Green Bay News

BALSAM LAKE, Wis. (AP) – A Minnesota man has been charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the fatal stabbing of a Wisconsin fisherman at Interstate State Park.

Bail was set Friday at $125,000 for 19-year-old Levi C. Acre-Kendall, of Cambridge. Thirty-four-year-old Peter Kelly, of St. Croix Falls, was stabbed Tuesday night after he and a friend argued with three younger men across the St. Croix River. The confrontation happened on the Wisconsin side. Acre-Kendall surrendered Thursday.

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis reports the criminal complaint sheds no insights on the argument. Polk County Chief Deputy Steve Moe said authorities have no answers despite cooperation from both men’s friends.

Acre-Kendall’s mother, Lavonne Acre, said it wouldn’t have happened if Kelly and his friend hadn’t crossed the river to confront her son and his friends.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for running a large-scale marijuana trafficking ring through his three McDonald’s restaurants.

Prosecutors say 40-year-old Edward G. Patterson, of Whitefish Bay, recruited his employees into the conspiracy and tried from jail to hire someone to kill informants who helped agents make the case against him.

Authorities busted the ring in 2013. Prosecutors said Patterson and workers he recruited drove marijuana back from California before he switched to having it mailed to various Milwaukee addresses.

Under his plea agreement, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, Patterson forfeited his partial stakes in the restaurants in Glendale, Fox Point and Mequon, which have been sold.

In a short apology to the court, Patterson blamed greed, drugs and debt for his decisions.

TOWN OF MITCHELL – A 4-year-old child sustained a serious injury during a home related accident Friday in Sheboygan County.

The Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office said they received a 911 call saying a 4-year-old was hurt in an accident in the 8500 block of County Highway W in the Town of Mitchell.

The child was transported to a hospital in West Bend but ultimately transported to the Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee via Flight for Life.

The incident is currently under investigation.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Friday that he will tell supporters on May 5 in the hometown he shares with former President Bill Clinton whether or not he will seek the Republicans’ presidential nomination.

Huckabee, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in 2008, has been taking steps to launch a White House bid in recent months, including stepping down from his paid position at Fox News. He told his former employer that he has given a lot of thought to the race and would announce his decision in Hope, Arkansas.

“May 5 is the day when I will make an announcement,” Huckabee said. “I hope people will come to Hope, Arkansas, and not just to tour the Bill Clinton birthplace. But there’s going to be an announcement that day, and everyone will know after then for sure whether Mike Huckabee is in the race or not.”

Ahead of his visit with Fox News, he sat down with reporters and outlined a potential campaign, as well as lessons he took away from his 2008 failure. Chiefly, he has focused on the cash he will need to compete with better-funded rivals.

Huckabee ran before on a shoestring, winning Iowa by spending just $1 million. He was unable to keep the momentum, however, and eventually ceded the nomination to Sen. John McCain.

“I hope I’d run one with a whole lot more money,” Huckabee said of a 2016 campaign.

He has been making calls to donors to make sure his campaign does not again go broke.

“I don’t want to jump in a pool that doesn’t have any water in it. It doesn’t make for a very pleasant swim,” Huckabee said.

He said a super PAC, which can accept and spend unlimited cash to help his candidacy, could help fill in those gaps.

“If it’s the law, we’re going to use it,” he said. “I don’t think anyone can be competitive if they don’t have a super PAC’s backing.”

 

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – A large explosion closed both directions of a major highway in Central California and injured at least three people, authorities said Friday.

Traffic heading both north and south on Highway 99 in Fresno was halted by the explosion about 2:30 p.m., the California Highway Patrol reported Friday.

Three people were injured and two were flown out by helicopter for medical treatment, said Tony Botti, a spokesman for the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

The explosion happened at the Fresno County Sheriff’s gun range, where a work crew including county jail inmates using heavy equipment apparently hit a pipe carrying natural gas, Botti said. One of the workers appeared to be in critical condition, he said.

No law enforcement officers were injured, Botti said. A nearby rail line was also halted out of concern that a passing train could spark leaking gas.

Witnesses reported seeing a large fireball, said Pete Martinez of the Fresno Fire Department. The flames prompted a two-alarm call of firefighters.

The CHP asked drivers should use alternative routes. It’s unclear when the highway will reopen.

LYNNWOOD, Wash. (AP) — A semitruck carrying millions of honeybees overturned on a highway north of Seattle early Friday, scattering hives and sending white-suited beekeepers scrambling to save as many insects as they could.

The truck had just merged onto Interstate 5 around 3:30 a.m. when it tipped on its side, dumping its load of 448 hives, or about 13.7 million bees, Washington State Patrol Trooper Travis Shearer said. The driver, a 36-year-old man from Idaho, was not hurt.

The company that owns the insects, Belleville Honey and Beekeeping Supply of Burlington, sent beekeepers to recover as many as possible, and bees covered their protective suits as they worked.

Bees swarm onto a beekeepers truck along northbound Interstate 5 after beehives spilled off of a semitruck on Friday, April 17, 2015 north of Seattle. The truck had just merged onto Interstate 5 around 3:30 a.m. Friday when it tipped on its side, dumping its load of 448 hives. The driver was not hurt, but the bees became more active as the sun rose and the weather warmed. (Mark Mulligan /The Herald via AP)

The bees became more active as the sun rose and the weather warmed, and firefighters had to spray a layer of foam on some of the boxes, killing the insects for safety.

Many of the hives were still along the highway more than seven hours after the accident, when a front-end loader began scooping them up and dumping them into a dump truck, Shearer said. The majority of the hives had been crushed.

“I’m sure they’ll take that somewhere and try to save as many as they can, but they can do that someplace safer, away from the I-5 corridor,” he said.

The bees were being transported from Sunnyside, in central Washington, to a blueberry farm in Lynden, a city near the Canadian border about 100 miles north of Seattle, Shearer said.

First responders and reporters alike swatted at the bees as they tried to do their jobs.

“I think everybody there got stung,” Shearer said.

Seattle television station KIRO posted a video compilation of its on-scene reporter swatting the insects as he reported on the accident.

Shearer urged drivers to keep their windows up and to “#beesafe when traveling through that area,” as he wrote on Twitter.

A man who answered the phone at the beekeeping company said he couldn’t immediately answer any questions related to the accident.

 

WAUPACA COUNTY – Do you pay full attention to the road when you drive?

Waupaca County officials say distracted driving is becoming more of a problem.

FOX 11 rode with sheriff’s deputies Friday who were out making sure people following the law and keeping their eyes on the road.

“The traffic volume is there to create potential problems,” said Andy Thorpe, Waupaca County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Thorpe and other sheriff’s officials patrolled Waupaca County’s biggest problem area, Highway 10, watching for distracted drivers.

“Such as weaving, unsafe lane changes, high speeds, or people that are clearly just not paying attention, where you can physically see the person texting while they’re driving,” said Thorpe.

I was with Deputy Andy Thorpe during the sting, when he turned on his lights and siren to pull over a man he says was speeding.

However, the man didn’t pull over right away.

“Notice that it took awhile before you pulled over? Did you not notice me behind you?” Thorpe questioned the driver.

Thorpe cited the man for inattentive driving – a $188 ticket.

“Gotta pay a little closer attention to the driving behavior as far as the speed goes and the lights are on behind you. You gotta pull over right away,” Thorpe warned the driver.

Here are the facts: The federal government says each day in the US, more than 9 people are killed and 1,153 people are injured in distracted driving crashes.

Officials say distracted driving not only puts other people on the road in danger, it’s also risky for the person who is driving unsafely.

“They might end up having a single vehicle crash in which their own vehicle goes off the roadway and either rolls over or collides with a fixed object such as a tree, a sign post, bridge abutments,” said Thorpe.

The increased enforcement is funded by a $25 thousand state grant.

Thorpe says the ultimate goal is to prevent crashes.

“It’s not worth risking your life to be making phone calls while you’re driving down the roadway. It certainly is not worth it to be texting or reading a map while you’re driving,” Thorpe said.

During the five hour deployment, deputies made 17 stops.

As of 10 a.m., deputies handed out 9 traffic citations and 5 written warnings.

Final numbers are expected next week.

Forecasting tornadoes can be complex.

When forecasting tornadoes we look at three main ingredients: instability, wind sheer, and an area of focus. We can overlay these areas geographically to forecast where tornadoes may occur.

2014 Wisconsin Tornado Track Map

The first ingredient, instability, occurs when very warm and humid air is present near the ground. The instability is intensified by cold air aloft creating a sharp difference for the warm air to lift into. This creates strong and long lasting updrafts to sustain tornadic thunderstorms.

The second ingredient is wind sheer. This means winds that rotate clockwise with height and/or increase in speed with height. The more wind sheer there is, the more likely that the thunderstorm updrafts will rotate once they develop. Rotating thunderstorms are much more likely to produce tornadoes, especially strong ones.

The third ingredient is a trigger or focusing mechanism. We refer to this as convergence. Basically winds at the surface are colliding and causing a parcel of air to move upward. We get areas of focus from frontal boundaries, but also from outflow boundaries and lake breezes. The focused area of lifting air is what helps begin and sustain the development of thunderstorms.

To forecast the area that may produce tornadoes we overlay the critical values over each other to help highlight the likely areas for development.

One thing to remember is that while the tornado is the damaging portion that touches the ground, the entire thunderstorm is likely rotating and the tornado is only a small portion of that storm.

You can sign up to win a weather radio a useful tool when severe weather strikes, here.

ASHWAUBENON — Bailey Smaney stepped up to the plate in the top of the sixth inning in a scoreless game and knew how important it was to reach base with her speed and the “heart” of the batting order following her.

The senior slapped a blooper that fell behind second base and she raced around first base to second base. It was the start of a rally nobody saw coming.

The Pirates marched 11 batters to the plate in the inning, scored seven runs and went on to win a key Fox River Classic Conference softball game, 8-0.

“We talked about it the inning before, ‘As soon as we get that runner on, that’s going to break it open for us,’” Bay Port coach Jenna Woepse said. “Our girls play better relaxed, so as soon as we can relax and get that girl on, all that tension seemed to go away. That was huge for us.”

We just wanted to get runners on, we knew we were hitting the ball,” said Smaney, who had a double and a triple in the inning. “Luckily, I got on and my team brought me in and once we settled down, calmed down at the plate we just go hit after hit.”

Smaney then continued to dominate in the circle. The Green Bay recruit silenced the Jaguars bats, striking out seven and allowing two hits. Furthermore, she threw 98 pitches, 67 which were strikes, and she faced 24 batters and started 19 of them with a first-pitch strike.

Bailey Smaney allowed just two hits and struck out seven in win over Ashwaubenon. (Doug Ritchay/WLUK)

Smaney was just what Bay Port needed in a scoreless game.

“Bailey can handle pressure like no other,” Woepse said. “Having her in this position is the best for us, because she’s good at it.”

Bay Port (3-1) figures to be among the contenders for the FRCC title as does Ashwaubenon, so Thursday’s win was important.

“It’s big for us,” Smaney said. “We’re pretty young. We’ve been having some good games and we want to keep rolling.”

Bay Port has just two seniors in Smaney and shortstop Alyssa Cooper, but the Pirates feel this could be a season where they make an impact beyond the regular season.

“Our team is playing pretty good, but we have a lot of work to do,” Woepse said. “We’re never settling, we’re going to take one game at a time. We have some high hopes for our team.”

“We’re young,” Smaney said. “I think we can do it. We’ve been playing awesome defense and having great hits.”

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

MARINETTE – The Navy announced the name of the next Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, constructed by Lockheed Martin, will be USS St. Louis.

The 388-foot long ship will be the seventh ship to bear the name.

“The name St. Louis holds a strong naval legacy,” Secretary of the Navy RayMabus said. “In this era when our country is faced with similar challenges as our forefathers, it’s important that all who encounter this ship are reminded of the history of our Navy’s bravery and sense of duty.”

The LCS is designed to defeat littoral threats and provide war fighting capabilities and flexibility to execute missions close to shore.

Starting Monday, April 20, enter for your chance to win one of eleven Toro® Recycler Mowers valued at $399.00!

MILWAUKEE (AP) – All-Star outfielder Carlos Gomez has been placed on the 15-day disabled list by the Milwaukee Brewers because of a strained right hamstring.

The move was retroactive to Thursday. The Brewers held off on a roster decision until Friday, when utility man Jason Rogers was recalled from Triple-A Colorado Springs.

The Brewers were starting a three-game series Friday in Pittsburgh.

Gomez left Wednesday’s game in St. Louis with the injury and returned to Milwaukee to be examined.

The leadoff hitter was hitting .235 with a homer and six RBIs in eight games. Overall, the Brewers are batting just .223 entering Friday, contributing to a 2-7 start.

Gerardo Parra will likely take over in center for Gomez. Rogers was hitting .360 with two homers and seven RBIs in the minors.

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

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Video of Marion “Suge” Knight plowing into two men with his pickup truck and other key evidence in the former rap music mogul’s murder case was released Friday by a Los Angeles court.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Coen reviewed the items before determining Knight should stand trial on murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges. He authorized their release after a request by The Associated Press.

Among the released evidence was an hourlong interview with Cle “Bone” Sloan, who survived being run over by Knight’s truck, and photos of the Death Row Records co-founder after his arrest.

Coen ruled Thursday that there was enough evidence for Knight, 49, to stand trial on charges he killed Terry Carter and attempted to kill Sloan during a parking lot confrontation in late January.

Knight has pleaded not guilty. His attorney has said Knight was fleeing an ambush by Sloan and others when he hit the men outside a Compton burger stand.

The video played by a prosecutor in court shows Knight’s pickup truck pulling up to the driveway of the burger stand and Sloan approaching the driver’s side window.

A struggle ensues, and Sloan told detectives he repeatedly punched Knight in response to insults by the former rap mogul. Knight’s pickup is seen backing up, throwing Sloan to the ground before the truck drives over his legs and then plows over Carter.

The entire incident took approximately 30 seconds. The video, shot by a surveillance camera monitoring the drive-thru at the burger stand, continues until the arrival of a paramedic.

The footage is likely to be used by both sides during Knight’s trial.

Knight’s attorney, Matt Fletcher, has said the video appears to show an associate of Sloan’s taking a gun off of him after he is run over, and jurors likely will be shown an enhanced version of the video.

Knight turned himself in to authorities the morning after the incident. Detectives took pictures of him to try to show he did not have any serious injuries from the attack.

Sloan’s interview with detectives will also be crucial to the case since he is unlikely to repeat the lucid account of the event and his own actions that he gave investigators. In court on Monday, Sloan repeatedly said he didn’t remember the incident and refused to identify Knight as the person who injured him, saying he didn’t want to be a “snitch.”

CHICAGO (AP) – With the return of Derrick Rose and the addition of Pau Gasol, the Chicago Bulls came into the season with soaring expectations.

Now, it’s time to deliver.

The Bulls open the playoffs at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday eyeing on a deep run after battling injuries during the regular season.

They expect to have all their starters available, a rarity to this point, and they still see themselves as a force in the Eastern Conference after earning the third seed with a 50-32 record.

“I certainly feel a lot more confident than I did last year at this time,” Mike Dunleavy Jr. said.

There are a number of reasons why he would feel that way.

Start with Rose making his first playoff appearance since the 2012 postseason opener. Throw in the addition of Gasol, Jimmy Butler’s ascent to becoming an All-Star, the depth and the fact that all five starters are expected to play.

The Bulls are 17-5 when they go with their regular lineup of Rose, Butler, Dunleavy, Gasol and Joakim Noah.

Now, they’re going against a rebuilt team that made a big jump from winning a league-low 15 games last year to finishing 41-41 in its first season under coach Jason Kidd. The sixth-seeded Bucks did that despite losing Jabari Parker, the No. 2 draft pick and a Chicago native keenly interested in this series, to a season-ending knee injury.

“We’ve got nothing to lose, really,” said Bucks point guard Michael Carter-Williams, acquired in February. “Everyone’s expecting them to win. We’ve just got to go in there being the underdogs and just fight.”

Here are some things to look for in this series:

ROSE’S (PLAYOFF) RETURN: All eyes figure to be on Rose. After all, he hasn’t been healthy for the duration of the playoffs since a run to the 2011 Eastern Conference finals. The Bulls lost to Miami, and their championship hopes were on hold for a few years while the former MVP point guard recovered from a torn ACL and then a torn meniscus in his right knee.

“Obviously, he’s been through a lot,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It’s good that he’s able to play. When he’s on the floor, it makes us a much different team.”

It’s been an inconsistent season for Rose, who recently missed about six weeks following a minor operation on his right knee. He also sat out the second half of Wednesday’s regular-season finale against Atlanta because of soreness in his left knee.

HEALTH WATCH: Rose and Noah (left hamstring tendinitis) went through a full practice Friday as did Taj Gibson (strained left shoulder). All three will play Saturday. Thibodeau said Rose and Noah – who missed the past two games – will get the same number of minutes they have been playing, assuming they are performing well.

Kirk Hinrich (left knee) did not practice and is questionable for the game.

For Milwaukee, Jared Dudley (back) and Jerryd Bayless (neck) practiced and should be ready to play.

CARTER-WILLIAMS ADJUSTING: After an adjustment period following the trade from Philadelphia, Carter-Williams seems to have settled in as the Bucks finished the season 7-5. The 2014 Rookie of the Year is more of a true point guard than Brandon Knight, whom the Bucks dealt to Phoenix as part of the three-team deal to get Carter-Williams. His 6-foot-6 frame adds another long defender to the court for a team that already includes 6-foot-11 Giannis Antetokounmpo on the wing.

BABY BUCKS: A young team blossomed under first-year coach Jason Kidd’s tutelage to finish with a .500 record. The Bucks relied on defense. Now that they’re in the playoffs, they are no longer an unknown commodity. How will the Carter-Williams, Antetokounmpo and shooting guard Khris Middleton respond to their first doses of playoff pressure?

STOPPING GASOL: Pau Gasol averaged 24.3 points while leading the Bulls to a 3-1 record against Milwaukee and had one of his best games ever against them. He scored a career-high 46 points and grabbed 18 rebounds Jan. 10. That made him the first player to record at least 46 points and 18 rebounds for Chicago since Michael Jordan had 69 points and 18 rebounds in a 117-113 overtime victory at Cleveland on March 28, 1990, according to STATS.

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

SUAMICO – The sign outside Forest Glen elementary school’s multi-purpose room has never been truer to the meaning of the word.

“We’re in an adventure and this adventure is a jungle adventure and although you have to use your imagination,” physical education teacher Beth Ruh told me, as we sat on mats on the floor, in front of a climbing wall. “The younger students have no problem using their imagination, this is a jungle now”

Ruh teaches hundreds of students in nearly a dozen classes each day.

After nearly 30 years teaching physical education, Ruh has seen a lot of changes.
But it’s the changes – and growth – in her Howard-Suamico students that keeps her going every day.

On this day, students are learning how to cross a swamp (mat covered with raised blocks used as stepping stones) with poisonous snakes and alligators (stuffed animals, of course) or zip (scoot on a plastic dolly) safely across the jungle canopy (using a clothesline stretched across the width of the room, covered in stuffed monkeys and plastic snakes).

But before all that, students need to scale the ‘mountains’ to gather precious items such as medicine, water and fishing supplies to help the students along their journey.

Forest Glen Elementary first grader Yongshen Gao, 7, nominated his Howard Suamico physical education teacher Beth Ruh for a 2015 Golden Apple award.It’s a journey that can draw parallels to life – if you use your imagination; especially for one of her young students, 7-year-old Yongshen Gao.

The sports-loving first grader enjoys Ruh’s class a lot and took me into the sports equipment supply closet.

“Do you know how much stuff is in here?” I asked him.

“Yeah,” the precocious boy replied.

“How much?”

“Like over 50, I think.”

“Over 50?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s a good guess.”

Just listening to Yongshen speak, you probably wouldn’t know that just two years ago, he couldn’t speak or write English at all.

“I like Mrs. Ruh play with me and teach me so I like to write a letter for her and I love writing because writing makes me happy.”

It was that happiness that helped Yongshen pen a letter nominating Ruh for a Golden Apple.

“No, it was a complete surprise,” said Ruh, who has been nominated before, but never completed the application – until now.

“Because there was a real true meaning and I knew he looked up to me because when he came, he spoke no English, and my class was probably the highlight of his day,” she said.

“If you’re having fun, then all the other things fall into place. And those skills that they learn in my class, build their self-esteem and it carries them over in other parts of their life.”

MENASHA – After closing at the height of summer boating season last year, the Menasha Lock is once again open.

The lock opened for the season on Friday.

“We always look forward to the nice weather and finally getting back in the water,” said Andy Potter, the manager of the Appleton Yacht Club.

Plenty of boats are expected to make their way into the Fox River at the Appleton Yacht Club this weekend. Many with trips planned through the Menasha Lock to Lake Winnebago.

“Just hoping for some better luck this year,” said Potter.

Last summer a problem with the lower gate hinges on the Menasha Lock closed it for about a week. The same problem resurfaced on the 4th of July, forcing it to close again. That time for several weeks.

“People bought yearly passes to go through,” said Neil Farsetto, the lock tender in Menasha. “They refunded a lot of that money, however wanted it back. They were upset about it. This was their fun time here.”

Each boating season, about 20,000 people go through the lock. Bob Stark, the chief operating officer for the Fox River Navigational System Authrority, says none of them should have a problem with the gate this year.

“That’s been totally restored and then this past off season we did major restoration work on the upper gates and the upper valves as well,” said Stark.

The work is part of a decade-long restoration project on the 17 lower Fox River locks. The project is on schedule to wrap up this summer, on time and under budget.

“There is going to be a community type celebration in August,” said Stark. “We look forward to some excitement there when these locks are all done.”

Boaters hope to get plenty of time on the water before then, especially with a ready lock in Menasha.

“It’s nice to have it in April and looking forward to a good season, hopefully we have a good summer,” said Potter.

The price of day passes for the lock is either $6 or $12 depending on the size of your boat. A season pass is $120.

MADISON (AP) – Analysts say Wisconsin’s roads fund should end the 2015-2017 budget in better shape than Gov. Scott Walker anticipated.

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau said Friday the fund should end the biennium with $84.7 million rather than the $11.2 million Walker estimated.

Higher revenue collections during the last half of 2014 have set a higher starting point than Walker’s administration assumed. Gas tax revenue is expected to rise over the next three fiscal years. Vehicle registrations are expected to rise slightly over the next two years and debt service is expected to come in $37 million lower than Walker estimated.

Walker’s budget calls for borrowing $1.3 billion for roads. The leaders of the Legislature’s finance committee, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, said the new projections should help ease road-building challenges.

ASHWAUBENON – An annual variety show fundraiser presented checks for more than $42,000 for the community.

Ben’s Wish and East High Institute for the Arts were the beneficiaries of the 9th annual Doctors in Recital.

The check presentation took place in FOX 11’s newsroom Friday.

Doctors in Recital is a community event led by local physicians that raises money to support programs to improve the health of the community.

The effort is led by members of the Brown County Medical Society and has raised about $240,000 over the past nine years.

PHOENIX (AP) – Phoenix police said Friday that a man who had been in a business dispute with his two brothers shot and killed them, his mother and one of their wives before taking his own life.

The shootings at a two-story home in a quiet residential neighborhood in north Phoenix led to a massive police presence. The man’s wife fled the home with two young children and another woman when the gunfire broke out Thursday afternoon, Sgt. Trent Crump said.

Police aren’t yet identifying the four victims or the man who opened fire and later shot himself. Crump has said the family had origins in Morocco.

The three brothers ran a company that offered cars for hire and a restaurant, Crump said Friday. There had been an ongoing dispute about the business, and one brother opened fire, he said.

“According to witness accounts, yesterday he had made some off-the-wall comments, at the time saying goodbye to people,” Crump said. “They didn’t know what he was meaning at the time, but now in hindsight, they realize that he was just having some sort of a breakdown.”

Crump said the two brothers were shot on the home’s first floor. The man then shot his mother as she came down the stairs, continued upstairs and killed another woman, and then went into a bedroom and shot himself.

A neighbor, Scott Pollack, described the family as quiet and respectful. He said their employees would sit inside company vehicles beside his home and await driving jobs on weekends.

“They didn’t make a lot of ruckus,” he said, adding, the shooting “just blew our minds.”

Pollack watched from an upstairs window in his home as a police SWAT team surrounded. Several SWAT officers broke the glass of a back patio door to enter the home after about a half hour.

Several police vans and a mobile command center lined the block Friday morning as authorities removed five bodies and bags containing evidence.

Crump said one gun was recovered.

The brothers had apparently lived in Phoenix for at least several years, but some of the victims were visiting from out of the country, and police were working with consular officers to notify their families.

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) – This isn’t your grandparents’ baseball game.

Minor league teams from New York and Connecticut will play an experimental game this weekend aimed at finding ways to speed their pace. The Long Island Ducks and Bridgeport Bluefish will play an exhibition game Saturday, limiting every batter to just five pitches.

Some fans have complained baseball games take too long.

The rules in the Atlantic League experimental game call for a batter to be called out if he fouls off a pitch with two strikes. Ordinarily a batter remains at the plate until he gets a hit, makes an out, strikes out on three pitches, is hit by a pitch or walks.

The rules also give batters a walk after three balls, not four.

Game time is 1 p.m.