Green Bay News

OSHKOSH – Country music star Dierks Bentley will help EAA AirVenture take off this summer.

EAA has announced that Bentley will headline the annual convention’s opening night concert on July 20.

Bentley’s latest album, “RISER,” has two consecutive chart-topping hits to its credit, “I Hold On” and “Drunk on a Plane.” The 12-time Grammy winner’s latest single, “Say You Do,” is also climbing the charts.

“Dierks Bentley is a superb choice for our opening-night concert not only because he is one of music’s brightest stars, but also because he is an avid pilot who has been to Oshkosh before enjoying the sights and sounds as an aviation enthusiast,” Rick Larsen, EAA’s vice president of communities and member programs, said in a news release. “Dierks brings the energy and enthusiasm that complements the full week of aviation excitement that will be featured at EAA AirVenture.”

Bentley’s concert is free to AirVenture attendees that day. It is set for the Boeing Plaza, following the afternoon air show.

GREEN BAY – Two designers collaborated to create a beautiful table setting for Easter brunch.  Nichole Campbell of Petal Pusher and Jennie Sykes of Jennie Elizabeth Designs put it all together on the set of Good Day Wisconsin.  The designers used a mix of blues, purples, silk blossoms and natural elements.

MADISON (AP) – The Wisconsin Senate majority leader is getting some traction on an alternative plan to help build a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks.

Much like a loan that once funded improvements to Lambeau Field, Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald would use a loan from the state public lands board to contribute $150 million to the arena project.

Republican legislative leaders have been meeting this week with the Bucks and officials from Milwaukee County and the city. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says the plan is a step in the right direction.

The Journal Sentinel says the lands board has some $1 billion in assets and lends money to local units of government at low interest rates. The earnings help fund public school libraries. Fitzgerald’s plan is a rewrite of Gov. Scott Walker’s idea to sell $220 million in state bonds to help pay for the project.

GREEN BAY- Our All Access Pass to the Badgers continues with a look at the badger.

We took a trip to the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary to meet Helen the badger.

Helen was hit by a vehicle in 2011 in Troy, Wisconsin. It’s believed the badger was born in 2010.

They can live in the wild for 10 to 20 years.

Curator Lori Bankson introduced us to Helen and shared information on badgers.

CALEDONIA, Wis. (AP) – A 49-year-old Racine woman is accused of sneaking behind a cash register and relieving herself in a box of security tags at a local Kmart.

Melissa Jacobson is charged with one count of disorderly conduct and two counts of resisting or obstructing an officer.

The Journal Times reports officers were called to the store Monday after an employee discovered feces and urine in a box containing 250 security tags.

A criminal complaint alleges surveillance video caught Jacobson loosening her pants behind the register and squatting.

Employees were able to identify her through paperwork she filled out while making a return at the store.

The complaint states Jacobson denied the incident and resisted when police tried to arrest her.

Online court records don’t list an attorney for Jacobson.

FOND DU LAC – A former teacher’s aide at Horace Mann High School in North Fond du Lac pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he sexually assaulted a student.

Dominic Carmona is scheduled to stand trial July 6, although a July 2 plea date has also been set, according to online court records.

He faces seven counts each of child enticement and sexual assault of a student by a school staff member.

According to the criminal complaint, Carmona, 45, had a sexual relationship with a girl who was 16 or 17 sometime between last Dec. 1 and this Jan. 31.

The school district said Carmona resigned from his special education position at the school on Feb. 3.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Former New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper is back in Louisiana to enter pleas next week in state and federal sex assault cases.

According to online jail records, Sharper was moved to the St. Tammany Parish jail Wednesday.

The 39-year-old Sharper is due Monday in New Orleans’ federal court, where he’s charged with giving drugs to women with the intention of raping them.

He’s scheduled to appear Tuesday in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, where he’s charged with three counts of aggravated rape.

Sharper has pleaded guilty to charges in Las Vegas and Arizona, and no-contest in Los Angeles. The pleas are part of a four-state deal prosecutors say will put him in prison for about nine years.

Sharper had a 14-year NFL career that included a Super Bowl victory with the Saints.

GREEN BAY –  Need ideas for Sunday’s Easter brunch?  Caterer Lindsay Brooks of The Runaway Spoon has you covered, from the drink to the main event! Lindsay shared the following recipes on Good Day Wisconsin.

Blueberry Bellini
1 cup blueberries
2 Tbsp sugar
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups sparkling wine, chilled
In a small pot heat blueberries with sugar and lemon juice. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove heat. Mash blueberries
then stain and cool completely. To make drink, place 2 Tbsp of blueberry syrup in glass, top with wine.

Asparagus Quiche with Bacon and Blue Cheese
2 oz bacon, chopped
1 small leek, thinly sliced
1# asparagus, trimmed
salt/pepper
2 eggs
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp chopped chives
2 Tbsp crumbled blue cheese
Pie crust fitted into 9 inch tart pan
Brown bacon and leek in skillet. Once crispy add asparagus and cook until almost tender, roughly 4 minutes.
Arrange asparagus into tart pan that has been fitted with pie crust. Sprinkle with blue cheese and chives. Whisk
together eggs and cream, season with salt and pepper. Poor cream into tart pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30
minutes or until custard is set. Cool and serve room temp.

Fresh Berries with Mint and Lemon Mascarpone
4 cups fresh berries
1 Tbsp, fresh mint, chopped
6 oz mascarpone
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp powered sugar
Fold in lemon juice and sugar in mascarpone. Place berries in serving dish, garnish with mascarpone and mint.

GRAND CHUTE – Easter is almost here!

FOX 11’s Emily Deem spent Thursday morning in Grand Chute to check-out some places that will help you get ready for the holiday.

Click here to learn more about World Market and Learning Shop.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Gunmen attacked a college campus in northeast Kenya early Thursday, opening fire in dormitories and killing at least 15 people and wounding 29 others, witnesses said. The attack bore the hallmarks of a Somali Islamic extremist group.

Augustine Alanga, a 21-year-old student who survived the attack at Garissa University College, described a panicked scene as gunshots rang out outside their dormitory in the pre-dawn hours when most people were still fast asleep.

The shooting became more intense almost immediately, he told The Associated Press by phone. The heavy gunfire forced some students to stay indoors as others fled with gunmen firing at them.

He said he saw at least five heavily armed, masked gunmen.

“I am just now recovering from the pain as I injured myself while trying to escape. I was running barefoot,” said Alanga, who was one of scores of students who managed to escape through barb-wire fencing.

At the time the attack started – 5:30 a.m. – morning prayers were underway at the university mosque, where students were not attacked, he said.

A mortuary attendant in the town of Garissa says at least 15 people have been killed and at some 60 were injured. The attendant saw the casualties arrive by ambulance. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Some of the more serious wounded were being flown to Nairobi, the capital, authorities said.

The National Disaster Operations Center said on Twitter that three of four dorms have been evacuated, with the gunmen cornered in one dorm. No further details were immediately available and Kenya Defense Forces have surrounded the area, journalists said, impeding their access.

Terrified students streamed out of buildings, some young men shirtless, as arriving police officers hunkered down, taking cover. The gunmen had opened fire at guards, triggering a “fierce shootout” with police guarding student dorms, Kenya’s National Police Service said in a written statement.

The attackers managed to get into the dorms of Garissa University College, raising the possibility of hostage-taking.

Kenya’s National Disaster Operations Center said 29 people wounded during the attack have been admitted to a local hospital, four of them in critical condition. Most have gunshot wounds, the center said.

Police and military surrounded the buildings and were trying to secure the area, police officer Musa Yego told AP.

Abass Gulett, head of the Red Cross in Kenya, said fighting was ongoing as the security forces try to retake some university blocks from the gunmen. ”

Al-Shabab attacked the Westgate Mall in Nairobi in 2013, killing dozens.

Kenya’s northern and eastern regions, which are near the Somali border, have suffered many attacks blamed on the al-Qaida-linked Somali group, al-Shabab, which has vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops into Somalia to fight the militants. Kenya sent its troops there in 2011 to fight al-Shabab militants following cross-border attacks.

Last month, al-Shabab claimed responsibility for attacks in the county of Mandera on the Somali border in which twelve people died. Four of them died in an attack on the convoy of Mandera County Governor Ali Roba.

Police statistics show that 312 people have been killed in al-Shabab attacks in Kenya from 2012 to 2014. Thirty-eight people were killed and 149 wounded in Garissa in the same period.

SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France (AP) – Investigators have found cellphones amid the debris of the German jet crash in the French Alps, but the phones have not yet produced any clues about what happened.

Lt. Col. Jean-Marc Menichini said Thursday that the phones that have been found had not yet been thoroughly examined. He would not elaborate.

Investigators believe co-pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed the Germanwings A320 into a mountainside, based on recordings from the cockpit voice recorder. Special mountain troops continued searching the area Thursday for personal belongings and the second black box flight recorder.

French magazine Paris-Match and German tabloid Bild reported this week that they had seen a cellphone video from the final moments of the flight. Authorities have said investigators have no such video.

GREEN BAY- Grab the umbrella as you head out. we’ll see showers and a possible thunderstorm Thursday then much cooler weather moves in.

Expect periods of rain, mainly Thursday morning.

It’ll be warm and breezy with a high near 64 and SW winds becoming west at 10 to 20 mph gusting to 25 this afternoon.

A cold front pushes through the state Thursday night and we’ll feel the effects Friday.

Friday’s high will reach near 46 (Normal high is 47) with partly sunny and breezy conditions.

According to the National Retail Federation’s Easter Spending Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, the average person celebrating Easter will spend $140.62, slightly more than last year’s $137.46.

The Wisconsin Department of Tourism has been doing an online contest during the NCAA Tournament.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Thousands of Wisconsin fans have given the Badgers a rousing send-off for their Final Four rematch with Kentucky.

Fans filled about three-quarters of the Kohl Center’s lower seating bowl to cheer on the Badgers before they left for Indianapolis Wednesday evening.

Coach Bo Ryan and his players rotated in a circle, posing for fans’ pictures. The team brought the West Regional championship trophy and the Staples Center net from the Badgers’ 85-78 victory over Arizona on Saturday.

Ryan thanked the fans for “being the greatest fans in America without a doubt.”

The Wisconsin State Journal reports the players boarded a bus and paraded up State Street on the way to the airport.

The Badgers (35-3) play Kentucky (38-0) Saturday night after the other semifinal featuring Duke and Michigan State.

MILWAUKEE – Michael Carter-Williams had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Milwaukee Bucks to a rare 95-91 victory at home over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night.

The Bucks (37-38), who lost their previous nine home games against the Bulls, also got 16 points from Ersan Ilyasova. Milwaukee won for just the third time in its last 11 games and maintains a 2 1/2-game lead over Miami and Brooklyn for sixth place in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago’s seven-game winning streak against Milwaukee ended despite 25 points and seven rebounds from Jimmy Butler. Pau Gasol added 14 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls, who have lost seven of their last nine on the road. Chicago dropped into a tie with Toronto for the No. 3 seed in the East. Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich took a charge and injured his left knee with 4:35 left in the third quarter. He limped to the locker room and did not return.

Consecutive jumpers from Khris Middleton and O.J. Mayo gave Milwaukee a 92-88 lead with 2:56 to go. After a layup by E’Twaun Moore and a free throw by Gasol cut the deficit to 92-91, Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo blocked a layup attempt by Moore with 1:25 to go.

Milwaukee answered at the other end on a tip-in by Ilyasova for a 94-91 lead with 1:07 left. Chicago missed three 3-pointers on its next two possessions before Antetokounmpo sank a free throw for a 95-91 lead with 5.8 seconds to go.

TIP-INS

Bulls: Chicago’s three-game winning streak was halted. The last time the team won four in a row was Feb. 7-12. . The Bulls are 25-9 in the last 34 games against the Bucks, including 3-1 this season.

Bucks: The previous time Milwaukee won a home game against Chicago was Feb. 26, 2011. … Carter-Williams totaled 12 points in his previous two games, including four in a loss at Atlanta on Monday.

UP NEXT

Bulls: Friday vs. Detroit.

Bucks: Friday at Boston.

APPLETON – From the obviously fake news article on the sale of the Packers, to the possibly plausible reunion of the “That’s 70’s Show” cast, many April Fools’ Day posts had people on social media stopping and taking a second look Wednesday.

That included this recruitment video released by Lawrence University.

“Is it drones? No, we use something better than drones. We use Lawrentians,” Dean of Admissions Ken Anselment said in the video.

College students flying over Appleton while holding cameras were just too outrageous to be true. So, we went behind the scenes with the creator of the video to see how the students took flight.

“We brought them down here to our studio. We had a table, and we set up the green screen. We put some black fabric underneath them, and after everything was pulled away we had them in empty space and we had them with aerial footage to make them flying,” said Lawrence University Videographer Garrett Katerznske.

The Dean of Admissions says the prank-filled holiday falls at a convenient time for university outreach.

“This is decision time for students who have been admitted, and so, we wanted to remind them of what a fun yet challenging place this can be,” said Anselment.

Marketing experts say some April Fools’ posts can boost business.

“You might get good media attention, whether it’s social media or not. And that becomes a nice, inexpensive way to have a lot of people view something,” said UW-Oshkosh Marketing Professor Bryan Lilly.

But some prank posts, like one about New Glarus beer no longer sold in Wisconsin, can potentially confuse consumers.

“You’re also now sending a message where the communication is not aligned with what people think about your brand,” said Lilly.

Regardless of the date on the calendar, here’s a good rule of thumb: you can’t always believe everything you read online—especially on April 1.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – An Arkansas woman who became the world’s oldest person Wednesday wants President Barack Obama to attend her 117th birthday party this Fourth of July.

At 116, Gertrude Weaver was already the oldest person in America. With the death of 117-year-old Misao Okawa in Japan, Weaver became the world’s oldest person, according to the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group, which tracks supercentenarians.

The Guinness Book of World Records still must make the final call, said Robert Moore, director of the research group’s supercentenarians program.

“When people pass away, there is often an application process … but they may not wait for that process to name her the oldest person in the world,” he said. “Only five documented people have ever reached 117, and as of right now Gertrude Weaver is the seventh-oldest verified person of all time.”

Staff at the Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock, said Weaver was inundated by television crews and other visitors Wednesday.

Weaver, a former domestic worker in private homes and mother of four children, has experienced a lot in her 116 years, Center Administrator Kathy Langley said. But she still has one dream she would like to realize.

“She really wants to meet the president. She’s voted for him twice now and it’s just her lifelong dream,” Langley said. “We sent him an invitation to come to her birthday party last year, and we will send him another one this year.”

Langley said there is no birth record for Weaver and it’s likely her family chose to celebrate her birthday on July 4 because they were patriotic. “That’s the only day she ever remembers celebrating on,” Langley said.

Weaver was raised in a small unincorporated community outside of Texarkana and has lived in Arkansas almost all of her life. The Gerontology Research Group used 1900 census records, which listed Weaver as 2 years old, and a marriage license from 1915 that listed her age as 17 to determine she was the oldest living American.

Weaver is in good health, Langley said, and attributes her longevity to treating others well.

Weaver enjoys “sittercising” – exercise classes she participates in three times a week from her wheelchair – as well as weekly church services and daily talks about cooking, Langley said. She also visits almost daily with her son Joe Weaver, who is in his mid-90s.

“They’re just a wonderful family, very loving,” Langley said. “She has a granddaughter and a grandson who are in their 70s and who live in town, and they are here all the time visiting with her along with many other family members.”

ODANAH, Wis. (AP) – A house fire has left one man dead on the Bad River Indian Reservation in northwestern Wisconsin.

The Ashland County sheriff’s office got a 911 call from the homeowner about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The man, identified as David “Joe” Bates of Odanah, said his home was on fire and that he was unable to get his son out of the building.

Police and firefighters arrived to find the second floor of the house engulfed in flames. Rescuers pulled the man’s son out of the house, but he died at the scene.

The victim is identified as 22-year-old Parker Bates of Odanah. The Ashland Daily Press reports his father is being treated for smoke inhalation at a hospital in Duluth, Minnesota.

SHAWANO COUNTY – Officials in Shawano County are reminding people to be careful on the ice after emergency responders saved a man who fell through the ice in the Town of Wescott.

Deputies say at approximately 4:46 p.m. Wednesday, they received several 911 calls about a man who fell through the ice on Washington Lake while ice fishing.

The Shawano County Dive Team and other emergency responders were able to pull the man from the water.

It is believed the man was in the water for about 30 minutes.

The man refused medical attention.