contacted by The Associated Press Tuesday afternoon.

“I really can’t say anything right now because it’s still under investigation,” she said. “You guys will find out everything eventually.”

Sean Willis of Nashville, Tennessee, said only that his son had been in the military for about three years and was originally from Springfield, Tennessee.

Willis had been stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base since February 2013. The 319th Wing issued a statement Wednesday saying officials were “deeply saddened” by the shooting and “fully cooperating with local authorities and agencies.”

Air Force spokesman Mike Dickerson told the AP he did not know if Willis had received any commendations or been disciplined during his time in Grand Forks.

About 1,500 airmen are assigned to the Grand Forks Air Force Base, the military said. The base was home to air refueling tankers for 50 years until a round of military base closings and realignments took that away. The last tankers left in 2011 and the base has taken on an unmanned aircraft mission.

The 24-hour Wal-Mart store remained closed Wednesday. Company spokesman Brian Nick said Wal-Mart hasn’t decided when the store will reopen.

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Dave Kolpack reported from Fargo, North Dakota.

MADISON (AP) – Republicans who control the Legislature’s budget committee want to look for state agency office space outside Madison and Milwaukee.

The Republicans released a plan Wednesday to tuck provisions in Gov. Scott Walker’s state budget that would require the Department of Administration to look for lease options in counties other than Dane or Milwaukee. DOA would have to submit an analysis for each lease or renewal to the budget committee examining the savings that would come with moving the agency, department, division or bureau to an office outside the two counties.

The Republicans plan to vote on the plan later Wednesday.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Green Bay-based Associated Bank has agreed to generate nearly $200 million in mortgage loans in predominantly minority neighborhoods as part of a settlement over a federal racial discrimination complaint.

The loans would be made over the next three years in neighborhoods in Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had accused Associated Bank of underserving such neighborhoods and disproportionately turning away black and Hispanic loan applicants from 2008 to 2010.

Associated Bank denies any wrongdoing. In a news release, chief executive Philip B. Flynn says the company agrees it can improve performance in some neighborhoods and that it will comply with the agreement.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the settlement includes financing $144 million in mortgages in the Chicago market and $36 million in the Milwaukee metro area.