Green Bay News

NEW YORK (AP) – After 33 years and 6,028 broadcasts of his late-night show, David Letterman is signing off.

The transplanted Hoosier, who made Top Ten lists and ironic humor staples of television comedy and influenced a generation of performers, hosted his final episode of CBS’ “Late Show” on Wednesday. Stephen Colbert will replace him in September.

Letterman announced his retirement last year and has kept details of his final show under wraps. The show taped in late afternoon at Manhattan’s Ed Sullivan Theater. It airs at 11:35 p.m. Eastern.

Photographers clustered outside the 53rd Street side entrance to the theater shot a steady stream of celebrities arriving for the last taping, including Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Tina Fey, Jim Carrey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Steve Martin, Barbara Walters, Peyton Manning and Alec Baldwin.

Reporters weren’t allowed inside the theater, but several audience members who filed out after the show had tears in their eyes.

“It was really incredible,” said Will Landman of Long Island, New York. “It was the best way he could go out.”

Audience members pointed to a star-studded Top Ten list and musical performance by the Foo Fighters as highlights.

As for the host, Letterman “was guarded but you could tell it was really hard for him,” said John Bernstein, who flew in from Los Angeles for the taping.

“You could see his emotion,” he said. “But I think he’s feeling a lot more than he’s showing.”

His last few weeks have been warmly nostalgic, with Letterman entertaining old friends like Bill Murray, Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Anticipating the end, viewers sent Letterman to the top of the late-night ratings the week before last for the first time since Jimmy Fallon took over at NBC’s “Tonight” show and they competed with original telecasts.

From his start on NBC’s “Late Night” in February 1982, Letterman’s comedy was about more than telling jokes. He attached a camera to a monkey’s back, tossed watermelons off a roof and wore a suit of Alka-Seltzer to plunge into a tank of water. Celebrities used to being fawned over either clicked with his prickly personality or didn’t, and when Cher called him a more profane version of “jerk,” it became a memorable moment.

He shifted to CBS in 1993 when NBC gave the “Tonight” show to Jay Leno instead of Letterman, a slight he never forgot or forgave.

The tricks subsided as Letterman mellowed with age and fatherhood. His audience welcomed him back after a heart bypass, listened as he became the first late-night host back on the air after the 2001 terrorist attacks and saw him acknowledge to inappropriately having sex with a subordinate.

As retirement neared, Letterman joked about second thoughts. “Next week I’ll be Googling foods that improve prostate health,” the 68-year-old host said Tuesday. He also opened his heart: ending a segment with Oprah Winfrey last week, the microphone picked him up saying “I love you” as the two hugged. He shared a lingering last kiss onstage with Roberts.

His penultimate show Tuesday could easily have been the last. Murray, his first guest on both the NBC and CBS shows, appeared after bursting out of a cake, smearing Letterman and those around him with icing. The Top Ten list was “Famous Last Words.” Bob Dylan sang the standard “The Night We Called it a Day.”

Frequent foil Regis Philbin walked on, and they both expressed their admiration for each other. But not all of the famed Letterman edge had disappeared. He watched as Philbin slowly made his way up the aisle and out of the theater, shaking hands with audience members along the way.

“Take your time, Regis,” Letterman deadpanned, falsely promising “we’ll edit that right out.”

He showed tape of several local CBS affiliate anchors discussing his retirement, misidentifying him as the “Tonight” show host. And he couldn’t help but laugh as one anchorwoman said, “I do like him. It’s hard to watch his show sometimes.”

Rival Jimmy Kimmel paid tribute to Letterman by not making a fresh ABC show on Wednesday, where he usually competes in the same time slot. Fallon paid tribute on “Tonight” on Monday: “I, like every kid who grew up watching him, will miss him.”

GREEN BAY – Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt will present his State of the City address on Tuesday, May 26, 2015 and the public is welcome to attend.

Schmitt will cover 2014 accomplishments as well as share future goals he has for the city.

The State of the City will be held at the Meyer Theatre, 117 South Washington Street.

The address will begin with a Year in Review Picture Slideshow Presentation at 4:30 p.m.

Schmitt will deliver his speech at 5:00 p.m.

Guests are also invited to a reception at Initiative One, 110 S. Adams Street.

MADISON – The Republican-controlled budget committee approved its education spending plan for the next two-year budget early Wednesday morning. The proposal includes many changes – including a new test before high school graduation – that have no direct impact on state spending.

Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee laid out a 29-page proposal for K-12 schools.

“Our plan is going to focus on opportunity, flexibility and accountability,” said State Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield.

The four Democrats on the committee rallied for five hours against it.

“I don’t even think it’s a budget anymore,” said State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh. “It’s sort of a diatribe of really crazy ideas that different people had that has disastrous consequences.”

The plan passed 12-4 along party lines. The full Legislature still has to debate it, and the governor can change it. The proposal covers a wide range of educational issues.

The education proposals unveiled Tuesday would:

— Undo a $127 million cut in public school funding next year as proposed by Gov. Scott Walker, then add $100 per student in funding for the second year, an increase of about $69 million above current spending.

— Lift a 1,000-student enrollment cap in the private school voucher program and create a new funding mechanism that mirrors the public school open enrollment program that allows students to attend another nearby public school. The change is expected to cost public schools about $48 million over the next two years. No more than 1 percent of a district’s total number of students could enroll initially, but in 11 years there would be no limit.

— Create a special needs voucher program for students with disabilities. The move is opposed by a coalition of disability rights groups because private schools don’t have to provide the same services as required under federal law for special needs students in public school.

— Require high school students to pass a civics test before graduation.

— Allow home-schooled students and those attending private, virtual or charter schools to play sports and participate in extracurricular activities at their local public school.

— Require all schools to be rated in report cards on a five-star system, rather than letter grades as Walker proposed. There would be no sanctions for low-performing schools, and a federal waiver would be requested to allow for schools to choose from between three to five standardized tests to measure the performance of students.

— Create alternate paths for people to be licensed to teach, including those with experience in the fields of science, math and technology, even if they don’t have a bachelor’s degree.

— Convert the worst-performing Milwaukee Public Schools into independent charter or private voucher schools under control of a commissioner appointed by the county executive.

— Prohibit the state superintendent from forcing local school districts to adopt Common Core academic standards.

The president of the state’s largest teachers union, Betsy Kippers of WEAC, says the proposal “represents the worst of the worst for students and Wisconsin Public Schools.”

But Republicans and other voucher advocates believe the K-12 system will improve if it includes more choices for parents.

ST. FRANCIS — The Milwaukee Bucks plan to stick with a slow and steady approach to constructing a consistently successful team.

It doesn’t appear as if an unexpected push for the playoffs this year is going to accelerate the rebuilding process.

General manager John Hammond on Wednesday identified size and shooting as two top team needs going into the NBA draft on June 25.

The Bucks have the 17th selection in the first round.

But the franchise is in much better shape than a year ago, when Milwaukee took forward Jabari Parker with the second overall pick.

Milwaukee won 41 games — a 26-game swing from the previous season — in Jason Kidd’s first season as coach. The Bucks lost to the Bulls in the first round in six games.

“We want to get to become a championship-caliber team. The question is, ‘How quickly do have to get there?'” Hammond said Wednesday. “Everybody still has the big picture in mind … We want to go through this organically.”

Shooting guard Khris Middleton is a restricted free agent. He wants to come back, though the Bucks could use a perimeter shooter regardless of whether Middleton returns.

Or Milwaukee could add a rugged big man in the draft. The team cut ties with rim-protecting center Larry Sanders during the season following a string of off-court issues.

Center Zaza Pachulia provided leadership and solid play in the middle, but the veteran might be better suited to coming off the bench.

The Bucks are seemingly set at the forward spots, where Parker is expected to return from a left injury and 6-foot-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo is an emerging matchup nightmare.

Six-foot-6 Michael Carter-Williams’ lanky frame and pass-first skill set might be a good fit with Kidd, a former All-Star point guard. Middleton also emerged as an offensive threat, particularly after scoring point guard Brandon Knight was dealt.

Six-foot-11 forward John Henson also had a breakout playoff series with energetic play off the bench.

“We’re still very much an unfinished product,” Hammond said. “We need to continue to add toughness and energy to our team, so we have multiple needs.”

IONIA, Mich. (AP) — It isn’t quite a message in a bottle, but an Ohio man says he found a 21-year-old message secreted in a camera film case that had traveled some 40 miles down the Grand River in western Michigan.

Terry Smith tells WILX-TV that he found the case with the messages inside on Monday while hunting for mushrooms in Ionia, Michigan. According to Smith, the case contained three pieces of paper written by two 12-year-old girls in Lansing in 1994.

“It’s in pretty good condition really. I mean, it was water stained, it was damp and when I took it out of the bottle. But, it’s in really good condition for being 21 years old,” Smith said.

Two of the documents show drawings of the girls, while the third is a letter to the finder of the film case.

Leah Sedelmaier, one of the authors of the note, was contacted by Smith and WILX. Although she doesn’t remember putting together the note, she’s said she’s shocked someone found it.

“We used to play in this creek that’s back here in the neighborhood; and, we used to make rafts and have races with them. I totally believe we would’ve done something like that,” Sedelmaier said.

Sedelmaier said she has since reconnected with her co-author and childhood friend to try and piece together their memories from that day.

SUAMICO — Kylie Swiekatowski and Shaelyn Opichka keep a close eye on each other and it’s not just because they are friends.

The De Pere juniors are two of the best pole vaulters in the state and normally it comes down to them to decide who will win a their event in a track and field meet.

Tuesday, they actually tied for the Fox River Classic Conference title with a height of 12-3. They are aiming for return trips to state, where last season Swiekatowski won the Division 1 state title and Opichka placed fourth.

“Just like last year the competition is getting really tight between us as it gets down to the big meets now,” Swiekatowski said.

Swiekatowski and Opichka are in an advantageous position because they do compete against each other. Each others success pushes them to be their best.

We definitely push each other, it’s definitely competition, but if I didn’t have her I wouldn’t be as good as I am, so it’s really nice to have her,” Opichka said.

“I think it’ll make us both stronger when it gets down to state,” said Swiekatowski, who won state last year with a height of 12-3. “We’re used to competing against someone close to us.”

De Pere pole vaulting coach Don Penza jokes he doesn’t know who to root for during meets. After each attempt Swiekatowski and Opichka each walk to Penza to talk about their latest try.

“Great competitors, fun to be around,” Penza said. “It serves them when they get down to state, because they’re competing against some of the best girls in the state in themselves.”

Regionals and sectionals are next week and the state meet follows the following weekend, June 5-6. Each is shooting high to accomplish something big.

“I would like to win state again, obviously, and I ‘d like to jump 13,” Swiekatowski said. “That number has been a goal of mine for a while.”

“I’m really aiming for 13, that’s my ultimate goal,” Opichka said.

Because of their success last season the juniors have high expectations at the state meet. Surely they want to win state and Opichka sees the Redbirds ruling the event.

She sees a 1-2 finish.

“Pretty confident, I mean 99 percent,” Opichka said. “I’m hoping, but you can’t really count on it. It’s definitely a goal for both of us.”

Knowing these Redbirds can fly, it just might happen.

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

MANITOWOC COUNTY – The crackle of a campfire is a familiar sign of summer in Wisconsin’s woods…

But the wood fueling the flames may contain an unwanted invader, the emerald ash borer.

The state taking steps again this summer to try to slow down the spread of the invasive species.

At Point Beach State Forest near Two Rivers, a campfire is a must for Chuck Behnke and his family.

“We actually do all our cooking right over the campfire,” said Chuck Behnke, Camper.

But the wood may be a source for the emerald ash borer. The invasive species attacks and eventually kills ash trees. It can hitchhike in firewood campers bring to the parks.

The State Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has quarantined 37 counties from transporting firewood. The Department of Natural Resources has a ban of its own.

“All state park and state forest campgrounds you can bring firewood if it’s within 10 miles of that campground,” said Guy Willman, Point Beach State Forest Park Manager.

Just up the road at Devils River Campground, near Maribel, owner Robert Lyman offers firewood to campers, and some advice.

“We go off common sense. I just ask them if they keep their firewood either in their camper or their vehicle or whatever they brought it in. And put it directly from their camping unit into the fire pit.

At Point Beach, every camper is informed about EAB, and firewood is checked before entering the park.

“We can confiscate the firewood if it come from outside the 10 mile radius,” said Willman.

The park sells wood too. Willman says the bundles inside the on-site shed will last about a month.

So what do campers think?

“I think Mother Nature runs its own course on that. The bugs are all over, there’s no doubt about it. The biggest thing is if you got good dry wood, you’re good to go,” said Behnke.

Behnke’s father-in-law says buying the wood on site, is the way to go.

“You just get how many bundles you want, and take it back to the campsite, set up, and have at it,” said Ralph Trefz, Camper.

Park leaders say it’s an investment in the future of the forest.

If untreated, about 99 percent of infected ash trees will die.

The D.N.R. estimates about 834 million ash trees in the state.

FISH CREEK – The Wisconsin DNR has closed the Peninsula State Park observation tower to the public due to safety concerns.

The observation tower, also known as Eagle Tower, was closed immediately Wednesday after the DNR received an inspection report deeming it unsafe.

The report indicates the wood beams supporting the three observation platforms and a staircase have poor structure due to decay.

Eagle Tower was originally built as a forest fire observation platform in 1914 using logs cut in the park and without the use of machinery.

Further study of the inspection report will determine the future of Eagle Tower.

GREENVILLE – Outagamie County Regional Airport’s website is back online, one day after being attacked by hackers.

And computer experts say cyber-attacks are often as simple as finding an unlocked door to a home.

“In order to protect yourself, you have to be aware and you have to be vigilant,” said Jim Overly, owner of Cyber Works in Green Bay.

Overly says the mantra is essential to protecting virtually everything in the virtual world we live in today.

Especially after the ATW website hack Tuesday afternoon.

The airport’s director, Abe Weber, tells FOX 11 that the website was taken down the moment it was noticed that it was hacked. Weber says nothing was affected at the airport, both inside and out; and none of the airlines’ operations.

The Oshkosh-based marketing company that manages the airport website, Candeo Creative, didn’t want to talk on camera with FOX 11.
However, its Operations Director Sheng Lee Riechers says old files on the servers hosting the website were vulnerable for exploitation. Riecher says the the problem has since been fixed.

Candeo Creative uses a Texas-based server company, called Rackspace. Rackspace calls the hack an isolated incident.

In an email from a public relations spokesperson, “Our customers are contractually obligated for the security of their applications…. As soon as we were alerted of the issue, our Rackers worked quickly with the customer to get the site secured and restored.”

Overly says hacks are typically crimes of cyber opportunity.

“Lot of people will lock the front door and think they’re safe. But if the cleaning lady leaves one of the windows open, you’re not safe,” said Overly. “Bad guys jiggle door knobs, and try windows all day long. They don’t actually have to get off their chair and the computer does all the work.”

Looking for any possible way in.

Overly says staying vigilant against cyber threats means ensuring websites you visit are safe – and secure. As well as ensuring your online passwords are strong and not easy for people – or computers to figure out.

MANITOWOC – Manitowoc Foodservice says they will be permanently eliminating 15 positions this summer.

The ice manufacturing facility, located at 2110 South 26th Street, says the layoffs will happen on Jul17, 2015.

Bay Area Workforce Development Board staff will provide assistance to the workers.

GREEN BAY –  You may have seen a lot of women and men wearing red Wednesday.

This year the American Heart Association is celebrating it’s eleventh year of the “Go Red for Women” campaign.

Wednesday was the annual luncheon at the Green Bay Botanical Gardens, bringing awareness to heart disease and stroke.

Research shows that one in three women will die of a heart attack or stroke.

Judy Kimble, Go Red for Women, says, “We need everyone to get involved. It’s time to step up, and take over.  As you know, it’s the number one killer for women, and we just don’t know enough about it”

About 150 people from the community attended the event.

FOX 11’s Michelle Melby served as the emcee for the program.

ALGOMA – Police in Algoma are searching for two people who stole money from a Subway restaurant on May 17.

Police say surveillance images show around 1:00 a.m. two people entered the Subway restaurant, 2217 Lake Street, by using a key. Timestamps on the surveillance images show 3:00 a.m., however the surveillance camera timestamp was off by 2 hours.

The two suspects obtained the safe combination from a drawer and took an undisclosed amount of money from the safe. The suspects closed the safe and locked the door on the way out.

Police believe the crime was committed by someone who either stole the key and/or had inside knowledge of the business’s operations, including former employees.

Suspect one is described as the taller of the two, wearing a face mask with glasses likely underneath. The suspect was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, gloves and light colored pants. Shoes are white around the edge of the sole for approximately one inch, then dark colored, and then they transition to a design or colors on top of the shoe.

Suspect two also wore a hooded sweatshirt with gloves and most likely dark jeans and as a distinct light colored solid wide belt with one belt loop in the back center of the pants. Their belt was pulled tight to the right side with the excess belt hanging out about four inches out fro the right hip.

If you have any information regarding this crime, please contact the Algoma Police department at (920) 487-3311 or the Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Department at (920) 388-7108.

Crimesstoppers of Kewaunee County is offering a $150 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects. Crimestoppers number is (920) 388-0440.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Fans of the Scripps National Spelling Bee will have a new way to follow the tongue-twisting action this year.

The bee has launched a mobile app that will allow people to follow a group of spellers and earn points when they advance in the competition. Users can also earn points for correctly predicting words that come up during the bee.

The bee’s executive director, Paige Kimble, says the app allows viewers to personalize their Spelling Bee experience in a way similar to fantasy sports.

People who use the app are assigned five spellers at random. However, those who invite others to download the app can also choose their own spellers.

The app is known as Buzzworthy.

The National Spelling Bee starts Tuesday. The championship finals are Thursday evening.

• Click here to download the app for iPhone or iPad
• Click here to download the app for Android

WEYAUWEGA – Two people were arrested in the city of Weyauwega after police say they found heroin, marijuana, and drug paraphernalia during a search warrant.

On Tuesday, police conducted the search warrant in the 400 block of East Wisconsin Street.

Once illegal substances were found, a 28-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were brought to the Waupaca Co. Jail.

Bay Port hosted the Fox River Classic Conference Track and Field Meet on Tuesday.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – The body of blues legend B.B. King will return next week to the Mississippi Delta where his life and career began.

His body will be flown on May 27 to Memphis, Tennessee, the place where a young King was nicknamed the Beale Street Blues Boy. Organizers in Memphis said a musical tribute is scheduled for 11 a.m. that day in W.C. Handy Park on Beale Street, near a blues club that bears King’s name. After that, the body will be driven to Indianola, Mississippi, which King considered his hometown.

A public viewing will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. May 29 at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, and the funeral will be at 11 a.m. May 30 at the nearby Bell Grove Missionary Baptist Church, the museum announced Wednesday. The 15-time Grammy winner will be buried later that day in a private ceremony at the museum, which King helped develop.

“From a practical standpoint, we feel comfortable knowing his final resting place will receive perpetual care at the museum,” the facility’s director, Dion Brown, said in a written statement Wednesday.

In Las Vegas, where King died May 14 at age 89, visitors will be able pass King’s open casket this week during a public viewing from 3-7 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary West. But there won’t be seating or a memorial service and mortuary manager Matthew Phillips said photos will be prohibited.

A private service for relatives and invited friends will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the larger downtown Palm Mortuary chapel.

However, some immediate family members will have a chance to visit his body ahead of the Friday public viewing and Saturday memorial.

Attorneys representing one of King’s daughters against King’s longtime business agent and power-of-attorney, LaVerne Toney, said the family-only viewing on Thursday was a compromise reached during a meeting with a court probate commissioner.

Attorneys Russel Geist and Brent Bryson said Commissioner Wesley Yamashita set the date while rejecting a bid by daughter Karen Williams to take control of King’s estate. Williams previously lost a May 7 effort in Family Court to take her father’s guardianship from Toney.

The famed guitarist and singer was married twice and had 15 natural and adopted children, 11 of whom are still living.

He was born Riley B. King on Sept. 16, 1925, to sharecropper parents in Berclair, Mississippi, near the tiny town of Itta Bena. His parents divorced when he was young. His mother died a few years later, and then his grandmother died, leaving him living alone in a cabin and sharecropping an acre of cotton when he was 14.

After living in several small communities in Mississippi, he moved to Indianola, where he first gained attention for his musical talents.

He moved to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was in his 20s, and that’s where a radio station manager dubbed him the Beale Street Blues Boy. That was shortened to B.B., and the nickname stuck. King went on to international fame playing electric blues guitar that influenced generations of blues and rock musicians.

In the statement announcing King’s funeral plans, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant called the bluesman “one of our state’s most beloved native sons.”

____

Associated Press writers Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S Justice Department warned lawmakers that the National Security Agency will have to wind down its bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the end of the week if Congress fails to reauthorize the Bush-era Patriot Act.

Faced with the expiration of the law on June 1 and uncertainty in Congress, the department circulated a memo on Wednesday that described the powers that will lapse and the actions NSA will have to take in advance to avoid legal challenges. The House of Representatives has already passed a bill that would change the way phone records are collected, the result of outrage among Republicans and Democrats after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s revelations about the NSA program.

Congress must deal with the law’s fate before lawmakers leave town for a weeklong holiday recess. The issue has divided Republicans and Democrats, cutting across party lines and pitting civil libertarians concerned about privacy against more hawkish lawmakers fearful about losing tools to combat terrorism.

“After May 22, 2015, the National Security Agency will need to begin taking steps to wind down the bulk telephone metadata program in anticipation of a possible sunset in order to ensure that it does not engage in any unauthorized collection or use of the metadata,” the Justice Department said.

Last week, the Republican-led House backed the USA Freedom Act, which would replace bulk collection with a system to search the data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor, and House Republican and Democratic leaders have insisted on their bill.

But Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and several other top Republicans prefer to simply reauthorize the post-Sept. 11, 2001 law. McConnell has agreed to allow a vote on the House bill, but has indicated that there may not be enough votes to pass it in the Senate.

If Congress fails to act, several key provisions of the law would expire, including the bulk collection; a provision allowing so-called roving wiretaps, which the FBI uses for criminals who frequently switch cellphones; and a third that makes it easier to obtain a warrant to target a “lone wolf” terror suspect who has no provable links to a terrorist organization.

The Justice Department said if Congress allows the law to expire and then passes legislation to reauthorize it when lawmakers return to Washington the week of June 1 it would “be effective in making the authorities operative again, but may expose the government to some litigation risk in the event of legal challenge.”

The White House backs the House bill and has pressed for the Senate to approve the legislation and send it to President Barack Obama for his signature.

The Republican divisions over the issue was on stark display in the Senate on Wednesday as Sen. Rand Paul, a candidate for president, stood on the floor and spoke at length about his opposition to NSA spying.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Florida man who piloted a gyrocopter through miles of America’s most restricted airspace before landing at the U.S. Capitol is now facing charges that carry up to 9½ years in prison.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said Wednesday in a statement that a grand jury has indicted Douglas Hughes on six charges. He is scheduled to appear Thursday in federal court in Washington.

Hughes, who took off from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was arrested April 15 after he landed on the Capitol’s West Lawn. Hughes has said his flight was intended to call attention to the influence of big money in politics. The stunt also led to a congressional hearing and exposed a gap in ensuring the safety of buildings in the city.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday it’s his responsibility to hear directly from New England quarterback Tom Brady in his appeal of his four-game suspension in the deflated footballs case.

Goodell said he has not had time to study a request from the players’ union that he recuse himself from the appeal because he has been focused on the spring owners meetings that concluded Wednesday.

He said he would study the request when he returned to New York but added that unless there is a factor that he is unaware of he will likely hear the case.

“It’s my job here to make sure we’re doing everything to protect the integrity of the game, protect our policies, protect our procedures,” Goodell said. “We have a process that has been negotiated with the union that has been in place for decades. It’s my responsibility and it’s something that we’ve had in place for a long time.”

Goodell said no date has been set for the appeal.

The CBA reached in 2011 to end the lockout gave Goodell the right to hear the appeal; only the commissioner can punish players for conduct detrimental to the league. But the NFL Players Association claims if he delegates his authority to discipline players, it’s invalid, and if he handles it himself, he is no longer impartial.

When NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent suspended Brady for the first four games of the 2015 season, he cited Brady’s lack of cooperation in refusing to turn over his cellphone records as one of the reasons for the hefty punishment.

Goodell said he is open to seeing those records during the appeal and that could play a role in a possible reduction of the suspension for Brady’s role in the use of underinflated footballs in the AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.

“I look forward to hearing directly from Tom if there’s new information or information that can be helpful to us in getting this right,” Goodell said. “I want to hear directly from Tom in that.”

A four-time Super Bowl champion and the face of the most successful NFL franchise of this century, Brady was found in the investigation conducted by attorney Ted Wells — who was hired by the league — to be “at least generally aware” of a scheme to illegally deflate footballs used in the conference title game.

Goodell said it is difficult to suspend anyone but that the integrity of the league is paramount.

“I have great admiration and respect for Tom Brady,” he said. “But the rules have to be enforced on a uniform basis and they apply to everybody. They apply to every club, every individual coach and every player.”

Vincent also fined the Patriots $1 million and took away two draft picks, a first-rounder next year and a fourth in 2017.

New England owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday he will not appeal the team’s penalty and declined to comment further on the case Wednesday before leaving the meetings. Goodell said that decision will have no impact on Brady’s appeal.

“The decision that Robert made was his decision,” Goodell said. “I admire and respect Robert. We’ve had plenty of discussions over the last couple of weeks. This was his initiative, something he wanted to do and I certainly admire the step he took. We may disagree on things. It’s not unusual when that happens.”

Goodell also said there was discussion at these meetings about changing the procedures for how footballs are handled before games but expects some new rules to be in place for the upcoming season.

“It’s something important that the chain of custody and everything is watched really closely going forward,” Colts owner Jim Irsay said.

Irsay declined to comment on Kraft’s decision not to appeal or the punishments handed down by the league. He said the game Oct. 18 between the teams, which could be Brady’s first game back if the suspension is not reduced, will be a “huge, huge game.”

“We’ve enjoyed the rivalry,” Irsay said. “We’ve had some of the greatest games together. We really look forward to the game this year and hope there’s more than one.”

APPLETON – An episode of a television show featuring Appleton will not air Wednesday night as originally scheduled.

A spokesman for Boldt Construction says the show “Monument Guys” is moving from the History Channel to H2 and it’s unknown when the episode featuring Appleton will air.

In the episode, brothers Mark and Steve Palmerton and sculptor Craig Campbell cast a bronze bust of famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini, who spent part of his childhood in Appleton. The bust of Houdini will be installed in Houdini Plaza in late August. It’s worth an estimated $20,000. In addition to it, there will be ten new plaques commemorating quotes from Houdini’s life, placed throughout the city of Appleton.