Green Bay News

The boat is permanently docked at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) – American astronaut Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Kornienko have blasted off on a mission to spend an entire year away from the Earth.

The trip is NASA’s first stab at a one-year spaceflight, anticipating Mars expeditions that would last two to three years. Their Soyuz space capsule set off from Russia’s manned space launch facility on the steppes of Kazakhstan early Saturday and will dock with the International Space Station several hours later.

Gennady Padalka of Russia also is aboard; he is scheduled for the standard six-month tour of duty aboard the space station.

MILWAUKEE — Success for the Brewers this season may hinge on Milwaukee’s consistency in the batter’s box.

September swoons can prove costly – as can prolonged slumps any other time of year, for that matter.

A lineup filled with accomplished hitters like Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Carlos Gomez has the potential to score runs. To break into the playoffs from the competitive NL Central, the Brewers must eliminate team-wide slumps.

“Last year we kind of grinded it to a point where instead of just playing day to day and for that game and to win, we looked like we were forcing things,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “We were trying to hold on to what we had, and that’s not the way we go about it.”

The Brewers spent 150 days in first place before a stunning, late-season collapse left them out of the playoffs for a third straight year.

We’ve got a good club, and when we’re playing the type of baseball I think we can play every night … if we just worry about that game today, at the end of the season, good things will happen,” the skipper added from the team’s spring training complex in Phoenix.

The lineup is bashing again this spring.

After a slow start, Braun has been hitting much better following an unusual offseason medical procedure. Extreme cold was applied to his right hand in hopes of fixing a lingering nerve problem near the thumb.

Lucroy also looks like he is over a hamstring injury that limited him for the first few weeks of spring training. The upbeat, energetic Gomez had three homers three weeks into spring ball.

“Every day you learn something new … you learn from that,” Gomez said about the 2014 season. “The first step we have to do is make the playoffs. We take it game by game.”

The regular season begins on April 6 against Colorado at Miller Park. Some things to watch with the Brewers:

Milwaukee Brewers’ Kyle Lohse throws during the first inning of a spring training baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels Thursday, March 5, 2015, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

PITCHING: The Brewers don’t have a true ace, but they do have solid veterans atop the rotation in Kyle Lohse and Matt Garza. Wily Peralta won 17 games last year in his second full season in the majors, and Mike Fiers impressed down the stretch. But Milwaukee traded Yovani Gallardo and Marco Estrada, so there is no experienced starting depth. Young right-hander Jimmy Nelson must prove he can be a consistent fifth starter. A long-term injury to any of the starting five could leave the Brewers scrambling.

In the bullpen, veteran Francisco Rodriguez figures to return to the closer’s role after re-signing with the club more than two weeks into spring training. He bounced back with 44 saves in 49 chances last season.

AGGRESSIVENESS: Roenicke likes his team to take chances on the base paths, and he’s sticking with that philosophy. That puts the Brewers in attack mode, and when working at its best, the strategy forces the defense to rush and possibly make mistakes. But rally-killing outs on the bases can make fans at Miller Park groan. Perhaps of more concern is the approach at the plate, where the Brewers led the majors by swinging at 33 percent of first pitches, according to STATS. Darnell Coles is the new hitting coach. The team wants to stay aggressive while having more plate discipline.

KEYSTONE COMBO: While Braun, Lucroy and Gomez draw much of the attention in the lineup, the Brewers’ keystone combination of second baseman Scooter Gennett and shortstop Jean Segura will be just as vital to the team’s success. Gennett, a left-hander, will play every day and must prove he can hit lefties consistently. The speedy Segura is a top defender, though he is looking to bounce back from a slump that dropped his average nearly 50 points to .246.

RAMMY OUT: It is probably one more and done for third baseman Aramis Ramirez, who turns 36 in June. He has said he likely will retire after this season to spend more time with his family. Ramirez’s production has waned over the last two seasons, though he remains one of the best in the league in fielding bunts and slow rollers to third.

APPLETON – Drivers can expect some delays crossing the Fox River as a construction project is about to start on a bridge in Appleton.

Beginning Monday, the city says crews will close one lane of the Oneida Skyline bridge in each direction. In addition, drivers will not be able to get to Oneida St. from Prospect Ave. or turn onto Prospect from Oneida.

The $2.3 million project includes putting a new concrete surface, bike lanes, wiring and navigation lights on the bridge, painting some girders on the bridge, and new traffic lights and pavement at the Prospect/Oneida intersection.

According to the state Department of Transportation, which is working on the project with the city, the schedule calls for traffic to be shifted to the southbound lanes of the bridge until the middle of June, then shifted to the northbound lanes until the end of August, then shifted to the outside lanes in each direction until September while median work is done.

City leaders say the last major rehabilitation project on the bridge was a painting project in 1998.

About 14,000 vehicles use the nearly 35-year-old bridge every day.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Milwaukee man has pleaded guilty to threatening Gov. Scott Walker’s adult son on Twitter.

Online court records show Robert Peffer pleaded guilty Friday to four misdemeanor counts of using a computer to send threatening or obscene messages.

Judge Dennis Flynn sentenced him to 90 days in jail and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine on the first count. He stayed 90-day jail stints on the other three counts in lieu of probation. The judge also banned Peffer from using social media for anything besides looking for work.

Prosecutors have said the tweets to Matthew Walker, a Marquette University student, in June 2014. Over a span of six days Peffer sent 36 tweets threatening violence to Matthew Walker or making lewd sexual references about him and his family.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Department of Justice has turned over its final reports on the events that led up to a white Madison Police officer killing an unarmed biracial man to prosecutors.

Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson in an apartment house near the state Capitol on March 6. Kenny was responding to calls that Robinson had attacked two people and was running in traffic. Police said Robinson assaulted Kenny before he was shot but have released no other details.

The incident has sparked multiple protests, with demonstrators demanding Kenny be charged with homicide.

The DOJ has been investigating the incident. A spokeswoman said the agency turned over all its findings to Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne on Friday.

Ozanne has said he doesn’t have a timetable on a charging decision.

More than two dozen elk have been released in a western Wisconsin state forest.

On Thursday, the Department of Natural Resources moved 26 of the animals from Kentucky to the Black River State Forest in Jackson County. The elk spent 45 days in quarantine in Kentucky, and will spend at least 75 days in a acclimation pen in Wisconsin before they are set free.

State officials want to establish a second herd of elk in Wisconsin. The only herd in the state currently roams the woods in Ashland County. The DNR wants to bring a total of 150 elk from Kentucky to Wisconsin in the next two years.

Click the play button above to see video, provided by the DNR, of the elk being released in Jackson County.

(CNN) Smart technology has invaded the humble mattress cover and soon, you will be able to turn on your lights, set the alarm and even brew coffee from your bed.

The Luna mattress cover will act as a hub for all your technology, according to its creators.

Lighting, locks, thermostat, speakers — anything that works with your smart phone will work with the Luna mattress cover.

It also features temperature regulation and the two sides of the bed can be controlled independently, so each partner can use their own preferred heat setting.

The company launched an Indiegogo campaign in January. It ended Thursday after raising more than one million dollars from 5,300 backers. That’s ten times the company’s original goal of $100,000.

DETROIT (AP) – Autopsies have determined that two children found dead in a freezer in their Detroit home were beaten to death, with the youngest child also suffering “thermal injuries.”

The Wayne County medical examiner’s office released the autopsy results Friday on Stoni Blair and her brother, Stephen Berry. It says both deaths were homicides.

The children’s mother, Mitchelle Blair, was arrested Tuesday after court officers found the bodies while conducting an eviction at her home. She is charged with child abuse but prosecutors said they may charge her with murder.

Blair’s two other children were placed with a relative. Child welfare officials say they were horribly abused.

Investigators believe Stoni was 13 when she died and Stephen was 9. They think Stephen died in August 2012 and Stoni died the next May.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina Panthers have signed free agent wide receiver Jarrett Boykin from the Green Bay Packers to a one-year contract.

Financial terms of the deal were not released Friday. Boykin has appeared in 39 games with 11 starts in three seasons for the Packers, recording 57 catches for 731 yards and three touchdowns.

His best season came in 2013 when he had 49 receptions for 681 yards and three TDs.

The 6-2, 215-pound Boykin joins Ted Ginn Jr. as the second free agent wide receiver the team has signed this offseason.

The Packers decided not to tender Boykin, a restricted free agent, a right-of-first-refusal contract worth $1.542 million in March, allowing him to become a free agent.

Boykin played his prep football at Butler High in Charlotte.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate has approved a long-delayed bill to boost energy efficiency that includes incentives to cut energy use in commercial buildings, manufacturing plants and homes.

The bill was approved early Friday by voice vote. The bill now goes to the House.

The Senate bill was co-sponsored by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. A similar bill was defeated last year after it became enmeshed in a partisan fight over the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The measure exempts some energy-efficient water heaters from pending Energy Department rules and requires federal agencies to develop best practices to increase energy efficiency in federal buildings, among other provisions.

Shaheen and Portman say the bill would create jobs, save consumers money and reduce pollution.

Take an in-depth look at plans proposed by President Obama, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.

NEW YORK (AP) – Among those who lost their homes in the powerful blast and fire in Manhattan’s East Village was former “Sopranos” actress Drea de Matteo.

The actress took to Instagram Thursday to share two dramatic photos of firefighters battling smoke and flames. “A hole where my NYC home of the last 22 years once stood,” she wrote in one caption. “RIP 123 2nd Avenue.” The photos appeared to be taken from a rooftop across the street.

The explosion at 123 Second Avenue caused the collapse of three five-story buildings and damage to a fourth, which was seven stories tall. The Red Cross says the buildings had about 50 apartments.

The 43-year-old de Matteo, who has two children, played a mob girlfriend-turned-FBI informant on “The Sopranos.” She also appeared on “Joey,” ”Desperate Housewives” and “Sons of Anarchy.”

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — It’s a baby boom for the owner of a pet lioness in central Pakistan. The African lioness named Queen has given birth to five healthy cubs — double the usual two-to-three-cub litters among lions.

Owner Malik Fazal Abbas said he has had 4-year-old Queen since she was 2 months old. She mated with a male lion that Abbas also keeps at his home in the city of Multan. The pair has already had a litter of two cubs, now nine months old.

Abbas, a cotton and mango grower, says he has a license from the Pakistani Wildlife Department to keep lions as pets — a dream he has since he was a boy.

And he is not the only exotic pet owner in Pakistan. The tiger is a symbol of the ruling party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and some supporters keep tigers that they bring out during election campaigns.

“You know, it’s brave to hug lions,” he told The Associated Press at his home, which has a separate section for his animals.

But keeping wildlife as pets is not a “hobby easy to afford,” he added — his lion and lioness each eat 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of meat a day. The nine-months-old cubs each consume around 9 kilograms (20 pounds) of meat daily.

Abbas said his family was initially uneasy but later grew more comfortable, even feedings the cubs from milk bottles.

He has a caretaker for the animals, and claims he follows all precautions and safety measures to ensure his lions harm no one. His neighbors often come to visit the lions with their families.

A Pakistani wildlife department official, Ghulam Muhammad, said it was legal to keep the animals as pets — as long as they do not endanger anyone.

“We make sure in our visits that the owners have all the protections in place,” Muhammad said.

 

BALTIMORE (AP) – An early trial of America’s first 1-cent coin now costs quite a pretty penny – an auction host says one has sold for more than $1 million.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries says one of the first 1-cent pieces made in the country went to a rare-coin dealer Thursday night for $1.175 million in Baltimore.

The coin is known as the 1792 Birch cent. It was made as a trial, just months after the 1-cent denomination was first authorized in the young country.

The auction host says the coin that sold is the second-finest of its kind still in existence, and it last sold at auction in 1959.

Other rare coins also sold at the auction, including an 1861 Confederate half dollar for more than $600,000.

DETROIT (AP) – BMW is recalling nearly 49,000 motorcycles in the U.S. and Canada because flanges that hold the rear wheel can crack if bolts are too tight.

The recall covers multiple models including certain 2005-2010 R1200GS and R1200RT motorcycles, as well as the 2006-2010 R1200GS Adventure and the 2007-2010 R1200R, 2007 R1200S and K1200R Sport. Also included are the 2005-2007 R1200ST, the 2008-2009 HP2 Megamoto, the 2006 HP2 Enduro, the 2008-2010 HP2 Sport, and the 2005-2008 K1200S, 2006-2008 K1200R and K1200GT. The recall also covers the 2009-2011 K1300S, 2010-2011 K1300R, and the 2009-2010 K1300GT.

BMW says if bolts that hold the rear wheels to a flange are over-tightened, the flange can crack. If that happens, the bolts can loosen and the wheel may not stay secured to the bike.

The problem was discovered after a 2004 motorcycle crashed in Spain last August. BMW says the rider and passenger were bruised and scraped.

The recall is expected to begin April 21. Dealers will replace the aluminum flange with a steel one at no cost to owners.

A BMW spokesman says owners should check their rear wheel flanges for cracks near the bolts. If there are none, the motorcycles are safe to ride until recall repairs can be done, he says.

SALADO, Texas (AP) — An interstate in Central Texas has fully reopened after a deadly accident involving a tractor-trailer that slammed into a bridge beam in a construction zone.

The Texas Department of Transportation says all lanes of Interstate 35 at Salado, about 40 miles north of Austin, were open Friday.

TxDOT spokesman David Glessner says engineers are inspecting damage to the highway bridge, which had been under construction.

The driver of pickup truck was killed and three other people were hurt when the oversized 18-wheeler hit and brought down a construction beam.

Glessner says three signs were posted leading up to the bridge indicating clearance of 13 feet, 6 inches. Investigators believe the truck or its cargo was too tall to pass under the bridge.

 

DENVER (AP) – Authorities say there’s no evidence a baby cut from her mother by a stranger was alive outside the womb.

Boulder County Coroner Emma Hall said Friday investigators found no trauma or injuries to the baby girl, whose mother was about eight months pregnant.

The coroner’s findings support the district attorney’s decision not to file murder charges against the woman accused in the gruesome attack, 34-year-old Dynel Lane. Under Colorado law, a person can be charged with murdering a baby only if there’s evidence the baby survived apart from its mother.

The case revived the highly charged debate over when a fetus can legally be considered a human being.

MADISON (AP) – The state Department of Natural Resources says a company that was looking to open a huge iron mine in northern Wisconsin has officially withdrawn its plans.

Gogebic Taconite was considering digging a 4½-mile long mine in the Penokee Hills just south of Lake Superior but announced last month it was closing its office in Hurley and future investment in the project wasn’t feasible.

DNR officials announced Friday the company has withdrawn its pre-application notice. They said the land around the site will now reopen to the public.

About 3,500 acres around the site is open to the public through the state’s managed forest program. Republican Gov. Scott Walker, however, signed a bill in 2013 that prohibited public access to 600-foot restricted zones around mining equipment and roads around the site.

NEW YORK (AP) – Firefighters on Friday used high-powered water towers to extinguish pockets of fire at the site of an apparent gas explosion in Manhattan’s trendy East Village as authorities reported that two people were missing and six others might be, too.

Nineteen people were injured, four critically, after the powerful blast and fire sent flames soaring and debris flying Thursday afternoon. Authorities said they were searching for Nicholas Figueroa, who had been on date at a restaurant in one of three buildings that were leveled, and Moises Lucon, a worker there.

Police said they also were trying to determine whether six other people reported missing – but not thought to have been in the destroyed buildings – were connected to the explosion.

Preliminary evidence suggested that a gas explosion amid plumbing and gas work inside the building was to blame. An hour before the blast, utility company inspectors decided the work being done there was faulty.

On Thursday night, Tyler Figueroa said his 23-year-old brother, Nicholas, had disappeared after going on a date at a sushi restaurant, whose building facade was still intact Friday.

Figueroa said that the couple was paying for the meal when the blast occurred and that his brother’s date, who is in the hospital, remembers only stumbling outside before losing consciousness.

“I just pray my brother shows up,” he said.

The explosion caused the collapse of three five-story buildings and damage to a fourth, which was seven stories tall, the Fire Department of New York said.

On Friday, firefighters poured gallons of water over the wreckage, a giant wave of crumbled brick, twisted metal, splintered wood and bits of residents’ belongings. Rubble was still strewn across parked cars, and a menu from the sushi restaurant and other debris were scattered across the surrounding streets.

Mayor Bill de Blasio and other officials stepped across glass and pools of water from fire hoses as they surveyed the damage and thanked firefighters.

Meanwhile, some residents saw the destruction up close for the first time.

“I’m totally devastated. For my neighbors, for our neighborhood. We all look out for one another,” Naomi Machado said, crying she glanced at the rubble on her way to work.

Initial evidence pointed to a gas explosion. A plumber was doing work connected to a gas service upgrade in one of the now-destroyed buildings, and inspectors for Con Edison had been there earlier Thursday, company President Craig Ivey said. But the work failed the inspection, partly because a space for the new meters wasn’t big enough, Con Ed said.

A woman listed in city records as the building’s managing agent didn’t immediately respond to messages Friday. An engineering firm involved in getting permits for work at the building declined to comment.

A contractor who was injured in the blast – and who’s facing unrelated charges of bribing an undercover investigator posing as a housing inspector – declined through his lawyer to comment on the circumstances surrounding the explosion. City records show the contractor, Dilber Kukic, got a permit last June for plumbing, flooring, removing partition walls and other work at the building.

Police Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Kukic had tried to help people escape the explosion and had been helpful to authorities.

Kukic was treated and released from a hospital, said his lawyer, Mark Bederow.

“His thoughts are with the people who are injured and the victims of this,” Bederow said Friday.

Kukic is a relatively minor player in a 50-person bribery case that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and other authorities unveiled last month. Kukic is accused of paying $600 in cash to try to get housing violations dismissed at two upper Manhattan properties he owned. He has pleaded not guilty.

The blast happened a little over a year after a gas explosion in a building in East Harlem killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported shortly before that blast.

De Blasio noted that no one had reported a gas leak before Thursday’s explosion. Con Edison said it had surveyed the gas mains on the block Wednesday and found no leaks.

But bystander Blake Farber said he’d been walking by the building and smelled gas seconds before the big blast.

Diners ran out of their shoes and bystanders helped one another escape, witnesses said. Passers-by were hit by debris and flying glass, and bloodied victims were aided as they sat on sidewalks and lay on the ground.

The explosion was so forceful it blew the door off a cafe across an avenue and left piles of rubble on the sidewalk. One witness said his son helped to lift debris off a man so he could escape the restaurant where they had been eating.

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Associated Press writers Colleen Long, Verena Dobnik, Tom Hays, Jonathan Lemire, Mike Balsamo, Kiley Armstrong and Stephanie Siek contributed to this report.