Green Bay News

MOUNT HOLLY, N.J. (AP) – A New Jersey woman accused of dousing her newborn baby with accelerant, setting her on fire and leaving her in the middle of a road has been indicted on a murder charge.

Burlington County Prosecutor Robert Bernardi says 22-year-old Hyphernkemberly Dorvilier of Pemberton also faces a child endangerment count in Tuesday’s indictment. He says an arraignment date for Dorvilier hasn’t been set.

Dorvilier remains jailed on $500,000 bail. If convicted, she could face a sentence of life without parole.

Authorities say Dorvilier gave birth Jan. 16, after somehow hiding the pregnancy from her family.

A short time later, police responded to a call about a fire in a residential road in Pemberton, about 30 miles east of Philadelphia. Officers found the baby in flames and put out the fire.

The child reportedly was alive and breathing at the time she was flown to a hospital. An autopsy determined she died from smoke inhalation and burns.

Police haven’t disclosed a possible motive.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — The Oakland Raiders have signed restricted free agent safety Sean Richardson to an offer sheet.

The Green Bay Packers have five days to match the offer Richardson signed Tuesday or lose him to the Raiders. The Packers will not receive any compensation if they allow Richardson to leave.

Richardson signed with Green Bay as an undrafted free agent out of Vanderbilt in 2012. He played 27 games with the Packers the past three seasons with 19 solo tackles on defense. Richardson has gotten the majority of his playing time on special teams.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – A white South Carolina police officer was charged with murder Tuesday in the weekend shooting death of a black motorist after a traffic stop.

City Patrolman Michael Thomas Slager was arrested and charged after law enforcement officials saw a video of the shooting following a Saturday traffic stop, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey told a hastily called news conference.

Authorities say the victim, 50-year-old Walter Lamer Scott of Charleston, was shot after the officer already hit him with a stun gun. A video of the shooting released to news media outlets shows the officer firing several times at the man’s back while he’s running away.

Summey said at a news conference that Slager made a “bad decision.”

“When you’re wrong, you’re wrong,” Summey said. “When you make a bad decision, don’t care if you’re behind the shield or a citizen on the street, you have to live with that decision.”

Slager’s attorney had released a statement Monday saying the officer felt threatened and that the motorist was trying to grab the officer’s stun gun. The attorney told The Post and Courier of Charleston on Tuesday that he no longer represents the officer.

North Charleston Police said Slager was arrested by officers of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

The shooting occurred as heightened scrutiny is being placed on police officer shootings, particularly those that involve white officers and unarmed black suspects. A grand jury declined to indict Ferguson, Missouri, officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown last August, leading to nationwide protests.

In a separate case in South Carolina, a white police officer who shot a 68-year-old black man to death last year in his driveway was charged Tuesday with a felony:  discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. A prosecutor previously tried to indict North Augusta officer Justin Craven on a manslaughter charge in the February 2014 death of Ernest Satterwhite. But a grand jury instead chose misconduct in office, which is a far lesser charge.

Craven chased Satterwhite for 9 miles beyond city limits to the man’s driveway in Edgefield County. After Satterwhite parked, the officer repeatedly fired through the driver-side door, prosecutors said. The 25-year-old officer faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the gun charge.

HOWARD – The honey season in the state is just getting underway.

Overall, honey production was down 21 percent last year, dropping Wisconsin from 10th to 15th among honey-making states.

Nationally, production was up 20 percent. Surrounding states were up as well.

In his Howard backyard, Ken Sikora checked a honey bee hive to see how it survived the winter.

“I lost 50 percent of my hives. I’m a small beekeeper, but I lost 50 percent. I know a lot of club members of Brown County Beekeepers Association have lost all of them. Couldn’t get them through the winter at all,” said Ken Sikora, Brown County Beekeepers Association President.

Sikora says 40-50,000 bees huddle in the middle of the hive for warmth. They feed on sugar, marshmallows, and honey.

“Winter losses are normally a big problem, especially for the northern beekeepers. If you don’t have enough bees going into winter, or if you don’t leave them enough honey, or if the winter is so long, that the bees can’t come out,” said Sikora.

As part of the 2014 Farm Bill, $20 million in federal assistance is available for commercial farmers with losses through September 2014.

It’s an issue across the state. Production in Wisconsin dropped 21 percent last year, knocking the state out of the top ten producers.

Sikora says the honey bees aren’t native to Wisconsin, and expects losses each winter.

“We can winter them here. Then their genes develop into a stronger bee, and can winter more each year more efficiently. So that’s what we would like to do,” said Sikora.

Agriculture officials say there are things people can do to help, like using less pesticide and growing plants native to the area.

“That will help actually foraging insects like bees and other pollinators to get their nectar,” said Vijai Pandian, UW-Extension Brown County Horticulture Educator.

And Sikora says that nectar feeds the bees enough to produce about 70 pounds of honey in each colony.

“That’s a lot of honey,” he said.

And Mills Fleet Farm is getting into the beekeeping business.

For the first time, two of its three dozen stores, including the one in Grand Chute are taking orders for “live honey bees.”

INDIANAPOLIS – If you looked up in Lucas Oil Stadium Monday night, you saw red: University of Wisconsin fans taking over as they felt a national title brush their fingertips. In the locker room after the game you saw red as well: in the eyes of a team so close to its ultimate goal.

“Blessed to be on this team. Disappointed in myself for my performance tonight. I gave it my all,” junior forward Sam Dekker said. “Couldn’t be prouder to be on this team. Never been closer to a group of guys. This one hurts, this one hurts.”

Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker, left, and Traevon Jackson sit in the locker room after their team’s 68-63 loss to Duke in the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship game Monday, April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

“Tough to say anything right now. These guys are my family. I mean that literally, not figuratively. Never been closer to a group of guys my entire life,” senior forward Frank Kaminsky said.

This was a group that won people over as much with their personalities as with their points per possession.

“You remember the bus rides, the road trips, that stuff more. That’s tough,” senior guard Josh Gasser said. “Shocking it didn’t happen, I truly believed we were going to win. It looked like we were going to. It just didn’t happen.”

“See these guys grow over the years, to be here last year, lose a tough game. They came back, said what they wanted to do, put themselves in that position. They won’t forget this for a long time,” head coach Bo Ryan said.

And neither will Badgers fans. This core group took Wisconsin to rare heights for any team – a pedigree they hope is permanent.

“I would hope so. Being in the Final Four two straight years, national championship. In the past we’ve been underestimated, overlooked and stuff like that. All those perceptions about us, hopefully we did,” said sophomore guard Bronson Koenig.

“Like all the grownups and adults tell us, 20 years down the road we’ll realize how tremendous this season was, what we did for Wisconsin basketball, how great of a team we were,” sophomore forward Nigel Hayes said.

“Reminiscing and everything will come down the road,” said Dekker, a Sheboygan native. “This one’s tough to swallow. It’s tough to be happy right now.”

Gasser said belief is a powerful thing. The Badgers believed they’d win it all and it helped them get to this point. That belief, he said, made it even harder to swallow that it’s all over.

INDIANAPOLIS — Junior Sam Dekker needs to cool off and return home before making a decision about the future. Sophomore Nigel Hayes sounds like he is coming back to Wisconsin.

The Badgers could be a force in the Big Ten again if the versatile forwards return in the fall.

First, they need time to ease the sting of the 68-63 loss to Duke in the NCAA Tournament title game on Monday night.

I can’t really worry about it. I’m going to get home, cool down with the guys, do what I need to do, talk to who I need to talk to make an educated decision,” said Dekker, who used a balled-up warmup shirt to dab away tears from his eyes.

He boosted his NBA draft stock after averaging 19.2 points in the tournament.

Nigel Hayes did, too, after a jump in production following his freshman year. In his second year in coach Bo Ryan’s system, Hayes developed a 3-point shot.

He was 40 of 101 (39 percent) from behind the arc in 2014-15 after not taking a single 3 the previous season. It was a perfect complement to his already dangerous baseline drives and spin moves in the post.

But Hayes spoke afterward as if he had already made a decision.

“I’m nowhere near good enough to do anything else besides come back,” Hayes said.

Wisconsin’s Nigel Hayes shoots during the second half of the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship game against Duke Monday, April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

It will be a dramatically different team regardless of whether Dekker decides to join him.

Senior Frank Kaminsky’s remarkable career is over. Gritty guards Josh Gasser and Traevon Jackson are out of eligibility, too, as is key reserve forward Duje Dukan.

But Kaminsky was the ringleader. Gasser and Jackson provided steady leadership.

There is no next game to look forward to for this tight-knit group. They were so adept at shaking off losses because of their experience and fun-loving antics.

“Just how close we were,” Hayes said when asked what he would remember most about this season. “How much fun we had together, on and off the court.”

Kaminsky, a double-double machine, finished with 21 points and 12 boards against Duke. But a couple late-game mistakes by the usually savvy senior hurt the Badgers.

The AP player of the year threw up an errant shot as the shot clock wound down with 2:39 left.

Kaminsky got beat by Duke freshman phenom center Jahlil Okafor with 3:14 left for a layup in the middle of the Blue Devils’ second-half surge, right after the big guy missed his own layup off a spin move.

“It’s hard to say anything. These guys are my family,” Kaminsky said. “I mean that literally. It’s going to be hard to say goodbye.”

The disappointment won’t take away from what has been one of the most unique rags-to-riches stories in recent college basketball memory.

Kaminsky played just 10 minutes a game off the bench two years ago. He was an unknown quantity to the rest of the Big Ten when he entered the starting lineup in November 2013 as junior.

Ryan said he always knew what he had in Kaminsky, who turned into an inside-out force. It was just a matter of him getting confidence and playing time.

“He’s going to get even better,” Ryan said. “But what he did in his years at Wisconsin will be remembered for a long time.”

The Badgers remembered their 2014 loss in the national semifinals to Kentucky as motivation for this season. They finished with a school-record 36 wins and went one step closer to the title game.

Maybe they’ll use the loss to Duke to power them for another long run next year.

“With the records they’ve been telling us, we’re definitely one of the best teams in Wisconsin basketball history,” Hayes said. “We haven’t reached the level of the 1941 team with the title, but the guys we had, the awards we had, the accolades we received – I think we’ll be remembered.”

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Federal regulators have approved Wisconsin Energy Corp.’s proposed $9.1 billion takeover of Chicago-based Integrys Energy Group Inc.

Integrys owns Green Bay-based Wisconsin Public Service.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave its approval Tuesday.

The deal, announced in June, would create a Wisconsin-based utility company with operations in four Midwest states. The combined company will be called WEC Energy Group Inc. and serve more than 4.3 million total gas and electric customers across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota.

Wisconsin Energy wants to close the deal in the third quarter.

Tuesday’s decision means no more federal approvals are required. But the acquisition still needs approval by regulators in the four states.

The utility is expecting decisions this month in Wisconsin and Michigan, next month in Minnesota and in July in Illinois.

INDIANAPOLIS – The Wisconsin Badgers weren’t able to beat Duke in the national championship game on Monday night, and for many fans, the final frustrating minutes will stay with them.

The final game didn’t live up to the Badgers’ high standards, and the breaks just didn’t go their way.

“Team that committed the least number of fouls during the year. Got to the free throw line. These guys played 30-some games that way, unfortunate this one had to be played out that way,” Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said.

Ryan had a number of complaints after the game, including how Frank Kaminsky was defended.

“I was hoping he’d get to the line a little more. Wasn’t the way it worked out.”

Whether the refs were right or not, the numbers say Ryan’s at least correct in that something changed. In the first half, the Badgers were called for two fouls. In the second half, they were whistled for 13 fouls.

Officials check a video monitor replay during the second half of the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship game between Wisconsin and Duke Monday, April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

“We still felt like we were doing what we were supposed to do. Obviously not and (Duke was) getting rewarded for it with the calls,” sophomore forward Nigel Hayes said.

Then there was the one that had sophomore guard Bronson Koenig fuming.

“It’s a joke,” he said.

Down five, ruled Koenig knocked the ball out of bounds, but replays appeared to show a Duke player may have touched it last. A lengthy review followed, and the original call stood.

“It’s a joke,” Koenig said. “Saw that they hit the ball out, was pretty sure about that. I don’t know what they saw.”

“Definitely did, definitely did tighten up,” senior forward Duje Dukan said. “You’re not going to win every game as far as the officiating’s concerned. I think tonight’s a perfect example of that. You’ve got to give credit where credit is due, Duke played a heck of a ballgame, especially down the stretch.”

The NCAA’s head of officiating, John Adams, said on a satellite radio show Tuesday during the review of the tipped ball, the refs never saw the best angle, and so didn’t overturn the call.

Polls will be open until 8 p.m. with a variety of local and statewide races and referendums.

Statewide, the Government Accountability Board predicted voter turnout would be about 20 percent. Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno predicted it would be little higher in her county, at about 25 or 30 percent.

Turnout was at 10 percent at noon.

The spring election traditionally sees lower turnout, but election officials say this ballot typically has more important races.

“Your spring elections are usually your local education officials that you’re picking – which is closer to you – it’s making an influence and having decisions on your local community,” Juno said.

One race Green Bay voters are deciding is the mayor’s race. Incumbent Jim Schmitt is going for his fourth term. He is facing Green Bay City Council President and 10-year alderman, Tom De Wane.

Tonight we will have live coverage of Green Bay’s mayor’s race on FOX 11 News at Nine.

Voters aren’t only casting their ballot for elected officials.

Those living in the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College district will be asked about a multi-million-dollar referendum. NWTC is asking voters to approve a $66 million plan to remodel three campuses – Green Bay, Marinette and Sturgeon Bay.

A typical homeowner would pay an extra $8 per year in property taxes.

Also on the ballot are two statewide races. Both deal with the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley is going for a third term. She’s facing challenger James Daley, who is a circuit court judge from Rock County. The winner gets a 10-year term on the bench.

Voters will also decide a constitutional amendment that would change the way the chief justice is picked. The question asks voters whether the position should be elected by a majority of the justices.

Currently, the justice with the most seniority gets the title.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods hit the ball so pure that he felt like a 14-time major champion. Before long, the swing left him and he resembled a guy who couldn’t break 80. He became so frustrated that he even threw a few clubs because of a game that had never been so maddening.

This wasn’t Woods playing in the Masters.

This was the last seven weeks when he was trying to decide if he should even show up.

I worked my (tail) off,” Woods said Tuesday with a smile of satisfaction. “That’s the easiest way to kind of describe it. I worked hard. … People would never understand how much work I put into it to come and do this again. But it was sunup to sundown, whenever I had free time. If the kids were asleep, I’d still be doing it. And then when they were in school, I’d still be doing it.

“So it was a lot of work.”

And he got his answer.

It took nearly two months, followed by two practice rounds at Augusta National last week, before Woods decided to end his self-imposed break and return at the Masters.

Woods last played the Masters two years ago. He was No. 1 in the world and the overwhelming favorite. Now he is at No. 111 in the world and Las Vegas bookies may have been generous in listing him at 40-1.

Golf’s biggest star always lights up Augusta National, and such was the case when he arrived Monday afternoon.

Only now, expectations have been replaced by sheer curiosity. Never mind that he hasn’t played in nearly two months and hasn’t won the Masters in 10 years. When last seen at a tournament, Woods couldn’t hit a simple chip shot, and the rest of his game was barely PGA Tour quality.

Adam Scott listed a half-dozen players that he could see contend for a green jacket, and he was asked why Woods was not on that short list.

“My guess is as good as yours,” Scott said. “I really don’t know. I have no idea what he’s doing. I’ve listed a bunch of guys that I’ve watched play a little bit and followed their results. But it’s a little bit unknown with Tiger because he hasn’t played for a few months.

Tiger Woods hugs his children Charlie, left and Sam during a practice round for the Masters golf tournament Tuesday, April 7, 2015, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

“When you’re talking about a world-class player, you just don’t know,” he said. “I’m sure he has high hopes.”

That he does.

Woods didn’t look anything like the player who shot 82 at the Phoenix Open; who bladed a bunker shot over a green and into the bleachers; who walked off the course at Torrey Pines after 11 holes of the first round. During practice Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, he looked closer to normal. There appeared to be no issues with his swing or his chipping. He looked comfortable when he hugged his two children on the practice green and in a press room with no empty seats.

Woods always said he didn’t play in a tournament if he didn’t expect to win. That standard hasn’t changed. There are no moral victories, even for a guy who hasn’t won anything since the Bridgestone Invitational in August 2013.

“No, I still feel the same way. I want to win,” Woods said. “The whole idea is to prepare and do that. And I feel like my game is finally ready to go and do that again.”

So many others are coming into the Masters in better form.

Rory McIlroy won early in the year at Dubai and began showing progress toward the end of the Florida swing. Jordan Spieth won at Innisbrook, was runner-up at the Texas Open and lost in a playoff at the Houston Open in his last three starts. He is eager at another shot at Augusta National, where last year he played in the final group at age 20.

Bubba Watson is the defending champion and going after his third green jacket in four years. Only Jack Nicklaus won so many Masters at that rate.

“I think everyone is just curious to see how he comes back,” McIlroy said. “I don’t think you should ever underestimate it him. He’s done things on the golf course that are pretty special. But you know, just as a golf fan in general, I’m sort of interested to see how he does when he comes back. I had a good chat with him on the putting green today. He feels good. He’s been working hard. He’s got the motivation to keep at it.

“And just like everyone else,” McIlroy added, “I’ll be looking for his score and seeing what he’s doing.”

Woods said he would have skipped the Masters if he didn’t feel ready. He also said he wasn’t targeting the Masters, but the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks ago.

There was no epiphany on the practice range at home. The goal was to be better at the end of each day. He worked with his new coach, Chris Como, and never lost hope that his game would not return. That’s not to say there weren’t a few trying moments.

“It would come in flashes,” Woods said. “I would get in these modes where it would come for 10 minutes and I would just have it, just dialed in. And then I’d lose it for an hour. And then I’d get it back. And next thing you know, I’d flip to having it for an hour to 10 minutes of losing it. And then it got to a point where it was just there.”

But he’s not there yet.

He tees off Thursday afternoon. For all the questions about his game, the score will be the measure of his game, just like always.

HAWTHORN WOODS, Ill. (AP) — A sixth-grade boy from suburban Chicago completed a near-perfect bracket predicting the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, finishing in a tie for first in ESPN’s massive annual contest.

Sam Holtz said ESPN officials told him that is he ineligible to claim the top prize — a $20,000 gift card and a trip to the Maui Invitational basketball tournament — because he’s 12 years old. ESPN requires participants to be at least 18.

“I’m irritated,” Holtz told the Daily Herald. “Yes, I’m still proud of my accomplishment, but I’m not happy with the decision.”

Finishing with the best bracket does not equal an automatic claim to the prize. ESPN awards the prize through a random draw of the brackets that were among the top 1 percent in the contest — about 115,700 this year. Kevin Ota, a spokesman for ESPN Digital Media, said the network is putting together some kind of prize for Holtz.

“We plan to have fun with this,” Ota said Tuesday. “The great thing is that this kid beat all these experts out there.”

The tournament includes 67 games and Holtz missed only six. He was perfect picking games played in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight and Final Four. Out of 11.5 million who entered a bracket on ESPN’s website, Sam finished tied for first with 1,830 points after Duke beat Wisconsin 68-63 in Monday’s championship game. He entered 10 brackets in the contest.

• Click here to see his bracket

“There is no secret,” said Holtz, who attends Lake Zurich Middle School North. “There was some luck, and I studied ESPN.com. I just picked the teams that I felt had the best players.”

His mother, Elizabeth, kept him home from school Tuesday.

“He wanted to go to school today, but I kept him home because ESPN said they planned to call this morning,” she said. “He wants to go this afternoon, but I told him if Jimmy Kimmel calls, he’s going to have to miss that too.”

Minutes after Seton Hall lost the 1989 NCAA championship game in overtime, with a debatable blocking foul sending Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson to the line for the winning free throws, Pirates coach P.J. Carlesimo did the unimaginable when he met with reporters.

He complimented the official who made the crucial call.

The graciousness Carlesimo showed that night in Seattle runs counter to all those click-bait videos of coaches and players who are not at their best after heart-wrenching losses.

The latest angry loser: Bo Ryan.

The Wisconsin coach, unlike Carlesimo a quarter-century ago, was in no mood to toss bouquets after his team’s 68-63 loss to Duke on Monday night.  The Badgers were called for 13 fouls in the second half after getting whistled for two in the first, the biggest disparity between halves in a title game since at least 2004, according to STATS.

There was more body contact in this game than any game we played all year, and I just felt sorry for my guys that all of a sudden a game was like that. I think they are struggling with that a little bit,” Ryan said in his postgame television interview.

Maybe Ryan had a legitimate beef. But either way, social-media judgment was rendered swiftly. Ryan was called, among other things, a whiner.

Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan reacts to a call during the second half of the NCAA Final Four college basketball tournament championship game against Duke Monday, April 6, 2015, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Ryan benefited from a major officiating blunder in Saturday’s semifinal win over Kentucky. No violation was called even though the shot clock struck zero while the ball was still in Nigel Hayes’ hands before he made the game-tying shot with 2:41 to play. Wisconsin never trailed after that.

Ryan had some time to cool off between his CBS interview and formal postgame news conference Monday night. Still, he couldn’t resist commenting some more on the way the game against Duke was called. “We missed some opportunities. They hit some tough shots. But you know it’s just a shame that it had to be played that way.”

Ryan also took a swipe at the culture where some players leave for the NBA after one year in college. He made no mention of that after his team beat Kentucky, the team best known for one-and-done players, but he threw out a zinger after the loss to Duke, which could lose freshmen Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow to the NBA. “We don’t do rent-a-player,” Ryan said.

Carlesimo’s restraint back in 1989 belied his reputation as an intense and, to some, abrasive coach. He led Seton Hall to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 1988 and a year later the Pirates made a surprising run to the championship game against Michigan.

Seton Hall was on the verge of winning the title, leading 79-78 with three seconds left in overtime when Gerald Greene was called for fouling Robinson. The worst free-throw shooter in Michigan’s starting lineup made both shots, and Seton Hall lost 80-79.

“I’m not being smart when I say that game was well officiated,” Carlesimo said right after the game. “John Clougherty to me is one of, if not the best, officials in the country. We couldn’t ask for anybody else we’d rather have make the call when the game is on the line than John Clougherty.”

That blocking call on Greene has haunted Pirates fans for decades. Carlesimo, who reportedly still can’t bring himself to watch video of that game, has been stewing all this time, too. He didn’t say it the night of that questionable foul on Greene, but he did in a 2013 interview with ESPN.com.

“It was a bad call.”
___________

Other memorable heat-of-the-moment reactions after NCAA title games:

• 2003: Roy Williams used a curse word when a CBS reporter pressed him about his level of interest in the North Carolina job right after his Kansas team lost 81-78 to Syracuse in the title game. Initially, he said he didn’t “give a flip” about North Carolina. Asked the question again, Williams cussed and walked away. A week later he was the Tar Heels’ new coach.
• 2001: Arizona coach Lute Olson went along with media members who contended the officiating favored Duke in the Wildcats’ 82-72 loss. Olson was animated on the bench after refs missed a couple obvious fouls, and he said afterward, “I frankly thought that Jason Williams fouled out twice on push-offs, but it didn’t happen. The officiating was obviously a big part of the game.”
• 1992: Michigan “Fab Five” freshman Chris Webber went on a tirade following a 71-51 loss to Duke, yelling at reporters, “Someone get them (expletive) cameras out of my face if you don’t want some (expletive) swearing on TV. That’s all you (expletive) want to see is some crying.”

 

WASHINGTON (AP) – It turns out we may be able to breathe easier about the slowdown in hiring last month.

A new Labor Department report Tuesday showed that job openings surged 3.4 percent to 5.1 million in February – a 14-year high. That’s a clear sign that companies are willing to boost their staffs.

The figure follows a disappointing jobs report on Friday, which showed that employers added only 126,000 jobs in March. That was the weakest number in 15 months.

The pickup in open jobs, however, suggests that hiring could rebound in the coming months. Businesses have been slow to fill openings for much of the recovery and may start filling more of their open jobs in April.

The sharp rise in available jobs “is a reassuring sign that the fundamentals of the labor market have continued to improve,” said Jeremy Schwartz, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Other recent data point to better hiring and growth in the second quarter. The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell last week. And a survey of service firms, including retailers, banks and construction companies, found that they expanded at a healthy pace last month.

To be sure, there were some negative signs in Tuesday’s report. Total hiring slipped 1.6 percent in February to 4.9 million, the second straight decline.

At the same time, layoffs fell sharply. The declines in hiring and layoffs suggest that employers were cautious in the face of a faltering economy but weren’t spooked enough to cut jobs.

Recent data has pointed to sputtering growth in the first three months of this year. Consumers have been reluctant to ramp up spending, instead saving much of the windfall from cheaper gas prices. Fewer exports have lowered factory output. Home construction has also been weak.

Many economists blamed the tepid job gain on temporary factors, such as harsh winter weather, a labor dispute at West Coast ports that disrupted shipping, and a stronger dollar that has hurt U.S. export sales. Most now expect the economy expanded at only a 1 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from 2.2 percent in the final three months of last year.

The increase in available jobs, even as hiring slows, could also be a sign that employers will have to try harder to fill their jobs. Businesses may be forced to offer higher pay to attract more workers.

There are some indications that may already be happening. Retailers had nearly 30,000 more open jobs in February than the previous month, while hotels and restaurants posted 37,000 more jobs. Yet neither sector filled all those positions: Retail hiring fell in February compared to the previous month, while hotel and restaurant hiring rose by a smaller amount than openings.

Many companies in those sectors have announced high-profile wage increases in recent months, including Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, Ikea, and TJX Cos., the parent of discount store operator TJ Maxx and Marshall’s.

Average hourly earnings rose 0.3 percent in March, the government said last week, a sign wages may be perking up. But they are still just 2.1 percent higher than a year ago, similar to the tepid gains that have occurred since the recession ended in June 2009.

The jobs figures reported Friday are a net figure: Jobs gained minus jobs lost. The data being reported Tuesday are more detailed. They calculate total hires, as well as quits and layoffs. Tuesday’s data also reflects data for February, and is a month behind last week’s jobs report.

The data in Tuesday’s report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, or JOLTs, shows that February’s net gain of 264,000 jobs may not have been as good as it looked.

The gain mostly occurred because of the steep fall in layoffs. That lifted the net job gain, even as total hiring slipped.

Layoffs plummeted 7.6 percent to 1.6 million, the lowest level in 16 months. That points to a high degree of job security for those Americans who are employed.

The disappointing jobs report Friday came after a raft of data suggesting that the economy faltered in the first three months of this year. Consumers have been reluctant to ramp up spending, instead spending much of the windfall from cheaper gas prices. Fewer exports have lowered factory output. Home construction has also been weak.

Many economists blamed the tepid job gain on temporary factors, such as harsh winter weather, a labor dispute at West Coast ports that disrupted shipping, and a stronger dollar that has hurt U.S. export sales. Most now expect the economy expanded at only a 1 percent annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from 2.2 percent in the final three months of last year.

The number of people quitting their jobs slipped 3.3 percent to 2.7 million, the report showed. That is still 10.2 percent higher than a year ago. More people quitting can be a good sign for the economy, because people typically quit when they have found another job, usually at higher pay.

(CNN) Starbucks is offering its employees a great new benefit: a free bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University.

The coffee chain announced Monday that baristas who do not already have a four-year degree will be eligible for full tuition with the ASU’s online program.

Employees who qualify will get a scholarship from ASU that covers 42-percent of the cost.

Starbucks will reimburse employees for the remaining 58-percent at the end of every semester.

Full-time and part-time employees are eligible, unless they work at a so-called “licensed store” — like those located inside grocery stores.

The company says that about 70-percent of its workers do not have bachelor’s degrees.

Starbucks already offers two years of undergraduate tuition with the university — about 2,000 workers are currently enrolled with the school.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says that the program not only helps employees get ahead, it benefits the company to have a better-educated workforce.

APPLETON –  More than 7,500 books will be distributed to the hands of 25 Appleton area non-profit organizations.

Half Price Books finished its book collection last month, and is now beginning to distribute them to local schools, teachers, volunteers and non-profit groups.

The program is designed to get books into the hands of children who need them the most.

Organizers say it is a great way to help teachers be able to get books into their classrooms.

“Money is a big issue so being able to support them and libraries and things with books we already have, that we are getting in. So if we can’t sell them here we want to move them along before we recycle them. Donations are definitely the way we try to go,” said shift leader Kate Mothes.

This is the sixth year the store participated in the book giveaway program.

 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – A lesbian honors student in northeast Louisiana has been told she may wear a tuxedo to her prom, after all, a national advocacy group said Tuesday.

Claudetteia Love, 17, said last week that she and her friends would not go to the Carroll High School prom in Monroe because the principal said she had to wear a dress.

Principal Patrick Taylor and Monroe City School Board President Rodney McFarland, who had backed Love, told her on Tuesday that she may wear a tux to the prom April 24, the National Center for Lesbian Rights said in a news release.

Neither Taylor nor McFarland immediately returned calls for comment from The Associated Press.

Love said in the news release that she was inspired by an incredible outpouring of support since The News-Star published a story about her on its website.

“It is a source of strength that I will keep with me as I move on the next phase of my education and life beyond high school,” she said.

The support included a local businessman’s offer to create a prom for Love and her friends and a letter sent Monday to all school superintendents in the state by the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana.

Last week, Taylor told The News-Star that the earlier decision was part of the school’s dress code and not anything personal.

Love and her family didn’t believe it.

McFarland had told the newspaper that Taylor’s stance was not backed up by board policy.

GREEN BAY – Green Bay’s longtime mayor is hoping to secure another term in Tuesday’s spring election. Mayor Jim Schmitt is facing a challenge from City Council President Tom De Wane.

Polls statewide opened at 7 a.m. and will close at 8 p.m.

Mayor Schmitt was first elected 12 years ago. He is seeking his fourth term in office. De Wane has served on the city council for ten years.

FOX 11’s Ben Krumholz and Andrew LaCombe will be covering both sides of the race tonight on FOX 11 News at Nine and tomorrow on Good Day Wisconsin.

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) – Voters braved heavy rain and lightning to get to the polls Tuesday for municipal elections in Ferguson that could substantially boost the number of African-American city council members in the St. Louis suburb at the center of a national debate about how police interact with black residents.

Ferguson currently has just one black member of its six-person City Council, even though African-Americans make up about two-thirds of residents. The lone black member, Dwayne James, is not up for re-election. After Tuesday, at least two, and possibly three African-Americans will be on the council.

Three of the six council seats are at stake in the first Ferguson election since a white police officer last August fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was black and unarmed. The shooting sparked sometimes violent protests in the St. Louis area, and spawned a national “Black Lives Matter” movement to press for change in how police deal with local minorities.

It also prompted a review by the U.S. Justice Department, which decided not to prosecute the white police officer. But the federal department released a scathing report blasting the city for racial bias and profiling in the police department and a profit-driven municipal court system. Several city officials resigned following the review, including the city manager, police chief and municipal judge. The municipal court clerk was fired for racist emails.

The new city council will be tasked with approving hiring of the replacements.

The scrutiny in the wake of the shooting also found that the city of 21,000 residents had a mostly white police force and city leadership – the mayor also is white.

The race for the 3rd Ward, which includes the apartment complex where Brown was killed, involves two black men – Lee Smith, 76, and Wesley Bell, 40 – guaranteeing that an additional black resident will join the council. The 1st Ward features four candidates, two black and two white. The 2nd Ward race involves two white men.

Still, turnout is expected to be low, which isn’t unique for municipal elections. Turnout for the local election last April was 12.3 percent, said Eric Fey, director of elections for St. Louis County.

A strong push was made after the shooting to register more black voters, but Fey said just 562 new voters were added to the rolls. In recent weeks, the focus has been on getting those who are registered to vote.

On Tuesday, severe storms that roiled the region appeared to be dissuading would-be voters from venturing to the polls. Fey said it wasn’t immediately clear how many ballots had been cast as of mid-day, or how turnout compared to previous spring municipal elections.

“In general, so far what we’ve been hearing is (turnout) has been light. The weather has been very bad so far,” he said.

But the weather didn’t deter Marty Einig, who has participated in Ferguson protests since August. The 3rd Ward voter appeared buoyed by the election’s potential.

“I see there is raw material within this community to demonstrate hope,” he said. “I see a glass that’s half full, and I feel that the people have the will to force change.”

Charrolynn Washington agreed. Voting at the First Presbyterian Church of Ferguson, she said the election is where real change will occur.

“As much change is needed here in Ferguson, this is where we begin – not out there in the streets, doing what they were doing – but, right here,” Washington said. “They need to be voting and putting people in position to make the change and make the decisions that need to be made.”

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Former Green Bay Packers star Darren Sharper made a brief appearance on drug and sexual-assault charges in a Louisiana court on Tuesday, but the state judge delayed action while related federal charges are resolved under a plea agreement involving three other states.

The timetable for final resolution of the Louisiana charges was uncertain. State District Judge Karen Herman set a June 15 date for Sharper’s next appearance in her court. He’s slated for a May 21 pre-trial meeting and a June 8 trial in federal court. Those dates could change.

Sharper, a player on the New Orleans Saints team that won the Super Bowl in 2010, returned to the city in disgrace this week, appearing first on Monday in federal court to answer charges that he drugged women with the intent to rape them. He entered a formal not-guilty plea but is expected to change that under a multijurisdictional plea agreement announced last month.

Locked up since early 2014, he will spend at least another nine years behind bars.

Monday’s hearing was before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan. Felony guilty pleas cannot be accepted in the magistrate court during initial appearances.

Sharper pleaded no-contest in Los Angeles to raping two women he drugged after meeting them in a West Hollywood bar. Formal sentencing there is set for July 15. He will face 20 years but state sentencing rules will have him serve about nine.

Sharper has pleaded guilty to a reduced felony attempted sex assault charge in Las Vegas. Sentencing is scheduled for June 25.The plea agreement calls for Sharper to serve 38 months to eight years in prison for the Nevada conviction, but at the same time as sentences from California, Arizona and Louisiana.

In Arizona, Sharper was quickly sentenced to nine years in prison for his guilty pleas last month to sexually assaulting one woman and trying to sexually assault another woman in November 2013.

In Louisiana, separate state and federal grand juries indicted Sharper last December.

The federal indictment in Louisiana charged Sharper and another man with distributing the drugs alprazolam, diazepam and zolpidem — more commonly known by the brand names Xanax, Valium and Ambien, respectively — with the intent to commit rape.

The two Louisiana state counts of aggravated rape stemmed from accusations that he sexually assaulted two drug-impaired women at his apartment in September 2013.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumers increased their borrowing to a record high in February, driven by a large jump in auto and student loans.

The Federal Reserve reported Tuesday that consumer borrowing expanded $15.5 billion in February following a $10.8 billion gain in January. The February increase pushed borrowing to a fresh record of $3.34 trillion.

Borrowing in the category that covers auto loans and student loans increased by $19.2 billion, the biggest monthly gain since July 2011. That offset a $3.7 billion decline in the credit card category.

Economists expect credit card use to rebound in coming months, which would bolster consumer spending this year.

Consumer borrowing has risen 6.8 percent over the past year, fueled by an 8.3 percent rise in auto and student loans. The credit card category is up a more modest 3.4 percent. Credit card debt has grown much more slowly since the Great Recession, when millions of jobs were lost and laid-off workers struggled to find new employment.

But economists are hopeful that with healthy job growth and unemployment down to 5.5 percent, households will feel more confident about using their credit cards.

The Fed’s monthly credit report does not cover mortgages or other loans backed by real estate such as home equity loans.