Green Bay News

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) – Another major earthquake has hit Nepal near the Chinese border between the capital of Kathmandu and Mt. Everest.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit with a magnitude of 7.4 in an isolated area just after lunch Tuesday.

It comes after an earthquake on April 25 killed more than 8,150 people and injured more than 17,860 as it flattened mountain villages and destroyed buildings.

In the capital of Kathmandu, the quake sent Nepalese people rushing outside of their homes into the streets. Police gave no immediate of damage.

SHEBOYGAN COUNTY – One person is in custody after a high-speed chase overnight in Sheboygan County.

The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office says it started about 10:30 p.m. Monday when someone reported the theft of a purse at the Walmart store in the Town of Sheboygan.

Officials say a deputy spotted a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle. It was on Interstate 43 turning onto Highway 23.

The deputy tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over. Officials say a chase started, reaching speeds of 120 miles per hour.

Deputies stopped chasing after the driver went the wrong way on Highway 57. The driver eventually pulled over after running over a tire deflation device that flattened all 4 tires.

The female driver was taken into custody. No one else was in the vehicle.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Elian Herrera hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Khris Davis followed with a solo shot, helping the Milwaukee Brewers hold off the Chicago White Sox 10-7 on Monday night.

Herrera, filling in at third for injured starter Aramis Ramirez, homered for the second straight night. His shot into the left-field stands off reliever Zach Duke (1-2) broke a 7-all tie.

Davis followed two batters later with his pinch-hit shot high and deep to left.

The Brewers bullpen squandered a 6-0 lead after Chicago scored five runs over the seventh and eighth innings. Adam Eaton’s two-out RBI single off Jonathan Broxton (1-0) had tied the game at 7 in the top of the eighth.

Francisco Rodriguez allowed a leadoff single to Jose Abreu in the ninth before getting Avisail Garcia to bounce into a double play. Rodriguez wrapped up his seventh save by getting Conor Gillaspie to ground out.

A night after beating the Reds’ Aroldis Chapman in the ninth for a 4-3 win, the White Sox couldn’t repeat the feat against the Brewers’ veteran closer.

Milwaukee built its big, early lead behind Carlos Gomez, who homered and tripled in his first game this season as the cleanup hitter. Gomez proved he was over a sore hip that bothered him last week by tripling to the right-field corner in the fifth.

What followed was a play that looked like it was straight out of a Little League game.

Garcia’s errant throw bounced into short left-center. A hustling Gomez beat charging left fielder Melky Cabrera’s throw home on a call that stood after replay review for a five-run lead.

White Sox starter Jeff Samardzija was shelled for eight hits and five earned runs in six innings.

TRAINER’S ROOM

White Sox: Manager Robin Ventura said pitcher Hector Noesi was available in relief after leaving Saturday’s start against Cincinnati in the second inning with a back injury. With the pitching staff taxed because of a weekend doubleheader and the suspension of Chris Sale, manager Robin Ventura said he hoped to have his rotation sorted out by Wednesday for the series in Oakland starting Friday.

Brewers: Tests on Ramirez’s sore lower back revealed just a muscle strain, and the veteran said he hopes he won’t need a trip to the disabled list. Counsell said Ramirez was day to day.

UP NEXT

White Sox: Sale (2-1) returned to the team on Monday following a five-game suspension for his role in an on-field scrum on April 23 between Chicago and Kansas City. He is 3-0 with a 2.19 ERA in his career in interleague play.

Brewers: Mike Fiers (1-4) has 20 strikeouts in his last two starts, against the Cubs and Dodgers. But he gave up five earned runs in five innings in his last outing, May 7 against Los Angeles.

NEENAH – The Calvary Bible Church in Neenah held an event for people to make cards for those affected by the trestle trail shooting.

Two of the victims father Jon and daughter Olivia Stoffel, belonged to the church, along with mother Erin Stoffel. She survived, and was upgraded to “good” condition over the weekend.

Calvary Bible Church is missing two of its members because of last Sunday’s trestle trail shooting.

“We’re starting to feel better. I think it’s a slow transition. I mean, because the first week I think we were just dealing with the shock of it all,” explained parishioner Kelly Gruber.

Parishioners are mourning the loss of Jon and Olivia Stoffel who died in the shooting. Erin Stoffel is recovering from being shot three times. Adam Bentdahl, from Appleton, was also killed shooting.

Church members held a community event Monday to make cards for the victims’ families.

“It can help tremendously. It can let them know there are others there to support,” said Kara Gruber.

They also made cards for local first responders and medical personnel who helped after the shooting.

“Just being able to reach those that really impacted the community and we want them to know we appreciate them,” said Kelly.

“They can be traumatized too by what they see. So it’s important to let them know as well, ‘we’re thinking of you,'” explained Kara.

Church members also made sure to include cards for the family of the shooter.

“They’re hurting just like everybody else. So we want them to know that we’re here, that we love them and that we support them,” Kelly told FOX 11.

But doing this was also good for the card makers themselves.

“Kinda helps us get through the grieving process a little bit more, just to say, ‘okay, this happened, but as a community we can get through it,” Kara told us.

If you couldn’t make it to Monday’s event, you can drop off your own cards at the church offices Tuesday.

Church members plan to deliver the cards later this week.

GREEN BAY – A street honor is still in the works for former Packers General Manager, Ron Wolf.

Alderman Chris Wery put in the request a few weeks ago to have a street named for Wolf. However, that effort did not move forward. Instead, Wery says he is working on an honorary Ron Wolf street.

That means a street name would stay the same, but a sign reading “In honor of Ron Wolf,” would be added on top of the existing sign.

Wery says he is working with Wolf’s son on the project. Wolf’s son works in the Packers front office.

A city committee is expected to take up the issue in two weeks.

GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Police department told city leaders it’s looking at forming a full-time gang unit.

Alderman Chris Wery requested a full report on the city’s gang activity after hearing police say a fire last month on Danz Avenue was a result of gang retaliation.

“Is it on the increase?” asked Wery. “Is it on the decrease and what are we doing about it?”

Police Chief Tom Molitor and Lt. Ben Allen tried to provide those answers in front of the city’s protection and welfare committee Monday night. The two shared facts and figures the city’s gang task force has compiled since it formed in 2009.

Since 2009, the task force has identified 815 confirmed and 410 suspected gang members. The task force reports 1,635 people have had some sort of gang association in that time.

“When they start organizing where they’re doing their criminal activity to further the criminal enterprise, that’s when this gang has a potential of really doing some destruction in the city,” said Molitor.

In the past year, Green Bay Police has had more than 100,000 calls for service. 294 have involved a gang member or gang activity. 39 were physical disturbances. 63 were for graffiti complaints.

The past year is also when the department has more frequently used what it calls a gang suppression unit. The unit first started being used in October 2013.

“They’re not responding to the normal calls for service like our other patrol officers are,” said Allen. “They do full investigations.”

Police say the success of that unit has them working on a full-time gang unit.

“I think that was a big concern that we have a part time unit that just comes together when we think we need it,” said Wery. “We’re a big enough city now that I think we probably need a full time unit.”

There is no timetable for when that unit could be finalized.

As for the gangs report, police say they plan to get more requested stats to the aldermen.

The current gang task force that formed in 2009 is comprised of 13 officers. The task force work is in addition to their normal police work.

Right now, the task force has identified 12 primary active gangs in the city.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Wisconsin Supreme Court justice joined a request to a federal judge Monday to block a change in the state’s chief justice.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley filed an affidavit supporting a preliminary injunction to keep Shirley Abrahamson as chief justice.

Bradley and Abrahamson form a two-justice liberal minority. In her affidavit, Bradley said Wisconsin courts “are in a state of upheaval” because of uncertainty over who is chief justice and for how long.

Wisconsin voters last month approved a constitutional amendment giving justices the power to select the chief justice. Conservative-leaning justices then selected Justice Patience Roggensack. But Abrahamson contends she remains chief justice and is suing in federal court.

Abrahamson, a member of the court since 1976 and chief justice the past 19 years, argues the amendment can’t be implemented until the end of her term in four years. A hearing is set for May 15.

According to Bradley’s affidavit, Roggensack demanded her pay be raised by $8,000 a year and told staff to put new nameplates on the bench designating her as chief justice and Abrahamson as a justice.

Roggensack has pledged to donate her raise to the Access to Justice Commission, which arranges civil legal services for people who can’t afford them.

Roggensack and her attorney did not respond to request for comments from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1bLeL3q ) on Monday. But Roggensack has said she is looking to build more consensus on the court.

In a separate letter Monday, Justice Patrick Crooks, seen as a swing vote on the court, asked U.S. District James Peterson to delay a change in the chief justice, saying the court is in “uncertainty and turmoil” and needs time for a transitional plan.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court meets May 18 for the first time under Roggensack’s leadership.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Dramatic video captured by a Montana wildlife official shows a mother black bear with cubs running toward a knot of camera-clicking tourists as the animals try to cross a bridge in Yellowstone National Park.

No one is hurt, but at one point the adult bear rushes full-tilt toward a group of people standing at one end of the bridge. Yelling is heard as people scramble to get to their vehicles.

Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman Bob Gibson witnessed the encounter and said some visitors ignored or were slow to heed a park official’s commands to leave the bridge. As the nervous-seeming cubs scattered, the mother bear raced to round them up, frightening the tourists.

“The bear was the only one doing anything right there,” Gibson said. “The bear was definitely not charging at people. The bear was trying to get across the bridge, and people were in the way.”

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HOW SHOULD THE TOURISTS HAVE REACTED?

Each year, Yellowstone sees about 1,000 so-called bear jams, in which grizzly or black bear sightings prompt dozens and sometimes hundreds of tourists to pull over their vehicles hoping for a photo.

Ideally, the visitors on the bridge would have stayed in their vehicles, said Kerry Gunther, the park’s bear management program leader.

Once the bears started approaching, the tourists worsened the situation by running and screaming, Gunther said. They instead should have grouped together on one side of the bridge and allowed the bears to pass.

Yellowstone has never had a bear-caused injury among groups of three or more people, he said.

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HOW DANGEROUS ARE BLACK BEARS?

Another species of bear — the grizzly — is generally more feared because of its larger size and reputation for aggressive behavior.

However, researchers have recorded at least 63 people killed by black bears since 1900 in the U.S. and Canada.

Of those fatal attacks in which black bears exhibited predatory behavior, 92 percent involved male bears, defying the commonly held belief that females with cubs are the most dangerous bears.

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WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF INJURY?

Hundreds of bears of both species live in and near Yellowstone, making for a high potential for dangerous run-ins.

Over a three-decade period ending in 2011, black and grizzly bears injured 43 people, park officials said.

When stacked against total visitation numbers — more than 3.5 million passed through Yellowstone last year — that works out to a 1 in 2.1 million chance of a visitor getting hurt by a bear, according to the park. More often people are injured by the park’s buffalo.

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HOW BIG ARE BLACK BEARS?

In Yellowstone, adult male black bears can top 300 pounds, while females weigh 135 to 200 pounds. Black bears elsewhere can get much larger because of differences in their diet.

In the park, the animals live up to 30 years, surviving on elk calves, trout, pine nuts, grasses, rodents and insects.

The cubs in the bridge encounter were more than a year old, which likely worked in the tourists’ favor. Their mother would have been more aggressive had she been traveling with newborns, Gibson said.

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SHOOT OR SPRAY?

Some backcountry travelers carry large-caliber handguns for protection against bear attacks.

Wildlife officials say a much more effective deterrent is bear spray, which is similar to mace. It shoots out a mist of capsaicin, a form of pepper that makes an animal’s eyes burn and causes trouble breathing.

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WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE SPRAY?

If the bear is more than 100 yards away, wildlife officials advise people to retreat quietly and without running to avoid attracting its attention.

If the bear is within 100 yards, people are advised to slowly back away and speak to the bear so the animal can recognize that it’s having an encounter with a human and not one of its typical prey species.

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WHERE ELSE ARE BLACK BEARS FOUND?

The animals are widely distributed from Canada to Mexico and are found in at least 40 U.S. states, according to the advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife.

 

ASHWAUBENON – Race organizers for the Cellcom Marathon are hoping for good weather and good crowds this weekend.

Volunteer training is already underway.

They’re stacking the cups and prepping the Gatorade.

“We have water station captain training. So this is an important part of the event itself,” said Larry Lueck, the Cellcom Marathon Race Director.

Lueck led volunteer training Monday night in preparation for this weekend’s Cellcom Marathon. The full and half-marathons start Sunday. But, there are 5-K and children’s races Saturday, all of which need nearly two thousand people to staff the routes.

“It would be impossible to put this run on without them. It’s an interesting dynamic. You can’t put on a run without runners but at the same time you can’t put on a run without volunteers because then the runners wouldn’t have any support out there,” said Lueck.

Tuesday morning volunteers will be assembling the bib packets for this weekend’s races. But they continue to need volunteers throughout the week.

“We’re at about 80 percent right now, which is not bad. It’s traditionally where we’ve been at this point. We are always recruiting up until Sunday morning,” said Lueck.

Lueck says volunteers are needed before the races for handing out packets. They are also needed to help at the start and finish lines, and to direct traffic along the courses.

Volunteer Joe Van Erem has volunteered for the past few years with his church group. And he’s eager to be back.

“I just admire the determination that these guys have and the chance to give them a little bit of help, that’s a great thing. When you get a couple hundred people all screaming someone’s name, that’s a huge thing,” said Van Erem.

Van Erem encourages others to come out and join him.

“If you want to hand out water and stuff, we’ll teach you how to do that. But, just come out and cheer. Bring your family, bring your kids, bring your cowbells, and just come on out and cheer for the Green Bay Cellcom Marathon,” said Van Erem.

You can sign up to volunteer on the Cellcom Marathon web site. Click here to visit.

Click here to see a list of volunteer opportunities for the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon.

MARIBEL – No one was hurt in a house fire in Maribel Monday night.

Fire crews say an explosion in the basement of a home on LeCaptain Road is what caused the fire.

The Red Cross was on scene and is assisting the family.

Fire crews from Michicot, Maribel, Two Creeks, and Tisch Mills responded.

 

A card making event hosted at a church in Neenah was held to honor the victims of the Trestle Trail shooting, May 11, 2015.

GREEN BAY – Lambeau Field will open its doors to the fans for Brett Favre’s Packers Hall of Fame induction ceremony this summer.

Starting Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., fans can purchase tickets to watch Favre’s induction ceremony live on the TundraVision video boards from the Lambeau Field seating bowl on Saturday, July 18.

Favre will make an appearance in the bowl to address the crowd during the ceremony around 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $4.00 each and net proceeds from the ticket sales will benefit Favre 4 Hope.

Parking will also be priced at $4.00 in Lambeau Field’s west-side parking lot, which will open at 4:30 p.m. Gates to the seating areas will open at 5:15 p.m.

A limit of eight tickets per order has been established.

Fans can purchase tickets online on Ticketmaster.com or by phone, at 1-800-745-3000. The toll-free Ticketmaster Express number, 1-866-448-7849, also can be used.

The banquet and ceremony will be held inside the Lambeau Field Atrium. More than 1,600 will attend the sold-out event.

Favre will also be honored this season at the Packers’ home game against the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving night, when his name and number will be formally unveiled inside the stadium.

 

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says five elk recently transferred to the state from Kentucky have died from a tick-borne disease.

The agency said Monday the elk died last month in a quarantine pen in Jackson County. The dead elk included one adult cow, which carried an unborn calf, and four yearlings.

The DNR says the animals died of a disease caused by parasites spread by ticks, including the deer tick.

State wildlife officials presume the elk were bitten by ticks after their arrival in Wisconsin. The dead animals were part of a shipment of 26 elk brought to Wisconsin in late March as part of a reintroduction effort.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/1dXN6xJ ) reports the elk are being held until they complete a quarantine, probably in early June.

KIMBERLY – Could your child get by without a cell phone?

Would your child agree to try?

At J.R. Gerritts Middle School in Kimberly, Operation Cell Phone is in effect.

Some students have voluntarily given up their cell phones for a week.

“That’s a long time without your phone. But, I gave it a second thought and it turned out that it might not be too bad of an idea because this generation is so attached with their phones,” said middle school student Phillip DeGroot.

The middle school students belong to Generation Z – also called the “New Silent Generation”.

They’ve never known a world without Internet and texting is a way of life.

“I just find it easier to do it over a screen because you don’t actually have to talk,” DeGroot said.

And phones are popular among teenagers, here’s the straight story.

The Pew Research Center 2014 numbers show 95 percent of teens use the Internet.

Seventy-eight percent of teens have a cell phone and texting is the most popular form of communication.

Seventy-five percent of all teens text.

So, where did the “Operation Cell Phone” idea come from? The principal says it was started by a group of 8th graders a couple of months ago and after that, the students started planning.

“This was an item they started talking about and decided to try an experiment to see if kids can live without their cell phones,” said J.R. Gerritts Middle School Principal Eric Brinkmann.

Of the 751 students at the middle school, 44 students are participating in project.

But what about those students who aren’t giving up their phones?

“I didn’t really want to because I didn’t know what I would really do without by phone because I use it to contact my friends,” said middle school student Tyler Mader.

“I have volleyball practice… so I need it for rides. I need to have that communication,” said middle school student Tianna Wollin.

While powering down might not be easy, some students hope the small break from technology will help them connect to the people around them.

“I’m really hoping that I learn how to not just always go to my phone because whenever I find myself in an awkward situation or feel uncomfortable, I’ll just pull out my phone,” said middle school student Becca Best.

Students participating in the project can get their phones back at any time otherwise all phones will be returned to students next Monday.

MADISON – As legislators continue to consider changes to Gov. Scott Walker’s two-year state budget proposal, the leading Assembly Republican on the budget committee expects the panel will vote next week to accept, reject or change Walker’s plan to cut state aid for K-12 schools by $127 million in the first year.

Some lawmakers have pledged to eliminate that cut.

“Doing away with the governor’s proposed reduction in the first year of the K-12 budget and look to provide a small increase in the second year for public education,” said State Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, a co-chair of the Joint Finance Committee.

Nygren explained that the money can come from another part of the budget proposal. The governor wanted to set aside money in the following budget to reduce property tax rates, by making a double payment to the school levy credit.

Nygren wants to save $106 million by making a customary single payment, putting that money toward schools in this budget. Nygren says the budget committee has already cut $35 million out of the governor’s budget plan so some of that money can also go toward schools.

State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, a member of the Joint Finance Committee, says further budget questions remain surrounding public education.

“What they’ve proposed for K-12 would really impact our ability to educate our kids,” said Hintz. “Funding it back to zero would be good, but the reality is, what are they going to do with vouchers? What are they going to do with local revenue limits?”

The governor has proposed to give more students across the state money to attend private schools. Walker wants to eliminate the 1,000-student limit on the statewide voucher program. Money to pay for new voucher students would come out of the budget of public schools losing students.

Nygren says UW system funding may not be voted on until the last week of the month. Some Republican legislators have said they’ll work to decrease the governor’s proposed $300 million cut to the state’s universities.

“Not only reducing the cut as much as we possibly can, but also providing them flexibilities to be able to manage the reductions,” said Nygren.

Hintz says the governor’s budget proposal shows Walker has different priorities than most Wisconsin families.

“These are choices, and these are priorities,” said Hintz. “I think they’re the wrong ones. We need to put education and opportunity first and foremost, and we should fund those things.”

If all of the committee votes on the budget are done by the end of the month, the full Assembly and Senate can debate the budget in the middle of June.

After the budget passes the legislature, then it’s up to the governor to accept it, reject it, or what happens most often — change specific parts of the nearly $70 billion plan. Nygren expects the entire process will be finished before the new budget cycle begins July 1.

The Joint Finance Committee meets Tuesday morning at the state Capitol. The agenda includes funding for public broadcasting and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

MENASHA – Every year around Mother’s Day, a visitor from depths of Lake Winnebago makes its return.

And, on time, millions of lake flies are clouding the skies around Menasha.

At Jefferson Park, Harlin Brooks is fishing for crappies. He says the lake flies Monday aren’t that bad.

“They were pretty heavy this weekend. They look like little black clouds. Sitting on all the buildings and stuff. There was a lot of them,” said Harlin Brooks, Kimberly.

Just down the road, Dan Frost is dodging raindrops, and lake flies too.

“You just deal with it. You have a vacuum cleaner handy, and close the foyer area off, and try to keep them contained to the entry of your home,” said Dan Frost, Town of Menasha.

And at Waverly Beach on Lake Winnebago’s north shore, Douglas Schneider says Mother’s Day and lake flies go hand in hand.

“The hatch this year was compared to years past, has been fairly mild. In fact, probably one of the best years as far as quantity is concerned. They’re still pretty pesty,” said Douglas Schneider, Waverly Beach Owner.

Biologists say the Lake Winnebago emergence started about a week ago. Southeasterly winds pushed the flies from Oshkosh, north.

“And it also affects where that egg deposition is going to take place. Because they cannot fly very well, and they have to deposit their eggs out on the water,” said Scott Koehnke, D.N.R. Water Management Specialist.

Koehnke says from birds to sturgeon, the flies are an important part of the Lake Winnebago food chain.

And while the bugs are relatively harmless, the swarms can be messy.

“They have no mouth parts. They can’t bite you, but they can irritate you,” said Koehnke.

Harlin Brooks says he doesn’t mind sharing his fishing spot.

“You could put up with them. Just got to be patient with them a little bit, they’ll go away,” he said.

The D.N.R. says the cool temperatures could extend the lake fly season another week.

Warm, dry conditions typically cause the bugs to die sooner.

The Green Bay Packers have announced they have signed CB Quinten Rollins and C/G Andy Phillips and released DT Luther Robinson.

Rollins was the Packers’ second-round pick from Miami (Ohio), where he played one year of football after playing point guard on the basketball team for four seasons.

Phillips, 23, started 43 games at Central Michigan, with 38 coming at left guard and five at center. He earned first-team All-Mid-American Conference honors as a senior and was named second-team All-MAC as well as CMU’s Offensive Upfront Player of the Year as a junior. In 2012, Phillips helped anchor an offensive line that allowed just 15 sacks, which ranked No. 17 in the nation.

Robinson signed with the Packers as a non-drafted free agent on May 19, 2014, after participating in the team’s rookie orientation camp on a tryout basis. He spent the first four games of the 2014 season on Green Bay’s practice squad before being signed to the 53-man roster on Oct. 2. Robinson played in five games before being placed on injured reserve on Dec. 8.

NEW YORK — The NFL suspended Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady for the first four games of the season, fined the New England Patriots $1 million and took away two draft picks Monday as punishment for deflating footballs used in the AFC title game.

The league also indefinitely suspended the two equipment staffers believed to have carried out the plan, including one who called himself “The Deflator.”

A league-authorized investigation by attorney Ted Wells found that Brady “was at least generally aware” of plans by two Patriots employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

The Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 and went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

Brady will miss the season’s showcase kickoff game on Sept. 10 against Pittsburgh, then Week 2 at Buffalo, a home game against Jacksonville and a game at Dallas. He will return the week the Patriots face the Colts in Indianapolis.

The Patriots lose next year’s first-round pick and a fourth-round choice in 2017.

The fine matches the largest the NFL has handed out, to Ed DeBartolo Jr., then the San Francisco 49ers’ owner, who pleaded guilty to a felony in his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal in 1999.

It’s the second time in eight years the Patriots have been punished for violating league rules. In 2007, the team was fined $500,000 and docked a first-round draft pick, and coach Bill Belichick was fined $250,000 for videotaping opposing coaches as a way to decipher their play signals.

In his 243-page report released by the league last week, Wells found that the team broke the rules again, this time by deflating the game footballs after they had been checked by officials. Although the report did not conclusively link the four-time Super Bowl champion to the illegal activity, text messages between the equipment staffers indicated that Brady knew it was going on. Investigators said Brady’s explanation for the messages was implausible.

“It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady’s knowledge and approval,” the report said.

Although Brady has issued only general statements in his defense, his agent, Don Yee, said the report omitted key facts and was “a significant and terrible disappointment.”

The NFL allows each team to provide the footballs used by its offense – a procedure Brady played a role in creating – but it requires them to be inflated in that range of 12.5-13.5 pounds per square inch. Footballs with less pressure can be easier to grip and catch, and Brady has expressed a preference for the lower end of the range.

Brady said last week that the scandal hasn’t taken away from the team’s 28-24 Super Bowl win over Seattle – its fourth NFL title since the 2001 season.

“Absolutely not,” he said at a previously planned appearance in Salem, Massachusetts, last Thursday night. “We earned everything we got and achieved as a team, and I am proud of that and so are our fans.”

Fans chanted “Brady” and “MVP,” then gave him a standing ovation as he entered the arena in the town made famous by the colonial witch trials. Since the airing of the scandal in the hours after the Colts game, New England fans have been unwavering in their support for the team, blaming the investigation on grudges by opponents jealous of the team’s success.

NEW YORK (AP) – The NFL suspended Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady for the first four games of the season, fined the New England Patriots $1 million and took away two draft picks Monday as punishment for deflating footballs used in the AFC title game.

The league also indefinitely suspended the two equipment staffers believed to have carried out the plan, including one who called himself “The Deflator.”

A league-authorized investigation by attorney Ted Wells found that Brady “was at least generally aware” of plans by two Patriots employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch.

The Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45-7 and went on to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.

Brady will miss the season’s showcase kickoff game on Sept. 10 against Pittsburgh, then Week 2 at Buffalo, a home game against Jacksonville and a game at Dallas. He will return the week the Patriots face the Colts in Indianapolis.

The Patriots lose next year’s first-round pick and a fourth-round choice in 2017.

The fine matches the largest the NFL has handed out, to Ed DeBartolo Jr., then the San Francisco 49ers’ owner, who pleaded guilty to a felony in his role in a Louisiana gambling scandal in 1999.

It’s the second time in eight years the Patriots have been punished for violating league rules. In 2007, the team was fined $500,000 and docked a first-round draft pick, and coach Bill Belichick was fined $250,000 for videotaping opposing coaches as a way to decipher their play signals.

In his 243-page report released by the league last week, Wells found that the team broke the rules again, this time by deflating the game footballs after they had been checked by officials. Although the report did not conclusively link the four-time Super Bowl champion to the illegal activity, text messages between the equipment staffers indicated that Brady knew it was going on. Investigators said Brady’s explanation for the messages was implausible.

“It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady’s knowledge and approval,” the report said.

Although Brady has issued only general statements in his defense, his agent, Don Yee, said the report omitted key facts and was “a significant and terrible disappointment.”

The NFL allows each team to provide the footballs used by its offense – a procedure Brady played a role in creating – but it requires them to be inflated in that range of 12.5-13.5 pounds per square inch. Footballs with less pressure can be easier to grip and catch, and Brady has expressed a preference for the lower end of the range.

Brady said last week that the scandal hasn’t taken away from the team’s 28-24 Super Bowl win over Seattle – its fourth NFL title since the 2001 season.

“Absolutely not,” he said at a previously planned appearance in Salem, Massachusetts, last Thursday night. “We earned everything we got and achieved as a team, and I am proud of that and so are our fans.”

Fans chanted “Brady” and “MVP,” then gave him a standing ovation as he entered the arena in the town made famous by the colonial witch trials. Since the airing of the scandal in the hours after the Colts game, New England fans have been unwavering in their support for the team, blaming the investigation on grudges by opponents jealous of the team’s success.