Green Bay News

DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) — John Penn had waited 28 years to walk his daughter down the aisle.

He did it on Sunday morning, even though there wasn’t a groom.

Penn’s body isn’t what it used to be. In May of 2012, he was hit by a car in Panama City and suffered 23 broken bones. Around Christmas of 2013, he found out he had Acute Myaloid Leukemia, a rare but aggressive type of blood and bone marrow cancer that affects immature blood cell growth.

After three rounds of chemotherapy, doctors told him the cancer had become resistant to the chemicals. Doctors were measuring his life in months. He decided to measure his life in moments.

On Feb. 28 of this year, he visited his daughter, Shayna, in Lithia Springs, Ga., where she has been living. They talked about the prognosis. They shared memories, and regrets.

“We had some alone time and he told me how important it was to him to be able to walk me down the aisle at my wedding, and that he hated he was going to miss it,” Shayna recalled.

Shayna, 28, decided to have a wedding with everything but the groom. The other part will come someday. Sunday, friends and family gathered at Woodham Farms near Wicksburg to share the experience.

The entire ceremony lasted less than six minutes. Shayna, in full wedding regalia, walked down a set of stairs inside the building and met her father. He has walked recently with the aid of a cane, but not this time. He guided her to the foot of the aisle and they walked together to the minister.

“Who gives this woman to be married today?” said Eddie Henderson, chaplain for the Dothan Police Department and friend of the family.

“Her mother and I,” Mr. Penn said.

With that, John Penn faced his daughter. She put her hands around him and the two began to dance. Tim McGraw’s “My Little Girl” played in the background.

John Penn doesn’t say much. When he does, the purpose is typically to get everyone around him to laugh. While waiting for the ceremony to start Sunday, he played his cane like an air guitar and quipped about how long it was taking Shayna to put on her wedding gown. He hummed and even sang a little.

He served as a game warden in Houston County for 30 years and as a Pinckard police officer for 10. His 2012 accident forced him into retirement. His 2013 diagnosis came way too soon.

For John Penn, there is no need to belabor the point.

“It is what it is. You just have to make the best of it and go on,” he said. “You just have to play the cards you’re dealt.”

Shayna Penn was never the girl that planned her dream wedding at an early age. Even four days before Sunday’s ceremony, there were still plenty of things to be decided.

It all came together Sunday, and will be an integral part of her “bride and groom” wedding. The ceremony was filmed by a professional videographer and the clip will be played during her wedding when it is time for Shayna to come down the aisle and unite with her groom.

“I can’t imagine it being any more of a connection,” she said.

She graduated from Wicksburg High school in 2004 and Auburn University in 2008. She spent much of her time in Wicksburg training horses. Now, she works as a skin cancer surgical tech and does some part-time modeling.

The ceremony was possible in part because of the Dream Foundation, a national wish-granting organization for adults. The Foundation helped facilitate the funding necessary to put the event together.

Overall, the Dream Foundation has fulfilled more than 20,000 dreams since forming in 1993. Now, John Penn’s dream of giving his daughter away at her wedding can be fulfilled.

John Penn turned 64 Sunday. After the morning ceremony, friends and family gave him a birthday party. It was attended by more than 100 people who had been influential in his life. More than 30 game wardens from throughout Alabama were scheduled to attend.

One day. Two bucket list items.

There will be more special moments. He is building a shooting house on his property for the purpose of spending time with his two sons. The whole family will spend time on the back porch of their home. He will continue to make people laugh.

Sunday, however, will always be special because of what actually happened and for what it represents.

“I think the thing to remember is always let the people who are special in your life know that you love them,” said Carol Penn, John’s wife. “Sometimes you lose contact with those special friends in your life. Maybe the point is to try not to lose contact.”

APPLETON  – A woman who was charged in connection with her partner’s death is expected back in court Tuesday to have the case dismissed.

Dianna Siveny is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the 2007 murder of Lara Plamann.

While her trial is scheduled for June 8, the charges are expected to be dropped after a hearing today before Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger.

Charges were previously dropped against Siveny’s daughter, Kandi Siveny, after a similiar hearing in February. In that case, prosecutors have the option to re-file the charges, and the same is expected to happen with her mother.

Prosecutors alleged that the Sivenys hired Rosie Campbell to kill Plaman, but when she backed out, Kandi Siveny allegedly shot Plamann.

Campbell’s case and testimony proved problematic for prosectors, however. Campbell was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison in the case.

Fox 11 will have a crew at the hearing and will update this story later today, with more coverage on Fox 11 News at Five.

TWO RIVERS – The public is invited to take a look at the Point Beach nuclear plant’s annual safety review.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has set an April 20 open house to discuss safety at the plant near Two Rivers. The meeting is scheduled for 6-7:30 p.m. at the Lester Public Library, 1001 Adams St.

While the plant was determined to have operated safely in 2014, regulators say there were a total of three low to moderate safety issues at the plant’s two units. Those issues have since been resolved.

• Click here for information on Unit 1
• Click here for information on Unit 2

CINCINNATI (AP) – Lauren Hill was remembered on Monday with her own music and words – and more smiles and tears – in the basketball arena where she had one of her greatest moments.

Only this time, the crowd celebrated not a layup, but a life. A brief life, fully lived.

The 19-year-old college basketball player died Friday from a brain tumor that had been growing inside of her for more than a year. The Mount St. Joseph freshman devoted her final year to playing basketball, raising money for cancer research, and inspiring others.

“She made you think: What am I doing with my life?” said Lexy Saraswate, 19, a Xavier student who volunteered to work at the memorial service. “How can I be a better person?”

Hill’s gray, metal casket was brought by a hearse to Xavier’s 10,000-seat Cintas Center, where she made a left-handed layup to open a Division III game on Nov. 2.

There was no more appropriate place to say goodbye. And to draw one more bit of inspiration.

For the memorial service, her casket would rest on the spot where she scored her first basket five months earlier. The backboard and basket were off to the side, with the shot clock above it set to 22 – her number.

First, the public was invited to file past the closed casket in an upstairs conference room. A spray of white, pink and purple roses rested atop it.

Family photos flanked the casket, along with a photo of her in a cape inscribed with a quote from actor Christopher Reeve: “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”

All along, Hill insisted that it wasn’t about only the one layup. Or one game. Or one life, even. She tried to make her final year about everyone else.

“Just her courage,” said Saraswate, who attended the game in November. “I felt that was the thing: What do you do when you’re staring death in the face? She set a goal for herself and accomplished it, even surpassed it. She’s an inspiration.”

Hill’s family decided to play music from her iPod to start the memorial, which would include video of her layup only 17 seconds into Mount St. Joseph’s 66-55 win over Hiram College in the season-opening game that was moved up because of her declining condition.

One of her favorites – Katy Perry’s “Roar” – was chosen to end the hour-long memorial in front of family, teammates, coaches and the Hiram College team as well.

And her motto would be repeated: “Never give up.”

Already, Hill had been honored during a brief on-campus memorial, on restaurant promotional signs, and with a moment of silence before a Cincinnati Reds game on Friday.

“She was a hero,” Mount St. Joseph President Tony Aretz said. “We need heroes.”

Hill tried to make the last months of her life about helping and inspiring other people. Through a nonprofit foundation, she helped to raise roughly $1.5 million for research into pediatric cancer. Shortly before she died, she set a goal of raising $2.2 million – matching her uniform number.

The fundraising campaign will continue through the school and the foundation.

Hill was a high school senior in nearby Lawrenceburg, Indiana, when she started having dizzy spells. Tests found the inoperable brain tumor. She decided to attend college anyway, hoping to live long enough to get into a game.

The NCAA recognized her condition and allowed the school to move up the opener. The great interest in the game prompted Xavier to host it.

The arena was packed for the game, which started with a set play to get her a left-handed layup. She also made a right-handed layup late in the game. Each time, there was another roar followed by more goose bumps and tears.

She played in four games overall, scoring 10 points, before she was too weak to continue.

Before the season started, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association voted her the Pat Summitt Most Courageous Award, which is normally awarded at the Final Four. The honor was noted again at the women’s Final Four a week ago.

She did a satellite interview for “The View” a few weeks ago to talk about her condition. In an interview with the WCPO crew that set up the remote for that interview, Hill was asked how she’d like people to remember her when she’s gone.

“She was a hero and she showed cancer who’s boss,” Hill said.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Prosecutors have charged a reserve sheriff’s deputy in Oklahoma with manslaughter in the shooting of a suspect.

A second-degree manslaughter charge was filed Monday against 73-year-old Tulsa County reserve deputy Robert Bates.

Police have said Bates thought he was holding a stun gun, not his handgun, when he fired at 44-year-old Eric Harris, who is black, in the April 2 incident.

A man can be heard apologizing and admitting to shooting a person in a video that documents the killing.

EDINBURGH, Ind. (AP) – A double-decker bus heading from Chicago to Atlanta hit the back of a stopped semi-truck in a construction zone Monday morning, Indiana State Police said, leaving 19 passengers with injuries that were not life-threatening. It is the fourth crash involving a Megabus in Indiana since October.

At the time, a state police car with lights on was slowing traffic on Interstate 65 south of Indianapolis so construction vehicles could move from the side of the highway to the median, Trooper John Perrine said. Traffic further back stopped, but the bus failed to stop for “unknown reasons,” he said.

The bus driven by Kimberly Lane, 50, of Dolton, Illinois, struck the back of the semitrailer in the left lane, pushing the truck into a sport utility vehicle and a passenger vehicle. It happened around 5:30 a.m. in Johnson County near Edinburgh, about 35 miles south of Indianapolis, Perrine said.

“The glass was everywhere,” passenger Vanessa Simmons told WRTV-TV. “My seat cushion threw me three seats to the front.”

Of the 63 passengers, 19 were taken to hospitals in Johnson, Marion and Shelby counties. Perrine said there were no obviously serious injuries. A spokeswoman at Johnson Memorial Hospital said eight passengers were treated and released and a spokeswoman at Columbus Regional Hospital said three passengers there were treated and released. Other hospitals didn’t immediately provide details.

Megabus spokesman Sean Hughes said the company was cooperating with authorities in the investigation.

Perrine said there was substantial damage to the front of the Megabus and to the semi-trailer. Tow trucks removed the damaged vehicles and the left lane of the interstate was closed for three hours.

The bus will undergo a thorough inspection later this week to determine if mechanical problems contributed to the crash, Perrine said.

Two public buses from Indianapolis brought uninjured passengers to a nearby truck stop until other Megabuses could pick them up. Some people continued toward Atlanta, while others headed back to Chicago.

The bus bringing passengers back to Chicago was stopped by state police shortly before noon so a passenger wanted on a warrant out of Michigan could be arrested, Perrine said. He didn’t know what the man was charged with or how Michigan authorities knew he was on the bus.

MILWAUKEE – If you planned on getting tickets to the Rolling Stones concert in Milwaukee, you may be out of luck.

Tickets and VIP packages for the concert sold out within 10 minutes of going on sale Monday morning.

The Milwaukee date is an early kick-off to Summerfest, as The Rollings Stones will help open the festival on June 23.

Each Stones concert ticket comes with a complimentary general admission to Summerfest.

Summerfest runs from June 24-28, June 30-July 5.

For more information on Summerfest, click here.

Three-way G.O.P. Race for the Presidency

Senator Marco Rubio’s announcement from Miami puts him in the race with fellow tea-partiers, Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. All three were elected to the Senate over well-funded candidates who expected easy general election victories.

The 43-year-old Florida Senator made his announcement from Miami’s iconic Freedom Tower where thousands of Cuban immigrants were processed for a good part of the twentieth century.   “To me, it’s a place that’s symbolic of the promise of America,” Rubio said of the building that served as the first location where Cuban refugees arrived after leaving the island.

Political Strategist Greg Valliere finds Rubio to be the most interesting out of this so-called tea-party trifecta. “Rubio is more than just the tea party, although the tea party I think could live with him,” says Valliere.

Senator Rubio has long wanted to repeal and replace Obama-care. He also favors tax cuts on individual workers and corporations. Also,  given the volatility abroad, he’s been outspoken about the current administration’s handling of foreign policy.   “I think he’s become more and more articulate and more and more knowledgeable at foreign policy for example,” says Dr. Richard Vatz, Political Analyst from Towson University. “He appears to be a different person than he was just a year ago.”    “Rubio I think on foreign policy is showing that he’s quite hawkish,” adds Valliere. “He embraces the Lindsey Graham and John McCain wing that wants a vigorous foreign policy.”

Political strategists say now Marco Rubio will have to build on his tea-party foundation and appeal to the more moderate wing of the Republican Party, if he’s to successfully shore up the G.O.P. base.   “I think his appeal is acceptable to everyone in the party,” Valliere says. “He and Scott Walker I think are both acceptable to the entire party.”

The latest Boston Herald poll has Rubio behind the G.O.P. candidates already in the hunt in the bell-weather state of New Hampshire. All three trail Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. The latest Quinnipiac poll of registered voters in Iowa has Rubio losing to Hillary Clinton by three percentage points in the presidential election.

Some strategists warn that having three senators born from the tea party in this race could split that vote; making room for the more moderate Jeb Bush to win it all.   But Senator Rubio just received a major boost from his super-pac “Conservative Solutions”  that is sure to play a major role in peppering the media landscape in the very near future.   Rubio’s campaign says this will clearly give their candidate the help he’ll need to separate him from the other dark horses in the race and energize his campaign.

MADISON (AP) – The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the latest UW school to offer employee buyouts to help absorb massive cuts Gov. Scott Walker has proposed for the system.

UW-Milwaukee officials announced the plan Monday. Under the voluntary program, any employee vested in the state retirement system who would qualify for a full annuity as of July 1 would get a one-time payment equal to half their base salary to leave their jobs. About 300 of the school’s 4,500 employees could qualify.

Four other UW schools – Oshkosh, Green Bay, Eau Claire and Superior – announced buyout plans last month.

The plans come as campuses are grappling with Walker’s budget plan to cut $300 million from the UW System. UW-Milwaukee officials estimate their share of the cut will be about $40 million.

MADISON (AP) – Five voters are asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson where she seeks to not have a newly approved constitutional amendment apply until her term is over.

The voters asked U.S. District Judge James Peterson on Monday to allow them to intervene in the case. They also asked that it be dismissed.

Abrahamson last week filed the lawsuit the day after voters approved a constitutional amendment changing how the chief justice is selected. Instead of it going automatically to the most senior member of the court, the seven justices would pick.

Abrahamson argues it shouldn’t take effect until her current term ends in four years.

The voters argued Monday that the amendment should be allowed to take effect immediately.

APPLETON – Participants in this year’s Community First Fox Cities Marathon will experience more of the area’s off-road trails.

Organizers say the course route has changed for the 25th annual event, which is set for September. The new route takes runners along trails in Kimberly’s Sunset Park, Appleton’s Telulah Park, the industrial flats area of Appleton and Neenah’s newly developed lakefront trails. Near the end of the race, runners will take the Trestle Trail over Little Lake Butte des Morts in the town and city of Menasha.

As in past years, the race will begin at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley and end at Riverside Park in Neenah.

• Click here to see the 2015 course maps

GREEN BAY – A team of teachers in Green Bay say they look for small victories every day, helping at-risk teens get their diplomas.

And now, they’re getting recognition for their hard work.

FOX 11’s Kelly Schlicht takes us to the CESA 7 Alternative High School for a look at five of the Golden Apple Award recipients.

Whether it’s teaching kids healthy habits for life, or teaching them responsibility in the classroom, this team of five teachers at the CESA 7 alternative high school have a unified goal: to help at-risk students graduate.

“This school is different, because we work one-on-one with each student,” said school director Kim Hoffmann. “So, every student has a different plan with what their steps are to graduate.”

Students like Jasmine Wright say their whole perspective on learning has changed since she came to this school last year.

“They help me understand what school is actually about and like what to overcome like after you graduate. So, I really appreciate everything they have taught me here,” said Jasmine Wright.

Kim Hoffmann, Jessica Sherman, Nancy Collins, Jennifer Parins and Amy Daul say they support each other in different subject areas. The difficult task in this classroom is covering all things taught in high school.

“That’s definitely a challenge. I’ve had to brush up on my algebra a little bit,” said Sherman.

But team members say the rewards of this job are that much greater.

“When you see that light bulb turn on and see them learn and the brightness in their eyes, you get that here a lot more than any other school that I’ve been in. it’s fantastic,” said Sherman.

They say receiving a Golden Apple Award brings awareness to the work they do, which often goes unseen.

“We’ve been here in existence for 19 years now and we’ve helped almost 800 students graduate. But, to get that recognition from the community that what we’re doing is valid and important is, of course, just an overwhelming honor,” said Hoffmann.

Helping to improve the community, by helping students graduate: one child at a time.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker agreed Monday to increase collaboration between researchers in Germany and at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health to combat Alzheimer’s disease and other similar ailments.

Walker signed the deal with the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Bonn while in Germany at the beginning of a weeklong trade mission that will also take him to France and Spain. The agreement is with the UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.

The agreement calls for collaborating in a variety of ways, including identifying new methods to improve the care of patients with Alzheimer’s, implementing and disseminating best practices for the diagnosis and care of patients with the disease and developing new ways to slow the onset of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The new partnership “promises a significantly greater pace of discovery than would otherwise be possible,” said Richard Moss, the senior associate dean at the UW School of Medicine. Moss signed the deal on behalf of UW.

The German research facility was founded in 2009 and has more than 800 employees at nine sites across the country, working with more than 70 research groups on various brain diseases. The state of Wisconsin has established a $1 million seed fund to support commercialization of medical technology developed by the UW School of Medicine and Public Health.

Walker also met Monday with company leaders at pharmaceutical giant Merck. Walker’s office said he spoke with Merck officials about the company’s acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich Corp., a U.S. life sciences business with three facilities in Wisconsin.

The governor was slated to give a speech about bilateral trade and investment opportunities at the Hannover Messe trade show in Hannover, Germany, on Tuesday. Walker also attended the opening ceremony on Sunday. The speech was his only scheduled public event for the remainder of the trade mission that runs all week.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Authorities at a southwest Ohio airport say a Milwaukee-bound plane carrying 78 people has made an emergency landing due to a maintenance light indicator.

Dayton International Airport spokeswoman Linda Hughes says the plane landed safely without incident shortly after 9 a.m. Monday.

American Airlines spokesman Casey Norton says the pilot requested to land after maintenance light came on. The plane was traveling from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Milwaukee when it diverted to Dayton’s airport.

The airline said earlier reports of a possible tire fire were incorrect.

No injuries were reported. Norton says the Bombardier CRJ900 was carrying 74 passengers and four crew members.

Mechanics were expected to evaluate the plane Monday, but Norton says it appears there was a problem with the indicator.

Norton says the plane was a U.S. Airways Express flight operated by PSA Airlines, a subsidiary of American Airlines.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (AP) – Two suburban Washington parents are under scrutiny again for letting their 6- and 10-year-old children play in a park and walk home alone in a case that has stirred debate about parenting and government powers.

For the second time in four months, police picked up the children of Danielle and Alexander Meitiv on Sunday as they were walking home alone from a park that’s nearly one mile (over 1.5 kilometers) from their house. This time, instead of bringing the children home, police took them directly to the local Child Protective Services agency.

The Meitivs believe in “free-range” parenting, which includes allowing their children to play and walk alone in the neighborhood to teach them self-reliance and responsibility. Their case has drawn international media coverage, and Danielle Meitiv said the couple has heard from people all over the world. Most have been supportive, Meitiv said, but some have expressed outrage at the couple’s parenting style.

“It’s beyond ridiculous,” Danielle Meitiv said Monday. “The world is safer today, and yet we imprison our children inside and wonder why they’re obese and have no focus.”

Child Protective Services first began investigating the couple in December after police stopped the children midway through a walk home from a different park after responding to a call from a concerned citizen. Police drove the children home but called Child Protective Services.

The Meitivs were notified in a February letter that they had been found responsible for “unsubstantiated neglect,” a ruling that’s made when there’s some information supporting child neglect, seemingly credible reports disagree or there isn’t enough information for a conclusion.

On Sunday the couple dropped the kids off at a park and told them to be home by 6 p.m. Danielle Meitiv said she and her husband began worrying when the kids weren’t home by 6:30 p.m., but that Child Protective Services didn’t call them until 8 p.m. to say the children were in their custody.

Police had picked them up on the walk home after another concerned citizen called. The Meitivs were able to take their children home around 10:30 p.m.

Similar to December’s incident, Danielle Meitiv said the couple had to sign a temporary safety plan saying their children would be supervised at all times until a follow-up visit.

“This morning my daughter wanted to go play in the yard and I couldn’t let her out because I was making breakfast,” Danielle Meitiv said. “Are they prisoners? She’s 6 and she’s not allowed to play in the yard?”

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – New York’s attorney general has launched an inquiry into 13 major retailers, questioning the practice of keeping workers on call for shifts on short notice and possible violations of the state requirement to pay hourly staff for at least four hours when they report for work.

Letters were sent to Gap Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew Group Inc., L. Brands, Burlington Coat Factory, TJX Companies, Urban Outfitters, Target Corp., Sears Holding Corp., Williams-Sonoma Inc., Crocs, Ann Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has targeted New York employers who cheat or underpay low-wage workers, getting more than $17 million in restitution for about 14,000 workers from fast food franchise owners, construction contractors and others. His office is now examining retailers and whether reporting in to an employer also triggers the pay requirement under New York law.

“We have been informed that a number of companies in New York State utilize on-call shifts and require employees to report in some manner, whether by phone, text message or email, before the designated shift in order to learn whether their services are ultimately needed on site that day,” Labor Bureau Chief Terri Gerstein wrote to the retailers. “We are examining this practice.”

The attorney general’s office said it has received reports of more employers setting shifts the night before or even just a few hours in advance, including these 13.

“Workers who must be ‘on call’ have difficulty making reliable childcare and elder-care arrangements, encounter obstacles in pursuing their education and in general experience higher incidences of adverse health effects, overall stress and strain on family life than workers who enjoy the stability and certainty of knowing their schedules reasonable in advance of having to appear for work,” Gerstein wrote.

In the letters, she requested by May 4 the companies’ written policies requiring staff be available for work with no guaranteed hours and that they report in some manner before showing up. She asked for sample schedules from each calendar quarter in 2013-2014 with on-call shifts and any computerized reports tracking them.

She also requested all time and payroll records where any employee worked in New York and was paid for less than four hours.

Gap Inc., whose retail brands include Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, said it is “committed to establishing sustainable scheduling practices that will improve stability for our employees, while helping to effectively manage our business.”

The company last year began a pilot project examining workplace scheduling and productivity “to create solutions that will be sustainable and can be implemented across our company’s entire footprint and fleet,” spokeswoman Laura Wilkinson said. They expect data results this fall, she said.

TJX Companies, whose stores include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, said it has always taken into consideration what’s best for its staff and the company, and that managers work to develop schedules that serve the needs of both.

Sears Holdings said it doesn’t do on-call scheduling for store associates and will cooperate with the information requests.

JCPenney has a policy against on-call scheduling and fully complies with New York law requiring compensation when an employee is not required to work a full shift, spokeswoman Daphne Avila said. It will comply with the information request, she said.

Ann Inc. said its staffing guidelines don’t include the practice of on-call shifts.

The other companies did not immediately reply Monday to queries from The Associated Press.

Marko from Terra Verde Coffee joins Living with Amy to talk about what makes their coffee unique. He also shows us some tips to using a French press.

Terra Verde Coffee is also a new Living with Amy sponsor! Click here to visit the site.

DALLAS (AP) – Think flying is getting worse? A pair of university researchers who track the airline business say it’s a fact.

More flights are late, more bags are getting lost, and customers are lodging more complaints about U.S. airlines, government data shows. Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State and one of the co-authors of the annual report being released Monday, said passengers already know that air travel is getting worse. “We just got the numbers to prove it.”

For the third straight year, Virgin America led the rankings. The niche airline with a limited route network was followed by Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

Among other findings in the report:

-LATENESS: The percentage of flights that arrived on time fell to 76.2 percent last year from 78.4 percent in 2013. Best: Hawaiian Airlines. Worst: Envoy Air, which operates most American Eagle flights.

-LOST BAGS: The rate of lost, stolen or delayed bags rose 13 percent in 2014. Best: Virgin America. Worst: Envoy. Airlines lose one bag for every 275 or so passengers, but at Envoy, the rate is one lost bag for every 110 passengers, according to government figures.

– OVERBOOKING: The rate of passengers getting bumped from flights rose 3 percent. Best: Virgin America. Worst: a tie, between SkyWest and its ExpressJet subsidiary.

– COMPLAINTS: Consumer complaints to the government jumped 22 percent in 2014. Best: Alaska Airlines. Worst: Frontier.

Regional carriers, which operate flights under names like American Eagle, United Express and Delta Connection, tend to earn the worst marks. They fly smaller planes, so when airlines are forced to cut flights due to bad weather, they ground the regionals first to inconvenience fewer passengers. Envoy Air, which operates most American Eagle flights, finished last in the overall rankings.

But the picture was bleak at the four biggest U.S. airlines too. On-time performance fell and complaint rates rose at American, United, Delta and Southwest. The researchers blamed consolidation through mergers, which has reduced competition.

Headley said airlines performed better in the years after 2001, when travel demand fell and planes were less crowded. Airlines were also losing money. They returned to profitability when the airlines left after mergers limited flights to keep fares up. The average plane is now more than 80 percent full at most airlines, and many flights are oversold.

“They have put the same number of people in fewer airplanes,” Headley said in an interview. “Anytime the system ramps up, it goes haywire.”

Airlines are ordering new planes and making other investments that they promise will lead to better service. Many of the biggest improvements are targeted at the airlines’ most valued customers – those in first-class and business-class sections.

The annual report is now in its 25th year. Headley and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor Brent Bowen use information that the airlines submit to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

KIRKLAND, Ill. (AP) — Donations of clothing, shoes, household items and thousands of dollars are pouring in to help the tiny northern Illinois community of Fairdale recover from last week’s devastating tornado.

The (DeKalb) Daily Chronicle reports that people are dropping off truckloads of items at businesses and government offices. At Sycamore High School, students collected more than $3,100 in gift cards and more than 2,000 nonperishable food items. And a campaign started by the village of Kirkland has collected a total of more than $40,000 from 572 people.

Thursday’s tornado killed two Fairdale residents, injured more than 20 people and destroyed or damaged dozens of buildings.

Kirkland Village President Les Bellah was impressed with the response from the community. He called it “small-town America at its best.”

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. (AP) — Enhanced security measures will remain in place for next Monday’s Boston Marathon, the second since the deadly 2013 bombing at the finish line of the iconic race, authorities said.

“This plan will look very much like the plan that was in effect last year,” said Kurt Schwartz, Massachusetts’ undersecretary for homeland security, at a briefing Monday at the state’s emergency management headquarters.

As was the case for the 2014 race, the first since twin bombs hidden in backpacks killed three people and injured more than 260 others, the anticipated 1 million spectators along the 26.2 mile course were being strongly urged to put personal belongings in clear plastic bags and avoid bringing backpacks, other large bags or coolers to the race.

Security checkpoints will be in place in key locations such as the finish line area and the start line in Hopkinton, officials said.

One new wrinkle: Police are warning against the use of any drones or model aircraft.

“The entire course this year will be a no-drone zone,” said Col. Timothy Alben, commander of the Massachusetts state police. He added that while drones have not been an issue in the past, they have been seen at other large public events around the country and have attracted the attention of security officials.

There were no known threats of any kind against Monday’s race, authorities stressed.

The 2015 race comes less than two weeks after Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was convicted by a federal jury on 30 counts related to the bombing and subsequent events including the fatal shooting of a police officer. The sentencing phase of the trial, in which federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty, is scheduled to begin the day after the marathon.

Authorities did not ask U.S. District Court Judge George O’Toole to delay the sentencing phase until after the marathon, Alben said.

The judge said in a written order that the defense had requested more time to resolve logistical issues with potential witnesses.

Massachusetts officials described the enhanced security procedures for the marathon as “reasonable and commonsense guidelines,” not meant to detract from a family friendly Boston tradition nor discourage anyone from coming out to watch and cheer the runners on.

“I don’t know if it’s a new normal,” said Schwartz when asked if he expected to new guidelines to be permanent. “We’re just focused on next Monday.”

Officials said they expected public cooperation with security measures to be equally strong as a year ago.

Tom Grilk, executive director of the Boston Athletic Association, said about 30,000 runners were registered for Monday’s event, down from last year’s expanded field of 36,000 that included anyone who had been unable to finish the 2013 marathon due to the bombing.

The BAA, which organizes the race, planned to continue its crackdown from a year ago on unregistered runners who jump on to the course.

Often referred to as “bandit” runners, they can present “a very legitimate security anxiety for everybody who is both watching the race and in the race,” Grilk said.