Green Bay News

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) – Nigeria’s military says it has rescued 234 more girls and women from a Boko Haram forest stronghold in the country’s northeast.

The announcement on the Nigerian Defence Headquarters official Twitter account Saturday brings the number declared rescued this week to more than 677.

It comes as the army deployed ground troops following air raids on Sambisa Forest camps said to be the last holdout of the Islamic extremists.

There have been reports that some women fought the troops, with Boko Haram using them as an armed human shield.

It is not known how many girls, women, boys and men Boko Haram has kidnapped over its 6-year-old rebellion.

ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Rams addressed their biggest pre-NFL draft need in the second round Friday night, taking Wisconsin offensive tackle Rob Havenstein with the 57th overall selection.

“It was definitely a surprise,” Havenstein said. “I’m still kind of speechless right now. It’s an unbelievable opportunity, I’m so excited.”

St. Louis began the draft with six picks after averaging more than nine the previous three years and took Georgia running back Todd Gurley in the first round. They added picks in the third and sixth rounds by trading down 16 picks with Carolina.

The 6-foot-7, 321-pound Havenstein was a three-year starter at right tackle. Wisconsin set a school record last season averaging 320.1 rushing yards, third in the nation. He opened holes last year for Melvin Gordon and before that, Montee Ball.

The Rams have only two offensive line starters back. Veterans Jake Long and Scott Wells were released and tackle Joe Barksdale is an unrestricted free agent.

Gurley is coming off left knee surgery in mid-November and the Rams don’t know if he’ll be ready for the opener. They have plenty of depth with third-round pick Tre Mason rushing for 765 yards and a 4.3-yard average last year and Zac Stacy just missing 1,000 yards as a rookie in 2013.

In his first appearance at Rams Park, Gurley characterized his rehab as “fun,” then amended that to “a little slow.” He’s using Adrian Peterson’s rapid recovery from an ACL tear as inspiration during his climb back to health.

“It’s definitely a grind,” Gurley said. “The biggest thing is just being patient.”

While waiting for his name to be called, the running back said he told some jokes.

“I was like ‘Dang, man, maybe I have bad service in here because there aren’t any teams calling me right now,'” Gurley said.

Gurley was the first running back taken in the first round since 2012, and Rams general manager Les Snead quipped that coach Jeff Fisher “saved the running back.”

Fisher hit it big drafting running backs in the first round when he was with the Titans, getting Eddie George and Chris Johnson. Whenever his knee is ready, Gurley believes playing in a pro-style offense at Georgia will help.

GRAND CHUTE – A report from the state shows tourism rates rose in all 72 Wisconsin counties from 2013 to 2014.

Tourism is vital for Northeast Wisconsin.

“Visitors generate a lot of money in our economy. They generate a lot in the forms of room tax and sales tax that help move our economy forward.,” explained Pam Seidl, Executive Director of the Fox Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau.

And tourism spending is on the rise locally.

Here are the facts:

In Outagamie County direct visitor spending rose by 5.3% from 2013 to 2014. Over the same time, Winnebago County saw a rise of 5.2%. And in Brown County visitor spending rose 5.5%.

“I always say it’s new money. It’s fresh money and it supports businesses and jobs and it’s a great industry,” said Wendy Hielsberg, Executive Director of the Oshkosh Convention & Visitors Bureau Friday.

So what’s bringing the numbers up?

Hielsberg says for her city, it’s events like AirVenture and Rock USA.

“We have a lot of major events, which we’re known for, ‘Wisconsin’s Event City.’ So our events keep us popping,” she told FOX 11.

Hielsberg also credits the relatively new convention center and UW-Oshkosh for generating tourism.

Pam Seidl with the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, told us a lot of factors are a work.

“Business travel is coming back. We’re seeing hotels being more full during the week, which generally indicates business travel,” she said, adding sports tourism locally is driving a lot of dollars.

According to Seidl events like Appleton’s Mile of Music and Oktoberfest are big draws.

She said the rise in airfare actually helps too.

“Destinations that tend to be more of the drive-to destinations, like the entire state of Wisconsin, or the Fox Cities, we’re benefitting from that because people are choosing to drive by car, go to those family-friendly destinations that are more affordable,’ Seidl explained.

Now the trick is keeping up the momentum.

Hielsberg told us focusing on the off-season is a good place to start.

“When you can fill in with 500 or 300 convention attendees mid-week, off-season, it does help,” she said.

The Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau does its own annual study on tourism numbers. The bureau will be releasing those findings on Monday.

Kimberly hosted Kaukauna in a Fox Valley Association softball doubleheader on Friday.

Kaukauna swept the Papermakers by scores of 3-2 and 6-4 to remain perfect on the season.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Federal prosecutors brought charges Friday against three former allies of Gov. Chris Christie — but not Christie himself — in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, apparently easing the legal threat that has hung over his 2016 White House ambitions for more than a year.

One of those charged, David Wildstein, a former high-ranking official at the transportation agency that operates the bridge, pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors, saying he and the other defendants engineered huge traffic jams to get even with a local politician.

Christie was not implicated in court or in the indictments.

“Based on the evidence currently available to us, we’re not going to charge anyone else in this scheme,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said at a news conference.

The Republican governor claimed vindication.

“Today’s charges make clear that what I’ve said from day one is true — I had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or execution of this act,” Christie said in a statement.

While Christie may be out of any immediate legal danger, politically it could be more complicated. The furor has already damaged his standing in the polls, and the charges put the scandal back in the news just as the presidential cycle is getting underway and candidates are jumping into the race.

Wildstein, a former official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, saying he and the other Christie loyalists closed lanes and created gridlock in September 2013 as political payback against a Democratic mayor. He said the three of them also concocted a cover story: It was a traffic study.

The two people he implicated — former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, who was the governor’s top appointee at the Port Authority — were charged with fraud, conspiracy and other offenses in an indictment unsealed later in the day.

Wildstein, 53, has been cooperating with prosecutors for months. He could face about two years in prison at sentencing Aug. 6. The charges against Kelly and Baroni carry much heavier penalties if they are convicted.

Essentially, the three defendants were accused of misusing public resources for political gain.

They “callously victimized” people who were “just trying to get to school or go to work,” Fishman said.

Wildstein gave no indication in court that Christie had any role in the scheme. But after the hearing, his lawyer, Alan Zegas, reiterated a claim he made last year that there’s evidence that Christie knew about it as it happened. He did not go into detail.

Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at New Jersey’s Montclair State University, said the charges are bad news for Christie.

“I would go so far as to say that this really signals a death knell to his presidential aspirations,” she said. “You have key staffers who have been indicted, and one of the things that primary voters look to is: How would a prospective president manage their staff?”

But Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said he does not expect a major effect: “People have already made up their minds as to whether they think it’s a deal or not.”

Some Christie foes have suggested that even if he had no direct role in the plot, his bruising political style created a culture that led members of his administration to think they could get away with such tactics.

Asked about that, Fishman said: “I won’t comment on culture.”

State Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a Democrat who is co-chairman of a committee investigating the scandal, said that with Wildstein’s guilty plea, “the people of New Jersey have more reason to be skeptical of Gov. Christie’s leadership style built upon bullying and retaliation.”

Baroni’s lawyer, Michael Baldassare, said that Baroni will be fully exonerated and that Wildstein is a habitual liar.

Kelly emphatically denied any wrongdoing and said she will work relentlessly to clear her name. “I never ordered or conspired with David Wildstein to close or realign lanes of the bridge for any reason, much less for retribution,” she said.

She also said that she texted and emailed things that she meant to be funny — but now sees that they were not.

The scandal broke wide open more than a year ago when an email from Kelly to Wildstein was revealed. It read, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Wildstein’s reply: “Got it.” That exchange was key in the indictment.

The closing of two of three access lanes caused monumental, bumper-to-bumper tie-ups at the George Washington Bridge, which links New Jersey to New York City and is the busiest span in the world. School buses and emergency vehicles were held up, and commuters were stuck in traffic for hours over four mornings.

Wildstein said they orchestrated the lane closings to start on the first day of school to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid. Fort Lee sits at the foot of the bridge.

Christie has called the scheme “stupid” and ridiculed the notion that he was even interested in an endorsement from Sokolich. The governor coasted to re-election in the fall of 2013.

On Friday, Sokolich said the allegations that he was the target of political retribution were “a true punch in the gut.”

“I didn’t sign up for this,” he said. “I signed up to open up Little League fields and lower taxes.”

As the scandal unfolded more than a year ago, Wildstein and Baroni resigned, and the governor fired Kelly and cut ties with Bill Stepien, his two-time campaign manager. Stepien was not indicted.

___

Associated Press reporters Geoff Mulvihill in Trenton, Connie Cass in McLean, Virginia, and Kathleen Ronayne in New Hampshire contributed to this article.

 

GREEN BAY — The Packers have taken Miami, Ohio, cornerback Quentin Rollins in the second round of the NFL draft with the 62nd overall selection, further replenishing a secondary hit by free agency.

Rollins was the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Year. He finished with 72 tackles and seven interceptions in 2014. Rollins also played basketball at Miami.

Green Bay took defensive back Damarious Randall from Arizona State in the first round on Thursday night. The secondary lost veteran cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Davon House in free agency.

The Packers might turn to inside linebacker with their next pick in the third round. They cut ties with veterans A.J. Hawk and Brad Jones in the offseason.

GRAND CHUTE — Scooter Gennett is well aware he’s already in the “Weird Baseball Injuries Hall of Fame.” The second baseman for the Brewers is on the disabled list after cutting his left hand in the shower. He’s back on the field this weekend making a four-game rehab appearance with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers.

“It was literally water at my back, reached around, grabbed some body wash and just clipped it,” said Gennett. “Right away it was, ‘whoa,’ then saw how deep it was, bleeding everywhere.”

Gennett says he feels fine and has a small bandage on his hand. He expects some good-natured ribbing once he’s back from the DL.

“For me, it was definitely the weirdest thing, weirdest injury I’ve ever had,” said Gennett. “A lot of people are like, ‘what really happened?’ I don’t lie, I can’t lie. It’s one of those things I’ll probably never hear the end of. When you’re on the DL, at the time people don’t want to make fun of you too much. I’m sure when I get back the jokes will start and everything.”

Gennett said he anticipated getting a couple at-bats during Friday’s game, 3-4 at-bats Saturday then playing complete games Sunday and Monday before rejoining the Brewers.

Click on the video to see an extended conversation with Gennett.

CHICAGO (AP) – Wily Peralta feels like he’s getting close.

However, the Milwaukee right-hander, who had 17 victories last year, remained winless through five starts this season after the Brewers’ 1-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Peralta (0-4) was solid through six innings, allowing a season-low one earned run after giving up Addison Russell’s first major league home run in the third inning.

Peralta struck out six on a day when he threw 118 pitches, but his offering to Russell on a 3-2 count made the difference.

“I didn’t want to walk him,” Peralta said. “I don’t want to walk nobody. I just tried to hit my spot and (Russell) homered and that was the ballgame right there.”

When the count got to 3-2, Russell was just hoping for the best.

“I’m just happy that I got a good pitch to hit and I didn’t try to do too much,” Russell said. “It went out.”

That proved to be the lone blemish on Peralta’s day. His final strikeout of the day came against Cubs catcher David Ross. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said Ross was going to be Peralta’s final hitter because of where his pitch count was.

“He’s battling too hard for his stuff,” Roenicke said. “He’s doing a great job because he doesn’t have his good command and he keeps us in ballgames. You look at his outing today and he gives up one run and it’s a real nice job, but he’s working way too hard to get to that.”

Peralta matched up with Cubs starter Jon Lester (1-2) who allowed just three hits, struck out four and walked one in his best outing of the season.

Hector Rondon pitched the ninth for his fifth save. After a two-out double to Jason Rogers, Rondon retired pinch-hitter Adam Lind to end the game.

The Brewers have lost 13 of their past 16 games and were hoping to build on an 8-3 win over Cincinnati when Milwaukee pounded out 12 hits, including four home runs. The Brewers finished Friday’s loss with just four hits.

The Brewers loaded the bases with two outs in the second inning, but Lester struck out Peralta to get out of a jam.

“We had three hits there until the last inning,” Roenicke said. “It is frustrating.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Brewers: OF Carlos Gomez is expected to be activated from the 15-day disabled list on Saturday. He’s been out with a strained right hamstring since April 16. … 2B Scooter Gennett begins a rehab assignment with Class A Wisconsin on Friday night. He’s on the disabled list with a left hand laceration. … 3B Aramis Ramirez missed the game with left hamstring tightness. He is day to day.

BASE-RUNNING WOES

In the first inning with no outs, Dexter Fowler was thrown out trying to go from first to third on Jorge Soler’s single. Then the inning ended when Anthony Rizzo was caught stealing on Kris Bryant’s strikeout. In the sixth, Starlin Castro tried to go first to third on a single, but he was thrown out by RF Ryan Braun.

UP NEXT

Brewers: Mike Fiers (0-3, 5.79 ERA) was 1-1 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts against the Cubs last season.

Cubs: Jake Arietta (3-1, 2.03 ERA) has been the most dependable starter for Cubs.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

After three hours of sitting, Packers nation finally had reason to jump out of their seats Thursday night. “Good pick, needed defense, definitely needed it,” Packers fan Shelley Pohlman said. After much discussion the team selecting Damarious Randall, an Arizona State Sun Devil in the secondary as their first round pick. “Little surprising since we have Ha-Ha Clinton Dix, but he can play cornerback,” Packers fan Joe Zajac said. Today, the focus turns to the second and third round and packers fans have a long shopping list “I’d like to see them take another secondary player or a tackle,” Pohlman said. “I want an inside linebacker like Denzel Perryman,” another Packers fan added. Green Bay is on the clock with the 62nd and 94th overall pick but don’t be surprised to see Packers general manager Ted Thompson get creative if the opportunities arises. “I trust in Ted Thompson and know he’s going to make a lot of good picks today,” Zajac said.

GREEN BAY –  Two Green Bay teenagers have been charged with arson.

18-year-old Jesse Jones and 17-year-old Jordan Gardner were in Brown County court Friday afternoon being charged with setting fire to a Green Bay apartment building.

They were also charged with burglary and endangering safety.

Prosecutors say Jones and Gardner set the fire as an act of retaliation. They say they were trying to get back at a rival gang member.

The fire was started late Monday night.

No one was hurt, but the blaze caused significant damage to the 16 unit building.

FOX 11’s Kelly Schlicht is working on the story and will have the latest tonight at nine.

RACINE, Wis. (AP) – A Racine man has been sentenced to 5½ years in prison in the killing of a beagle puppy over what prosecutors said was an unpaid debt.

Curtis J. Gossett was accused of stomping the puppy to death in 2012. Police said it was owned by a woman who owed Gossett $13 she had borrowed for gas money.

The 25-year-old Gossett denied stomping the puppy to death, accusing his father of hitting the dog with a 2-by-4. The Journal Times reported that Racine County Circuit Judge Michael Piontek handed down the maximum sentence on Friday.

Gossett apologized at sentencing but maintained his father killed the dog. Fred C. Gossett was sentenced earlier in the week to 18 months in prison.

OSHKOSH – No one was hurt in a house fire Friday morning in Oshkosh.

Oshkosh Fire Department says they were called to a structure fire at 10:23 a.m. in the 1900 block of Oregon Street.

Fire crews say when they arrived on scene there was smoke and flames showing. Crews were on scene for three hours putting out hot spots in the walls.

There was extensive fire, smoke and water damage to the home.

The residents were not home at the time of the fire and they will be staying with friends. The Red Cross is also assisting them.

Fire officials say the cause of the fire appears to be electrical.

 

GREEN BAY – Bay Beach Amusement Park opens for the season this weekend, and if you go, you’ll notice one big change.

The newly donated locomotive and train cars will be giving rides around the park.

“We had to widen the track out a quarter inch in the straight-a-ways and a half inch in the turns,” said Dan Emmel, a Bay Beach mechanic. “The turns are quite a bit bigger too to accommodate the bigger wheel base on these trains.”

The tracks also had to be moved to accommodate for a new west end train route. Construction will start in a few weeks. The traditional Bay Beach trains will ride the new route. The new donated trains will run the old route.

“A lot of work coming up,” said Emmel. “It’s going to change the park quite a bit.”

The new train’s capacity is six fewer riders compared to the old trains. It is also slower on the track.

“Little harder on the turns, looks a heck of a lot cooler and more nostalgia looking,” said Emmel.

Besides the work on the new train route, construction will also start in a few weeks on two new rides: The Tot Jumping Spring Ride and Rockin’ Tug.

“We started the plans on that and started basic construction on it,” said Jason Arnoldi, the manager of Bay Beach. “The regular construction will start a little bit later in the summer.”

When that construction starts, it could mean a closure of the slide.

“When we start the main part of the construction, put in the two new rides and the west end train track, then we have to move the slide so at that point it may be down for a little bit, but here at the beginning of the summer it’ll be up and running,” said Arnoldi.

It all makes for a mostly normal opening weekend, with summer construction in sight.

“We’d just like to hit the ground running and get a good crowd and get everybody back outside,” said Arnoldi.

There are more plans beyond this summer. The Falling Star ride, which will overlook the bay, is expected to be ready in 2016.

(SBG) – Worries on the waters near Iran and four U.S. Navy vessels are now accompanying any American commercial ships in the straits of Hormuz, over fears they could be fired at or seized after Iran took over a foreign cargo ship earlier this week.

Members of Congress are hoping it doesn’t escalate into something worse.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, (D) Texas says, “I think Iran is smarter than that, I hope they are.”

But could the U.S. Navy’s new defensive position provoke more problems?

Iran’s dispute with the cargo ship from the Marshall Islands may be over money owed but Iran also recently surrounded a U.S. cargo vessel before letting it move on, prompting more big picture worries that these disputes might upend on-going nuclear negotiations.

Rep. Rob Wittman, (R) Virginia, says, “It certainly doesn’t seem that they’re operating in good faith, trying to demonstrate that they can actually stand by an agreement, not act aggressively.”

Though the deal may have just hit a snag anyway, two conservative senators, Cotton and Rubio, have painted leader Mitch McConnell into a corner forcing a vote on an amendment that would make Iran recognize Israel’s right to exist, something seen as a potential deal breaker or McConnell’s other option: call the bill for a vote as it stands despite promising to consider amendments.

One expert on Iran says this dispute in the Persian Gulf isn’t really about the U.S. but Iran’s well aware that these acts of aggression won’t sit well with the White House or Congress.

DE PERE – Tucker Christensen was charged Friday with first-degree reckless homicide for allegedly providing the heroin which killed Keith French.

French, 23, was found dead at a De Pere residence on March 6, according to De Pere police.

Christensen faces four charges in all, according to online court records. An initial appearance was scheduled for Friday in Brown County Circuit Court.

ERWIN, N.C. (CNN) – They rarely leave home without her – a black Lab so sweet, named Caroline.

So of course Caroline was with Michael and Ruth Smith when they made a grocery run to the IGA in Erwin, North Carolina.

Poor girl got spooked about something.

“And when she gets scared, she’ll go down on the floorboard of the truck,” Michael Smith said.

Ruth was driving. But now she had 90 pounds of scared dog on her foot.

Michael tried to pull her off.

“And before I could, we were wide open. We were probably going 50, 55 miles an hour.”

High-tailing it across the parking lot.

All she knew to do was keep the truck straight – don’t hit people or cars. She aimed for a wooden fence, plowed right through it and splashed down iIn a backyard pool.

“We hit the water, and I’m going ‘where in the name of God is this water coming from?'” Michael Smith said.

The pool owner, John McNamara, was in the kitchen with his wife.

There was some commotion in the yard, so he looked out and said, “Honey, there’s a truck in the pool!”

“Just laughed at me and said, ‘what are you doing, smoking or something?’ I don’t smoke. I said no, I mean it!” McNamara said.

Sure enough, an ’88 Dodge Ram had nose-dived into the shallow end.

His first thought: Is anyone hurt?

“That, and that I just had open-heart surgery in January. ‘I’m going to have another heart attack here!’”

Michael Smith had some cuts on his hand; otherwise, everyone made it out fine.

“I hate that that happened to his pool, but I think that might have saved our lives.”

But as for that dog-driven Dodge, it’s done for.

“I don’t blame her for it. Just one of them odd accidents that you read about in the newspaper or see on the news. Ha! Ha! Ha!” Michael Smith said.

Oshkosh North played at Appleton North in a Fox Valley Association baseball game Thursday.

PULASKI – Interim Pulaski Community School District Superintendent Bec Kurzynske has released a video statement regarding the district’s response to a fight at the high school.

The March 18 fight sparked controversy in the community after the father of one of the teens involved posted video of the fight on Facebook.

In addition to its video statement, the district also released several documents relating to disciplinary actions against district employees.

• Click here to read more

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A judge in Washington has ruled that federal authorities are liable for some of the catastrophic flooding that followed Hurricane Katrina and other storms – flooding blamed on a now-closed navigation channel.

How much the government will have to pay in damages is unclear. Judge Susan Braden of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington set a hearing for next Wednesday in New Orleans to determine whether an agreement can be reached to have damages assessed by a mediator.

Friday’s ruling came in a 2005 lawsuit that focuses on the now-closed Mississippi River Gulf Outlet – a navigation canal built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and blamed by many for flooding in St. Bernard Parish and New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward following Katrina.

Oshkosh North pitcher Brian Brown talks about his team’s win over Appleton North on Thursday.