Green Bay News

GREEN BAY- A cold front pushed through the state Friday morning and temperatures will hold steady near 45 today with partly sunny skies. Winds will be north/northeast at 5 to 15 mph.

There’s a full moon Friday night and a partial lunar eclipse can be seen in northeast Wisconsin Saturday morning. The eclipse will start in the Green Bay area at 5:15 a.m. and be at its max at 6:22. Sunrise is at 6:30.

Saturday morning we may see a few flurries with mostly cloudy conditions early then it’ll become mostly sunny with a high near 52. Winds will be strong out of the west at 10 to 20 mph gusting to 30 in the afternoon.

Saturday night will see rain showers changing over to snow showers early on Sunday.

Easter Sunday will bring a mix of precipitation and we could see some snow accumulation for northern sections as temperatures in the morning will be near 28. The high will be near 42.

TOWN OF LEBANON – The Feather Rehabilitation Wildlife Center has a new addition to the family you’ll want to meet.

The Great Horned Owl, named Miss Harvey has a new chick to take care of. The check hatched about two weeks ago.

People can check in on Miss Harvey and her new chick through a webcamera set up near her nesting box.

A live feed of the camera can be seen on wolfrivercam.com.

FOX 11’s Pauleen Le spent the morning learning more about the Feather Rehabilitation Wildlife Center.

 

GRAND CHUTE – We are ready to cheer on a bunch of Wisconsin sports teams!

FOX 11’s Emily Deem spent Friday morning at the Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute!

Emily talked Brewers, Timber Rattlers and Badgers!

The FOX Sports Wisconsin Girls joined Emily on Good Day Wisconsin to talk about some fun events happening for Opening Day at Miller Park.

The home opener for the Brewers is Monday, April 6.  The home opener for the Timber Rattlers is Sunday, April 12.

PARIS (AP) – The French air accident investigation agency says the co-pilot of the doomed Germanwings flight repeatedly accelerated the plane as he used the automatic pilot to descend the A320 into the Alps.

The BEA agency said in a statement Friday that investigators have begun studying the black box data recorder from the plane, found at the crash site Thursday.

It says an initial reading of the recorder shows that the pilot used the automatic pilot to put the plane into a descent and then repeatedly during the descent adjusted the automatic pilot to speed up the plane.

Based on recordings from the black box voice recorder, investigators say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz locked the pilot out of the cockpit and intentionally crashed the plane. All 150 people aboard were killed.

CITY OF MENASHA- The search for a group of males police say attacked a Neenah man continues.

The 25-year-old Neenah man was staying at a friend’s house in Menasha when he heard a knock on the door around 8:45 p.m. Thursday.

Officials say when he opened the door, no one was there. He then went outside and was attacked.

Police say all the males had their faces covered and then took off after the attack.

We don’t know how severe the injuries to the Neenah man are.

If you have information, call the Menasha Police Department at 920-967-3500.

The Badgers will practice Friday in front of the public.

The practice takes place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Wisconsin will face Kentucky Saturday night in the Final Four.

It’s a rematch of last year’s Final Four game, that Kentucky won on a last-second shot.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Wisconsin Badgers are in the Final Four on Saturday, but before that the team was looking for the top three-point shooters and dunkers in college Thursday ay Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Keifer Sykes of Green Bay was in the dunk contest and was looking to bring home a title.

Sykes hadn’t played at Hinkle Fieldhouse, the home of Butler University, since his freshman season, but the Phoenix phenom showed what folks in Wisconsin knew for a while, Keifer Sykes can fly.

“It was fun,” said Sykes, who finished second in the contest to Delta State’s LaQuavius Cotton. “I had a lot of fun. It was a little weird. It was the first time we dunked on this court. It was fun, I had a good time.”

Sykes is listed at 6-foot and was asked what he thought he showed the audience.

“The athleticism,” he said. “It’s good they get to see that because now when they see me in the future, they’re going to be skeptical and I can shock them.”

Unfortunately for Sykes after making it down to the final two in the competition, he couldn’t complete the dunk in the final round.

“It was tough for everybody,” said Sykes, Green Bay’s second all-time leading scorer. “Everybody was having the same problems getting clean dunks down. I just wanted to get one down so I probably would’ve done that if I would have a chance again.”

Sykes will never wear his No. 24 Green Bay jersey again. What does that mean to him?

“It means a lot. I’m sad, at the same time I’m happy,” he said. “I’ve been here for four years and have put together four good years. We put the program on a good level and I want to continue to see it grow and I know they want to continue to see me grow.”

Also representing the state out of Marquette was Matt Carlino in the 3-point contest. He did well, but didn’t advance out of the first round. But Carlino and Sykes certainly doing plenty to make their fans back home proud.

APPLETON – The calls can come in different forms, It could be an automated voice on the other line, or a human being, But they’re all saying the same thing: You owe the IRS money.

However, you actually don’t.

Police say, these calls are phony, and it’s just a way for thieves to try and steal money from you.

When Darla Kratzke got a call saying she owed the IRS money, something seemed fishy.

“I thought it was kind of strange because they claimed they’d sent other notices to us and we hadn’t gotten any notices from anybody else,” Kratzke told FOX 11.

The message told Kratzke to call a number to straigten things out, but she decided against it.

“Well, I kinda thought it was a hoax,” she said.

Officer Sean Kuether with the Appleton Police Department told us Kratzke was right. He said if she had called back someone would have likely tried to steal her money.

Kuether said the department has gotten dozens of reports of calls like this one.

“They’ve been increasing over the last several weeks,” he added.

Kuether told FOX 11 there’s a few ways you can tell the caller is not actually with the IRS.

“The IRS will always send paper notification first and they’re never going to call and demand immediate payment,” he explained.

According to the IRS website, the department will NEVER ask you to pay taxes owed a specific way, like with a prepaid debit card, it will never ask for your credit or debit card numbers over the phone and it will never threaten to have you arrested.

So what should you do if you get one of these calls?

“The first thing I would do is hang up,” suggested Kuether, adding you can contact the IRS to report the fradulent call and check to make sure you don’t owe any money.

“If you have any questions don’t be afraid to call your local police department,” he said.

Kratzke told us she wants others to be aware if they find themselves in a similar situation.

“Basically, I would say don’t do anything until you check on it!” she advised.

You can reach the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. You can also report the fake call at this number: 1-800-366-4484.

GREEN BAY – There are supposed to be books and movies for people of all ages at the Brown County Library, but a Green Bay man has been fighting to have some DVDs removed from shelves.

Lyle Wilquet argues his tax dollars shouldn’t be paying for the library to distribute movies with explicit sex scenes.

For the past five years, Wilquet has been voicing his displeasure to county leaders about a DVD he checked out from the library.

“It’s just festering in me that this still continues to show these DVDs,” said Wilquet. “The library board approved of it. They saw nothing wrong with pornography.”

The movie Wilquet is talking about is ‘Wanted.’ It’s a 2008 action movie starring Angelina Jolie.

“There is some scenes that are obscene and I don’t want to describe it,” said Wilquet. “I sent it to the County Board, a picture of the scene and the scene was a couple having intercourse.”

The movie is rated R. You won’t find a movie rated beyond that in any of Brown County’s libraries.

“They all tell stories, so just like books, we learn from our fictional books and we do the same with fictional movies,” said Brian Simons, executive director of the Brown County Library.

The county has 20 people helping decide what the library makes available.

“That 20 is a mix of all the things we do, it’s not just DVDs,” said Simons.

A number of factors help decide if something belongs in the library. They include professional reviews, for DVD’s – a rating system, cost, community demand, and reputation.

“We serve the whole community of Brown County, all 272,000 people who live here,” said Simons. “We’re their library, so we have to make sure we have something that appeals to everyone.”

If you want to rent a rated R movie at a Brown County Library, you must be 18. The library’s director says that is actually a rare requirement.

Simons says most libraries go by the American Library Association standards. Those standards say a parent should be responsible for what their child checks out.

As for Wilequet’s request, the county board will take the issue up later this month.

The Jolie movie that prompted Wilquet’s complaint remains in library circulation. It’s checked out right now and has been checked out 13 times this year.

INDIANAPOLIS — Keifer Sykes showed the world what Green Bay’s known for a while: he can fly.

“[I showed] the athleticism,” said Sykes, the former Phoenix point guard. “It’s good they get to see that, now when they see me in the future they’ll be skeptical so I can shock them.”

Sykes got plenty of wowed reactions from the crowd. His opening dunk, where he lobbed the ball high, allowed it to bounce then threw down a windmill dunk was a fan favorite — capped by a Sykes shimmy on the floor. The GB product was one of the contest final two dunkers, but failed to complete a dunk in the final round, having to settle for a runner-up finish.

“It was tough for everybody, everybody had the same problems getting clean dunks down,” said Sykes, who tried to get an assist from Gonzaga’s Kevin Pangos which didn’t work. “I just wanted to get one down. I probably would’ve did that if I had a chance to do it again.”

Sykes had plenty of friends watching, including former teammate Alfonzo McKinnie and former Green Bay and current Bradley head coach Brian Wardle. He said putting on a Phoenix jersey for the last time brought out some emotion.

“It means a lot, I’m sad but at the same time I’m happy,” said Sykes. “I’ve been here four years, put together a good four years, we put the program on a good level. I want to continue to see it grow. I know they want to continue to see me grow.”

Also representing the state was Matt Carlino out of Marquette, competing in the three-point contest. He didn’t advance out of the first round, but had an extra disadvantage: he shot at the same time at Butler product (and huge crowd favorite) Alex Barlow. Every time Barlow hit a shot the crowd exploded.

After 18 months of back-and-forth negotiations, the stage has been set on a final deal for the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

The United States, Iran and five other world powers reached an initial framework today.

Here are the facts on the framework as we know it. The agreement outlines limits on Iran’s nuclear program. That includes reducing the number of machines used to spin uranium gas to levels used in nuclear weapons. Much of Iran’s nuclear stockpiles would also be neutralized. And, inspections by the UN nuclear agency would be enhanced.

Now that a broad agreement has been reached, the often even more difficult task of agreeing on specifics will begin.

The president believes the restrictions on Iran would be some of the toughest in history. But some in the senate, including one Wisconsin federal lawmaker, say this deal won’t go far enough.

President Obama says if the new framework for Iran’s nuclear program leads to a final deal, the world will be a safer place.

“Iran will face strict limitations on its program, and Iran has also agreed to the most robust and intrusive inspections and transparency regime ever negotiated for any nuclear program in history,” said the president Thursday.

Some Congressional Republicans have been skeptical of the nuclear talks, including Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson. Johnson says he doesn’t believe the deal will go far enough.

“This does not prevent Iran from getting a bomb. I think it clears a path for it. I haven’t seen the deal. I guess I’ll keep an open mind,” said Johnson.

“If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” said the president.

The deal is being negotiated by representatives from the U-S, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China. President Obama says each country will have a role in keeping an eye on Iran.

“If we see something suspicious, we will inspect it. Iran’s past efforts to weaponize this program will be addressed. With this deal, Iran will face more inspections than any other country in the world,” said the president.

Johnson says if the President were confident in the plan, he would let Congress have a say.

“It’s really just an executive agreement and it’s really not worth the paper it’s written on because a future president can just not abide by it. It would not be binding to future presidents or future congresses,” said Johnson.

Johnson says he and other Republicans are looking to introduce legislation that would make congressional approval of the plan necessary for the restrictions to take place. We reached out to Wisconsin Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin’s office. We did not receive a response.

In March, Johnson was among Congressional Republicans who signed a controversial open letter to Iranian leaders. He later said he wished the letter had not been sent directly to Iranian leaders.

Congress will return to session next week.

Click here for more information on fraudulent tax situations. You can also call the IRS directly at 1-800-829-1040.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (AP) – The state Department of Justice is investigating why an Eau Claire Police officer shot and wounded a man during a confrontation.

Police Chief Gerald Staniszewski told the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram that officers tried to serve a felony arrest warrant on the man Wednesday afternoon. Officers found his car in a parking lot and began a search. A confrontation with the man ensued and an officer shot him.

The newspaper reported the man was in surgery late Wednesday with undisclosed wounds. Police say he is expected to survive. The man’s name was not released.

A police spokesman said scanner traffic and other reports suggested the man may have been involved in a domestic violence situation, was armed and was possibly suicidal.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) – Capping exhausting and contentious talks, Iran and world powers sealed a breakthrough agreement Thursday outlining limits on Iran’s nuclear program to keep it from being able to produce atomic weapons. The Islamic Republic was promised an end to years of crippling economic sanctions, but only if negotiators transform the plan into a comprehensive pact.

They will try to do that in the next three months.

The United States and Iran, long-time adversaries who hashed out much of the agreement, each hailed the efforts of their diplomats over days of sleepless nights in Switzerland. Speaking at the White House, President Barack Obama called it a “good deal” that would address concerns about Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called it a “win-win outcome.”

Those involved have spent 18 months in broader negotiations that were extended twice since an interim accord was reached shortly after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani entered office. That deal itself was the product of more than a year of secret negotiations between the Obama administration and Iran, a country the U.S. still considers the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Graphic locates known sites related to nuclear research and production in Iran

Opponents of the emerging accord, including Israel and Republican leaders in Congress, reacted with skepticism. They criticized the outline for failing to do enough to curb Iran’s potential to produce nuclear weapons or to mandate intrusive enough inspections. Obama disagreed.

“This framework would cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon,” he declared. “This deal is not based on trust. It’s based on unprecedented verification.”

If implemented, the understandings reached Thursday would mark the first time in more than a decade of diplomatic efforts that Iran’s nuclear efforts would be rolled back.

It commits Tehran to significant cuts in centrifuges, the machines that can spin uranium gas to levels used in nuclear warheads. Of the nearly 20,000 centrifuges Iran now has installed or running at its main enrichment site, the country would be allowed to operate just over 5,000. Much of its enriched stockpiles would be neutralized. A planned reactor would be reconstructed so it produced no weapons-grade plutonium. Monitoring and inspections by the U.N. nuclear agency would be enhanced.

America’s negotiating partners in Europe strongly backed the result. President Francois Hollande of France, which had pushed the U.S. for a tougher stance, endorsed the accord while warning that “sanctions lifted can be re-established if the agreement is not applied.”

Obama sought to frame the deal as a salve that reduces the chances of the combustible Middle East becoming even more unstable with the introduction of a nuclear-armed Iran. Many fear that would spark an arms race that could spiral out of control in a region rife with sectarian rivalry, terrorist threats and weak or failed states.

Obama said he had spoken with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and that he’d invite him and other Arab leaders to Camp David this spring to discuss security strategy. The Sunni majority Saudis have made veiled threats about creating their own nuclear program to counter Shia-led Iran.

The American leader also spoke by telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, perhaps the sharpest critic of the diplomacy with Iran. Netanyahu told Obama a deal based on the agreement “would threaten the survival of Israel.” The White House said Obama assured Netanyahu that the agreement would not diminish U.S. concerns about Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism and threats toward Israel.

Obama saved his sharpest words for members of Congress who have threatened to either try to kill the agreement or approve new sanctions against Iran. Appearing in the Rose Garden, Obama said the issues at stake are “bigger than politics.”

“These are matters of war and peace,” he said, and if Congress kills the agreement “international unity will collapse, and the path to conflict will widen.”

Hawks on Capitol Hill reacted slowly to the news from the Swiss city of Lausanne, perhaps because the framework was far more detailed than many diplomats had predicted over a topsy-turvy week of negotiation.

House Speaker John Boehner said it would be “naive to suggest the Iranian regime will not continue to use its nuclear program, and any economic relief, to further destabilize the region.”

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said his panel would vote this month on legislation giving Congress the right to vote on a final deal. Freshman Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who penned a letter that many GOP senators signed last month to Iran’s leaders, said he would work “to protect America from this very dangerous proposal.”

Many of the nuclear limits on Iran would be in place for a decade, while others would last 15 or 20 years. Sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programs would be suspended by the U.S., the United Nations and the European Union after the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed Iran’s compliance.

In a joint statement, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Iran’s Zarif called the agreement a “decisive step.” Highlighting Iran’s effort to show a new face of its government, Zarif then held a news conference, answering many questions in English, and Obama’s statement was carried live and uncensored on Iranian state TV.

Still, all sides spoke with a sense of caution.

“We have taken a major step, but are still some way away from where we want to be,” Zarif told reporters, even as he voiced hope that a final agreement might ease suspicion between the U.S. and Iran, which haven’t had diplomatic relations since the 1979 overthrow of the shah and the subsequent U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

Zarif said the agreement would show “our program is exclusively peaceful, has always been and always will remain exclusively peaceful.” But he also said it would not hinder the country’s pursuit of atomic energy for civilian purposes. “We will continue enriching,” he said. “We will continue research and development.” He said the heavy water reactor would be “modernized.”

Kerry lashed out at critics who have demanded that Iran halt all uranium enrichment and completely close a deeply buried underground facility that may be impervious to an air attack.

“Simply demanding that Iran capitulate makes a nice sound bite, but it is not a policy, it is not a realistic plan,” Kerry said.

The final breakthrough came a day after a flurry of overnight sessions between Kerry and Zarif, and meetings involving the six powers at a luxury hotel in Lausanne.

As late as Thursday afternoon, it still appeared an agreement might be beyond reach as the U.S. pushed to spell out concrete commitments and Iran adamantly demanded that only a vague statement be presented. In an apparent compromise, some details were noted in the general statement and others were saved for a more detailed position paper issued by the White House and State Department.

Some of that tension remained.

“There is no need to spin using ‘fact sheets’ so early on,” Zarif tweeted. He also questioned some of the assertions contained in the document, such as the speed of a U.S. sanctions drawdown.

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Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Bradley Klapper contributed to this report from Washington.

In her first year at the helm of the Green Bay softball program, coach Beth Spoehr is out to prove she’s a homerun hire

“Being from the area, I know what this program is capable of,” Spoehr said. “I’m ready to grow it, that was a big goal of mine. Just want to keep making strides.”

The former Patriot standout turned Phoenix head coach, is the fifth in program history. She’s also one of the youngest in all of collegiate athletics at just 23-years old.

“That’s my goal, that it doesn’t matter what my age is,” Spoehr said. “I’m passionate, energetic. I want what’s best for them and I’m willing to work for it.”

“She’s definitely, improving the program,” Phoenix junior Ashley Baker said. “It’s great to see. She loves the game, brings passion, and we’re willing to learn from her.”

Spoehr’s demeanor proves age is just a number. Although her former high school opponents turned players, still like to brag about a few

“We didn’t win the game but I did go 2-for-2 against her,” Phoenix senior Hailey Mohrfield said. “Yes, I do bring it up to her.”

No pressure on the new coach but Green Bay is coming off one if its best seasons in program history. The team tied a record with 27 school wins, swept the Horizon League titles and played in the NCAA Tournament.

“It’s huge to work with these girls and tell them we are a successful team,” Spoehr said. “We can defend our horizon league titles and all that other stuff. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

A former Northeast Wisconsin high school star, rising into the college ranks with a fired up bunch of Phoenix. In Green Bay, Dylan Scott Fox 11 Sports.

INDIANAPOLIS — Former Green Bay men’s basketball coach Brian Wardle is getting ready for his first season in a decade not with the Phoenix. After recently accepting the head coaching job at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, Wardle says it was a combination of timing and opportunity that led him to leave Green Bay.

“I put 10 good years in at Green Bay,” said Wardle as he waited to watch former protege Keifer Sykes in the College Slam Dunk Contest at Butler University. “I’ve been there a long time. Had a lot of wins, a lot of exciting moments. There was one more step we wanted to take the program, but I think a guy like Brian Barone is capable of doing that.”

Barone, one of Wardle’s assistant coaches and his former teammate at Marquette University, is Wardle’s pick to be his replacement with the Phoenix. Barone told FOX 11 on Thursday he had not yet interviewed for the head coaching job but will soon.

“I just think he’s got it,” said Wardle. “He’s got that ‘it factor.’ He’s a very good coach, he can recruit to Green Bay. He knows all the dynamics of Green Bay. I think that’s a big advantage.”

Wardle added he thinks Barone will be key to keeping the locker room intact and building on recent success, including a trip to the Horizon League Tournament Championship Game in 2015. Wardle also has some work to do, taking over a Bradley team that was 9-24 last season, finishing at the bottom of the highly competitive Missouri Valley Conference with a 3-15 record in MVC games.

Wardle says it’s been an exciting time since officially taking the job, but is “going to miss Green Bay,” saying his departure has elicited a “roller coaster of emotion.” He says a lot went into the decision to leave the Phoenix.

“Quite a few factors, but Bradley in general, I grew up knowing how great of a program that was in the 80s and 90s,” said Wardle. “Playing in the Missouri Valley and coaching in that is a challenge I’m looking forward to. A lot of the resources they really put behind basketball, and the whole city is basketball-crazy, that’s what it is. All those things factor in.”

“It’s been exciting. My family and I, we’re excited about the opportunity down in Peoria, being coach at Bradley. A lot of tradition, great program, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

“We’re excited for Green Bay and their opportunity. We feel Green Bay’s in a great place right now, hopefully they can continue the momentum and build on it.”

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – NCAA President Mark Emmert made it clear the association wouldn’t tolerate discrimination and was willing to take its business out of Indiana if the state’s religious objections law wasn’t fixed to his satisfaction.

Whether he and the NCAA’s leaders can take that stand in other states with similar laws is less clear – and its leaders acknowledge wading into social debates and state law is new and tricky territory for college sports’ governing body.

Emmert’s annual state of the NCAA address on Thursday came as the Indiana lawmakers were revising the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that has, in some ways, overshadowed the start of one of college sports’ biggest events.

“Are we happy that this debate is occurring during the middle of Final Four week? Of course not,” Emmert said. “It would have been a lot easier to have the debate some other day.”

Critics of the law feared it would lead to discrimination against gays and lesbians. Emmert said the law “absolutely, positively” needed to change. About an hour after his news conference at Lucas Oil Stadium, state lawmakers passed a fix that clarified discrimination wouldn’t be tolerated.

Still, there are 20 other states that have similar religious objection laws on the books, and the NCAA has held events in some of those states. The impacts of the laws vary because of language and other civil rights protections in those states, but now the NCAA will have to “look deeper and harder” at where it takes its events, Emmert said.

That raises several questions for the organization, and Emmert fielded them Thursday. Would it be willing to take its business out of a state that prohibits gay marriage, for example? Or will it be willing to pull major events out of any state with a religious objection law?

“I think it’s something that we will once again have to talk about among the membership when our boards get together to discuss these issues and decide at what level should we become involved in civil debates inside these communities,” Emmert said.

The NCAA, based in Indianapolis since 1999, was among the first organizations to express concern about the Indiana law when it was passed last week. Emmert also spoke with legislative leadership and the state’s governor, Republican Mike Pence, and said he became concerned when no one could confirm that the law wouldn’t bar discrimination.

In the case of Indiana’s law, NCAA leaders said they had to move quickly not just to protect athletes at events, but also because it was a workplace issue. The NCAA has 500 employees at their Indianapolis headquarters and Emmert said it had to protect the ability to recruit a diverse workforce.

Emmert and other NCAA leaders said they will review lawmakers’ revisions and discuss the issue further at a meeting next month.

“I will say I think the NCAA has appropriately in the past been critiqued for being slow to respond to things,” said Kansas State President Kirk Schulz, chairman of the NCAA board of governors, who joined Emmert at the news conference. “This one of those times where I believe the rapid, quick, decisive communication from the NCAA office, by Mark and our staff, was exactly where we needed to be.”

The threat of pulling events from Indiana was a big one for Emmert and the NCAA. Indianapolis prides itself as a hub for sports events, and the organization has put down deep roots in the city since relocating from Kansas in 1999.

The women’s Final Four is set to take place in the city next year, and the men’s Final Four returns in 2021.

Emmert said NCAA officials had not gotten so far as actively searching for alternative sites for events nor had they looked into what it might cost to relocate.

If they had decided to go, they would have been leaving a city that rolled out the welcome mat – and perks – when they arrived. Indiana Sports Corp., a private entity, agreed to a “memorandum of understanding” that allows the governing body to pay $1 rent on its 324,000-square foot facility in White River State Park. As part of the deal, the NCAA was able to help design Lucas Oil Stadium so it could host NCAA Tournament games.

In return, the NCAA agreed to hold a men’s Final Four, a women’s Final Four, the NCAA’s annual convention and men’s and women’s basketball preliminary or regional round games in every five-year cycle through the end of the deal, 2060, as well as holding many of their meetings and other events in Indianapolis. The value of that over the next 45 years would reach into the billions.

Changing that would violate the deal and give ISC the right to terminate the agreement within 30 days.

But after examining the legal document Thursday, Jim Nehf, a law professor at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law, said he believes the language protects the NCAA from paying out large compensatory damages for breach of contract if it had to leave.

“I think most courts would look at that (agreement) and say terminating the contract provides the remedy,” Nehf said. “What I’d like to see is what the lease says.”

While the stakes are higher for the NCAA in Indiana, the question of associating with states with such laws on the books won’t have an easy answer.

“If I believed we couldn’t conduct our affairs in any place in a fashion that didn’t prohibit discrimination against people for any number of reasons, then I would surely recommend that we move,” Emmert said. “I hope that we don’t find ourselves in that place.”

___

AP Sports Writer Mike Marot in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s prime minister says he has voiced his “strong opposition” to the world’s framework nuclear agreement with Iran to President Barack Obama.

In a phone conversation with the president, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a final deal based on this agreement “would threaten the survival of Israel.”

He said the deal would legitimize Iran’s nuclear program and increase Iranian “aggression and terror.”

Netanyahu urged the world to increase pressure on Iran until a better deal is achieved.

Situated just about a stone’s throw from Shawano Lake sits the much-smaller Washington Lake in Shawano County.

For Steven Peters, Wednesday on that lake didn’t turn out to be the quiet day of ice fishing he had planned.

Says Peters, “(I) Got out there no problem. But nothing was happening so I came back to shore about 5, 5:30, and the ice just gave way.”

Luckily for Peters, there were a few bystanders and a Shawano County Sheriff’s deputy who arrived quickly, and were able to get him out.

By the time they got to him, just his head was bobbing above the surface.

The first thing going through his head?

“Well… just try and get to shore. The wetter I got the heavier I got. They guy just said to go ahead and break the ice, and I said I can’t even lift my arms.”

Peters returned to the lake today, but not for ice fishing– he was recovering some of his equipment.

He managed to recover his ice auger– which he had initially held onto after falling through– and a few of the 6 poles he took on the ice with him.

It’s important to remember the saying there is no such ice as safe ice, especially this late in the year, even if it does look like there’s still plenty of ice on any given lake– like there is on some parts of Shawano Lake right now.

Two local men who witnessed part of the rescue say the ice was less than ideal,

“No (I wouldn’t have gone on the ice). There was open water probably 5, 10 feet away from where he was and I wouldn’t have went out there,” said Steve Zaddack.

And the conditions change can rapidly this time of year.

Captain Tom Tuma with the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department says, “First ice and last ice is always the most treacherous. Again, we will never say the ice is safe because we don’t believe it ever is… What someone walks out on in the morning can be very different than what they encounter when they go back to leave in the afternoon.”

That’s exactly what happened to Peters.

And as we continue to move forward into spring, it’s probably best for everyone to avoid going out on any ice at this point.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Milwaukee Brewers have traded minor league first baseman Hunter Morris to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named. The Pirates announced the deal Thursday for the Brewers’ fourth-round pick from the 2010 draft.

The 26-year-old Morris hit .279 with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs in Triple-A last season.

He is 3 for 13 in spring training this year with four strikeouts.