Green Bay News

BOSTON (AP) – Prosecutors rested their case against Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev on Monday after jurors in his federal death penalty trial saw gruesome autopsy photos and heard a medical examiner describe the devastating injuries suffered by the three people who died in the 2013 terror attack.

Tsarnaev’s lawyer told the jury during opening statements that Tsarnaev participated in the twin bombings but that his older brother, Tamerlan, was the driving force behind the attack. Prosecutors believe the brothers were seeking retaliation against the U.S. for wars in Muslim countries.

Now that prosecutors have finished their case, Tsarnaev’s lawyers will get a chance to present theirs. The defense has made it clear since testimony began March 4 that its strategy during the two-phase trial is not to win an acquittal for Tsarnaev but to save him from the death penalty.

Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured when two pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line April 15, 2013.

Prosecutors presented heart-wrenching testimony from survivors who lost legs in the bombings and from the father of 8-year-old Martin Richard, the youngest person killed in the explosions. A string of first responders described a chaotic mix of smoke, blood and screams just after the bombs went off.

Tsarnaev’s lawyers did not cross-examine any of the victims but instead focused on trying to show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was more culpable in the attack and in the killing three days later of Massachusetts Institute of Technology police Officer Sean Collier.

The defense case is expected to be relatively short. Once that is complete, jurors will deliberate on whether Tsarnaev is guilty of the 30 federal charges against him in the bombing, in Collier’s killing and for his role in a violent confrontation with police in Watertown. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was killed during the confrontation, both by gunshots and from being run over by Dzhokhar as he escaped. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found more than 18 hours later hiding in a boat parked in a Watertown yard.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev – an event that may be a foregone conclusion because of his admitted guilt – the trial will move on to the second phase, when the same jury will hear more evidence to decide whether Tsarnaev should be put to death or should spend the rest of his life in prison.

During this second phase of the trial, Tsarnaev’s lawyers will present evidence of factors they believe mitigate his crimes, such as his age at the time – 19- and the influence of his older brother. The Tsarnaevs – ethnic Chechens – lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the volatile Dagestan region of Russia before moving to the U.S. with their parents and two sisters about a decade before the bombings. They lived in Cambridge.

Prosecutors will present evidence of aggravating factors, such as the brutality of the attack and the death of an 8-year-old boy in the bombings, to argue that Tsarnaev should be executed.

Photos submitted to ReportIt, March 29-April 4, 2015.

Watch as Fond du Lac County investigators release more information on the arrest of a man in the 1990 murder of Berit Beck.

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — The co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 that crashed into the French Alps last week had received treatment for suicidal tendencies several years ago, prosecutors said Monday.

Duesseldorf prosecutors say co-pilot Andreas Lubitz, 27, had received psychotherapy “with a note about suicidal tendencies” for several years before becoming a pilot.

“In the following period, and until recently, further doctor’s visits took place, resulting in sick notes without any suicidal tendencies or aggression against others being recorded,” prosecutors’ spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said in a written statement.

He did not say where this treatment took place. Lubitz trained to be a pilot both in Germany and at the Lufthansa training facility in Phoenix, Arizona.

Authorities believe, based on data from the plane’s cockpit voice recorder, that Lubitz locked his captain out of the cockpit and ignored his pleas to open the door while sending the plane into a fatal descent on what should have been a routine flight.

All 150 people on board were killed when the Airbus A320 plane flying from Barcelona to Duesseldorf slammed into a French mountain on March 24 near the Alpine village of Le Vernet.

The crash has prompted wide-ranging questions about Lubitz’s motivation, his mindset, aviation industry regulations — and in the minds of the flying public, concerns about air travel safety.

Lufthansa, asked whether the airline had been aware of Lubitz’s previous psychotherapy treatment, said only that all medical information is subject to medical confidentiality rules.

Prosecutors said they have so far found no indications in Lubitz’s family, his personal surroundings or in his work environment of any motive that might have prompted his actions. They have not found any sign of a physical illness and have no evidence that he told anyone what he was going to do.

Prosecutors have previously said that, when they searched his home, they found torn-up sick notes from a doctor, one of which would have kept him off work on the day of the crash.

Asked about reports that Lubitz had problems with his vision, Christoph Kumpa, another spokesman for the Duesseldorf investigators, said there was no evidence showing that Lubitz had any physical ailment affecting his sight.

German aviation officials say Lubitz’s file at the country’s Federal Aviation Office contained a notation that meant he needed “specific regular medical examination,” but it did not specify whether it was for a physical or mental condition.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration had issued Lubitz a third-class medical certificate. In order to obtain such a certificate, a pilot must be cleared of psychological problems including psychosis, bipolar disorder and personality disorders. The certificate also means that he wasn’t found to be suffering from another mental health condition that “makes the person unable to safely perform the duties” of a pilot.

Carsten Spohr, the CEO of Germanwings’ parent company, Lufthansa, said last week there was a “several-month” gap in Lubitz’s training six years ago, but refused to elaborate. Following the disruption, he said, Lubitz “not only passed all medical tests but also his flight training, all flying tests and checks.”

At the crash site in the French Alps, authorities were poring over DNA evidence that has been painstakingly collected from among the crash debris scattered across the steep mountainside. Their goal is to try to identify victims for the grieving relatives who have poured into France by the hundreds.

Workers with backhoes and tractors were laying down a road up to 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long Monday to reach the remote crash site to help speed the investigation. To date, recovery crews have had to helicopter in and be tethered to local mountaineers to avoid slipping down the rocky, unstable slope.

France has deployed some 500 gendarmes and emergency workers to secure the crash site, search for human remains, examine evidence and help the traumatized relatives.

In the southeastern city of Marseille, Germanwings chief operating officer Oliver Wagner was meeting with victims’ relatives.

Wagner recalled a meeting last week in Haltern, Germany, with the parents of 16 high school students who had died in the crash, saying it was “certainly the saddest day of my life.”

“They asked ‘Why our children?'” he said. “We don’t understand what has happened and why it has happened.”

___

Moulson contributed from Berlin. Lori Hinnant in Marseille, France, Jamey Keaten in Paris and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

FOND DU LAC – Five fingerprints: That’s what led investigators to identify a Kenosha man as the suspect in a nearly 25-year-old murder case in Fond du Lac County.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Fond du Lac County court, investigators say Dennis Brantner’s fingerprints were found inside Berit Beck’s van after Beck disappeared in July 1990. Brantner, now 61, was only identified as a suspect after a fingerprint analysis at the State Crime Lab last year.

Berit Beck was last seen in August 1990. Her body was later found in a ditch near Waupun. (File photo)

The 18-year-old Beck was headed from her home in Sturtevant to Appleton for work on July 17, 1990. Her van was found in a Fond du Lac parking lot two days later, and it had more than 400 extra miles on its odometer. Her body was found about six weeks later in western Fond du Lac County. She was blindfolded, and an autopsy showed she was likely strangled or choked to death.

The complaint says Brantner’s fingerprints were found on a fast-food cup, a manual from Beck’s employer and a bleach kit Beck bought at a Fond du Lac drugstore. Investigators also found cigarette ashes on the floor of the van; neither Beck nor anyone in her family smoked, but investigators learned Brantner was a smoker in 1990.

Brantner’s criminal past includes a 1974 case in West Allis where he stole women’s underwear and left a sexually explicit note. He also served time in jail for a 1989 incident in Green Lake County where he broke into a home across the street from his estranged wife to spy on her. A vehicle in the garage had more than 900 extra miles on its odometer and cigarette ashes were found on the floor. Brantner was released from jail in May 1990, about two months before Beck was killed. Finally, in 1994, Brantner was convicted of kidnapping his second wife. He made her drive to another location and kept her against her will for hours.

Co-workers of Brantner told investigators he had a picture of a woman inside his tool box. The co-workers later realized it was a picture of Beck after seeing news coverage of the case. One co-worker told investigators Brantner made comments to her that if he ever won the lottery he would kidnap her and perform sex acts on her.

When questioned about the Beck case last year, Brantner told police he was in the van because he met a “man with a mustache” who was driving it bought him drinks, gave him money for a motel and a ride. However, investigators say there was no evidence linking anyone other than Brantner and Beck’s family to the van.

Prosecutors and sheriff’s officials are expected to release more information during a news conference Monday morning in Fond du Lac. Brantner is also expected in Fond du Lac County court Monday afternoon.

FOX 11’s Gabrielle Mays and Alex Ronallo will be covering this story all day and will have the latest on fox11online.com and on FOX 11 News at Five and Nine.

Another Monday Morning Makeover is complete!

Check out how the crew at Salon Aura in Green Bay gave Sandra a new look.

TOMAH – Capitol Hill moves to the Cranberry Country Lodge Convention Center in Tomah for an afternoon hearing on problems facing the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, headed up by chairman U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, and the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will hold a joint field hearing starting at 1 p.m.

Seven panelists are scheduled to testify before the legislators, including Ryan Honl, the former Tomah VAMC employee who filed a whistleblower complaint that included alleged overprescribing of pain medication to veterans.

Family members of two veterans who died in the past seven months while under the VA’s care will also testify at the hearing. Marv Simcakoski of Stevens Point will address the legislators. Simcakoski’s son Jason, 35, died of an overdose last August while in inpatient care at Tomah.

Veterans Affairs officials have also been called to testify including the Assistant Inspector General for Healthcare Inspections, Dr. John Daigh.

Daigh signed off on an investigation last March that found “serious concerns” related to the alleged overprescribing of opiates at Tomah, and what was described as a “fear of retaliation” for those front-line workers afraid to speak out.

But the report could not substantiate any criminal wrongdoing or evidence of retaliation, and the report was therefore not forwarded to the VA or released to the public.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, also serves on the Senate committee taking part, and will be in Tomah along with Johnson.

Johnson tells FOX 11 News the goal of the hearing is to gather information in order to prevent problems in the future for veterans and their families.

FOX 11’s Mark Leland is in Tomah and will have the latest tonight on FOX 11 News at Five.

KIEL- The trooper killed in a confrontation with a bank robbery suspect in Fond du Lac is being laid to rest.

A private funeral service for Trevor Casper will be Monday morning in Kiel.

A procession of troopers will escort the family from the funeral home to Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery.

ISTANBUL (AP) – Turkish Airlines says it has diverted an Istanbul-to-Sao Paulo flight and is landing in Casablanca, Morocco, after finding a note with the word “bomb” in the toilet.

The airline says it is standard procedure to make an emergency landing under such circumstances. The airline said the Boeing 777 with the flight number TK15 is carrying 256 people.

MARSEILLE, France (AP) – European investigators are focusing on the psychological state of a 27-year-old German co-pilot who prosecutors say deliberately flew a plane carrying 150 people into a mountain, a French police official said Monday.

Returning from a meeting with his counterparts in Germany, judicial police investigator Jean-Pierre Michel told The Associated Press that authorities want to find out “what could have destabilized Andreas Lubitz or driven him to such an act.”

Lubitz was the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 last week that crashed into a French Alps mountain near Le Vernet en route from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany, killing everyone on board.

“To have carried out such an act, it’s clearly psychological,” Michel said.

Authorities are trying to understand what made Lubitz lock his captain out of the cockpit and ignore his pleas to open the door before manually ordering the plane to descend on what should have been a routine flight. To that end, they are speaking with people who knew and worked with Lubitz – such as co-workers, his employer, his doctors.

At the remote mountain crash site itself, French authorities were building a road to facilitate access to the site.

In the southeastern city of Marseille, Germanwings chief operating officer Oliver Wagner was meeting with victims’ relatives. A total of 325 family members have come to France, he told reporters.

French officials have refused to confirm or deny news reports suggesting that Lubitz had been on medication for the treatment of depression or other mental issues. They also refused to comment on a report in Germany’s Bild am Sontag on an alleged transcript of the cockpit voice recorder that had the captain shouting: “For God’s sake, open the door!”

Brice Robin, a state prosecutor in in the southeastern French city of Marseille, has said none of the bodies recovered so far have been identified, denying German media reports that Lubitz’s body had been found.

Tests on the body of the co-pilot may provide clues about any medical treatment he was receiving. German prosecutors said Friday that Lubitz was hiding an illness and sick notes from a doctor for the day of the crash from his employer.

Wagner recalled a meeting in Haltern, Germany, last week with the parents of 16 high school students who had died in the crash, saying it was “certainly the saddest day of my life.”

“They asked ‘Why our children?'” he said. “We don’t understand what has happened and why it has happened.”

GREEN BAY:   When you’re spring cleaning your home this year, don’t forget about your finances.  Financial expert Kevin Klug, of Secure Retirement Solutions, says now is a good time to spruce up your money situation and clear out the financial clutter. He spoke with Rachel Manek on Good Day Wisconsin.

Rachel: Why is spring a good time to do some financial clean-up?

Kevin: Spring is a good time to start fresh! It takes many families two or three months to pay off their bills from the holidays. With those credit card bills (hopefully) in the rear-view mirror, and before the distractions of summer begin- take this opportunity to focus on your finances.

Rachel: You have five tips for us for a fresh, clean financial future- what are they?

Kevin:

Do a Budget Inspection

This can be an eye-opening activity. Take out your credit card bills from the last 6 months. Now get 3 highlighters. In one color, highlight the expenses that are necessary, like rent, utilities or groceries. In another color, highlight things you really want or use, like your Netflix subscription or a new vacuum cleaner. The third color is for the less thoughtful purchases, perhaps a daily cup of coffee, a round of drinks at happy hour or the clothes you still haven’t worn. Cleaning out some of these unnecessary purchases will help you stick to your budget in the future.

Declutter

Debt can really clutter up your finances. Make a plan to reduce the clutter. I recommend my clients work on building momentum. Start with your smallest debt – put as much toward it as you can, while still making minimum payments on the other debts. Once you’ve paid off that one, turn to the next one. The rush you feel from cutting up each credit card is great incentive.

Go Paperless

It’s time to embrace electronic billing. Not only will cut down on all that mail lying around your house, but it can also save you money. Many billers offer a $1 discount for going paperless because it saves them on printing and postage. That discount, plus the money you save on stamps, can easily add up to about $70 a year (according to a report by Good Housekeeping).

Dust Off Your Tax Plan

April 15th is around the corner. While you are working on this year’s return, you should be considering changes you can make now to reduce how much you owe the government next year. You can make changes to your tax withholding at any time during the year by going to your payroll office and filling out a new W-4. If you decrease your holding, you won’t get as big of a refund next year, but you will get more in each paycheck throughout the year. Ideally, you want to have just enough withheld so that the amount will come as close as possible to your actual tax liability for the year.

Take out the Trash

Now it’s time to tackle those piles of financial documents you have laying around. A couple rules of thumb- you should hold onto pay stubs and bank statements for a year. Keep tax documents for 7 years. For a complete list of what you need to save, head to my website, srsplans.com. And remember, shred- don’t trash- all documents that include: account numbers, birth dates, passwords and PINs, signatures and Social Security numbers.

TOWN OF BUCHANAN – A well-known grilled cheese restaurant chain opened its first location in Wisconsin last week.

Tom+Chee offers a fresh twist on the comfort food classics of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

The café offers more than 20 kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches, fresh salads, three kinds of tomato soup and vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options. The restaurant promises all items on the menu are made fresh with no fryers, freezers or microwaves.

The franchise originally started as a food tent in Cincinnati, Ohio, before the founders pitched their business on ABC’s “Shark Tank” in May 2013. The Tom+Chee franchise currently has 170 stores in 20 states.

For more information on Tom+Chee, click here.

 

 

MOORE HAVEN, Fla. (AP) – The Florida Highway Patrol says eight people died and 10 others were injured when a passenger van ran through a stop sign, crossed all lanes of U.S. 27 and landed in a canal in rural southwest Florida.

The crash happened around 12:30 a.m. early Monday in Glades County at an intersection. Glades County is east of Lake Okeechobee.

Lt. Gregory S. Bueno says there were 18 people on the van. The driver and seven passengers are confirmed dead. The 10 other passengers were taken to four hospitals.

No further details were immediately available.

UNIVERSITY PARK, ILLINOIS- An alert has been issued in Illinois.

Officials say 5-year-old Samiah Lomax was kidnapped.

Click here for more details.

WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) – More than 300 chinchillas have been removed from a southeast Wisconsin home deem uninhabitable by authorities.

Police were called to perform a well-being check at the residence in Waukesha on Sunday. Officers reported unkempt conditions, as well as the strong scent of ammonia and animal urine.

The Waukesha Fire Department deemed the home unlivable after testing the level of ammonia.

The Humane Animal Welfare Society was called to remove 331 chinchillas and two cats. Authorities also found nearly two dozen dead chinchillas.

A battalion chief for the city of Waukesha Fire Department says the adults living in the home admitted to breeding and selling the small rodents.

He says the conditions inside the home were the worst he’s seen in 30 years on the job.

An investigation is ongoing.

MADISON (AP) – Like flashes of lightning, sharp pains strike 39-year-old Jason Bishop’s left arm several times a day, causing him to writhe in agony.

Frustrated by his chronic suffering, Bishop has struggled to find relief at several Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals, including an embattled medical center in Tomah. He said the VA hospitals have offered him treatment, including prescriptions for narcotics, but few long-term solutions.

“They don’t fix you. They’re not trying to find an answer,” Bishop said. “They just control you with medication.”

The hospital is at the center of multiple probes after reports of narcotic overprescribing practices and retaliatory behavior surfaced in January – allegations already affirmed by a preliminary report. The facility was known to some in the community as “Candy Land” because of the prescriptions of narcotics coming from physicians there. Former Marine Jason Simcakoski, 35, died of an overdose in the hospital’s inpatient care unit. U.S. House and Senate committees are to hold a joint field hearing Monday in Tomah.

Bishop served as a transport plane loadmaster in the Air Force in Kosovo and Bosnia between 1996 and 1999. He said at an appointment to check on intestinal problems in 1999, doctors found Bishop had sick sinus syndrome – a condition that prevents the heart from pumping properly. Surgeons at a Little Rock military base implanted a pacemaker to help Bishop’s heart, but he was left with chronic pain that lingers more than a decade later. Physicians at multiple VA hospitals prescribed narcotics, but none gave him consistent care plans, he said, until he met Tomah VA Chief of Staff David Houlihan.

“He said I’d been medically mismanaged,” Bishop said. “To hear that from the chief of staff, that’s like the golden ticket.”

Like other physicians, Houlihan prescribed Bishop an opioid, morphine sulfate, for the pain. Over almost three years Houlihan and other physicians at Tomah prescribed Bishop doses that at their peak were three to four times higher than the 70 to 100 milligrams that experts recommend per day, according to Bishop’s medical records.

“Those are phenomenally high doses,” said G. Caleb Alexander, co-director of the Johns Hopkins center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness, after reviewing records of Bishop’s prescriptions. “It’s hard to imagine the conversations that took place that led to dosages that high.”

Bishop said the drugs caused him to feel like a zombie – zoning out, forgetful – and still didn’t do away with his pain.

Bishop was one of thousands of veterans to receive the narcotic as well as a prescription for a benzodiazepine, a class of psychoactive drugs that act as a tranquilizer. Alexander said combining the two raises risk of injury and death.

While Bishop said he would have liked to try alternative treatments for pain like aquatic therapy, acupuncture, massage or non-narcotic medications, none were offered by VA physicians. And he said he can’t afford the treatments offered by other medical centers.

Houlihan did not respond to a request for comment. Stephanie McCrobie, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said she could not comment because of patient privacy and because investigations continue.

A VA probe earlier this month found that patients at the Tomah center were more likely to get high doses of opioids and more likely to get a combination of opioids and benzodiazepines. And retaliatory behavior among staff members created a culture of fear that hurt patient care, the report said.

The problem is one that Paul Rieckhoff, president of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says he sees often with the VA system. He said many hospitals prescribe pills for chronic pain problems rather than providing long-term care solutions.

“Narcotic prescriptions can be part of a care regimen for managing chronic pain, however, narcotic medications are just one tool out of many,” Rieckhoff said.

Rollin Gallagher, national program director for pain management with the VA, said the VA is trying to treat chronic pain with alternative care solutions but there’s still a gap in education. And for some physicians it can be easier to prescribe painkillers than seek out alternative treatments like massage or acupuncture, he said.

“One of the things we have in our brains is empathy. It’s really the core of physician or clinician to ease suffering. So it’s very hard when someone is suffering in front of you … If they haven’t had the training they will use what they have available,” Gallagher said.

VA Undersecretary for Health Carolyn Clancy hit the same note at a U.S. Senate hearing Thursday.

“We don’t have easy alternatives,” Clancy said. “We don’t have a good answer to chronic pain that fits everyone.”

Until a solution emerges some of these prescribing problems will continue, Alexander said. He said as opioid prescriptions continue to increase so will bad effects.

“This is a problem far beyond an occasional rogue prescriber and a few doctor shoppers,” Alexander said. “There’s no question that we need more effective treatments.”

Bishop, unhappy with how the medications made him feel, said he weaned himself off of many of the pills. He said without the prescriptions he’s better able to care for his 9-year-old daughter Chloë.

“So I live in pain all the time,” Bishop said as he started to cry, “but I have a high pain tolerance. I’m just trying to find a solution that’s not medicating.”

DE PERE – It’s only fitting that in Titletown, trophies follow great victories. This weekend, it’s on the ice not the gridiron, where America’s top talents are shinning brightest.

“For the past five days, this has been the hub of girls and women’s hockey,” tournament coordinator Stephanie Dutkowski said. “The U.S. National Tournament, girls have been working hard to get to this point.”

“At the national tournament, it’s fun to see all of the people in the stands,” Team Wisconsin player Sloan Sullivan said. “It’s exciting to play in front of your family and team. To play knowing something is at stake.”

For the fourth time, Green Bay playing host to the USA Hockey National Championships. This year it’s the girls and women’s tournament featuring future and current stars in four divisions. The teams ranging from 14 and under to women’s senior.

“The reason we play every year is because we like to play with our friends,” McGovern Senior A player Winny Brown said. “It’s a good time and a good atmosphere. Back in the day we played competitive hockey and it’s good to go out and play at a high pace.”

The event, played at four separate rinks, including the Cornerstone Community Center, features 32 women’s teams, 44 girls teams and 1,700 skaters from across the country.

“It brings people together,” Lady Ducks player Kai-Lilly Karpman said. “I go to a preparatory school and it was the first time in months I was able to see my friends. It brings people together.”

The USA Hockey Nationals moves to Minneapolis next year, but Green Bay is confident they’ll be hosting again in 2017

“We want to host in 2017 and hopefully in 2018, Green Bay is a great regional and easy to get to,” Dutkowski said.

In a region known for its’ football, for at least a few days, it’s hockey that’s calling all the shots.

“Always about football and the Packers in Green Bay, Green Bay Dragons player Karen Widas said. “Nice to have the USA National Tournament here, show we are about more than just football.”

KIEL – From Iowa to West Virginia, law enforcement officers from across the country were in Kiel to say goodbye to Trooper Casper.

“Personally, myself, you think that you’re prepared when you walk in and you see this and you’re just overwhelmed,” said Stephen Fitzgerald, Wisconsin State Patrol Superintendent.

With heavy hearts, law enforcement officers waited in line to pay their respect to fallen Trooper Trevor Casper.

“This brother that we lost from the state troopers, is representative of officers, regardless of the size of town anywhere,” said Mike Crivello with the Milwaukee Police Association.

The city of Kiel also mourns for Casper. He grew up there.

“He was always a friendly, funny guy,” said Jory Rule.

Cars lined the streets leading up to Kiel High School, some of which represented more than police.

“It doesn’t make a difference where they’re from, what department they’re in, law, EMS, that’s why we’re here, all together,” said Keith Lefeber with Town of Calumet County Fire Department.

It’s clear, that the color or type of uniform doesn’t matter.

“A couple members of our firing squad, in Two Rivers, we figured we’d come up here and show our respect for what happened to this young trooper,” said Pete Schultz a member of the Army Reserve.

For members of the Wisconsin State Patrol, the pain and loss of one of their own runs deep.

“Law enforcement is like a family, it’s one of our family that has fallen,” Fitzgerald said.

Even during this time of mourning, the state patrol highlighted Trooper Casper’s service.

“He was an excellent officer, very proud of what he achieved in the short time he was with the patrol,” Fitzgerald said.

While Casper is gone, his memory will live on through those who knew and loved him.

“His mom and dad are just super people and I got to tell you they are very proud of their son,” Fitzgerald said.

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) – Denny Hamlin just needed a visit to Martinsville Speedway to get his racing team back on track.

Now, with his spot in NASCAR’s Chase for the championship virtually assured, they can work to make it better.

Hamlin passed teammate Matt Kenseth for the lead with 28 laps to go Sunday and ended Toyota’s 32-race winless streak in the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. It was his fifth victory on NASCAR’s oldest, smallest circuit.

“We had a very fast car, but obviously some pit road issues, but we overcame it,” Hamlin said after his 25th career victory, which was helped along by a serious blunder that took four-time champion Jeff Gordon out of contention late.

Hamlin’s pit crew, unlike Gordon, made their mistake early enough in the race to recover. Before the event was 200 laps old, Hamlin was penalized when his crew failed to control a tire on pit road. It dropped him from the lead to 22nd place.

He was back in the top 10 by the midpoint, and stalking the leaders shortly thereafter.

“The last 60, 70 laps played out how they needed to play out for us to win today,” Hamlin said.

Hamlin also held off a five-lap, bumper-to-tail challenge from Brad Keselowski at the finish. There was some bumping and nudging, and a big wiggle for Hamlin in the final fourth turn, but Keselowski never caused him to spin.

“We just weren’t going to be denied today, and hats off to Brad,” he said, thanking Keselowski for not wrecking him.

“I did everything I could other than wreck him,” Keselowski said.

The race was run without reigning rookie of the year Kyle Larson, who watched from a North Carolina hospital where he was undergoing testing after fainting at an autograph session on Saturday. Regan Smith drove in his absence, finishing 16th.

Keselowski was second, followed by Joey Logano, Kenseth and David Ragan, giving Joe Gibbs Racing three cars in the top five. The jolt was especially appreciated in a week when the team announced that President J.D. Gibbs is being treated for a “symptoms impacting areas of brain function,” an issue that has left doctors with very few answers thus far.

It was J.D. Gibbs who discovered Hamlin on a North Carolina short track, and Joe Gibbs thought of that near the end.

“For me it was emotional and thinking about J.D. and all that he means to our team, so it was a big week for us, but a great finish to a story there,” Gibbs said.

Logano, the pole-sitter, was trying to become the first driver to sweep a weekend at Martinsville, having won the truck race on Saturday. He led 109 laps, but said his car at the end was not as strong as the leaders.

Gordon, an eight-time Martinsville winner, took the lead for the first time with 58 laps to go and then got caught entering pit road too fast when the 16th and final caution came out with about 40 laps to go.

The mistake put him well back in the field, and while he rallied to finish ninth, was left disappointed.

“Wow. I’m sorry guys,” he said on the radio when told of the penalty. “That’s on me. I apologize.”

Gordon said he knew he was pushing the limit, knowing he had a chance to win the race.

“I thought with our track position there at the end, we had a shot at it,” he said. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so disappointed. I don’t even know what to say right now. Of course, then the car is the absolute best it has been all day …”

The race also ended Kevin Harvick’s streak of top-two finishes at eight. Harvick, who was three races shy of tying Richard Petty’s record of 11, set in 1975, led a race-high 154 laps, but got caught in the outside lane on a restart and faded to eighth.

“Just lost track position at the wrong time,” the defending series champion said.

Gordon and his Hendrick Motorsports teammates have dominated at the 0.526-mile oval in recent years, but Gordon’s finish and an 11th for Kasey Kahne were the best they could muster. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who won here last fall, wound up in the garage after losing his radiator in a large crash in turn one before the midpoint of the race, and Jimmie Johnson, an eight-time Martinsville winner, had issues throughout and finished 35th, 32 laps down. Earnhardt finished right behind him.

The race also marked the Cup debut of Chase Elliott, who will replace the retiring Gordon in the Hendrick stable next season, and Elliott got a quick welcome. His car was bounced around early, also wound up in the garage and finished 38th.

The day went better for Danica Patrick, who was seventh, her fifth career top-10 finish. That tied her with Janet Guthrie for most top-10s by a female driver, and was one spot off Patrick’s career-best sixth place run at Atlanta last year.

“It’s disaster to be off and struggling with the car and it’s really fun to have a good car,” Patrick said.

ASHWAUBENON – The Green Bay Packers continue to acquire property near Lambeau Field. But some people who live in the area have questions about what’s happening, specifically about why a road near the stadium was closed.

The Packers own all of the properties along a stretch of Barberry Lane. Last year, the village vacated a portion of the street, which basically transferred the property to the Packers. That’s a pretty common thing for municipalities to do.

The road is in a neighborhood that has seen some major changes in the last few years.

“Kind of sad at first as we watched all the houses being torn down,” said Mary Demelle. She, and her husband David, have lived near the stadium for 27 years. But they don’t know how long they’ll stay here.

“We’re kind of in limbo because we don’t know if the Packers are going to go this way or not,” David Demelle said.

Last year, gates were installed on part of Barberry Lane and the road was closed to traffic.

“It did cross my mind how they could do that,” David Demelle said.

The Demelles weren’t the only ones wondering. Some other residents contacted FOX 11 Investigates asking why the road was closed and whether the village sold it to the Packers.

FOX 11 Investigates contacted Ashwaubenon village president Mike Aubinger for an explanation.

“The street was vacated because every parcel on the street was bought by the Packers,” Aubinger explained. He says the Packers made a request for the street to be vacated last year.

In July 2014, the Packers made a presentation to the village board. Only two residents objected to the idea and it was unanimously approved by the board.

“The whole process has worked very well,” said Aaron Popkey, director of public affairs for the Packers. Popkey says the organization is using the property for parking.

“It made a lot of sense to be able to control that with regards to snow removal and then also with that land we didn’t want it misused,” Popkey said.

Popkey says the Packers did meet with neighbors about the plan to close the road. The Demelles say they did not attend.

While the Packers are paying top dollar for property near the stadium, the village says the only cost of vacating a street is a $200 application fee.

“If we forced them to pay for the street then we’re treating them in an unequal basis to everybody who we’ve vacated a street who also didn’t pay,” Aubinger said.

Aubinger says the village vacates about one street every year. For example, in January of 2013, the village vacated a small portion of South Ridge Road to make way for an expansion at Green Bay Packaging.

While vacating a street may be common, Aubinger says he understands why people have questions about the process, especially when it involves the Packers.

“People are very nervous about what happens. I realize that. We’re nervous about what is happening in those neighborhoods because it changes the scape of the neighborhood. And it changes those areas,” Aubinger said.

“We certainly appreciate that people are curious and are interested in what’s going on here as we improve the experience and improve on what Lambeau Field and the Packers can do for the greater community,” Popkey added.

As for the Demelles, they say the road closure doesn’t bother them.

“It’s more of a force of habit. We used to go that way so it took a little getting used to. But it hasn’t really inconvenienced us,” Mary Demelle said.

“There have been some pluses,” David Demelle said. “There’s less traffic now, except during game day. We can take our grandchildren over there and play in that big field.”

Aubinger says the village could see more streets vacated in the future. He told FOX 11 Investigates he expects more requests to vacate streets near the stadium. Exactly when and where, no one knows just yet.