Green Bay News

GREENVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas sheriff says a deputy shown in a video apparently striking a pregnant woman may have used force to prevent her from taking his firearm.

Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday that he’s not certain Deanna Robinson reached for the weapon. But he says the deputy told investigators that she loosened his ammunition belt in the struggle.

Robinson was 38 weeks pregnant when she was arrested March 4 at her parents’ home northeast of Dallas during a child abuse investigation.

Home surveillance video appears to show Robinson pressed stomach-first against a counter, then the deputy raising his arm and striking her. The 38-year-old Robinson is heard on tape screaming, “I’m pregnant!”

The video was later posted online.

Robinson wants the deputy charged with assault.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker has signed a bill that will allow state judges to issue restraining orders against anyone who uses technology to harass a Wisconsin resident from anywhere in the country.

Current state law allows Wisconsin judges to issue restraining orders only against harassers and stalkers who reside within the state.

Walker signed the bill into law on Wednesday. The bill’s authors, Sen. Van Wangaard, a Republican from Racine, and Rep. Amy Loudenback, a Republican from Clinton, issued a statement saying the law would provide Wisconsin residents additional protection against cyberbullying and harassment.

APPLETON – Organizers of the “Help for the Homeless” hygiene drive say they had a record-breaking year for donations.

91.9/91.5 and 88.5 The Family radio station says their 23rd annual hygiene drive collected more than $343,000 worth of hygiene and cleaning products to help various crisis programs in the area.

Collection containers for new hygiene/cleaning supplies were spread throughout Northeast Wisconsin from Feb. 22 through March 15.

Volunteers counted and sorted donations a few weeks ago.

 

 

BROWN COUNTY – Watch out for trail closures on the Fox River and Mountain-Bay state trails over the next two months.

The Brown County Park Department says crews will be repairing and replacing eight culverts on the trails. The culverts have lasted longer than expected. A grant from the state Department of Natural Resources is paying for the work.

Workers will be placing closure signs at the nearest trail intersections, the Park Department says. Sections of the trail bed will have to be removed, and there will be no marked detours.

The Fox River Trail culvert replacements are in Allouez and the towns of Wrightstown and Holland. The Mountain-Bay section is in the town of Pittsfield.

The schedule is as follows:

Fox River Trail:

• April 13-24, 2015 – Six culverts between Fair Rd. and Mill Rd.
• May 15, 2015 – One culvert at Fair Rd., one culvert near Hwy. Z
• May 2015 – One culvert in Allouez

Mountain-Bay Trail:

• June 2015 – One culvert between Hwy. C and Brookside Dr.

For up-to-date information, check the Brown County Park Management Facebook page or call (920) 448-6242.

OCONTO – A man charged with abusing his children was convicted Wednesday, avoiding a trial scheduled to start Monday.

Shawn Paholke of Suring pleaded no contest to six counts Wednesday, according to Clerk of Courts Mike Hodkiewicz. He faces a maximum of 53 years in prison at the June 19 sentencing.

He pleaded no contest to two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of child neglect, child abuse, and causing mental harm to a child. Six other counts were dismissed.

His wife, Jennifer Fendryk, returns to court April 23 on 11 similar charges. No trial date has been set for her.

According to the criminal complaint Paholke and Fendryk withheld food from Paholke’s five-year-old daughter and locked her in her room in the couple’s town of Breed home. The complaint says the girl weighed 24 pounds – 40 is considered normal.

The complaint also includes statements from Paholke’s seven-year-old daughter. Police say the girl told them her father zip tied her hands to a pole last summer – it’s believed the girl later passed out from heat stroke.

In interviews with investigators, Paholke and Fendryk admitted food was withheld from the five-year-old and she would be locked in her room for disciplinary reasons.

Paholke also admitted to investigators, according to the complaint, he did zip tie the 7-year-old’s hands and arms as a part of a 10-minute time out.

Fendryk is not the biological mother of the two girls, but her 8-year-old son also lived in the home.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson has filed a federal lawsuit to try to ensure she is not removed from her post.

Abrahamson filed the lawsuit Wednesday, a day after voters approved a constitutional amendment changing the process for selecting the chief justice.

For the past 126 years the position has gone to the most senior member of the court. The amendment lets the seven justices decide who will be the chief.

The liberal Abrahamson was expected to be voted out by the four-justice conservative majority.

Abrahamson argues in the lawsuit that the change should not be applied until after her current term ends in 2019. If it is applied, she argues it would be a violation of her constitutional due process rights.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state of Wisconsin has joined a federal lawsuit challenging new limits on carbon emissions from power plants.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Wednesday granted the state’s request filed last month to join 13 other states in the lawsuit brought last year by Murray Energy Corp., one of the nation’s largest coal companies.

Gov. Scott Walker, a supporter of the lawsuit, has said that the limits would be devastating for Wisconsin manufacturers.

The EPA wants Wisconsin to lower its emissions by 34 percent by 2030. Walker said in a letter to the EPA that could cost as much as $13 billion and raise electricity rates by 29 percent.

Conservationists say the EPA’s plan represents the most important step yet in combating climate change

APPLETON – Every month for the last 100 years, area musicians – or their predecessors – have gathered to share their love of music.

The group, known as Wednesday Musicale, has seen many members come and go since January 1915, but they say their mission has stayed the same.

At this month’s meeting, held at the Appleton home of Phyllis Klee, Margaret Burton tickled the ivories with a Mozart Piano Sonata.

• Click here to watch some of Burton’s performance.

Margaret Burton of Neenah plays the Minuet and Trio from Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A Major, K 331, April 8, 2015. (WLUK Image)

“A lot of women get together for book clubs and things like that, bridge clubs,” said Klee. “I think this is different.”

The group usually focuses on classical repertoire. Meeting at a different location each month, the 25 members bring a wide range of musical backgrounds and instruments.

“I think the age range is late 30s, around 40 years old now, and into the mid-80s,” said Klee.

Members have included teachers, retired musicians, professional musicians, professors and community members. The history of Wednesday Musicale is documented well.

• Click here to see a photo gallery of Wednesday Musicale’s history

“We have programs and meeting notes going back all 100 years,” Klee said.

Jane Bent of Appleton recalls a few changes throughout her 47 years of membership.

“It was a big thing when our first person was invited from Neenah,” Bent said with a laugh. “Yeah, we discussed that quite a while.”

Members of Wednesday Musicale contribute $15 a year to pay for the group’s supplies. The money left over is donated to some local music ensembles.

The musicians say it’s a treasured opportunity to continue playing and teaching about a lifelong passion.

“To keep playing really means a lot, and I can’t imagine not being able to perform anymore,” said Bent.

Meetings are held at members’ homes, churches or meeting rooms. The gatherings include performances and presentations about music history.

“I’m learning something every month,” said Burton of Neenah. “We have these people presenting about composers and about performers maybe on a book I haven’t read. Talk about improvisation or teaching. There’s so much knowledge in that room.”

Klee says the group includes pianists, vocalists, string players and woodwind players.

“When you have that kind of continuity of what binds us together,” added Klee. “Yes, the music and supporting each other and all of that, but just the friendships that you develop over a period of time like that are wonderful.”

One Wednesday of every month since January 1915, a group of Fox Valley musicians has gathered to perform and teach each other about music.

DE PERE – A transformation is underway to a home in De Pere, that will help benefit the House of Hope Foundation.

Six designers will transform assigned rooms throughout the home, reflecting their personal tastes and ideas.

The house will then open to the public, where attendees will get the opportunity to view the designers’ talents. Support for the House of Hope will come from ticket admissions, and organizers are thrilled to be a part of the organization.

Jackie Nugent from In Design Etc. says, “The cause is something I think should be near and dear to all of our hearts. Not only when it comes to women who really are struggling, and kids that are included. Your heart goes out to want to help them and to have an event like this that can pull so many people to really have that common cause is a great thing.”

The House of Hope is a shelter for homeless mothers ages 18 to 24 and their children.

Tickets are now available through the House of Hope for the showcase, which is next month.

 

APPLETON – The Wednesday Musicale is celebrating 100 years.

Each Wednesday, a group of music lovers gathers in the Fox Valley to perform for each other. It’s a tradition that has been going on for a century.

In the video above, Margaret Burton of Neenah plays the Minuet and Trio from Mozart’s Piano Sonata in A Major, K 331, from the April 8, 2015, meeting in Appleton.

Click the play button to watch.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Lawyers hired by the family of a black man found hanging in Mississippi say they are hiring independent experts to conduct an investigation separate from the one pursued by state and federal authorities.

Attorney Dennis Sweet IV said Wednesday that family members do not believe 54-year-old Otis Byrd died by suicide. Byrd was found hanging near his home in Port Gibson last month. Authorities are trying to determine if he was killed or took his own life.

The FBI told The Associated Press that the agency shared autopsy results with the family less than a week after Byrd was found.

Attorney Dennis Sweet III says the family has not given autopsy results to him or the other attorneys.

The family had Byrd’s body cremated.

With just days before the tax filing deadline, taxpayers are getting headaches balancing their books, accountants are crunching numbers and con artists are working overtime. Their hard work seems to be paying off.

This time of year, the 76,000 page U.S. tax code is put to work; and the refunds are already pouring in.

But, thousands of these IRS refund checks are going to crooks.

Dan Mitchell is a tax analyst from the Cato Institute. “The problem is that criminals have figured out ways to get access to social security numbers and that’s really all you need as the first step.”

Your social security number is the holy-grail for any scammer. Here’s how one scheme works.  Crooks use social security numbers of people who have yet to file their taxes.

But when the honest taxpayer files, the IRS realizes the refund check is in a crook’s pocket.

“Perhaps when dealing with all the fraud they should do a few things like wait until April 15th before sending out checks,” says Mitchell. “Because usually the fraud exists because somebody uses a real person’s social security number.”

Tim Camus is the Treasury Department’s Deputy Inspector General for Tax Administration. He says more than 400 thousand bogus calls have been made nationwide. “What we’ve seen in this particular scam is the introduction of intimidating robo-calls.”

Camus says calls like this have fooled roughly 33-hundred people nationwide. Victims collectively paid out $17,000,000 as a result. That’s an average of $5000 per victim.

“Each week, we get between 9000 and 12,000 new reports that someone’s been contacted by impersonators of the IRS,” Camus says.

Even Camus got a robo-call; one that was direct and threatening. “The robo-caller told me ‘this is the IRS. You owe $750. You need to pay it immediately or a magistrate will come and arrest you.”

Obviously, they called the wrong person.

But as hard as the scammers work, the numbers don’t lie. At times, crooks indeed connect with the right person.

GREEN BAY – Some city residents have requested that Green Bay name a street for former Packers general manager Ron Wolf.

The item will be submitted to the City Council tonight, where it is expected to be referred to the Plan Commission.

Wolf will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.

Both Green Bay and Ashwaubenon have named a variety of streets for various Packers players and coaches. Most recently, part of Potts Avenue in Ashwaubenon was renamed “Mike McCarthy Way.”

Click here for more information on filing your taxes.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Mini-shots of hard alcohol will soon be offered at liquor and grocery stores in Wisconsin under a bill Gov. Scott Walker has signed into law.

The Distilled Spirits Council announced Wednesday that Walker had signed the measure in a private ceremony. The measure easily passed the Legislature with bipartisan support.

Retailers with liquor licenses will be able to offer customers no more than one half-ounce of booze, the equivalent of a third of a shot.

State law already permits stores to offer beer and wine samples. Supporters of the bill say offering the free mini-shots will help distilleries and other liquor sellers compete with breweries and winemakers.

The Distilled Spirits Council says 46 states now allow for some form of liquor sampling.

MADISON (AP) – Spending topped more than $1.1 million on television advertising on a pair of Wisconsin Supreme Court contests decided in Tuesday’s election.

Court watchdog groups Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice said Wednesday that Justice Ann Walsh Bradley spent more than $570,000 on TV ads. Her opponent James Daley did not run any ads. Bradley won by 16 points.

The liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee also ran $170,000 worth of ads attacking Daley.

Voters also approved a constitutional amendment changing how the chief justice of the Supreme Court is selected, giving the power to members of the court.

A group funded by the state chamber of commerce spent at least $250,000 on ads supporting the amendment while an outfit funded by the Greater Wisconsin Committee spent at least $115,000.

GROVES, Texas (AP) — A 400-pound alligator safely hauled out of a Southeast Texas pond has a new home at a tourist attraction that caters to gators.

Gator Country preserve owner Gary Saurage said Tuesday that the 11-foot reptile joins more than 400 other alligators at the preserve in Beaumont, Texas.

Saurage got the animal after a landowner in nearby Groves called about an aggressive alligator in a rural pond where children swim.

Saurage went to the swampy site to rope and remove the male alligator, which he estimates is 35 to 40 years old.

Saurage says the alligator is healthy and that he’s happy to give the “majestic animal” a new home.

The biggest creature at Gator Country is a 12 foot, 6 inch alligator nicknamed Kong.

 

NEW YORK CITY (CNN) – New York’s long-anticipated One World Observatory will be open to the public on May 29.

Tickets went on sale Wednesday at the One World Observatory website.

The observatory sits on levels 100 to 102 of One World Trade Center.

Visitors will enjoy panoramic views of New York from over 1,200 feet above ground.

You can reach the observatory via special elevators that reach the 102nd floor in less than a minute.

 

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — The conditions are ripe for a series of storms to gain strength and buffet Middle America over the next two days, with hail and tornadoes possible in parts of the nation’s geographic heartland, forecasters warned Wednesday.

Large hail, damaging winds and a number of tornadoes were possible Wednesday from the southern Plains eastward to Illinois. The focus shifts to the mid-Mississippi River Valley for Thursday, including Chicago, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

Thunderstorms were already rolling through Indiana and Missouri at dawn, and the Storm Prediction Center said multiple bouts of severe weather would develop through the day. The highest chance of tornadoes Wednesday extended from the Kansas-Oklahoma border south of Wichita, Kansas, to the St. Louis area — with storms forming in the afternoon and early evening.

Another day of warmth Thursday, mixed in with humidity, instability, an approaching front and the jet stream, would contribute to steadily worsening weather.

“By Thursday, it looks like all those ingredients come together. … You can really blow up some big storms,” said Greg Carbin, the warning coordination meteorologist at the Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center.

Areas that don’t see strong storms Thursday could see heavy rain instead.

The Storm Prediction Center said Wednesday’s storms in an area from northern Oklahoma to western Illinois could be significant — defined as having 2-inch hail, 75 mph winds and tornadoes rated at EF2 or higher.

On Thursday, similar storms were forecast for an area from the Arkansas-Missouri border to southern Wisconsin to central Indiana.

The week was already off to a blustery start. Emergency officials said a tornado touched down briefly Tuesday night in southeastern Kansas, and hail and high winds caused problems from St. Louis to southwestern Indiana.