Green Bay News

EDITOR’S NOTE: On May 7, 1945, AP Paris bureau chief Edward Kennedy broke one of the biggest stories of that century: the unconditional surrender of Germany to the Allies at a former school house in Reims, France.

Instead of receiving praise, Kennedy was quietly dismissed.

The reason: The veteran reporter was accused of breaking a pledge that he and 16 other correspondents had made to keep the surrender secret for a time, as a condition of being allowed to witness it. This was done so Russian dictator Josef Stalin could formally announce the defeat in Berlin.

Kennedy viewed the embargo as a political security issue, rather than a military one, and felt compelled to report the surrender, especially after learning that German radio had already broadcast the news.

In 2012, almost 50 years after Kennedy’s death, then-AP President and CEO Tom Curley apologized for the way the company had treated the journalist.

Seventy years after the scoop, the AP is making Kennedy’s original story and photographs available.

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In this March 1, 1944 file photo, Ed Kennedy, Chief of the Associated Press staff in North Africa, wears a metal helmet at the Anzio beachhead in Italy. Kennedy was dismissed by The AP after he became the first journalist to file a firsthand account of German officials surrendering unconditionally to Allied commanders at a former schoolhouse in Reims, France. Sixty-seven years later, AP President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Curley said that Kennedy was right to stand up to the censors, and should have been commended, not fired. (AP Photo/Pool)

REIMS, France (AP) — Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Western allies and the Soviet Union at 2:41 a.m. French time today. (This was at 8:41 p.m. Eastern war time Sunday, May 6, 1945.)

The surrender took place at a little red school house that is the headquarters of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The surrender was signed for the Supreme Allied Command by Lt. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, chief of staff for Gen. Eisenhower.

It was also signed by Gen. Ivan Susloparov of the Soviet Union and by Gen. Francois Sevez for France.

Gen. Eisenhower was not present at the signing, but immediately afterward Gen. Alfred Jodl and his fellow delegate, Gen. Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg, were received by the supreme commander.

They were asked sternly if they understood the surrender terms imposed upon Germany and if they would be carried out by Germany.

They answered yes.

Germany, which began the war with a ruthless attack upon Poland, followed by successive aggressions and brutality in concentration camps, surrendered with an appeal to the victors for mercy toward the German people and armed forces.

After signing the full surrender, Gen. Jodl said he wanted to speak and received leave to do so.

“With this signature,” he said in soft-spoken German, “the German people and armed forces are for better or worse delivered into the victor’s hands.

“In this war, which has lasted more than five years, both have achieved and suffered more than perhaps any other people in the world.”

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The AP Corporate Archives contributed to this report.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Milwaukee police officer who was fired for improper procedure in the lead-up to a fatal shooting has started the process to appeal his firing in circuit court.

Christopher Manney has filed a notice with the Fire and Police Commission, which certifies the case records and sends them to the court and that starts the action. The commission has five days to do that.

Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney for inappropriately frisking the mentally ill Dontre Hamilton in a downtown park in April 2014. Manney was checking on Hamilton’s welfare, but it turned into a confrontation in which Hamilton allegedly grabbed Manney’s baton and hit him.

The commissioners upheld Flynn’s decision last month. Manney filed the notice Tuesday.

Neither the Milwaukee union president or Manney’s attorney immediately returned calls Thursday.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Victims from a 51-twister outbreak across Tornado Alley sifted through rubble Thursday while forecasters issued ominous forecasts for the coming days.

Tornadoes hit Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and north Texas on Wednesday. Most were small and chewed up only farmland, but a pair crossed into Oklahoma City and damaged homes and businesses. A few injuries were reported — including about a dozen at an Oklahoma City trailer park — and one woman drowned in an underground storm shelter that flooded.

“There is a hotel on Interstate 35 that sustained major damage_it just looks destroyed,” said Oklahoma Police Sergeant Gary Knight. “We’ve been going room to room.”

The Storm Prediction Center had warned that severe weather would come to Tornado Alley and said more storms were possible later in the week. Meteorologist John Hart said the greatest threat for severe weather Thursday was in southern Oklahoma and North Texas. Even two days out, the center was warning of a “moderate risk” of severe storms Saturday from the high plains of Kansas to the Red River area north of Dallas, including much of western Oklahoma.

“The conditions are right; it’s the right time of year,” forecaster John Hart said. “There are just a lot of things that make you think over the next three days there will probably be big tornadoes across the southern Plains.”

Grady County authorities said Wednesday that a tornado destroyed 25 homes in Bridge Creek, a community southwest of Oklahoma City.

Throughout the region, flooding was a concern after 5-8 inches fell, said Forrest Mitchell, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman. The 7.1 inches that fell at the Oklahoma City airport easily eclipsed the previous daily high of 2.61 inches, he said.

Oklahoma City spokeswoman Kristy Yager said the heavy rains prompted the city to issue its first flash flood emergency.

Lara O’Leary, a spokeswoman for Emergency Medical Services Authority, said ambulances responded to water rescues “all over” the Oklahoma City metro area. Two ambulance crews required also assistance after getting stuck in high water, she said.

Police Sgt. Gary Knight said the body of a 42-year-old Oklahoma City woman was found Thursday morning in a flooded underground storm shelter. She apparently drowned after taking cover there, he said.

Lt. John Vincent of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said early Thursday that troopers responded to many emergency calls for stranded vehicles overnight and that all stuck vehicles have been checked for trapped motorists. He said all flooded roads have reopened except for the H.E. Bailey Turnpike, which is partially closed.

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Associated Press writer Allen Reed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A couple gave their teenage daughters cocaine and marijuana if they went to school and did household chores, authorities said.

Chad and Joey Mudd, of Largo, a suburb in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, gave their daughters, ages 13 and 14, drugs as a “bargaining tool” for school attendance and doing chores, Pinellas County Sheriff’s detectives said. They were arrested Monday.

According to an affidavit, the mother said she smoked pot with her daughters five times and the father snorted cocaine with the teens and one of his daughter’s boyfriends in his truck.

Chad Mudd, the 36-year-old father who works at an area beach bar, was charged with six counts of child abuse and one count of possession of cocaine. Joey Mudd, the girls’ 34-year-old mom, was charged with two counts of child abuse. Arrest records say she works at a pediatrician’s office.

Joey Mudd was released Wednesday on bail and Chad Mudd was released Thursday on bail. Calls to telephone numbers belonging to the Mudds weren’t answered. It’s unclear if they’ve retained an attorney.

It’s not clear who has taken custody of the children. The sheriff’s office hasn’t immediately returned a telephone call.

MADISON (AP) – Assembly Republicans moved forward Thursday with a proposal that would ensure that scores on statewide tests given to public school children this spring aren’t used against teachers or put on report cards measuring school performance.

And the chairman of the Assembly Education Committee circulated another bill making it easier for children to avoid taking the exams altogether in future years.

The proposals are in reaction to the flawed roll out of the Badger Exam this year, a test that was beset with a variety of problems that led to widespread criticism from parents, school districts, state policymakers and Gov. Scott Walker.

In reaction, the Legislature is moving forward with a bill that would result in no school report cards being issued in the fall with test results. The scores would also not be used to measure the effectiveness of teachers. The results would still be publicly available through the Department of Public Instruction and reported to the federal government to meet testing requirements.

The Senate has already passed the bill. The Assembly Education Committee voted unanimously to advance it Thursday so the full Assembly could vote on it next week.

A separate bill, unveiled Thursday, would make it easier for parents to choose not to have their children take statewide tests. The measure, by Assembly Education Committee chairman Rep. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, would require schools to send a letter to parents once a year listing all the standardized tests that are to be given and explain the process for opting out.

Thiesfeldt, of Fond du Lac, said his goal was to make clear that students in all grades can choose not to take any of the tests, citing confusion with current law that only specifies students in those grades that had been given the previous statewide test can opt out.

The bill would further require districts to provide a summary of the tests that will be given, including the purpose of the exam, when it will be given and how the results will be used.

The measure would also remove the penalty reflected on school report cards for districts that fail to have at least 95 percent of students take the required test.

The new Badger Exam was given this spring to all public school students in grades 3-8, as well as students attending private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Schools have until May 22 to complete the tests, which cover English and math.

The exam has drawn widespread criticism from parents and schools about whether the results would be used because of implementation problems that led to delays, a writing portion of the language arts section being deleted and a key interactive feature being dropped because it didn’t work right.

Because the test is tied to the more rigorous Common Core academic standards, scores were expected to be lower than they had been in previous years. That, along with implementation problems, also raised concerns about how the results would be viewed and used.

Walker proposed dropping the test after this year and moving to a new one.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) – A man accused of robbing a Virginia Beach bank posted two videos and a photo of the incident to his Instagram account.

Police tell WAVY-TV that 23-year-old Dominyk Antonio Alfonseca walked into a TowneBank on Monday and handed the teller a note asking for $150,000 in bonds – and including the word “please.” He recorded the incident on his cellphone and posted videos and photo of the note online. Videos show the teller putting stacks of cash in a bag.

Officers picked up Alfonseca 20 minutes after he left, carrying a gym bag full of money.

In a jailhouse interview, Alfonseca told the station Wednesday that asking for money isn’t a crime. Alfonseca says he believes he’ll be found innocent. He says he wouldn’t have posted if he’d committed a crime.

It was unclear whether he had a lawyer to contact for further comment.

NEW YORK (AP) — Taya Dunn Johnson has been living large online for years, embracing Facebook, Twitter and other social streams to frequently share her most mundane and intimate moments.

Her husband — her high school sweetheart and an IT specialist — was an offline kind of guy, though he was surrounded by post-happy loved ones, colleagues and friends and had no problem with that.

Then he died suddenly of a heart attack at age 37 and his wife found herself entrenched in what just might be the last frontier for privacy, his funeral.

“I held two services and had to ask several people not to take photos of his casket,” said Johnson, a 38-year-old administrative assistant who lives in Baltimore with her 6-year-old son. “The idea of it disturbed me. Days later, I noticed several people had ‘checked-in’ from the funeral home on a couple of platforms.”

Actively using social media as she did when tragedy struck in 2012, and as she still does, Johnson understands why Facebook exec Sheryl Sandberg asked mourners, tech powerhouses included, to stay off social media from her husband David Goldberg’s memorial service Tuesday.

“It’s a slippery slope,” Johnson said. “We share everything from our new car to our meal to our new dress. Somehow those things have become interchangeable with death.”

Ann Bacciaglia, a customer support worker for a large corporation in Ottawa, was also an avid social media user when her husband of 18 years died suddenly of an undiagnosed brain cyst in 2011. He was 44.

Like Johnson’s husband, he had no interest in social streams, which didn’t keep Bacciaglia from announcing his death on Twitter. It never occurred to her to ask their loved ones to refrain from pulling out their phones at his funeral. None did.

In the year after his death, she publicly blogged about her grief and leaned even more heavily on her online followers and friends for support. Other young widows reached out, and helping them through their losses was her best medicine.

“Social media just wasn’t something my husband saw the point of, but it’s a huge part of how I grieved and continues to be very important to me,” Bacciaglia said.

Offline or on Facebook, crass is crass when it comes to funerals and memorial services, said David Ryan Polgar, a lawyer and former college professor in West Hartford, Connecticut, who blogs about tech and ethics.

“Would you want to see Google Glass at a funeral? Nothing can replace that human connection,” he said. “There are certain times for a heightened awareness, a need to stay in the moment, and a funeral is one of them.”

Walker Posey, a funeral director in South Carolina and a spokesman for the National Funeral Directors Association, said tech definitely has its place in the mourning process but selfies from cemeteries aren’t among them. Unfortunate use of social media, however, is not something most funeral directors routinely need to address, he said.

His funeral home in North Augusta includes this etiquette suggestion on its website just in case: “Don’t infringe on the family’s right to privacy. In today’s world of social media and technology, it is essential to remember that these tools are a way of showing support and care for the family who is experiencing grief. The use of technology and social media to post anything which may violate the family’s right to privacy or ability to properly grieve must be avoided.”

Sometimes the violators are the most grief stricken. A Facebook user once posted a photo of himself at the cemetery with his mother’s casket behind him. Another put up a photo of her mother’s will in a status update about her role as executor of the estate.

Posting is one thing, Posey said, but web tech can be valuable to the bereaved. His funeral home and others around the country offer livestreams of funerals and memorials as a way for far-flung loved ones to be connected. He sets up 30 to 40 webcasts a year, including one from the funeral of a grandmother so her two grandsons serving in the military in Iraq could be virtually present.

“Bringing a casserole to the house is a great thing but if you can’t, these things can be just as meaningful. Not everybody can attend but leaving a message on a memorial site, for example, can still help and have an impact,” Posey said.

Molly Kalan has looked deeply into social media and mourning. She wrote her master’s thesis on the subject, delving into how grief is expressed online.

“I think that social media platforms provide a great opportunity for anyone to express condolences, especially if they don’t feel comfortable doing so otherwise. However, the implications are worth considering. What this study showed me was that sometimes we are engaging in these behaviors in a way that pushes us further from confronting mortality and allowing ourselves to feel the discomfort of thinking about death and grief,” said Kalan, who lives in Boston.

Offline, fiddling with phones at funerals is a big issue, said Lesly Devereaux, an ordained minister, grief counselor and writer of devotional books in Piscataway, New Jersey. While officiating, she has rarely needed to head off casket selfies or unauthorized tweeting, but phones pose a problem.

“I’ve had to say, ‘Put your phones away.’ Phones rings, people are texting, people are just not being focused on what they’re there for,” she said. “But social media does have its place in reaching out for support.”

The 47-year-old Goldberg, CEO of SurveyMonkey, died Friday when he slipped on a treadmill and struck his head while on a family vacation in Mexico, according to officials there.

While Sandberg asked mourners not to post live from his memorial, she took to Facebook soon after to offer thanks for an outpouring of support.

It was a long post — shared more than 18,000 times in just hours.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) – The NFL was determined to blame Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for deflated footballs in the AFC title game, and the investigation omitted key facts and buried others, Brady’s agent said Thursday.

Don Yee said the report prepared by NFL-appointed investigator Ted Wells was “a significant and terrible disappointment.”

The 243-page report found that two Patriots employees violated rules covering game balls, and that Brady was “at least generally aware” of the plans to doctor the footballs to his liking. The report found some of Brady’s claims were “implausible,” adding: “It is unlikely that an equipment assistant and a locker room attendant would deflate game balls without Brady’s knowledge and approval.”

Yee said the report “reached a conclusion first, and then determined so-called facts later,” and said Wells’ firm makes a lot of money from the NFL and put out a report that benefits the league.

Yee didn’t elaborate on how blaming the NFL’s biggest star for the embarrassing story that dominated the news in the run-up to the Super Bowl helped the league.

The Patriots defeated the Seahawks in the Super Bowl, and Brady was the MVP.

Yee emphasized that the league should not have allowed a sting in a playoff game.

“What does it say about the league office’s protocols and ethics when it allows one team to tip it off to an issue prior to a championship game, and no league officials or game officials notified the Patriots of the same issue prior to the game?” Yee said. “This suggests it may be more probable than not that the league cooperated with the Colts in perpetrating a sting operation.”

Yee also said the investigators didn’t understand football and left out key parts of Brady’s testimony.

“It is a sad day for the league as it has abdicated the resolution of football-specific issues to people who don’t understand the context or culture of the sport,” said Yee, who was present for Brady’s interview.

Brady has been able to shrug off previous controversies: The “Tuck Rule” non-fumble, the Patriots’ illegal videotaping, his name popping up in baseball’s steroid investigation, an out-of-wedlock child with the actress he jilted before marrying the world’s richest supermodel.

But the deflated footballs investigation might do what none of the other controversies and near-misses could: tarnish the legacy of a four-time Super Bowl champion.

“What I see is that he goes from being ‘Tom Perfect’ to ‘Tom Not-So-Perfect’ in some people’s eyes,” Marc Ganis, president of sports business consulting firm SportsCorp, said Wednesday.

The findings were forwarded to the league’s disciplinary chief for potential punishment. Brady could be fined or face a suspension that would keep him out of Week 1 – the marquee league opener at which the Super Bowl banner would traditionally be raised.

The Patriots did not respond to a request for a comment from Brady or coach Bill Belichick, who was exonerated in the report. The team canceled a previously scheduled availability for Thursday.

Brady was scheduled to appear at a Q&A at Salem State University Thursday night.

Owner Bob Kraft issued a spirited statement in defense of his team and questioned Wells’ conclusions. “To say we are disappointed in its findings, which do not include any incontrovertible or hard evidence of deliberate deflation of footballs at the AFC Championship Game, would be a gross understatement,” he said.

But Wells concluded there was no plausible explanation for the deflated footballs except deliberate tampering. And text messages to and about Brady led the investigator to conclude that he was aware, if not more actively involved, in the scheme.

Regardless of his punishment, Brady’s legacy is now tied to the scandal. But the main effect of that, Ganis said, could be to solidify opinions that are already largely entrenched: Opposing fans will continue to doubt him, and fans in New England, where he was once seen as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, will rally to his defense.

“As far as his marketability goes, he is still arguably the most marketable player in the NFL,” said Ganis, who grew up a New York Jets fans and is now based in Chicago.

“Tom Brady has been the face of the NFL, with Peyton Manning, for a number of years. He has been an extraordinary ambassador, with cross-over popularity,” he said. “If this is all there is, it will be something that is talked about him when he is elected to the Hall of Fame.”

NEW YORK (AP) — The bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the government exceeds what Congress has allowed, a federal appeals court said Thursday as it asked Congress to step in and decide how best to protect national security and privacy interests.

Secret NSA documents leaked in 2013 to journalists by contractor Edward Snowden revealed that the agency was collecting phone records and digital communications of millions of citizens not suspected of crimes and prompting congressional reform. Snowden remains exiled in Russia.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan permitted the National Security Agency program to continue temporarily as it exists, and all but pleaded for Congress to better define where the boundaries exist.

“In light of the asserted national security interests at stake, we deem it prudent to pause to allow an opportunity for debate in Congress that may (or may not) profoundly alter the legal landscape,” the opinion written by Circuit Judge Gerald Lynch said.

“If Congress decides to authorize the collection of the data desired by the government under conditions identical to those now in place, the program will continue in the future under that authorization,” the ruling said. “If Congress decides to institute a substantially modified program, the constitutional issues will certainly differ considerably from those currently raised.”

The appeals judges said the issues raised in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union illustrated the complexity of balancing privacy interests with the nation’s security.

A lower court judge in December had thrown out the case, saying the program was a necessary extension to security measures taken after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The appeals court, which heard two hours of arguments by lawyers in December, said the lower court had erred in ruling that the phone records collection program was authorized in the manner it was being carried out.

During the December arguments, the judges said the case would likely be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

A spokeswoman for government lawyers in New York declined to comment Thursday.

The ACLU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

MADISON (AP) – A Senate committee has voted not to recommend a bill that would eliminate the state’s prevailing wage law, but that doesn’t mean it’s dead.

A Senate committee on labor and government reform voted Thursday not to advance a bill that would eliminate the state’s prevailing wage law on a 3-2 vote. Under the current law, workers on state or local public projects and highway projects must be paid wages equivalent to what they would earn working on other projects in the area.

The bill can still go to the Senate for a vote without the committee’s recommendation, but Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald on Wednesday said its chances were “murky.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has said he doesn’t have the votes in the Assembly to pass a repeal.

MADISON (AP) – An appeals court says a judge properly ruled against a Deerfield couple who sued a nursing home claiming a painkiller patch their child found there killed him.

Brian and Melissa Seamonson and their 2-year-old son, Blake, visited Blake’s great-grandmother at the Nazareth Health and Rehabilitation Center in 2011. The couple discovered Blake dead in bed two days later.

An autopsy found Blake died from ingesting a fentanyl patch. The couple sued, alleging Blake found the patch at the home, amounting to infliction of emotional distress.

A Madison judge ruled for the home last year. The 4th District Court of Appeals upheld that decision Thursday, saying the couple had to witness Blake’s death soon after it occurred to prevail and it’s unclear how much time passed before they found the body.

NEW RICHMOND (AP) – Three inmates from a state corrections boot camp in New Richmond have walked away from the facility, prompting the local school district to cancel classes.

Mayor Fred Horne said Thursday three inmates from the St. Croix County Correctional Center in New Richmond left the minimum-security facility overnight. The center operates the Challenge Incarceration Program, which includes manual work assignments and discipline.

Horne says police have told him the community is not necessarily at risk, but that residents should be aware of their surroundings, lock their doors and report anything suspicious.

New Richmond School District Superintendent Jeff Moberg said on the district’s website that school is canceled Thursday so more information can be gathered about the situation.

MADISON (AP) – The Legislature’s finance committee is set to consider whether to go along with Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to raise state park admission and camping fees.

The governor’s budget proposal calls for an end to funding park operations with tax dollars and make the parks self-sustaining through fees and sponsorships.

His budget calls for raising annual entrance fees for state residents and non-residents by $3 and nightly state park and forest camping fees by $2. The state Department of Natural Resources has indicated it would consider selling naming rights to state parks as well.

The finance committee is expected to vote on whether to adopt Walker’s plan during a meeting Thursday.

GREEN BAY –  Thursday, May 7th is a National Day of Action when health experts encourage you to “Roll Up Your Sleeves!” President and CEO of Prevea Health Dr. Ashok Rai joined us on Good Day Wisconsin to talk about the importance of getting our blood pressure checked regularly.

Why should we “roll up our sleeves” and get our blood pressure checked regularly?

• High blood pressure (hypertension) is one of the most important risk factors for heart and kidney disease, stroke and diabetes complications.  • Nearly 1 out of 3 American adults has high blood pressure.  • Out of the 68 million people with high blood pressure, only half have the condition under control

Getting your blood pressure checked is quick and painless.

Prevea Health providers check the blood pressure of every single patient at every single appointment. Rachel, let’s see how you’re doing today. As Dr. Rai puts pressure cuff on Rachel, he explains what numbers someone with “good” blood pressure should be at. Then, he gives Rachel her results, along with a small “reward.”

 What are some ways we can reduce the risks of high blood pressure?

• Maintain a healthy weight • Exercise regularly • Eat a healthy diet • Reduce your salt intake • Limit alcohol • Don’t smoke and avoid tobacco • Cut back on caffeine • Reduce stress • Monitor blood pressure

BROWN COUNTY – The Brown County district attorney tells FOX 11 Investigates he is planning to file charges against former DARE officer Kevin Vanden Heuvel.

District Attorney David Lasee would not say exactly what the charges will be but he expects to file them in the next few weeks.

Vanden Heuvel spent 20 years with the Brown County DARE program.

DARE receives much of its funding from parking cars in the former KMart lot on on Packers gamedays. In 2008, FOX 11 ran an in depth report on the DARE parking program and found that the lot generated $230-thousand dollars a season.

The district attorney says the charges are related to what he calls inappropriate actions with money from the DARE program.

“The sheriff’s department has referred charges and referred reports over to our office on former DARE officer Kevin Vanden Heuvel so the reports and the referral have made it to our office relatively recently,” Lasee said.

When asked if he will file charges at some point, Lasee replied, “I do anticipate that charges will be filed.”

Tune in to FOX 11 News at Nine for the full report.

MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – Michigan wildlife policymakers are preparing to consider options for boosting the whitetail deer population in the Upper Peninsula, which has dropped as much as 40 percent after two bitterly cold and snowy winters.

The Natural Resources Commission will discuss the situation on Thursday at its meeting in Ingham County’s Meridian Township, near Lansing. The commission sets bag limits and other hunting regulations.

A Department of Natural Resources memo lists six options, including canceling this year’s U.P. deer season. Spokesman Ed Golder says it’s doubtful the commission will go that far.

The report says many hunters want something done after the peninsula’s lowest deer numbers in about 30 years.

Other options include is limiting antlerless deer hunting.

About 100,000 people typically participate in the U.P. deer hunt.

STURGEON BAY –  Diamonds and pearls. Gold and silver.  If the mom in your life likes jewelry, she might love a custom piece from Samara Jewelry Designs in Sturgeon Bay.  Owner and designer Samara Christian says they specialize in that personal touch. “We will talk with a customer, find out what they are looking for, draw up sketches, carve the wax model, find the perfect gem and make the completed piece,” says Christian.  Christian picked out a selection of pearls to feature for Mother’s Day, from Chinese pearls set in sterling silver to black Tahitian pearls in a custom setting of white and yellow gold.  This year, Christian says she especially likes working with rose gold and chocolate pearls.

SAMARA JEWELRY DESIGNS
33N 3rd Ave
Sturgeon Bay
(920) 743-6036

MIDDLETON, Wis. (AP) – The company best known for its orange-handled scissors plans to build a new headquarters in Middleton for its operations in the Americas.

Fiskars says the $26 million project will accommodate about 400 employees and is expected to open in the fall of next year. The company expects to add about 55 new jobs at the headquarters.

Fiskars makes consumer products for the home, garden and outdoors. The company will receive up to $800,000 in state tax credits through 2018.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Residents who were evacuated from their homes in a central North Dakota town when an oil train derailed and caught fire have returned.

Wells County Commission Chairman Mark Schmitz says the 20 people who live in Heimdal were allowed to return about 9 p.m. Monday after the fire died down.

Residents were ordered from their homes shortly after the BNSF Railway train derailed Monday morning outside the town, about 115 miles northeast of Bismarck.

No injuries have been reported. The cause of the wreck isn’t known.

The train was hauling crude from the state’s oil patch, raising questions about whether new state standards intended to reduce the volatility of such shipments are sufficient.

Officials also are investigating whether any oil contaminated waterways in the area.

STURGEON BAY – Spend an afternoon in downtown Sturgeon Bay and you’re sure to find something to give your mom on Mother’s Day.  If she likes fashion, Monticello on Jefferson is full of gift ideas.  Shop owner Diane Magolan describes her place as a store all about women. “We love to dress people,” says Magolan. “We put wardrobes together.  We have things that women want.”  For Mother’s Day Magolan offered up several suggestions.  Some of her favorites include vegan handbags by Renee called “Hardwear” and the “Urban MuuMuu’s” she says are great for traveling.  “It was featured on Oprah in 2014 as one of her favorites.  It’s simple to wear. It’s one size. She took it on her trip to Africa, wore it on the plane to sleep in and wore it the next day,” says Magolan,.
Monticello on Jefferson is also featuring pajamas for Mother’s Day that Magolan describes as feeling and looking like “Old Hollywood.”   Magolan showed off a pair of earrings by Alexis Bittar of New York that brings “light up to your face. It has a little twinkle.”   The shop also carries watches, socks, scarves, books and cards.

Monticello on Jefferson
715 Jefferson St
Sturgeon Bay

(920) 746-4100