Green Bay News

WASHINGTON (AP) — With an end-of-March deadline days away, Secretary of State John Kerry is heading back into negotiations with Iran, hoping to seal a framework deal to roll back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Kerry was flying to Switzerland for several days of make-or-break talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. The top diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia would join if the U.S. and Iran are close to an agreement.

The pressure is high. The seven nations have set themselves a March 31 deadline for the outline of a final accord they hope to seal by the end of June. Both President Barack Obama and Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have spoken against what would be a third extension of the talks.

And opponents, among them wary American allies in the Middle East and hardliners in Iran and in Congress, stand ready to complicate the process if negotiators cannot reach a breakthrough in the next six days. American lawmakers have threatened new sanctions on Iran as well as the establishment of a process which would allow them to vote down any final accord.

The United States and its partners are trying to get Iran to cut the number of centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium, material that can be used in warheads, and agree to other restrictions on what the Islamic Republic insists is a peaceful nuclear program.

Speaking Wednesday morning to U.S. ambassadors, Kerry assailed opponents of a deal.

“What happens if, as our critics propose, we just walk away from a plan that the rest of the world were to deem to be reasonable?” Kerry asked. “Well, the talks would collapse. Iran would have the ability to go right back spinning its centrifuges and enriching to the degree they want… And the sanctions will not hold.”

Kerry said the whole point of years of U.S. sanctions was to get Iran to agree to limits on its nuclear program. He said it was the Obama administration’s job to “provide an agreement that is as good as we said it will be; that will get the job done; that shuts off the four pathways to a nuclear weapon.”

The alternative to diplomacy could mean Iran is left to “just expand its program full-speed ahead,” Kerry said. “You know we can’t accept that. So where does that take you? Anybody standing up in opposition to this has an obligation to stand up and put a viable, realistic alternative on the table. And I have yet to see anybody do that.”

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Associated Press writer Bradley Klapper contributed from Washington.

PHOENIX (AP) – Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson has had offseason surgery on his hip.

A person with knowledge of Nelson’s surgery told The Associated Press it was hip. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because Packers coach Mike McCarthy did not specify what part of the body was operated on.

McCarthy said Wednesday the recovery period could take six to eight weeks.

The surgery appears to be a minor procedure; McCarthy said it was to address something his No. 1 receiver felt needed cleaning up.

Offseason workouts for the Packers can begin on April 20.

Nelson had a career-high 98 catches and 1,519 yards receiving to go with 13 touchdowns as the top target for Aaron Rodgers during the quarterback’s MVP campaign.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The hasty maritime departure of Yemen’s US.-backed president on Wednesday illustrated how completely one of the most important American counterterrorism efforts has disintegrated, leaving the country wide open for what could be a deeply destabilizing proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Driven weeks ago from the capital by Shiite rebels, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi abandoned the country, leaving on a boat from the southern port of Aden, Yemeni security officials said. His departure came after air strikes rained down on his troops, a sign that rebels held air superiority and that Hadi’s calls for an international no-fly zone had been disregarded. On the ground, the rebels were advancing toward his position.

Three years ago, American officials hailed Hadi’s ascension to power in a U.S.-brokered deal that ended the longtime rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh during the political upheaval of the Arab Spring. And just a few months ago, President Barack Obama was still calling Yemen a counterterrorism success story, even as the CIA warned that Iranian-backed Houthi rebels were growing restive in the north of the country.

Now, U.S. officials acknowledge their efforts against Yemen’s dangerous al-Qaida affiliate are seriously hampered, with the American embassy closed and the last U.S. troops evacuated from the country over the weekend. Although the Houthis have seized control of much of the country and are avowed enemies of al-Qaida, they can’t project power against the militants the way the Hadi government could with American support, officials say. Deeply anti-American, the Houthis have rejected U.S. overtures, officials say.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, is considered the terror group most dangerous to the U.S. because it successfully placed three bombs on U.S. bound airlines, although none exploded. The chaos in Yemen will give the group breathing space, American officials acknowledge.

Beyond terrorism, the latest developments in Yemen have worrisome implications for a Middle East already wracked by Sunni-Shia conflict, experts say. Sunni power Saudi Arabia bolstered its troop presence Wednesday along its border with Yemen. Although Pentagon officials said there was no sign of an imminent invasion, Saudi officials are deeply disturbed by the rise of the Shiite Houthis.

Meanwhile, the Houthis are widely seen as having links to Iran, and while those ties are not explicit as the Iranian relationship with Hezbollah in Lebanon or Shiite militias in Iraq, the U.S. government has said publicly that Iran has provided the Houthis with weapons and other support.

“This is all about Sunni vs. Shia, Saudi vs. Iran,” said Michael Lewis, professor at Ohio Northern University College of Law and a former Navy fighter pilot who watches Yemen closely. The U.S., he said, “can’t be a disinterested observer. Nobody’s going to buy that. What we needed to do was pick a side.”

But the U.S. had made no move to protect the Hadi government as the Houthis advanced, and American officials gave no indication Wednesday that their stance of neutrality had changed. Asked whether the U.S. military had considered trying to rescue Hadi, a senior American official who declined to be quoted answered: “The tinder box in Yemen is most complicated because of the geopolitics at stake. The U.S., Saudis, Iranians, Houthis, Yemenis, AQAP, ISIL, and AQ have equities in the situation and factor into any decision the U.S. makes or doesn’t make.”

In the past, American officials had stressed that their only military goal in Yemen was in defeating al-Qaida, and that they would not get involved in a Yemeni civil war.

“Our policy was, ‘the Houthis, that’s an internal problem, we’re not involved. We’re interested in AQ,'” said Barbara Bodine, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, referring to al-Qaida.

“The tragedy is that unlike Syria, which never looked like it was going to come out well, Yemen was doing very well on the transition and they could have pulled this thing out,” she said. “The Yemenis have responsibility for a lot of this, but we weren’t seen as really invested in the governance and economic issues that drove the Arab Spring revolution in the first place.”

As late as Monday, officials insisted the U.S. was still working with Hadi’s government, despite the fact that the president had been forced out of the capital and the parliament dissolved.

“There continues to be ongoing security cooperation between the United States and the national security infrastructure of the Hadi government,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

 

MILWAUKEE — Somewhere at the bottom of a pile of giddy Milwaukee Bucks on the floor of the Bradley Center, Khris Middleton laughed and smiled with his teammates.

A game-winning, buzzer-beater shot against a team jockeying for playoff positioning can do wonders for the confidence of a struggling young squad.

Overall, the rebuilding process is ahead of schedule in Milwaukee, where the Bucks are hoping to make the postseason a year after winning just 15 games. But after a strong first three months to this season, the Bucks have struggled over the last month with the roster altered by injuries and a trade deadline deal.

Middleton’s 3 for an 89-88 win over Miami on Tuesday night snapped a six-game losing streak and gave the Bucks a 2 1/2-game cushion over the Heat for the sixth spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race with 11 games left in the regular season.

“I don’t know about the games back … But I think we are more or less in the process of learning, right?” coach Jason Kidd said. “We’re going to be a young team that plays everyone to one possession.”

The Bucks are 35-36 going into Thursday night’s game against Indiana. Milwaukee is 5-13 since the All-Star break and a three-team trade that shipped guard Brandon Knight to Phoenix and brought in Michael Carter-Williams from Philadelphia.

Knight was a scorer who handled the ball. He took the key shots at crunch time.

Carter-Williams, last season’s Rookie of the Year, is considered a better ball-handler. His 6-foot-6 frame fits the kind of roster the Bucks are trying to build with players who can disrupt opponents with length.

Kidd has stressed that the big picture to the Bucks’ rebuilding plans. It hasn’t made the team’s recent struggles any easier to handle for some success-starved fans in town.

“We’re here at the final stretch to get this team to the playoffs, which is our goal,” veteran forward Jared Dudley said this week. “I think it will be good for the city, good for the organization and get some of the guys experience to build next year.”

Milwaukee remains in the playoff chase despite dramatic roster turnover, including the departure of shot-blocking center Larry Sanders. He was waived after reaching a buyout agreement following the end of a suspension for violating the NBA’s substance abuse policy.

Rookie Jabari Parker, the second overall pick in the draft, was lost for the season in December with a left knee injury. He is one of the Bucks’ young building blocks along with Carter-Williams and second-year forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The 20-year-old Antetokounmpo is blossoming into one of the most promising young – and athletic – players in the league. He has become more assertive of the last few weeks, averaging 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in his last nine games.

“Any time you play more minutes, the more comfortable you get with your role,” Kidd said. “I think confidence comes with that, to see him be more assertive, but more understanding of what’s in front of him, to read the play in circumstances of what’s at stake at that time.”

Without Parker and Knight, Antetokounmpo and Middleton, a third-year shooting guard, are taking more of the key shots. Carter-Williams is Kidd’s student at point guard.

Playoff basketball would provide quite the education.

“For us, it’s very important not only to myself but our team, to get into the playoffs … just to build on going into the new season,” Dudley said. “People like Giannis and Michael to experience the playoffs because it’s a totally different level.”

Injuries to veterans Dudley and guard O.J. Mayo of late have sapped the Bucks of experience and weakened the bench. Mayo (hamstring) played six scoreless minutes in easing back into the rotation on Tuesday, while Dudley (back) hopes to be return either for the Indiana game or Saturday against Golden State.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani thanked Congress on Wednesday for billions of American tax dollars and vowed his war-wracked country will be self-reliant within this decade.

“We’re not going to be the lazy Uncle Joe,” he said.

In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Ghani moved to mend U.S.-Afghan relations that were frayed under former President Hamid Karzai. Lawmakers have been critical about the lengthy U.S. troop presence in America’s longest war, wasteful spending in Afghanistan and were stung by Karzai’s anti-American rhetoric.

Ghani humbly thanked Congress for the nearly $107 billion it has appropriated for Afghanistan so far. He paid homage to the 2,200 U.S. servicemen and -women who lost their lives in the war and the thousands more who were wounded, and thanked the U.S. aid workers who built schools, wells and cured the sick.

“At the end of the day, it is the ordinary Americans whose hard-earned taxes have over the years built the partnership that has led to our conversation today,” he said to applause in the House chamber packed with hundreds of lawmakers, dignitaries and guests.

Ghani, wearing a gray western suit, peppered his speech with anecdotes about the time he’s spent in America, noting that he graduated from Columbia University in New York and was in his World Bank office in Washington when the first plane smashed into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Perhaps trying to shed his image as a technocrat, Ghani recalled that he “ate corned beef at Katz’s, New York’s greatest, greasiest, pickle-lined melting pot.”

He touched on themes he hoped would convince lawmakers that he will be a reliable U.S. partner. He admitted that decades of war have resulted in high levels of fraud and graft in Afghanistan and promised to eliminate corruption. Ghani also voiced support for women’s rights and said he would emphasize law and justice and focus on self-reliance and economic development.

“We don’t want your charity. We have no more interest in perpetuating a childish dependence than you have in being saddled with a poor family member who lacks the energy and drive to get out and find a job,” Ghani said.

That’s a tall order for Afghanistan.

The national unity government that Ghani runs with chief executive Abdullah Abdullah has not yet seated a full cabinet, and some of the country’s 32 provinces are still run by acting governors. The country recently had a $500 million budget shortfall and domestic revenues missed targets by 26 percent, forcing the U.S. to step in in recent months to help cover the fiscal gap.

More than a third of Afghans live below the poverty line and the nation’s vast mineral resources remain virtually untapped. Afghanistan also is not at peace, and Ghani’s efforts to lure the Taliban to reconciliation talks have not yet been fruitful. Just hours before he spoke, at least six people were killed and more than 30 were wounded in a suicide car bombing near the presidential palace in Kabul.

Ghani is untested as a leader, yet he received a warm reception from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. The reason: He’s not Karzai.

House Speaker John Boehner issued a statement after the speech calling Ghani a “trusted partner.” And just before Ghani stepped from the chamber, he and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is chairman of the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, embraced in a bear hug.

Obama said the U.S. would leave its 9,800 troops in Afghanistan in place rather than downsizing to 5,500 by year’s end. The size of the U.S. footprint for next year is still to be decided, Obama said, but he brushed aside any speculation the withdrawal will bleed into 2017. That means the slowdown won’t jeopardize his commitment to end America’s involvement in Afghanistan before leaving office.

Obama slowed the pace of the withdrawal because of deficiencies in the Afghan security forces, heavy casualties in the ranks of the army and police, the need for the Ghani-Abdullah government to gain traction and fears that Islamic State fighters could gain a foothold in Afghanistan.

Ghani said IS militants pose a “clear and present danger” to Afghanistan, and he challenged Muslim leaders and intellectuals who believe that Islam is a religion of tolerance and virtue to speak out against Islamic extremism. “Silence is not acceptable,'” he said.

Ghani’s speech drew much applause, but his appearance didn’t create as much buzz in the Capitol as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did when he spoke to Congress earlier this month. Some Democrats skipped the Israeli leader’s speech, in which he warned the U.S. that an emerging international agreement the U.S. was trying to reach with Tehran would pave Iran’s path to developing nuclear weapons.

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Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report.

 

MADISON (AP) – A consultant says it’s not feasible to move to a self-insurance model for Wisconsin state employees next year.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Wednesday that the consultant’s report found moving from a competitive HMO model to self-insurance could save the state $50 million to $70 million a year beginning in 2017.

The report by Atlanta-based Segal Consulting was submitted Wednesday to the state Department of Employee Trust Fund’s Group Insurance Board meeting.

The report recommends introducing deductibles for state workers, increasing out-of-pocket maximums, charging more for brand-name drugs and other changes that could save at least $42 million next year.

The $1.4 billion state worker health insurance program covers 240,000 workers and family members. Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget calls for cutting $25 million over two years.

BROWN COUNTY – The campgrounds at Bay Shore Park are set to open in a few weeks.

The Brown County Park Department says the campgrounds will open on April 11. The sites cost $20 per night for primitive sites and $30 per night for sites with water and electrical service. Primitive group campsites are also available for $75 per night.

Reservations are not accepted; camping is handled on a first-come, first-served basis through a self-registration booth at the entrance to the grounds. Visit the park’s website for campsite availability.

Bay Shore Park is located on Hwy. 57, aout 11 miles north of Green Bay.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official says the Army sergeant who abandoned his post in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for five years will be court martialed on charges of desertion and avoiding military service.

Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl will also be charged with misbehavior before the enemy, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the announcement publicly on the record and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S. military plans an announcement at Fort Bragg in North Carolina Wednesday afternoon.

Bergdahl walked away from his post in Afghanistan and was captured, then released from Taliban capture in a prisoner exchange.

Gen. Mark Milley, head of U.S. Army Forces Command at Fort Bragg, has been reviewing the massive case files and had a broad range of legal options, including various degrees of desertion charges.

A major consideration was whether military officials would be able to prove that Bergdahl had no intention of returning to his unit — a key element in the more serious desertion charges.

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Associated Press Writer Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

 

OSHKOSH – An Oshkosh-based credit union says it will merge with a Two Rivers institution.

Verve, a Credit Union, plans to merge with Two Rivers Community Credit Union sometime at the end of this year. TRCCU members voted 46-0 in favor of the merger.

“More than just offering enhanced products and services, Verve has the culture—the enthusiasm and drive—that we’re looking for,” TRCCU president Fran Hoznik said in a news release.

Verve has 47,000 members, 10 locations and $580 million in assets. TRCCU has 700 members, one location and $7 million in assets.

For Verve, the merger comes on the heels of several other mergers and a name change. Last year, the credit union, then known as CitizensFirst, merged with Neenah-based Lakeview and Calumet County-based Best Advantage. Earlier this year, plans to merge with Community Credit Union in La Crosse were announced.

LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) – A Colorado woman whose unborn baby was cut from her womb by a stranger with a kitchen knife has been released from a hospital a week after the gruesome attack.

The family of Michelle Wilkins, 26, said in a statement Wednesday that she is in a safe location with her partner, Dan, and faces a long and costly recovery. The baby girl she planned to name Aurora did not survive.

Police say Dynel Lane, 34, lured Wilkins to her home on March 18 with a Craigslist ad offering baby clothes. Lane then beat and stabbed Wilkins and removed the unborn child. Lane was arrested at a hospital after telling her husband she had suffered a miscarriage. Prosecutors plan to charge her Friday.

Wilkins, who had recently moved to Colorado and was teaching pottery classes, was about eight months pregnant.

Her family thanked the public for an outpouring of “love, kindness and spiritual solidarity” they say has helped her heal. An online fundraising effort has already generated more than $45,000.

“We cannot predict what lies ahead for Michelle,” the family’s statement said. “What we can say is that we have all been deeply moved by the many people who have reached out to Michelle and her partner to share their own personal stories of tragedies they’ve endured and how they managed to first just survive and then eventually start to heal. That alone has given us the strength to get up and face each day.”

Such attacks are rare and surviving one is even more unusual. There have been 17 cases of so-called fetal abductions since July 1987, including the Colorado case, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Only one other victim besides Wilkins survived.

The charges Lane could face depend how and when the baby died. Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett has said there’s essentially no way to bring murder charges against Lane under Colorado law unless investigators can prove the baby was alive outside the mother’s body.

The case reignited a highly charged debate playing out across the country over when a fetus can legally be considered a human being. Colorado has twice rejected proposals to make the violent death of a fetus a homicide.

State Rep. Gordon Klingenschmitt of Colorado Springs said Wednesday in a video posted on YouTube that existing Colorado law falls short of protecting unborn children and that the attack was a sign from God that the nation has lost its way.

“This is the curse of God upon America for our sin of not protecting innocent children in the womb and part of that curse for our rebellion against God as a nation is that our pregnant women are ripped open,” Klingenschmitt  said.

MADISON (AP) – A judge running for a spot on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is calling incumbent Justice Anne Walsh Bradley an activist.

Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley told members of Madison’s Rotary Club during a Wednesday luncheon forum that Bradley, seen as a member of the court’s liberal-leaning minority, has put her personal agenda and political partisanship before the rule of law. He says she would have struck down Wisconsin’s Republican-authored voter identification law and Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s signature law ending collective bargaining for most public workers.

Bradley told the club that Daley’s labels don’t bother her. She said critics call judges activists when they don’t agree with their decisions. She says she’s more bothered by the influx of partisanship and special interest groups’ influence in judicial races.

MADISON (AP) – Unemployment is up in most major Wisconsin cities and counties between January and February.

The state Department of Workforce Development reported Wednesday that preliminary unemployment rates increased in 20 of the 32 largest cities and in 52 of 72 counties. The department says it is not unusual to see an increase in the local unemployment rates in the winter months because the numbers are not adjusted for seasonal variances.

Last year between January and February nearly all cities and counties saw a spike in unemployment rates as well.

Wisconsin’s statewide unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in February, lower than the national average of 5.5 percent and the lowest it’s been in Wisconsin since July 2008.

Racine had the highest unemployment rate for a city in February at 7.9 percent.

• Click here to read the full report

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers have announced that on June 19th the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Beloit Snappers will play a Midwest League game at Miller Park. Ticket prices are set at $10 for field diamond box seats at $5 for all other seat locations.

Tickets went on sale today and can be purchased by visiting the Miller Park Box Office, online at brewers.com/timberrattlers, or by calling the Brewers Ticket Office at (414) 902-4000.

The game will be a home game for Beloit, with the Timber Rattlers being the away team. This will be the fourth time the two teams will have met at the home of the Brewers. It is the eighth time the Timber Rattlers will play a game at Miller Park and the fourth for Beloit.

Games in year’s past have featured future Brewers players such as Prince Fielder, Tony Gwynn, Manny Parra, and Rickie Weeks. Other current Brewers who have played in Minor League games at Miller Park include Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, Jim Henderson and Wily Peralta.

GREEN BAY – A little bit of the Motor City is coming to Green Bay for a Near Water concert at the Meyer Theatre.

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas will take the stage at the Meyer, Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m.

The band will be showcasing their new album, Secret Evil. Their sound is a mix of rockabilly, surf pop, funky reggae and Gypsy punk with a dash of Detroit R&B.

The up and coming band says they’re ready to call the road their home.

Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 the day of the show. They go on sale Friday, March 27 at 11:00 a.m. online at www.meyertheatre.org or by phone 800-895-0071 or at the Ticket Star box office in the Resch Center.

KIEL – The family of Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper has released the following statement:

“We wish to thank family, friends, co-workers and all of the law enforcement officers across the United States who grieve with our family during this time of horrific loss. Our son Trevor was an amazing young man who from a young age would do anything to help anyone. It did not surprise us when he selected a career in law enforcement. Even as a young child he was always helping others. Trevor had a soft and good heart. He truly believed his sole purpose in life was to serve and protect others. When we asked Trevor if he was ready for his career as a Wisconsin State Trooper, Trevor proudly told us that he was ‘born ready to do this job.’ Trevor was so very proud of his career as a Wisconsin State Trooper. As a family we are so deeply honored that our son served as a law enforcement officer with the Wisconsin State Patrol and we share in their grief and loss. We are so deeply saddened by this loss and wish to thank everyone who has assisted us during this time. We ask that you please allow us time as a family to grieve and respect our privacy.”

-Kevin and Debbie Casper, Kiel

MADISON (AP) – U.S. Rep. Ron Kind says he hopes to establish regional pain management boards through the Department of Veterans Affairs to help prevent problems like those that occurred at a Tomah medical center.

Kind introduced the bipartisan bill Wednesday saying he hopes the accountability boards would deter overmedicating. The Tomah hospital is under investigation for allegations of overprescribing practices and retaliatory behavior.

A VA report earlier this month found that patients at the facility were more likely than those at other VA hospitals to receive high doses of narcotics. The report also found that patients at the facility were more likely to receive opioids and benzodiazepines, a prescription discouraged because it can cause complications. A 35-year-old Marine died of an overdose in the hospital’s inpatient care unit last year.

FOND DU LAC/WAUSAUKEE – The state Department of Justice identified Steven Timothy Snyder as the suspect from Tuesday’s shootings and robberies in Wausaukee and Fond du Lac.

A DOJ spokesperson said Wednesday afternoon that Snyder’s family in Michigan has been notified.

“We continue to investigate how several crimes that occurred Tuesday in both Marinette County and in the city of Fond du Lac, fit together,” said spokesperson Anne Schwartz. “Autopsies on Trooper Casper and Snyder are expected to be completed today and likely will assist in determining what occurred during the confrontation.

Investigators say Snyder shot and killed Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper Trevor Casper in Fond du Lac Tuesday evening. Snyder was also killed.

Investigators in Marinette County were back on scene Wednesday after Tuesday’s bank robbery and homicide in the Wausaukee area.

Investigators at State of Florence Bank March 24, 2015. (WLUK/Andrew LaCombe)

The series of events started at 1:43 p.m. Tuesday after the Marinette County Sheriff’s Office was called to the State Bank of Florence just off U.S. Highway 141 in the Village of Wausaukee. Officials were told a male suspect entered the bank, fired one round from a hand gun and stole cash from the bank.

The sheriff’s office said the suspect, now identified as Snyder, stole a bank employee’s vehicle and left the bank. Law enforcement began looking for that vehicle and suspect.

Officials blocking Jermac Road during an investigation of a bank robbery in Wausaukee, March 24, 2015. (WLUK/Andrew LaCombe)

Authorities received another call at 2:35 p.m. about a male victim along Jermac Rd. just south of State Highway 180 in the Town of Wausaukee – about a mile away from the bank. Officers found a pick-up truck that was still running and a man in his 60s who was dead.

Investigators found the stolen vehicle from the bank, and determined the bank robbery suspect left this area in another vehicle. They believe the suspect shot and killed the man on Jermac Rd.

The Marinette County Sheriff says the suspect and his second stolen vehicle were spotted in Fond du Lac by a Wisconsin State Patrol Trooper, and the suspect exchanged gunfire with that trooper Tuesday evening.

Wausaukee is about 140 miles north of Fond du Lac.

Trevor Casper (Photo courtesy Wisconsin State Patrol)

Authorities have not released the identity of the male victim found on Jermac Rd.

The Department of Justice is leading this investigation. Schwartz said more information could be released mid-afternoon Wednesday.

The Marinette County Sheriff’s Office also worked with the FBI, Wisconsin Department of Justice, Wisconsin DNR, Wisconsin State Patrol, Marinette Police, the Brown County/Green Bay SWAT Team and the Wausaukee Fire Department.

FOX 11’s Andrew LaCombe is in Marinette County working to get more information. He’ll have the latest tonight on FOX 11 News at Five.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin lawmakers are considering what type of regulation is needed for unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones.

Rep. Adam Neylon, of Pewaukee, said at a public hearing Wednesday that Wisconsin could embrace drones for commercial use. But first, he says, lawmakers need to consider regulating use of the devices.

The Federal Aviation Administration last year began granting permits on a case-by-case basis to companies that want to use drones. Under streamlined rules the FAA will grant blanket flying permission to applicants with drones that meet and fly under certain criteria, which means Wisconsin companies could use drones.

Experts Wednesday say with proper safety regulation, drones could benefit many state industries.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A Milwaukee police officer who was fired for improper procedure in the lead-up to a fatal shooting will go to court to get his job back.

Officer Christopher Manney’s attorney told The Associated Press in an email that Manney would “certainly” appeal his dismissal in circuit court.

Manney was fired last fall after he fatally shot Dontre Hamilton in a downtown park. Manney had gone to check on Hamilton’s welfare, but the check turned into a violent confrontation in which Hamilton grabbed Manney’s baton and hit him with it.

Chief Edward Flynn fired Manney because he said the officer improperly started a patdown of Hamilton when it wasn’t called for. Hamilton’s family has said he was schizophrenic.

A panel of police commissioners upheld Flynn’s decision this week.

MADISON (AP) – A federal appeals court says that since Wisconsin does not plan to enforce a photo identification requirement for the April 7 election, it does not need to consider extending a judicial block to the law.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday declared that a request from the American Civil Liberties Union for the law to be stayed was moot. The ACLU asked for the stay so the photo ID requirement would not be in place for the election less than two weeks away.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel agreed that it is too close to the election to enforce the law.

The appeals court says given that the state does not plan to enforce the requirement until after the election, there is “no controversy requiring judicial resolution.”