Green Bay News

SHEBOYGAN (WISN-TV) – A Sheboygan woman is 102 years old and you would think she has seen and done it all.

But not so.

Gladys Holbrook is a healthy, lovely lady and longtime Brewers fan.

Holbrook is preparing for a big event with her favorite team. She will throw out the ceremonial first pitch when the Brewers take on the Diamondbacks later this month.

“Well, I’m a little nervous about it, but I didn’t think anybody was going to make this much out of it. I just thought this would be some little simple thing?” Holbrook said.

A good friend of Holbrook’s submitted her name to the Brewers and the team picked her.

So besides baseball, what’s Holbrook’s key to a long life?

She says, “just keep breathing.”

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Legislature’s budget committee has approved Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal reducing the number of years adults can receive welfare benefits.

The Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee approved the change Thursday. The panel is working on changes to Walker’s budget before it goes to the full Senate and Assembly for debate, likely in June.

Democrats objected to the change, but were outvoted 12-4.

Walker’s proposal would lower from five to four years the total period that adults can receive welfare benefits over their lifetime under the Wisconsin Works program. Federal law sets a five-year limit, but states are allowed to make it shorter.

The average person stays on the program for just short of two years.

The change would save Wisconsin $3 million over two years.

CLINTONVILLE – Two people died in a crash involving two vehicles Thursday morning in Clintonville.

Around 10:30 a.m. Waupaca County Sheriff’s Deputies were dispatched to State Highway 45 and Lakeshore Road.

Deputies say a vehicle was traveling eastbound crossing Highway 45 from Nietzke Road when it was hit by a northbound vehicle on Highway 45.

The passenger of the eastbound vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of that vehicle was flown by Theda Star to Theda Clark where they were later pronounced dead.

The driver and the passenger of the northbound vehicle were not injured.

The crash is under investigation.

VALDERS –  Brennan Hughes considers himself an avid archer. It’s a sport that’s opened the door for his Manitowoc area family in more ways than one.

“It is great, it’s a good time to spend family time together,” Hughes said.

Not only is it a time for family bonding, but a way to raise awareness for a disease that has plagued the Hughes family.

“Family members had cancer, friends were passing from cancer, I’ve seen it affect a lot of people in my life,” said Hughes.

Brennan wanted to raise money and awareness to stop the spread of cancer.

“I thought, ‘how can we have a bigger impact?’ and Wisconsin’s full of sportsmen that really care about things,” said Hughes

So Brennan looked at his bow and arrow and decided, why not ‘Take a Shot at Cancer?’

“First year only had 26 shooters, raised maybe $1,500, $2,000,” said Hughes.

Now in its fourth year, the fundraiser is getting bigger.

“So far over the past three years we’ve raised over $22,000 for the American Cancer Society,” said Hughes.

People who attend the fundraiser are able to try out the course.

“It’s going to be very much like your regular hunting environment,” said Hughes.

You’ll be walking through the woods, with 30 very realistic targets set up.

“We’ve got life-size elk, alligators, we’ve got all sorts of other animals, turkeys, everything,” said Hughes.

They all represent what you would see when you’re out hunting.

“I’ve been shooting since I was like 8 years old,” said Shelby Hughes, Brennan’s daughter.

It’s a sport that has opened the door for the younger generation, including Shelby.

“My grandma had cancer, my grandpa passed away this summer from cancer. Everyone has been touched by cancer in some way,” said Shelby.

“When they’re looking at those targets I want them to think about how they’re enjoying the day,” Hughes said. “The money that they have spent to go out on this course will impact a lot more lives so that we’ll have more birthdays instead of funerals.”

The ‘Take a Shot at Cancer’ Fundraiser is this Saturday and Sunday at the Viking Bow and Gun Club in Valders.

Here is a link to the website to learn more details.

GREEN BAY – Nearly one year since the ceremonially ground breaking, some visible work on the Metreau housing project is underway.

The developer, Dermond Property Investments, says it was because of a couple issues with the $20 million project. One, a fiber optic line had to be removed from the site, and some other budget issues, wanting to ensure that the project didn’t come in over budget.

“Things were coming out a lot more expensive than we originally planned, so we just needed to spend some time and value engineer the project to get some savings where we needed to,” said Nora Pecor, Dermond Property Investment’s chief financial officer in a phone interview with FOX 11.

Savings through more competitive contractor bidding, Pecor says, adding none of the project’s high-end trim will be victim to the cost savings.

“We do believe in the product that we originally promised, and we do not want to build anything but that product.”

The 107-unit, eight-story building with first floor retail will be built on the northwest corner of North Washington Street and East Walnut.

Contractors have begun demolition of the site – which was a surface parking lot in its most recent life. The next step will be to drive in metal sheeting. After that excavation will start, but it won’t be a while late summer of 2016 you will see a finished product.

Built in 1924, the Hotel Northland is seen on Sept. 9, 2014.

A product that is getting city help in the form of $2.4 million in future tax reimbursements. Other downtown projects also receiving city aid are the still-idle Hotel Northland project and CityDeck Landing apartments just up the road. CityDeck and Backstage at the Meyer are the two projects closest to completion.

“We’re very hopeful that we’re looking at the June time frame, for that building to be completed,” said Meyer Theatre Board President and Downtown Green Bay Executive Director Jeff Mirkes.

A conceptual rendering of the Backstage at the Meyer. (Meyer Theatre)

The renovation of the old Daily Planet space, attached to the Meyer Theatre, is on the southeast corner of Washington and Walnut. Mirkes says it’s an exciting time for the two kitty-corner projects, especially now that the Metreau is moving forward.

“It’s great to see (the Metreau) now fully underway,” Mirkes said. “It’s going to be an exciting couple of months with a lot of excavation taking place.”

As the Metreau moves forward, what about the $40 million dollar plan for the Hotel Northland? The developer, Frantz Community Investors, says it is trying to finalize a closing date for buying the property, allowing demolition and construction to start.

NEENAH –  Fox Cities Greenways is gearing up for the biking season as it hosted a Trails for Tomorrow Workshop in Neenah Thursday.

The goal of the workshop is to inspire community leaders to develop bike and pedestrian facilities that not only connect places, but people.

Fox Cities Greenways also touched on how the trails are becoming more popular.

Organizer Mike Kading says the trail system will help encourage healthier lifestyles, “It’s enabling to encourage folks to get out and to live healthy active lifestyles whether they want to walk, run, bicycle, rollerblade, it’s a place for families to get together and utilize the trails.”

Organizers say they are working to expand the trail systems as well.

 

TOWN OF SHEBOYGAN FALLS – One person was killed and three others sent to the hospital in a crash Thursday afternoon.

Sheboygan Co. sheriff’s officials say they were called to the intersection of Highway 23 and Meadowlark Road just after 1:20 p.m. Investigators say a vehicle headed south on Meadowlark Road crossed the westbound lane of Highway 23 and was trying to cross the eastbound lane when an eastbound vehicle hit it in the passenger-side door.

The passenger of the southbound vehicle, an 89-year-old Sheboygan Falls woman, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, a 90-year-old Sheboygan Falls man, was taken to the hospital.

The driver of the eastbound vehicle, a 42-year-old Sheboygan woman, and her passenger, a young child, were taken to the hospital.

The names of the people involved have not been released.

BROWN COUNTY – Part of Interstate 41 is closing next week so crews can switch traffic to newly built lanes.

The state Department of Transportation says southbound I-41 between Mason Street and Highway 172 in the Green Bay area is closing from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 5 a.m. Wednesday. Traffic will be detoured onto Mason Street and Ashland Avenue. The on-ramp to I-41 southbound from Mason Street is also closing during those same hours.

Once traffic is switched to the new inside lanes, crews will start building the new outside lanes.

Meanwhile, the on-ramp to southbound I-41 from Lombardi Avenue is closing from 7 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Thursday so crews can install a pipe.

GREEN BAY – A Keshena man has been sentenced in federal court for robbing a convenience store at knifepoint.

Prosecutors say last July 29, Richard A. James Jr. walked in to Martin’s Hillstop, on the Menominee Reservation, held a clerk and others at knifepoint, and demanded liquor and cigarettes. After he got those things, he ran away. When officers confronted him, James threatened them with a knife and led them on a chase down the roadway, stopping traffic. Tribal police and Menominee Co. sheriff’s deputies eventually arrested him.

The 23-year-old was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

MADISON – If you plan to hit the road in the next few weeks, make sure to buckle up.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation says law enforcement agencies across the state will be participating in a “Click It or Ticket” campaign starting Monday. It runs through May 31.

“During Click It or Ticket, whenever law enforcement officers see an unbelted driver or passenger they will stop the vehicle and issue a citation. Their goal is not to write more tickets but to get every driver and passenger to buckle up every time they drive or ride in a vehicle,” David Pabst, director of the DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Safety, said in a news release.

The campaign includes the Memorial Day weekend, when AAA Wisconsin predicts 662,645 people will be on the roads.

The DOT says about 85 percent of Wisconsin residents wear seat belts – an all-time high. However, more than half of people killed in crashes in 2014 were not buckled up, the agency said.

In addition, the DOT is using federal funds to promote seat belt use through TV, radio and online advertising. The messages feature former Green Bay Packers player Donald Driver, with videos showing Driver quizzing unsuspecting motorists about their seat belt use.

An online traffic safety quiz is also available, with those who take the quiz eligible to win a football autographed by Driver.

• Click here to take the quiz

APPLETON – A 41-year-old Oshkosh man is behind bars in connection with a sexual assault, beating and armed robbery in Appleton.

Police say the incident happened May 2. A 52-year-old woman said a man she knew through a friend came to her house on N. Durkee Street around 8:30 a.m. When she let the man in, he hit her several times in the face. Police say he then held a knife to her throat and forced her to perform a sex act. He stole several hundred dollars – the victim’s rent money – from her purse before he left. She was treated at a hospital for injuries from the attack.

Three days later, Appleton police found the man at his workplace. Officers interviewed and released him. On Wednesday, after he did not show up for a meeting with investigators, police say they went to his workplace and arrested him.

Police are recommending charges of first-degree sexual assault, substantial battery and armed robbery. The man has not yet been formally charged.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A fatal bat disease is spreading across Wisconsin.

The state Department of Natural Resources says over-winter surveillance shows white-nose syndrome or the fungus that causes it is now present in eight counties. The agency announced Thursday that bats in Grant, Crawford, Richland, Door and Dane counties have tested positive for the disease. The fungus has been confirmed in Iowa, Dodge and Lafayette counties.

DNR officials say the bat population at the original point of infection in Grant County has dropped 70 percent. The agency doesn’t disclose the location of threatened species.

The agency has imposed decontamination requirements for researchers and spelunkers to prevent the disease from spreading as well as an outreach campaign to educate commercial cave and mine visitors about the disease.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A married same sex couple has filed a federal lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Health Services saying their birth certificate form did not allow them to put both of their names down as parents.

Chelsea and Jessamy Torres filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Madison. They allege that DHS refused to supply a birth certificate form that allowed both women to name themselves as parents of their son born to Chelsea Torres on March 15.

The complaint says DHS routinely provides opposite sex parents with birth certificates allowing them to name both spouses as parents. The lawsuit asks that the policy be ruled as unconstitutional and that DHS be barred from continuing its current practice.

DHS spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley had no comment Thursday.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A married same sex couple has filed a federal lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Health Services saying their birth certificate form did not allow them to put both of their names down as parents.

Chelsea and Jessamy Torres filed the lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Madison. They allege that DHS refused to supply a birth certificate form that allowed both women to name themselves as parents of their son born to Chelsea Torres on March 15.

The complaint says DHS routinely provides opposite sex parents with birth certificates allowing them to name both spouses as parents. The lawsuit asks that the policy be ruled as unconstitutional and that DHS be barred from continuing its current practice.

A spokeswoman for DHS did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Jeb Bush says it was a mistake to invade Iraq.

The Republican White House prospect clarified his position on the war his brother authorized. The former Florida governor ended several days of confusion about his foreign policy while campaigning Thursday in Arizona.

Bush said that given the benefit of hindsight, “I would have not gone into Iraq.”

In interviews earlier in the week, Bush refused to say whether he would have launched the 2003 invasion if he’d been in President George W. Bush’s shoes. He said Thursday he was reluctant to say the invasion was the wrong decision because he didn’t want to dishonor the lives of American troops killed there.

The justification for the war was based on faulty intelligence that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House was poised Thursday to overwhelmingly approve a bill that would allow Congress to review and potentially reject a nuclear deal with Iran that’s still being negotiated by the U.S. and its partners.

If approved and signed by President Barack Obama, the legislation would give Congress a say on what could be a significant international accord aimed at getting Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

Negotiators from the U.S. and five other nations are rushing to reach a deal with Tehran by the end of June.

Obama initially threatened to veto the bill, but then said he’d sign it if it was not changed from the bipartisan version that the Senate backed 98-1.

“Today we will act to ensure that Congress and the people will have an opportunity to review any potential agreement with Iran,” House Speaker John Boehner said.

Obama, meanwhile, is meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland with Arab leaders in hopes of easing their fears about an emerging deal. The president will try to convince them that U.S. overtures to Iran would not come at the expense of commitments to their security.

The Iran nuclear legislation would bar Obama from waiving congressional sanctions for at least 30 days while lawmakers examine any final deal. The bill would stipulate that if senators disapprove of the deal, Obama would lose his current power to waive certain economic penalties Congress has imposed on Iran.

The bill would require Congress to pass a resolution of disapproval to reject the deal, an action that Obama almost certainly would veto. Congress then would have to muster votes from two-thirds of each chamber to override the veto.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, backed the measure, saying it would strengthen the U.S. negotiating position with Tehran.

“Instead of Iranian negotiators knowing that they can wear-down the administration, this now injects Congress as an important back-stop,” Royce said.

New York Rep. Eliot Engel, ranking Democrat on the panel, urged bipartisan passage, saying: “Let’s get this bill to the president’s desk with a single voice.”

At the same time, he lamented that the nuclear talks were not addressing Iran’s threat to destroy Israel, Americans being held captive in the country, Iran’s backing of militant groups and its involvement in Iraq, Yemen and Syria.

Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said he opposed the bill because it wasn’t needed. He said Congress already has the authority to lift or retain sanctions Congress has levied against Iran. “We have the cards. We do not have to choke this deal in the crib,” Ellison said.

Despite some opposition from House Republicans, the chamber’s leadership prevented the bill from being amended so the House will vote on the same version that passed the Senate.

Also on Thursday, the House is considering a defense policy bill that authorizes U.S. military spending, with a final vote expected on Friday. Obama has threatened to veto the House bill, which historically has garnered overwhelming bipartisan support.

Boehner chided Democrats for pulling their support for the bill. Democrats argue that the GOP wants to ignore automatic spending caps that Congress imposed a few years ago when it comes to funding the military, but wants to adhere to them when it comes to other domestic spending.

“This shouldn’t be a tough vote,” Boehner said.

“I think it’s downright shameful that they are even contemplating turning back on the American troops, especially those (Democrats) on the Armed Services Committee who voted for this bill in committee.”

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office quickly responded, saying that Boehner was among 160 Republicans who voted against the defense authorization bill in 2010, the year that the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” — the law that barred gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals from openly serving in the military — was added to the bill.

The Senate Armed Services Committee also is wrapping up its version of the bill.

 

CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) – President Barack Obama sought to reassure anxious Persian Gulf nations on Thursday that the United States is committed to their security, insisting a nuclear deal with Iran would not leave them more vulnerable.

Obama and leaders from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries met in a rare summit at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland’s Catoctin mountains. The leaders were expected to issue a statement announcing new military commitments, including joint exercises and ballistic missile cooperation.

“We’re really looking at what we can do to expedite the provision of support and capacity building to the GCC,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser.

While the U.S. has long provided military support to partners in the Gulf, the new commitments are expected to extend into cyber, maritime and border security.

Obama’s separate negotiations to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief has strained relations with many of America’s traditional partners in the region. Gulf states fear that if Iran gets an influx of money when sanctions are lifted, it will embolden what they see as Tehran’s aggression in the region.

As the leaders gathered, an Iranian naval patrol boat fired on a Singapore-flagged commercial ship in the Persian Gulf. A U.S. official said it was an apparent attempt to disable the ship over a financial dispute involving damage to an Iranian oil platform.

The incident took place a bit south of the island of Abu Musa just inside the Gulf, according to the U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss details by name. The White House said no Americans were involved in the incident.

Rhodes said that while the incident did not come up in Thursday’s discussions, it was “exactly the type of challenge” the Gulf nations are focused on.

Obama rarely uses Camp David for personal or official business. White House aides hoped the more intimate setting would lead to a more candid conversation with the Arab allies.

Just two other heads of state – the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait – joined Obama at Camp David. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain all sent lower-level but still influential representatives.

As the leaders gathered around a large table in the Laurel lodge, the most notable absence was Saudi King Salman. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that the king was skipping the summit, two days after the White House said he was coming.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were representing Saudi Arabia instead.

The White House and Saudi officials insisted the king was not snubbing Obama. But there are indisputable signs of strain in the long relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, driven not only by Obama’s Iran overtures but also the rise of Islamic State militants and a lessening U.S. dependency on Saudi oil.

The Gulf summit comes as the U.S. and five other nations work to reach an agreement with Iran by the end of June. The White House says a nuclear accord could clear the way for more productive discussions with Iran about its reputed terror links.

The U.S. has criticized Iran’s support for Hezbollah, as well as attacks carried out by Iran’s Quds Force. In 2011, the Obama administration accused Iran of plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington.

The Saudis are also particularly concerned about the situation in Yemen, where Houthi rebels with ties with Iran have ousted the U.S.- and Saudi-backed leader.

For more than a month, a Saudi-led coalition has tried to push back the Houthis with a bombing campaign. On Tuesday, a five-day humanitarian cease-fire went into effect, though the pause in fighting was already at risk. A jet fighter from the Saudi coalition on Wednesday struck a military convoy belonging to Shiite rebels and their allies in southern Yemen.

CHARIKOT, Nepal (AP) — Nepal has been overwhelmed by its second powerful earthquake in less than three weeks, its prime minister said Thursday as he visited this normally placid foothills town, now filling up with frightened villagers desperate for government help.

Thousands of people coming from surrounding areas to seek help crowd the streets of Charikot, the administrative center of the isolated district hit hardest by Tuesday’s magnitude-7.3 quake, which killed at least 110 people and injured more than 2,300. The magnitude-7.8 earthquake that hit April 25 killed more than 8,150 people, injured tens of thousands more and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

“After the first quake, we were not prepared for a second one so big,” Prime Minister Sushil Koirala told reporters after arriving in Charikot by helicopter.

With hundreds of thousands of people left homeless, he said the coming monsoon rains loomed large.

“We need tents. Our people need shelter. With the rainy season, it will be difficult for people to survive in the open,” he said.

Nearly everyone is too afraid to sleep indoors and aftershocks are keeping people on edge in this town. Food has been handed out occasionally here, but nowhere near enough for the people who keep arriving. Many simply waited at the locked gates of the army’s small aid distribution center, shaking the fence angrily when their frustration got the better of them.

“We came here with such hopes and such difficulty, but now we’re just waiting and waiting,” said Navraj Nama, 25, who came to Charikot with his brother and elderly uncle after the second earthquake. He said 90 percent of their home village, Danda Khorka, had been damaged in the April 25 quake, and about 50 buildings collapsed when the second one hit.

Nama’s village is among those in desperate need of shelter, and the young farmer came here hoping to get tents or tarpaulins to carry back with him. None was available.

Sabita Debi, who ran a tea shop with her teenage son, said she has been living in the open with her children since the first April 25 earthquake. Her damaged house leaning to one side, Devi said she had received one tarp sheet and some rice in the past two weeks.

Her face is red and chapped from the long days spent in the sun. “The government is promising but nothing has come to us … We keep running here and there when we hear food is being distributed,” said 35-year-old Debi, dressed in a crumpled sari since she left her home two weeks ago.

Ganga Karki Jungu, a social worker in Charikot, said the people were angry as “they have no roof, no food.”

He said the government was failing to coordinate the distribution of relief material. “In many villages, there is not a single house that has not developed cracks or not collapsed altogether. The buildings that remain are shaky.”

Jungu was among a group of social workers and political activists who met Prime Minister Koirala to press for urgent help.

“The government has to build some permanent structures to provide housing on a large scale before the monsoon rains begin, ” he told the prime minister.

Koirala promised help. “We all have to work with a new determination to build a new Nepal. All our efforts will be to reconstruct homes and rebuild the lives.”

Sabita Devi said “if we don’t get help soon, I don’t know what is going to happen to us.”

Her husband was in the capital at the time of the first quake nearly three weeks ago. Devi said she heard from her relatives that he was safe there. “But there has been no word from him,” she said.

There is also a shortage of tarps and tents in Kathmandu, with some people even using cardboard boxes as temporary shelters.

“We have nowhere to go. This is our home for now. We had just moved back into our rented rooms and again the earthquakes are back,” said carpenter Raj Kumar, who was sharing a small tent with two other families in Kathmandu.

Meanwhile, a search continued for a U.S. Marine helicopter carrying six Marines and two Nepalese soldiers that disappeared Tuesday while delivering aid.

Officials in Kathmandu said the search for the helicopter was focused around Sunkhani, nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of the capital.

Tuesday’s quake was less powerful than the one in April and shook a smaller, less populated area. It was centered between Kathmandu and Mount Everest. It hit hardest in deeply rural parts of the Himalayan foothills, hammering many villages reached only by hiking trails and causing road-blocking landslides.

___

AP writers Binaj Gurubacharya in Kathmandu, Tim Sullivan in New Delhi and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal law enforcement official says a man has been arrested after trying to launch a drone outside the White House fence.

The official said it was unclear if the person intended to fly the aircraft at the executive mansion or whether he was trying to take aerial photos.

The official was not authorized to publicly disclose the details of the incident and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The incident comes nearly four months after a quadcopter drone piloted by an off-duty U.S. intelligence employee landed on the White House lawn. The Secret Service said at the time that the landing appeared to be accidental and not a security threat.

The incident led the agency to focus more attention on drone-related security issues.

VAN, Texas (AP) — An emergency official says a deadly tornado that blasted an East Texas town left behind about $40 million in damage.

Van Zandt County emergency management coordinator Chuck Allen provided the damage estimate as recovery continues from Sunday’s twister in Van.

Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed in the violent weather that killed a husband and wife. More than 40 other people were hurt, with two still hospitalized Thursday in critical condition.

A boil water order remained in effect Thursday for Van, a town of about 2,600 people located 70 miles southeast of Dallas.

Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster says a resource center opened Thursday with representatives from government agencies and volunteers offering help. Foster says 18 people remained at a shelter at First Baptist Church.