Green Bay News

GREEN BAY – World War Two Navy Veteran Bob Reener saluted the flag Friday evening.

“I wound up in Normandy Utah beach,” Reener recalls, choking back tears. “I don’t talk too much about it. There are no fond memories of war.”

Students at Trinity Lutheran School in Green Bay gather to salute veterans like him.

“It’s very important, because when they served all that time during the war they were risking their lives, just so I could one day get my freedom,” said sixth-grader Trenton Tucker. “So, it feels good just to be able to get a little paid back.”

The school hosted a fundraising dinner for the Old Glory Honor Flights. The program sends World War Two and Korean War veterans to Washington, D.C. for free, day-long trips to see war memorials.

“I had the privilege of going on the first one in 2009 and it was an overwhelming experience. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me and all the other veterans,” said Reener.

With World War Two veterans passing away at a rate of nearly 1000 a day nationwide, organizers say the Old Glory Honor Flights are more important than ever.

Reener spoke to the crowd about his experience on the flight. Organizers are hoping the message isn’t lost on these young people.

“Live a life worthy of the sacrifice they made, and if young people can hear that message, especially out of the mouths of the people who did it, it’s very impactful,” said Steve Trinkner with Old Glory Honor Flight.

Reener says at events like this, the wonderful feelings of his honor flight come rushing back.

“They make you feel like you’re important. And you know, we’re really not all that important. We just did a job when history called up on us to do it,” said Reener.

Humbly accepting thanks, for a lifetime of sacrifice.

The next Old Glory Honor Flight takes off from the Outagamie County Airport on May 14. The public is invited to welcome the veterans back that evening.

Notre Dame visited Fox Valley Lutheran in a nonconference girls soccer game Friday. Notre Dame won, 5-1.

SEATTLE (AP) – A computer outage affecting sales registers disrupted sales Friday at 8,000 company-operated Starbucks stores in the United States and Canada, including the store on Oneida Street in Green Bay.

The outage affected 7,000 U.S. stores and 1,000 in Canada, company spokesman Jim Olson said Friday evening.

Starbucks on Oneida Street in Green Bay posted a closed early sign Friday night after having computer outages, April 24, 2015. (WLUK)

Customers found some stores closed and others offering free coffee. In Phoenix, some stores blocked off the entrance to their drive-thrus.

“We apologize to our customers for any inconvenience or confusion,” the company said in a statement.

Starbucks said it was working to resolve the outage. The exact nature of the problem wasn’t immediately made clear.

At a Starbucks store in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, customers were told staff members couldn’t process orders. They were, however, being offered coffee at no charge.

“I’m not going to complain about a free cup of coffee,” said Suveer Sharma, who was getting a caffeine fix before he headed on a weekend trip to Idaho.

At a Starbucks in Phoenix, customers drove away angrily after seeing closed signs.

“I have a sleeping baby in the back and I’m waiting for a prescription,” said Claudia Larson, 40, of Scottsdale. “I wanted a coffee! I’m bummed!”

The outage hit the East Coast in the evening and the West Coast in the late afternoon.

Starbucks is busiest in the mornings but has been trying to attract more customers later in the day.

The company said the outage also affected its Evolution Fresh and Teavana stores.

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Associated Press writer Traci Carl contributed from Phoenix.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Is ice cream safe to eat? Federal officials say yes, even amid recalls by two ice cream companies after the discovery of listeria bacteria in their frozen confections.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say there’s no reason to think that listeria illnesses and deaths linked to Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries and the discovery of listeria in Ohio-based Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams are related.

“Based upon what we know now, there is no connection between these two ice cream companies nor any reason to suspect that ice cream as a whole poses any special foodborne disease risk,” said CDC’s Dr. Robert Tauxe.

Blue Bell, which recalled all of its products Monday, is linked to 10 illnesses, including three deaths, in four states. Jeni’s ice cream hasn’t been linked to any illnesses, but the company recalled its products Thursday after Nebraska health officials found listeria in a sample of ice cream.

On Friday, Jeni’s said early testing suggested that listeria was present in other pints from the same batch the Nebraska officials tested, and possibly another batch as well. The company said additional testing appeared to show that listeria was present in Jeni’s manufacturing plant in Columbus.

“We are encouraged that the early indications suggest we have found it and can focus on eradicating it,” said John Lowe, Jeni’s CEO, in a statement on the company’s website.

Tauxe said the discovery of listeria is a “wake-up call” for the industry, since the pathogen isn’t very common in ice cream. While the hardy bacteria thrive in cooler environments, they can’t grow at freezing temperatures.

At least one other major ice cream manufacturer, Unilever, appeared confident, saying in a statement that the company has “robust quality and safety protocols across our ice cream network designed to prevent listeria contamination.” Unilever owns Ben & Jerry’s, Breyer’s and other ice cream brands.

The FDA said consumers should feel safe eating any products that haven’t been recalled.

“Despite these recalls, it is important to understand that ice cream in the United States is generally safe,” said the FDA’s Jeff Ventura. “These recalls are an example of companies taking appropriate action by getting potentially unsafe foods off the market.”

The FDA is investigating the Blue Bell outbreak but hasn’t said what caused it. Blue Bell has said its plants in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama are undergoing intensive cleaning.

Listeria illnesses generally only affect the elderly, people with compromised immune systems and pregnant women. The bacteria is found in soil and water, and it can be tracked into a manufacturing facility, carried by animals or spread by employees not using proper sanitation practices.

Bill Yarbrough of New Albany, Ohio, said he understands why the recalls are concerning to those most at risk but he’s not going to stop buying ice cream. Expecting the company would take a hit, Yarbrough started recruiting fellow fans on Facebook to help Jeni’s rebound.

“When a company makes good decision like this, but it’s going to cost them a lot of money, they need to know and be rewarded for that,” he said.

Sandra Eskin, director of food safety for the Pew Charitable Trusts, says she believes the U.S. ice cream supply is safe but says the outbreak linked to Blue Bell shows the need for more testing for foodborne bacteria in manufacturing facilities. President Barack Obama signed a sweeping new food safety law in 2011 that would boost some of that testing, but the FDA hasn’t yet put all of the rules in place.

“It’s frustrating that people have to get sick while we wait for the process to play out,” Eskin said.

At the same time, the recalls may be evidence that testing has increased.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture’s discovery of listeria in Jeni’s ice cream was part of a program to test ready-to-eat products for foodborne illness. South Carolina health officials were the first to discover listeria in Blue Bell products as part of a random sampling program that includes frozen desserts. Following the recalls, the Ohio Department of Agriculture said it would add ice cream to the list of items they pull from store shelves to check for contamination.

Former FDA assistant commissioner David Acheson, now a consultant to food manufacturers, says ice cream companies will boost listeria testing as a result of the recalls.

“We just have to cross our fingers there won’t be a whole lot more recalls,” Acheson said. “When you start to look, you find.”

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Associated Press writer Kantele Franko contributed to this report from Columbus, Ohio.

Click here for more information on the Green Bay Police Department’s Serial Number Awareness Program (SNAP)

GREEN BAY – The latest Apple gadget has hit store shelves. The Apple Watch has a lot of people waiting in long lines across the country.

Technology has changed the way we tell time, but does wearing a watch still count?

At Kavarna, a coffee house in Green Bay, you’ll find all kinds of people.

Some are in a hurry, while others have time to kill.

When it comes to the type of device people use to tell time, the answers may vary.

“I’m a hair stylists and I kind of rely on timing with hair color so that’s pretty much why I wear a watch,” said Travis Calkins.

“I used to wear a bracelet watch. I loved it because I thought it was really pretty and went with everything and I looked at the time constantly. Since I’ve gotten my cell phone, I don’t wear a watch,” said Jackie Coenen.

Research shows 91 percent of Americans own a cell phone and some people choose to be watch-free, especially people under the age of 30.

“I don’t even think when I was younger I wore a watch. You just always had your phones and the clocks in school,” said 19-year-old Victoria Cole.

But time isn’t necessarily running out for those in the wristwatch industry. Last year’s figures show fine jewelry and watch sales totaled around $78 billion in the U.S.

“I would say on average, we repair six to 10 watches a week. We still have a fair amount of traffic coming in wanting to repair their watches… either from a sentimental value or that they inherited it from their mother or father,” said David Koury, owner of D & M Custom Jewelers.

The smartwatch industry, like the i-Watch, may have more to offer for those plugged into technology.

“It’s not that it’s a watch, per say, that that’s the thing that you’re going to use to tell time, but it’s really a computer on your wrist and all those functional things that you are doing on your cell phone and other competing devices are starting to come back to being a part of how you function,” said Raechelle Clemmons, vice-president and chief information officer at St. Norbert College.

While the newest trend may be wearing a smartwatch, people are still using their cellphones and wristwatches to tell time.

Apple’s new watch starts at around $350.

You wouldn’t think it with the rain and even snow we saw earlier this week, but fire danger is already back up in the high category for most of the state.

Even though lawns are greening up and some trees are starting to bud, there’s still a lot of dead, dry brush around the area.

We’re going to have to wait at least a couple more weeks before this greening process can put a dent in fire danger levels.

Until that point, it can and often does fluctuate quickly this time of year.

Chris Duncan, a Deputy Forester with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, says, “Those fuel types, those light flashy fuels, dry leaves, crunchy leaves, they dry out within about a day even after we get that half inch of rain that we had earlier this week. The last two days, we’ve only had five hundredths of an inch here in Oconto Falls.”

And on Friday afternoon’s fire danger map, the majority of the state was at a high fire danger level, including all of Northeast Wisconsin except for Forest and Florence counties.

Part of the reason why we’re drying out so quickly after every precipitation event is how dry things are in between the big, appreciable rains and snows.

The current drought monitor released just yesterday shows that just about half the state is currently in a moderate drought.

Here in Green Bay, the numbers back that up.

On the year, Green Bay is more than 2.5 inches below normal precipitation.

And about half of that deficit has been racked up just since March 1st.

With very little rain in the forecast, it looks like this has the potential to be an ongoing problem to monitor.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic’s bruised left knee is feeling better, though coach Tom Thibodeau is unsure whether the rookie will be available for Game 4 of the team’s first-round playoff series at Milwaukee on Saturday.

The Bulls can sweep the Bucks following a 113-106 win on Thursday night. Mirotic sat out Thursday after getting hurt during a scrum for a loose ball in Game 2 this week in Chicago. Mirotic also strained his quadriceps.

Thibodeau said that it was a good sign that Mirotic has been shooting, though he had not done any running as of early Friday afternoon.

“We don’t want to jump ahead,” Thibodeau said. “If he’s ready to play, he plays; if he’s not ready to play, he’ll sit. It’s that simple.”

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

HONOLULU (AP) – Lawmakers have passed a bill that would make Hawaii the first state to raise the legal smoking age to 21.

The measure cleared its final legislative hurdle Friday with approval from the state Senate. It now goes to Gov. David Ige for his decision.

A spokeswoman for Ige said he wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The bill prevents adolescents from smoking, buying or possessing traditional and electronic cigarettes. Those caught breaking the rules would face fines or community service.

Supporters say 90 percent of daily smokers begin the habit before age 19.

Opponents say it’s unfair that a veteran returning from military service could be prevented from smoking.

Hawaii County and New York City have similar bans.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The cost to protect Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch last year was more than three times as much as it took to protect his Democratic predecessor in 2010.

Walker’s administration released costs related to his security detail in response to an open records request by The Associated Press.

The information shows that security costs for Walker and Kleefisch were $2.3 million in 2014. The costs were up more than 47 percent from Walker’s first year in office in 2011.

But compared with Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle in 2010, the cost to protect Walker has more than tripled. Security detail costs for Doyle that year were just $657,000.

No protection for the lieutenant governor was provided then, but it is now.

BALTIMORE (AP) – Freddie Gray should have received medical attention at the spot where he was arrested – before he was put inside a police van, authorities said Friday.

Baltimore police have come under intense scrutiny after Gray was taken into custody and suffered an unexplained spinal injury that led to his death. Six officers have been suspended with pay as local police and federal authorities investigate.

Commissioner Anthony Batts said the investigation is being refined and the picture is getting “sharper and sharper.” He did not elaborate.

As for calls for his resignation, he said: “That’s not going to happen.”

Gray, who is black, was arrested April 12 after he made eye contact with officers and ran away, police said. Officers held him down, handcuffed him and loaded him into a police van. While inside, he became irate and leg cuffs were put on him, police have said.

Gray was not buckled in by a seat belt, a violation of the police department’s policy.

He asked for medical help several times, and after a 30-minute ride that included three stops, paramedics were called. At some point – either during his arrest or inside the van – he suffered a mysterious spinal injury. Authorities have not explained how or when it occurred.

Deputy police commissioner Kevin Davis said Friday that Gray should have received medical attention at the spot of his arrest. Bystander video shows Gray screaming as officers carried him to the van, his legs appearing limp.

After a week of protests, people angry over the death promised their biggest march Saturday, when they would try to “shut down” the city. The demonstrators say Gray’s death shows police mistreatment of blacks in Baltimore and throughout the country.

The mayor thanked protesters for being peaceful so far. She expects the results of the investigation to be turned over to prosecutors in a week, and they will decide whether any criminal charges will be filed.

“I will not deny we have had a very long and complicated history on issues such as these,” Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. “But it’s important to remember that we have an equally long history of peaceful and legal protest.”

Asked if Gray’s possible “rough ride” is a one-off, the mayor said: “It’s clearly not a one-off. The reason we have the policy around seat belts in the police vans is because of an incident that happened previously,” referring to Dondi Johnson. He died of a fractured spine in 2005 after he was arrested for urinating in public and transported without a seat belt, with his hands cuffed behind his back.

The leader of a group of local ministers called on Batts to resign immediately.

“It seems that no one in the police department can explain what happened,” said the Rev. Alvin Gwynn Sr., president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Baltimore.

He said the police department is “in disarray” and Batts has shown a “lack of viable leadership capabilities.”

The mayor appeared to back the police commissioner at her own news conference.

The president of a black lawyers’ group predicted thousands of people would turn out Saturday, when good weather is forecast and the Orioles are hosting the Boston Red Sox in a Major League Baseball game.

“Things will change on Saturday, and the struggle will be amplified,” said Malik Shabazz of Black Lawyers for Justice.

Shabazz rejected the notion that he was an outside agitator who would stir up trouble.

Bernard Young, Baltimore City Council president said prior to a rally on Thursday that he hoped citizens wouldn’t let “outside forces come in here and dictate how we act by destroying our infrastructure.”

“We can lead ourselves. We’re capable of doing that,” he said.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Bill MacFarlane has been anxious since a case of a deadly bird flu strain was recently confirmed in domestic poultry just 50 miles from his southern Wisconsin farm, the largest pheasant operation in North America that supplies 1.8 million birds each year to the game bird industry.

“I would say the last 10 days have been probably the most stressful days of my entire life,” he said.

MacFarlane and other game bird producers have ramped up disease-prevention measures in an effort to shield their multi-billion-dollar industry from the highly-contagious avian influenza outbreak sweeping the Midwest poultry industry that has led to the death of millions of turkeys and chickens either from the virus or to stop its spread.

It’s still not known how susceptible game birds are to the H5N2 strain of avian influenza. The only case of the virus in pheasants so far was in the distant state of Washington, where the flock was euthanized. Game bird producers in the Upper Midwest primarily raise pheasants but also other birds, such as partridge and chucker.

At MacFarlane Farms, feed trucks that come onto the farm have to be sprayed down with disinfectant, employees wear work-only foot gear, booties and coveralls while in barns and pens and visitors are not allowed to enter any production facilities or even to leave their vehicles.

Mike Forsgren, the owner of Forsgren’s Pheasant Farm Inc., said he now meets delivery drivers at the end the driveway at his pheasant farm in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota to stop the disease from entering his operation.

“We’re all doing pretty much the same thing: Everything we can,” he said.

Game bird farms raise millions of pheasants to stock preserves that are flooded with sportsmen from across the country and world each fall for hunting.

The industry is important, especially in the Plains states from Texas to the Dakotas as hunters fill up hotels and spend money in small communities, said Sam Ballou, the president of the North American Game Bird Association and an Ohio preserve owner himself.

“The real big kicker is all the people traveling to and from the hunting preserve: the lodging, the fuel, the hunting clothing,” he said. “It’s a pretty big impact.”

On pheasant operations, chicks are raised in barns like turkeys and chickens, but older birds grow up in fly pens, which are large netted aviaries where pheasants can fly around. Since the pheasants will one day be released to be hunted, they’re raised to have the same characteristics as wild birds.

Ballou said his organization consults with veterinary experts often and gives its members weekly updates with the latest news and prevention tips.

“I’m not going to let my guard down at all and think in any way, shape or form that pheasants aren’t susceptible,” said MacFarlane, who’s worked on the family farm for 36 years and employs 60 full-time workers. “I’m not trying to be negative, I’m just being realistic.”

Explore the history, accomplishments and imagery of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Click here for more information on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.

(CNN) – It’s the world’s first hotel private jet.

The Boeing 757, outfitted by the luxury brand Four Seasons, promises to deliver the full fancy hotel experience at 30,000 feet.

The plane features 52 flatbed seats in handcrafted leather, handwoven woolen carpets and fancy tableware. That’s nearly 150 seats fewer than in standard commercially operated 757’s.

It comes complete with a Four Seasons-trained cabin crew, including an executive chef, sous chef, concierge and guest services manager.

The service is taking bookings for round-the-world trips for 2016. First up is a 24-day, nine-destination trip starting in Los Angeles and ending in London.

The cost is $132,000 per person.

It includes stops — with accommodation at Four Seasons hotels — include Hawaii, Bora Bora, Sydney, Bali, Northern Thailand, Mumbai and Istanbul.

 

CRISP POINT, Mich. (AP) – Two sisters from Oklahoma and Nebraska missing for nearly two weeks in Michigan have been found alive in the Upper Peninsula.

State police say Leslie Roy and Lee Marie Wright are in good condition Friday.

Roy and Wright have been missing since April 11 when they checked out of a motel in Ishpeming after visiting relatives. They had planned to spend that night in Mackinaw City, a three-hour drive, but didn’t arrive.

Police say their vehicle became stuck near Crisp Point on Lake Superior, in a remote area of Luce (Loose) County. The sisters stayed with the vehicle, which was spotted by a helicopter.

Roy is from Valley, Nebraska, and Wright lives in Depew, Oklahoma.

MADISON (AP) – State attorneys are asking a judge to toss out a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s right-to-work law.

The Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Machinists Local Lodge 1061 in Milwaukee and United Steelworkers District 2 in Menasha filed a lawsuit last month in Dane County Circuit Court alleging that the law amounts to an unconstitutional seizure of union property since unions now must extend benefits to workers who don’t pay dues.

Attorneys with the state Justice Department filed a motion Friday asking Judge William Foust to dismiss the lawsuit. They argue that the unions’ concerns that they’ll lose money under the law are hypothetical and no appellate court has ever found right-to-work laws result in an unconstitutional taking.

GRANT, Wis. (AP) – A 58-year-old man has died from his injuries after he became trapped when a building he was demolishing collapsed in the Town of Grant in Clark County.

The Clark County Sheriff’s Office says it received a 911 call at about 6 p.m. Thursday about a man trapped under a collapsed building on Ridge Road.

Authorities pulled Paul Rueth from the building and took him to Memorial Medical Center in Neillsville, where he died from his injuries.

Investigators say Rueth had been demolishing a building and it collapsed on him, pinning him between the roof and the wooden foundation. Officials say Rueth’s death doesn’t appear suspicious at this time.

DETROIT (AP) – Ford is recalling about 390,000 cars because the doors may not latch properly and could open while the cars are in motion.

The recall covers certain Ford Fiestas, Ford Fusions and Lincoln MKZ cars from the 2012 through 2014 model years that were made in Mexico.

The automaker said Friday that a part in the door latch spring assembly can break, causing the latch to fail. If that happens, it’s possible a door could fly open while the cars are being driven.

Ford Motor Co. said two people suffered sore shoulders from doors bouncing back after they were closed. There’s also a report of one accident when an unlatched door opened and hit another car in a parking lot.

Dealers will replace all four door latches at no cost to customers.

U.S. safety regulators opened an investigation of Fiesta door latches in September after getting 61 complaints about the doors. A dozen people complained that a door opened while the cars were in motion.

Ford said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is aware of the company’s recall.

Appleton East’s Nick Goudreau pitched a no-hitter in the Patriots 2-1 win over Oshkosh North on Tuesday.