Green Bay News

Photos along the Outagamie-Winnebago county line April 16, 2015, one day after a large marsh fire.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Fish continued to die by the ton Thursday in a Rio de Janeiro lake that’s slated to host Olympic rowing events, while city authorities and biologists argued about the cause of the die-off.

Rio’s Comlurb waste management company said that as of Wednesday night, it had collected more than 37 tons of dead fish from the Rodrigo de Freitas lake since the die-off started late last week.

Garbage collectors were out in force again on Thursday to rake dead fish off the water’s surface, and Comlurb said the effort would continue till the die-off subsides.

The decomposing fish, a small silvery species called twaite shad, were trucked to the city’s main dump.

But an overwhelming stench still enveloped the lake, sparking complaints by angry neighbors and passers-by.

Such die-offs are common in Rio, where rivers, lakes and even the ocean are blighted by raw sewage and garbage. In February, twaite shad died en masse in the blighted waters of the Guanabara Bay, where the Olympic sailing events are to be held.

Rio’s environmental secretariat insisted Thursday that the latest incident is the result of a sudden change in water temperature.

“The intense rains that happened last week and a rise in the sea levels led to a spike in the (sea) water entering the lake, causing a thermal shock,” it said in a statement, reporting that water temperature in the lake fell by 4 degrees Celsius (7.2 degrees Fahrenheit)  in a short period of time.

However, several scientists rejected that explanation, saying that pollution is really to blame.

Estefan Monteiro da Fonseca, an oceanographer at the Fluminense Federal University, said the official explanation “makes no sense.”

“The lake continues receiving large quantities of sewage,” he said, adding that the it “has large concentrations of sulfur because of the organic material dumped into it, and depending on the winds, that material rises to the surface and kills fish.”

Rio’s water quality has become one of the most contentious issues heading into the 2016 Olympics. Authorities have long said that the games would be the catalyst for a major cleanup of the city’s waterways, but as the showcase sporting event approaches with few improvements, authorities are now admitting that the Olympic promises won’t be met.

Rio Governor Luiz Fernando Pezao acknowledged earlier this week “there’s not going to be time” to finish the cleanup ahead of the games, suggesting it might wrap up by the end of 2018 instead.

Sailors have repeatedly voiced concerns about possible health and safety threats posed by competing in Rio’s waters.

Fonseca, the oceanographer, warned that if another fish die-off occurs during the games in August 2016, “Rio’s image could suffer irreparable damage.”

SEATTLE (AP) – Washington State Auditor Troy Kelley, the elected official tasked with rooting out government fraud and waste, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of filing false tax returns, attempted obstruction of a civil lawsuit and possession of stolen property.

The 41-page indictment was unsealed Thursday, alleging various misdeeds by Kelley in connection with mortgage title services companies he previously ran.

Federal prosecutors say he kept more than $1 million that should have been refunded to customers of the companies he worked with, and that he unlawfully avoided paying taxes by claiming personal or campaign expenses were business-related.

Last month, 11 days after federal investigators searched his house, Kelley wrote the IRS a check for more than $447,000, the indictment said. He also transferred $908,000 into a Seattle trust account.

“Mr. Kelley spun a web of lies in an effort to avoid paying his taxes and keep more than a million dollars that he knew did not belong to him, but instead should have been returned to thousands of homeowners across this state,” acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said.

Kelley was scheduled to appear at U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Thursday afternoon, where one of his attorneys, Mark Bartlett, told The Associated Press he will plead not guilty.

The most serious charge carries up to 20 years in prison.

In a statement, Kelley said he was disappointed by the indictment and that he would take a temporary leave of absence beginning May 1, but that he was “determined to fight back.”

“For the past few years, I have been the subject of an intense investigation by the federal government about my private business practices going back more than 10 years,” he said. “In the end, they’ve been able to obtain an indictment, but they are a long way from proving any wrongdoing. Put more directly, I am very confident that I will be able to prove my innocence.”

Still, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee called on Kelley to resign, as did state Sen. Mark Miloscia, a Federal Way Republican who ran against Kelley for auditor.

“This indictment today makes it clear to me that Troy Kelly cannot continue as state auditor,” Inslee said in a written statement. “An appointee can restore confidence in the office and assure the public that the Office of the State Auditor will operate at the high standards required of the post.”

Speculation has been swirling around Kelley, a Democrat elected in 2012, since last month, when federal agents searched his home and subpoenaed the auditor’s office for records concerning Jason JeRue, a longtime business associate of Kelley who subsequently went to work for him at the state agency. The subpoena sought any of JeRue’s emails or other documents related to Kelley’s Post Closing Department, which worked with escrow and mortgage title companies to track certain real estate transactions.

The indictment did not allege any wrongdoing by JeRue.

According to the indictment, Kelley’s company was supposed to collect up to $150 in advance as a fee for each transaction; keep $15 to $20 for its own services; pay any government fees required; and then refund whatever portion remained to the customers. Instead, Kelley kept the money, the indictment said – an amount that totaled at least $3 million from 2006 to 2008.

“Contrary to his representations, Troy X. Kelley did not refund unused portions of reconveyance fees to borrowers, but instead fraudulently retained, stole, and converted them to his own use,” the indictment said.

One of the escrow companies Kelley worked with, Old Republic Title, sued him in 2009 in an effort to get the money back. He eventually paid more than $1 million to settle the case.

According to the indictment, “Kelley gave false testimony during a deposition, lied in sworn declarations submitted to the Court, and misled Old Republic as to the whereabouts of the unlawfully retained reconveyance fees through false and fraudulent answers to interrogatories.”

As part of the effort to conceal the money, Kelley wired $3.8 million through a series of newly opened accounts, the indictment said. Even after paying the settlement, though, he in 2011 he started withdrawing the remaining money at a rate of $245,000 a year. He declared that as income for a new company he had registered, and wrongly offset the company’s tax liabilities by claiming personal expenses – including campaign expenses – were business-related, the indictment said.

Attempted obstruction of a civil lawsuit carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years. Possession and concealment of stolen property carries up to 10 years. Kelley is also charged with corrupt interference with internal revenue laws.

The government is also seeking an order that Kelley forfeit nearly $1.5 million.

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La Corte reported from Olympia. Derrick Nunnally contributed from Tacoma.

NEW YORK (AP) – Teen smoking hit a new low last year while the popularity of electronic cigarettes and water pipes boomed, a government report shows.

The number of high school students who tried e-cigarettes tripled in one year – to more than 13 percent. Water pipes or hookahs were used by 9.4 percent.

But smoking of traditional cigarettes plummeted to 9.2 percent from more than 13 percent. That means smoking in high school is now less common than e-cigarette or hookah use.

The decline in cigarette smoking “is very dramatic and very encouraging,” said Robin Koval, president of Legacy, an anti-smoking organization.

The report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mirrors the results of another government-funded study issued in December.

The CDC report is based on a national survey of about 22,000 students at middle schools and high schools, both public and private. Similar trends were found for middle school but at lower levels of use.

Students were asked whether they had smoked or used a tobacco product in the previous 30 days; those who said yes were deemed current smokers

Besides cigarettes, the report found continuing declines in the use of cigars, chewing tobacco and snuff among high school students.

CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden this week described the findings as “alarming.” He said the decline in use of most tobacco products was more than offset by the growth in nicotine-laden e-cigarettes and hookahs.

Some public health experts say the CDC is taking an unusually hard stand against e-cigarettes, at a time when scientists still trying to determine how harmful they are. They started selling in the U.S. in 2006 and are often described as a less dangerous alternative to cigarettes.

“The CDC has been very one-sided on the e-cigarette issue,” said Kenneth Warner, a University of Michigan public health professor who is a leading authority on smoking and health.

E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that produce an odorless vapor that typically contains nicotine and flavorings.

Scientists say nicotine is harmful for the developing brain. Frieden said e-cigarettes are a new way of introducing kids to nicotine – and potentially hooking them on tobacco products in the future.

“The idea that kids are better off using e-cigarettes is just the wrong way of thinking about it,” he said.

A year ago, the Food and Drug Administration proposed regulating e-cigarettes, including banning sales to minors. A final rule is expected by June, an FDA spokesman said Thursday.

Others were more positive about the new report and the drop in traditional cigarettes, and voiced more uncertainty about the science around e-cigarettes. There’s not yet a scientific consensus on whether kids who try e-cigarettes go on to become regular smokers, Koval said.

“Is this a gateway in? Or a pathway out? We don’t know,” she said.

Warner said it’s also not clear how many of those deemed users of e-cigarettes in the survey tried them once and didn’t use them again.

“Is it a fad? Or will it stick around and come back to haunt us? We really don’t know the implications of this in the long run,” he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The postal carrier who flew a gyrocopter onto the lawn of the U.S. Capitol is facing two criminal charges. But he’s being released from federal custody to return to Florida.

Doug Hughes made his initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Washington on Thursday. That’s one day after he steered his tiny aircraft onto the Capitol’s West Lawn after flying through restricted airspace around the National Mall. He was charged with operating an unregistered aircraft and violating national airspace.

Hughes said it was a political protest.

Hughes was released on his own recognizance afterward and instructed to check in weekly with authorities in Tampa starting next week. In a soft voice, Hughes appeared to ask the judge a clarifying question about that obligation but otherwise he did not say anything significant.

NEW YORK (AP) – Whistleblower site WikiLeaks has put hundreds of thousands of emails and documents from last year’s Sony hack into a searchable online archive.

The website founded by Julian Assange says that its database includes more than 170,000 emails from Sony Pictures Entertainment and a subsidiary, plus more than 30,000 other documents.

In December, Sony suffered a crippling cyberattack ahead of the release of the movie “The Interview,” set in North Korean. An unknown organization leaked the documents and other damaging information online, but not in an easily searchable database.

In a statement, Assange said the documents show the inner workings of an international company and therefore belongs in the public domain.

Sony did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is assuring wounded soldiers and veterans they are not alone, telling them, “We’ve got your back.”

Obama addressed the service members and their families at the White House Thursday during the annual Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride. More than 50 soldiers and veterans climbed on bikes under sunny skies and circled the White House South Lawn, some in cycles adapted for their injuries.

Obama singled out three of the participants for the range of wounds they represented. One was injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. Another was a medic who lost both feet to a rare disease. The third was an officer who served two tours in Iraq and came home suffering from post-traumatic stress.

Obama said: “We are among heroes here today.”

 

WASHINGTON (AP) – In a victory for business, federal regulators said Thursday that employers can continue to use financial penalties and rewards to nudge staff to participate in fast-growing workplace wellness programs.

But the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – which enforces laws against discrimination – also proposed some safeguards for employees.

Those include limits on the size of financial incentives, confidentiality of employee medical information and prohibitions against firing workers who decline to participate or denying them access to the company health plan.

Financial incentives can range as high as 30 percent of the cost of premiums for employee-only coverage, the commission said. The proposed regulations are now open for public comment for 60 days.

Programs that encourage workers to lose weight, quit smoking, get active and better manage stress are spreading throughout American businesses. Employers are looking for ways to cut costs associated with chronic illnesses, which can be influenced by lifestyle, not just family medical history.

Some wellness programs require employees to complete a health risk assessment questionnaire and discuss the results with a health coach. Some require employees to take specific actions, such as losing weight or getting blood pressure readings down to recommended levels.

The wellness regulations have been lobbied hard by business groups pressing for more leeway and advocates for people with disabilities, seeking limitations. The influential Business Roundtable warned the administration last year that the employment commission’s pursuit of discrimination claims related to wellness programs was having a chilling effect on efforts to control health costs.

Businesses say the programs are paying financial dividends, but independent assessments are mixed. For example, a 2013 study of a major St. Louis hospital system found that its wellness program was associated with a sharp drop in hospitalization. Yet increased outpatient costs erased those savings.

The 30-percent standard for financial carrots and sticks was set in President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul law.

Here’s how it works: If the total premium paid by the employer and employee for single coverage is $5,000, rewards or penalties for participating in a wellness program under that plan cannot exceed $1,500.

Virtually all large companies offer some sort of wellness benefit as part of their health insurance program. But fewer than 4 in 10 use financial incentives to get employees to participate or meet specific health goals. In most cases the penalties or rewards are well below what would be permitted under the proposed regulations.

After the health care overhaul passed in 2010, questions arose about potential conflicts with the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, which dates back to 1990 and protects people with chronic conditions against workplace discrimination. That law says wellness programs have to be voluntary.

The employment commission is trying to balance the two laws.

Karen Pollitz, an insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, said the commission previously had maintained that participation in wellness programs must be voluntary.

“Without question, the EEOC has stepped away from its prior enforcement guidance,” said Pollitz. “Now they are saying it is OK to penalize people as long as the financial penalties or incentives, as well as other aspects of the program, are within these limits.”

Commission Chairwoman Jenny R. Yang said in a statement the goal is to “harmonize” the workings of different federal laws that address the issue.

“Medical inquiries and exams that are part of an employee health program must be voluntary,” said Yang. At the same time, “allowing incentives to encourage participation in wellness programs” is permitted by federal law.

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Hillary Rodham Clinton will make her first trip as a presidential candidate to the early voting state of New Hampshire next week.

The Clinton campaign said the former secretary of state will participate in small events Monday and Tuesday, including roundtables with students and small-business employees. She will also hold private meetings with elected officials and activists. The campaign did not provide more specifics of her schedule.

Clinton announced her second White House run Sunday before traveling to Iowa, where she held similar small-scale events.

Clinton won the New Hampshire primary in 2008 after placing third in the Iowa caucuses, jumpstarting a lengthy and bruising Democratic nomination contest won by Barack Obama on his way to the presidency.

The Clintons have long been popular in New Hampshire, where Bill Clinton’s second-place finish in the 1992 primary helped propel him to the nomination and the White House.

Hillary Clinton last visited New Hampshire in November to stump for Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Gov. Maggie Hassan. Her New Hampshire operation is drawing heavily from Shaheen’s reelection team, with the senator’s campaign manager, Mike Vlacich, serving as Clinton’s New Hampshire state director.

At an organizing event in Concord on Wednesday night, Vlacich told supporters to expect frequent outreach from the campaign.

Clinton traveled to Iowa by van from her home in New York and held a series of events with small groups of people, leaving any big rallies for later. She pledged a campaign aimed at building “the economy of tomorrow,” strengthening families, fixing government dysfunction and protecting the country from threats. She has yet to outline policy specifics.

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Associated Press writers Ken Thomas and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s unemployment rate has dropped to 4.6 percent, its lowest point since before the recession.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that the unemployment dropped from 4.8 percent in February to 4.6 percent in March.

Private-sector job creation plunged, with 5,000 jobs lost in the monthlong timeframe.

The numbers fluctuate month-to-month because they are based on a survey of just 3.5 Wisconsin employers. More accurate quarterly jobs numbers, that aren’t as current, were scheduled to be released June 17.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A bill that would impose statewide regulations on ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft has cleared a state Senate committee.

The Senate’s government operations committee approved the bill 4-1 on Thursday, clearing the way for a vote in the full Senate perhaps as early as next week. The state Assembly overwhelmingly passed the measure earlier this week.

The bill would require ride-hailing companies to purchase a $5,000 license, conduct driver background checks and maintain at least $1 million in liability insurance. Drivers would be prohibited from discriminating against passengers because of race, religion, sex or disability.

Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, an Alma Democrat, cast the lone dissenting vote. She said local governments should regulate the industry, not the state.

GREEN BAY – April is National Donate Life Month, and a Green Bay hospital raised awareness Thursday about the cause.

HSHS St. Vincent employees handed out information about signing up to be an organ, tissue and eye donor upon death.

In Wisconsin, there are more than 2,300 people on the wait list for an organ transplant.

Anyone older than 15-and-a-half years-old who holds a Wisconsin driver’s license or state ID card can register.

Cherie Cadieux, organ procurement co-coordinator, explains there’s no financial cost if you donate, “Organ donation does not cost the donor anything at all. That cost is picked up by the recovery agency and eventually that cost is picked up from the recipients’ insurance company.”

You can sign up online here. It can take less than two minutes to sign up.

 

BAGHDAD (AP) — More than 2,000 families have fled from the Iraqi city of Ramadi, an official said Thursday, as the Islamic State group advanced on the provincial capital of the western Anbar province, clashing with Iraqi troops.

The extremist group, which has controlled the nearby city of Fallujah for more than a year, captured three villages on Ramadi’s eastern outskirts on Wednesday. The advance is widely seen as a counteroffensive after the IS group lost the city of Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown, earlier this month.

Hundreds of U.S. troops are training Iraqi forces at a military base west of Ramadi, but a U.S. military official said the fighting had no impact on the U.S. soldiers there, and that there were no plans to withdraw them.

Sattar Nowruz, from the Ministry of Migration and Displaced, said those fleeing Ramadi have settled in southern and western Baghdad suburbs.

Tents, food and other aid are being sent to them, he said. The ministry is also assessing the situation with the provincial government in order “to provide the displaced people, who are undergoing difficult conditions, with better services and help,” Nowruz said.

Sporadic clashes were still underway Thursday, according to security officials in Ramadi. Government forces control the city center, while the IS group has had a presence in the suburbs and outskirts for months. They described Ramadi as a ghost town, with empty streets and closed shops.

U.S.-led coalition airstrikes targeted the IS group in Sjariyah, Albu-Ghanim and Soufiya, the three villages the extremists captured Wednesday, the officials added. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to talk to the media.

Anbar’s Deputy Gov. Faleh al-Issawi described the situation in Ramadi as “catastrophic” and urged the central government to send reinforcements.

“We urge the Baghdad government to supply us immediately with troops and weapons in order to help us prevent the city from falling into the hands of the IS group,” he told the Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Al-Bayan, the Islamic State group’s English-language radio station, claimed the fighters were in complete control of at least six areas and most of a seventh to the east of Ramadi since Wednesday, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S. group that monitors militant websites.

American troops fought some of their bloodiest battles in Anbar during the eight-year U.S. intervention, when Fallujah and Ramadi were strongholds of al-Qaida in Iraq, a precursor to the IS group. Fallujah was the first Iraqi city to fall to the IS group, in January 2014.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was visiting Washington on Wednesday, made no mention of the events in Ramadi. Instead he spoke optimistically about recruiting Sunni tribal fighters to battle the extremists, saying about 5,000 such fighters in Anbar had signed up and received light weapons.

The IS-run Al-Bayan station also reported that an attempt by Iraqi troops to advance on the Beiji oil refinery in Salahuddin province, about 250 kilometers (115 miles) north of Baghdad, was pushed back and that fighters “positioned themselves in multiple parts of the refinery after taking control of most of it,” according to SITE.

Iraqi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the fighting around Beiji. On Monday, Oil Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said that Iraqi forces, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, had repelled an IS attack on Beiji over the weekend.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. military official told The Associated Press that there were no plans to evacuate U.S. troops from the Ain al-Asad air base, about 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Ramadi — and stressed that the current fighting around Ramadi had no impact on the base. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Since January, hundreds of U.S. forces have been training Iraqi troops at the base. An attack on the base by a suicide bomber in February was repelled.

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Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Vivian Salama contributed to this report.

 

PULASKI – Pulaski’s school superintendent has been placed on administrative leave.

District employees were notified Thursday of the change in Milt Thompson’s status. The school district did not provide a reason for placing Thompson on administrative leave, nor did it say when he would return.

The board approved the leave April 8, and it started April 9.

Assistant superintendent Bec Kurzynske has been named interim superintendent.

OSHKOSH – Aviation enthusiasts at EAA’s AirVenture show will have a chance to see something never seen at a U.S. air show before.

The Lockheed Martin F-35 “Lightening II” will make its first U.S. air show appearance during the 63rd annual edition of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s fly-in convention scheduled for July 20-26 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh.

The high-performance multi-role fighter is expected to arrive midway through AirVenture week and will remain on display throughout the remainder of the event. Exact times have not been announced.

The F-35 joins a list of current military aircraft scheduled for the event that includes the B-52 Stratofortress and F-22 Raptor.

Lockheed Martin was chosen as the F-35 designer in 2001. Lockheed Martin collaborated with Northrup Grumann and BAE Systems to develop the prototype aircraft.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The NFL has reinstated Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson, clearing the way for him to return after missing most of last season while facing child abuse charges in Texas.

The league announced its decision on Thursday. Commissioner Roger Goodell sent Peterson a letter advising him of his reinstatement. Goodell wrote that Peterson will have to fulfill all the obligations of his plea deal with authorities after he reached a plea deal to reduce a felony charge to a misdemeanor.

Goodell also told Peterson he would have to continue attending counseling while adhering to the league’s new personal conduct policy to avoid further discipline.

GREEN BAY – It was a moment that has taken years to get to: that the historic, 91-year-old Hotel Northland will get a second chance at being the social and hospitality center of downtown Green Bay once again.

Frantz Community Investors will soon embark on turning the mothballed building into a 160-room boutique hotel, with two full-service restaurants, catering, event space, a fitness center and spa – employing 166 full time employees.

Rendering of the Crystal Ballroom in the renovated Hotel Northland. (Photo courtesy Hotel Northland)

The layered financing structure for the $44 million project is in some ways the reason the project has taken so long to come to fruition, but is also the reason it’s happening at all.

State and Federal Historic Tax Credits and grants make up about $8 million; FirstMerit Bank will provide provide more than $14 million in private loan financing, according to FCI Executive Director and founder Mike Frantz. A recently approved federal $4.7 million loan, cash and city tax reimbursements make up the rest. The private financing and federal loan were announced at a press event Thursday morning at the hotel.

• Photos: Historical images of the Hotel Northland

“I’m just so glad I’m going to continue to be a part of this project,” said Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt, a little more than one week after he survived a close re-election race against current city council president Tom DeWane.

“Great things take time and here we have, today, one of the most significant projects of our administration.”

Frantz says demolition of the non-historic upper floors of the building will begin within the next couple of days. However the full hotel will not be ready by football season. The current timeline has the project being complete by next spring.

FOX 11’s Bill Miston is working on this story and will have more on FOX 11 News at Five.

APPLETON – The former VFW bar manager who stole more than $30,000 from the post was sentenced to one year in jail

Kelly O’Connor pleaded no contest Wednesday to three counts of theft. A fourth count was dismissed, according to online court records.

She was also placed on probation for two years. She must repay $1,200 per month, starting May 1, until the VFW post has been reimbursed.

O’Connor stole money from the post’s gaming deposit box to fund her gambling habit, according to the criminal complaint.

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