Green Bay News

NEW YORK (AP) — Kraft Foods is recalling about 6.5 million boxes of original flavor Kraft Macaroni & Cheese because some of the boxes contain small pieces of metal.

The boxes have “best when used by” dates ranging from Sept. 18, 2015 through Oct. 11, 2015 and are marked with the code “C2.” They were sold throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico, and in some countries in the Caribbean and South America.

The recall covers 7.25 ounce boxes that were sold individually and in packs of three, four and five. It covers 242,000 cases of the product.

Kraft Foods Group Inc. said Tuesday it is aware of eight incidents of consumers finding metal in the boxes, but hasn’t been informed of any injuries. It says consumers shouldn’t eat the macaroni and should return it to the store where it was purchased for a full refund.

PULASKI – Fire crews responded to a brush fire in Pulaski Tuesday afternoon.

A farmer reported the fire around 2:59 p.m in the area of Highway 29 and Hofa Park Drive.

Officials say while the farmer was cutting and burning brush, the wind picked up and the fire got out of control and burned about 10 acres of corn stubble off.

Pulaski Tri-County fire was on scene for almost 2 hours.

GREEN BAY – Concerns surrounding head trauma in sports are resurfacing with San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland’s retirement.

Athletes committed to their sports look to squeeze every bit of performance out of their bodies, leaving it on the playing field. And football is no exception.

“It’s what’s on every Sunday, it’s what we talk about – it’s where athletes make money,” said Scotty Smith. “But it’s there in other sports as well.”

Smith owns and runs the athletic training facility, House of Speed, in Ashwaubenon. He says with Borland’s retirement at age 24, discussions about the former Badger and head injuries will be even louder among the hundreds of athletes that pass through his facility each year.

“I think it will definitely hit home harder, here, in the state of Wisconsin because you know, (Borland was) a Badger.”

Concussion symptoms can include dizziness, sensitivity to noise or light, and difficulty thinking clearly.

While Smith feels Borland’s retirement will have an impact, it won’t keep kids – or adults – from hitting the field. The only difference between now and 20 years ago is parents – and players – are now armed with better information about sports’ inherent risks and rewards.

Amidst all the Borland talk, Packers Director of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf tweeted Wednesday:

Anyone worried about the future of football should see the amount of calls & emails we get from kids literally begging to get into pro days

— Eliot Wolf (@eliotwolf46) March 17, 2015

Borland addressed the safety issue in his interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines.

“I think guys are more informed than a generation ago, obviously the science is relatively new on the subject, so I don’t think, through no fault of their own, guys playing in the 70s, 80s, 90s, early 2000s, could have had any idea,” he said.

The NFL has made an effort to address safety both concussion safety in the league and in youth football programs in recent years.

“I think with programs like (the Heads Up Football campaign, NFL advertisements), bringing a lot more notoriety to (concussion safety) – I guess, if you will. But I think it probably takes a little bit more of a forefront to it as well because of the fact that it is football and it’s the collision sport.”

Regarding Borland’s retirement, the NFL’s vice president of health and safety policy, Jeff Miller, said in a statement the league continues to make significant investments in research to advance the science and understanding of concussions:

“By any measure, football has never been safer and we continue to make progress with rule changes, safer tackling techniques at all levels of football, and better equipment, protocols and medical care for players.”

The league says it is seeing a growing culture of safety and concussion rates have been dropping. There were 111 concussions in the 2014 regular season; down from 148 in 2013. The league says over the past three years, concussions have dropped 36 percent.

Licensed athletic trainer with Bellin Health Sports Medicine, Mark Husen says awareness has changed when it comes to concussions.

“It can be a lot of different ways that you get a concussion so it’s really that evaluation to figure out how severe that concussion is,” Husen said. “And try to figure out what they can do and what they cannot do.”

As for youth sports, state law requires an athlete to be removed from activity if the person has symptoms consistent with a concussion.
The athlete has to be cleared by a doctor before they can return. Similar rules have also been applied to professional sports in recent years, including the NFL.

GREEN BAY – Construction is entering the final phase for the $7.5 million Green Bay project.

The complex, called Veterans Manor, is off of I-43, near University Avenue.

The halls are empty and the tape measure is still out but Veterans Manor has taken shape over the last seven months.

“When the building’s built, [the second floor] will be the quietest section and you’ll have a really nice direct connection to nature. You have beautiful views from all the windows in all the apartments,” said Joe Thomae, an asset manager with Cardinal Capital Management, Inc.

The building will offer 50 one bedroom apartments.

“We’re built into sort of a hillside here so the first floor that you walk into is the second floor of the building. The underground floor has a parking garage with about 30 spaces and four apartments on the rear of the building. As you get to the third and fourth floor, those are all just apartments,” Thomae said.

The complex will be more than a place for veterans to stay. A support group called Center for Veterans Issues will have an office inside.

“Their office being here, it could be anything from a system with navigating the VA and claims there. It could be something as simple as, ‘I just need someone to sit down and have a cup of coffee with and talk through what’s going on in my life,” Thomae said.

With a gym, a technology room, and a community room, one of the goals of the complex is to make sure veterans always feel welcome.

“It’s very important to establish things in a building that you give people a reason to come out of their apartment,” Thomae said.

To qualify, a single resident can make no more than $23,900 a year.

“The property has what’s called project based vouchers wherein the resident will pay 30 percent of their adjusted gross income toward the rent and the balance is subsidized through the federal government,” said Victoria Parmentier, president of R.E. Management Inc.

Funding for this project comes from grants, loans, and a low-income Housing Tax Credit.

If you want more information on how to apply for an apartment click here.

TOWN OF LEDGEVIEW – It may be the perfect bicycle to get around in Wisconsin’s weather.

With over-sized tires, fat bikes are gaining in popularity in our area.

And a race this weekend in the Town of Ledgeview will put riders to the test.

Ross Bomber and George Kapitz put the trail through its paces Tuesday morning at Ledgeview Park.

They’re riding fat tire bikes. The tires are about four inches wide, and not fully-inflated.

“The idea was to widen the tires to float on top of the snow,” said George Kapitz, Broken Spoke Bike Studio Owner.

Kapitz got into the sport four years ago, and hasn’t looked back since.

“The sensation of just like feeling like a kid again. There is no destination. You just get lost. You go on this adventure ride where typically a normal bike wouldn’t be able to lead you to,” he said.

“You can really just go wherever you want, and really get out into the wilderness on the bikes. And it also answered the question of what am I going to do in the winter now,” said Ross Bomber, Broken Spoke Bike Studio.

100 riders are expected to compete Saturday, in the very first Fatty Patty fat tire race at Ledgeview Park.

“There’s a very nice path that’s paved at the park here. It’s not a single track like a lot of mountain bike rides, where you only have one rider. They’re wide enough, and and they’re really dry,” said Gloria West, Fatty Patty Race Organizer.

Fat biking is more than just bouncing down the trail. Experts say the special tires complete one high-tech ride.

“This is a style where you can insert studs into it. So if you’re doing ice riding, you’re able to do that,” said Kapitz.

And there are disc brakes.

“You have plenty of stopping power, even if you have icy conditions, wet conditions,” said Kapitz.

Kapitz says fat bikes can cost anywhere from $200 to $7,000. He says sales at the Broken Spoke have doubled each of the last four years.

But fat bikers say the ride is worth it, in any season.

“No matter what the weather may bring here in Wisconsin, these bikes can handle it,” said Bomber.

“It really is bringing folks into the cycling world and just having fun with them,” said Kapitz.

Fat bike riders say they generally use mountain bike trails in the winter.

Some State parks and other recreation areas also offer places specifically for fat bikes.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Department of Justice is urging a judge to let the state’s right-to-work law stand.

The Wisconsin state AFL-CIO and two local labor unions filed a lawsuit in Dane County last week challenging the law. They argue the law is an unconstitutional taking of their property because under its provisions they must extend benefits to workers who don’t pay union dues. Judge William Foust has scheduled a hearing Thursday on the unions’ request for a temporary injunction.

DOJ attorneys filed a brief Tuesday imploring Faust to deny the request.

They contend the law doesn’t amount to any unconstitutional taking of union property, saying the law doesn’t remove a single penny from the unions’ accounts. They argue, too, that similar challenges to right-to-work legislation in other states have failed.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin drivers will be able to go faster in their cars, and snag free samples of hard liquor on their way home, under a pair of bills passed with bipartisan support in the Legislature on Tuesday.

Both measures are limited in their scope. The speed limit could increase to 70 mph only on some interstates and highways and shoppers would be limited to just one half-ounce sample of liquor per visit.

The Senate passed the liquor sampling bill on a voice vote with no debate, sending it to Gov. Scott Walker for his consideration. It passed the Assembly last month on a voice vote.

Walker’s spokeswoman did not immediately return a message seeking comment on whether the governor intends to sign it.

The Assembly passed the speed limit bill 76-22. Fifteen Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill, and two Republicans joined 20 Democrats in voting against it. It now goes to the Senate, where it’s expected to pass next month.

The bill could give the Wisconsin Department of Transportation the authority to increase the speed limit on state expressways and freeways, including interstate highways.

Rep. Dana Wachs, an Eau Claire Democrat, warned that the bill would worsen dangerous conditions on roads where drivers are often distracted.

“I know it will cause death and injuries,” Wachs said.

Spiros said the Department of Transportation should issue a lower speed limit for commercial vehicles such as semitrailers.

The liquor bill would allow for the free samples to be handed out at grocery stores, liquor stores and other retail outlets. Beer and wine samples are already allowed, and supporters say adding hard liquor to the mix will help Wisconsin-based distillers generate business.

No one registered in opposition to the bill, while the state’s restaurant and grocery associations, and groups representing distillers and bars, registered in support.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The state Assembly has passed a Republican bill that would require the University of Wisconsin System to complete a report tracking the origin high schools of students taking remedial courses.

The measure would require the system to determine the high schools with more than six students who must take remedial English and math courses at a UW school. The system would have to submit a report to lawmakers and the state Department of Public Instruction, which would forward the document on to school boards.

The bill’s author, Rep. John Jagler, says he hopes the report will spark questions about why students at those high schools aren’t ready for college.

The measure passed on a voice vote Tuesday. It goes next to the state Senate.

Wisconsinites might be polarized when it comes to politics, but a new poll suggests they can at least agree on sports figures and food products (or sports figures who are food products – more on that later).

According to Public Policy Polling, 79 percent of those in Wisconsin have a favorable opinion of Green Bay Packers starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, with only 6 percent reporting a negative opinion. There was only one thing in the poll more popular than number 12: cheese, with 80 percent approving and 5 percent disapproving. Beer is also popular in the Badger State, with 65 percent giving it a thumbs-up and 24 percent having an unfavorable opinion.

It’s little surprise that University of Wisconsin men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan also scores high with the Badgers earning their 17th straight NCAA Tournament bid. His favorability rating is 76 percent to 1 percent unfavorability. That’s even better than his boss, UW Athletic Director and former football coach Barry Alvarez, who comes in at 71 to 7. The great unknown appears to be new football coach Paul Chryst. Despite his history as a former Badgers player and assistant coach, 68 percent of people polled said they had no opinion of him. Chryst’s two predecessors are better known, however, but viewed less favorably. Only 15 percent of fans view Gary Andersen favorably, compared to 28 percent unfavorably, while Bret Bielema got 17 percent favorable and 38 percent unfavorable ratings. Both coaches left Wisconsin for other jobs despite recording winning records with the Badgers.

While UW is the most popular college athletics program in the state, with 52 percent calling themselves Badgers fans, UW-Green Bay is the second-most popular, with 14 percent. Marquette registers at 8 percent of state residents and 5 percent call themselves UW-Milwaukee fans.

The Milwaukee Brewers, though, draw support from 64 percent of Wisconsinites, far outpacing the next-most-popular team, the Chicago Cubs, who have support from 8 percent in Wisconsin. Hope springs eternal, apparently, as 66 percent of Brewers fans predict the team will make the postseason, 24 percent say they’ll make the World Series and one in ten think they will win the first world championship in franchise history.

And to tie together sports and food, it seems nearly everyone has a favorite Brewers racing sausages mascot. More than half – 52 percent – say they’re fans of the bratwurst, 15 percent back the Italian sausage, 14 percent the hot dog, 7 percent the Polish sausage and 5 percent the chorizo. In all, pollsters say 93 percent of people had an opinion.

The poll of 1,071 registered Wisconsin voters was done March 6-8.

• Click here for the full results

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) – Northland College has hired a journalist and a research scientist to codirect a new center devoted to freshwater issues.

The college in the northern Wisconsin city of Ashland last month won a $10 million endowment to create the Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation. It’ll be based at her family’s 1902 country retreat near Cable, named Forest Lodge.

Northland College has now hired two people to lead the center.  Peter Annin is a journalist who has been managing director of Notre Dame’s Environmental Change Initiative since 2010.  Randy Lehr has been director of the Ecological Solutions Initiative at Northland College since 2010.

Mary Griggs Burke was a philanthropist who died in 2012. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Monday announced it received the bulk of her Japanese art collection.

Click here for an application and for more information about permanent housing for veterans in Brown County.

[SBG NATIONAL DESK] – House Republicans unveiled a new spending plan this week to balance the budget in ten years. It includes trimming $1 trillion dollars from entitlement programs, such as food stamps, and converting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP to a fund states would oversee by 2021.

More than 46 million Americans receive food assistance and it has been that way for 40 straight months. That number is comparable to nearly the entire population of Spain.

Mike Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C. – sees nothing on Capitol Hill to suggest real reform is coming anytime soon.

“These programs are becoming less safety nets and more a way of life,” said Tanner.

Economists see many signs pointing to a good economy – most notably strong job growth. But the number of people dependent on food stamps has not declined much since setting a record in 2011.

“This is primarily because we changed the rules during the recession to make it easier to qualify for many of the programs and we haven’t reverted back to the old rules,” said Tanner.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington found the cost of the SNAP program declined in 2014, but the cost to taxpayers still tops $76 billion dollars a year.

“Coming from an area where the rate of taxation is 28 percent in our city, so, it’s hard to feel optimistic about a lot of things when you are being taxed so much,” said businessman Fred Constantini.

America’s second-largest welfare program behind Medicaid is Food Stamps. Despite the talk and the new plans on Capitol Hill to cut entitlement programs, Mike Tanner sees nothing to suggest reform is coming anytime soon.

A flight from Washington to Denver had to return to Dulles International Airport after a pilot reported that a passenger became violent, ran toward the cockpit and had to be restrained.

United Flight 1074 returned after takeoff Monday evening. Local police met the aircraft at the gate and detained the passenger, according to the airline.

The passenger was taken to a hospital for evaluation and has not been charged, airport spokeswoman Kimberly Gibbs said.

Recordings of communications between pilots and air traffic controllers on the website LiveATC.net indicate that pilots turned around after a passenger ran toward the cockpit and had to be restrained by other passengers.

The pilot, in a calm voice, said he was “declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. He’s restrained. We need to return to the airport,” according to the recording.

The pilot later explained that “we had a passenger becoming violent” and that he “ran toward the cockpit.”

The pilot reported that the incident was a “Level 2″ disturbance, the second lowest level of severity on a four-level scale. A Level 2 disturbance indicates physically abusive behavior but no life-threatening behavior.

Donna Tellam, a computer processing executive who was returning from London, said she was seated in the second row of first class when a man came running from the back of the plane about 15 minutes into the flight. He was yelling profanities and said the plane was going down and it was flying too slowly, she reported.

Tellam said two men behind her jumped up and grabbed the man, and put him on the ground in the aisle next to her seat, where he remained until the plane circled back.

“They laid on him and he just kept shouting incoherent things like ‘I can make you and your family rich’, ‘I live next to Apple,’ ‘I live next to Boeing’, ‘Let me go and let me live and I’ll make our families rich,” she said after landing via another flight in Denver on Tuesday morning.

She said the two men who grabbed the suspect acted so quickly and thoroughly — removing his shoes and checking for weapons — that she thought at first they were air marshals.

“It went from a state of the most fear I’d ever had in my life to calm. They had it under control so I was grateful to them for sure,” she said.

___

Associated Press writer P. Solomon Banda contributed from Denver.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The new head of the Secret Service admitted to Congress Tuesday that he didn’t learn until days later that two senior agents were supposedly drunk when they drove into a barrier at the White House — and only then from an anonymous email.

Joseph Clancy has only been the permanent director since mid-February and was making his first official appearance on Capitol Hill when he became the third consecutive Secret Service director to try to explain to lawmakers an embarrassing alcohol-related incident involving his agency.

Responding to angry members of a House Appropriations subcommittee, Clancy said he was frustrated that it took five days for him to learn about the March 4 incident, when two agents were accused of being drunk when they drove a government vehicle into barrier at the White House complex.

“I think part of this … goes to a culture of trust,” Clancy said. “Do you have the trust in your leadership that you can bring this to leadership’s attention? And I’ve got to work to earn that trust, and I’m going to do that through my actions.”

He said changing the agency’s culture will take time.

Lawmakers objected to his response, saying it should have already been clear to agency employees that such behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.

“You can’t run an agency like this, for God’s sake,” said Rep. Hal Rogers, head of the House Appropriations Committee.

Rep. Nita Lowey, a New York Democrat, echoed Rogers’ criticism.

“Before you even know the facts, you can say, based on the allegations, if, in fact, you are not aware that this kind of activity is inappropriate for a member of the Secret Service, you better get it now and go find another job,” Lowey said.

Clancy agreed with much of the criticism, but said he had to wait for a Homeland Security Department Inspector General’s investigation to be completed before he could take action beyond reassigning the two agents to non-supervisory desk jobs outside the White House.

“I don’t have the authority to dismiss them on the spot,” Clancy said, adding that he wanted to ensure due process for the agents. “I cannot terminate people this afternoon.”

The incident was initially described in press reports as two agents crashing a government vehicle into a security barrier. Clancy testified that video of the incident that he has seen shows the agents’ vehicle “nudge” a large construction barrier as they drove through a secure area. He said while he has not spoken to the agents involved or those who were working that night, he has “seen nothing to indicate this incident as described occurred.”

Still, he told lawmakers, “I should have been informed.”

And that delay, he said, suggests there is still a lot of work to be done to change the agency’s culture, including the use of alcohol.

“I will say that there is an element within our agency — there’s an element within our agency that does cope with the stresses (of the job) by using alcohol. There’s no question we have that element,” Clancy said, adding that many others use exercise or other options to reduce work stress.

Culture problems within the Secret Service have been highlighted in recent years as agents and officers have been caught up in a series of embarrassing drunken incidents. The most scandalous incident involved more than a dozen agents and officers caught up in a prostitution scandal in Colombia in advance of a 2012 presidential visit.

At the time, then-Director Mark Sullivan insisted that there was not a larger culture problem within the vaunted law enforcement agency charged with protecting the president. His successor, Julia Pierson, made similar assurances after two drunken incidents came to light involving employees on presidential trips.

Pierson was ousted last year after details of two serious security breaches were disclosed. The most serious was in September when a man armed with a knife was able to climb over a White House fence and run deep into the executive mansion before being subdued.

Since Pierson’s departure several other senior agency officials have also been pushed out or retired amid a series of reports critical of both the agency’s training and procedures but also its culture.

An outside panel of four former senior government officials concluded that the agency was insular and “starving for leadership.” They recommended hiring a director from outside the Secret Service, but President Barack Obama tapped Clancy, who was the head of his protective detail before retiring several years ago.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday that Clancy has the president’s support.

“The president absolutely believes that Director Clancy is the right person for this job,” Earnest said.

BALTIMORE (AP) – Baltimore police say three people have been stabbed at Morgan State University in Baltimore. One was seriously hurt.

Detective Ruganzu Howard, a police spokesman, says officers were called to the university Tuesday afternoon for reports of a stabbing. When the officers arrived, Howard says they discovered one person suffering from a stab wound to the chest.

Howard says that person is alive, but the wound is serious.

Howard says two others also were stabbed, though their conditions were not immediately known.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Legislature has passed a bill targeting cyberstalking.

The measure approved by the Senate on a voice vote Tuesday would allow judges to issue restraining orders against people in other states.

It passed the Assembly in February and now heads to Gov. Scott Walker.

Under the bill, a Wisconsin judge would have the authority to issue a restraining order if an act or threat that occurred outside Wisconsin is part of an ongoing pattern of harassment. The person targeted would have to be in Wisconsin.

Under current law, the target of the harassment would have to travel to the state where the harasser lives to get protection.

Bill sponsor Sen. Van Wanggaard says harassment can occur through smartphones and social media, making the more expansive judicial powers necessary.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal filed by a former aide to Gov. Scott Walker when he was Milwaukee county executive.

Kelly Rindfleisch had appealed her conviction for misconduct in office, but the Supreme Court on Monday declined to take it. That ends the legal fight for Rindfleisch.

She was seeking a review of a 2-1 state appeals court ruling last year upholding her conviction.

Rindfleisch was one of six people convicted as a result of a now-concluded John Doe investigation focusing on activities in Walker’s county executive office. Walker was never charged.

Rindfleisch pleaded guilty to one felony count of misconduct in office for doing campaign work while at her government job.

Justice David Prosser did not participate in issuing the order.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin lawmakers have hit the gas pedal on a bill that would increase the maximum speed limit on some state highways and freeways.

The state Assembly approved the bill on a 76-22 vote Tuesday. The bill allows the Department of Transportation to increase speed limits to 70 mph in approved areas, up from the current 65 mph limit.

Opponents said increasing speed limits is too dangerous. Rep. Dana Wachs, an Eau Claire Democrat, said he would not support the bill because it could increase deaths on Wisconsin roadways. Rep. John Spiros, a Manitowoc Republican, warned commercial vehicles such as semi-trailers should have a lower speed limit. But their concerns fell on deaf ears.

The measure goes next to the state Senate.

NEW YORK (AP) – Facebook users in the U.S. will soon be able to send their friends money using the social network’s Messenger app.

The new tool announced Tuesday joins a crowded field of services aimed at an increasingly wireless and cashless generation that let people beam money to their friends and family using smartphones linked to bank accounts or credit cards.

To send money, Messenger users can tap a new “$” icon that’s next to the buttons that let you send photos, stickers or a thumbs up sign. Then, enter the amount you want to send, tap “pay” on the top right corner and enter your debit card number. To receive money for the first time, enter the card number.

Sending or receiving money is free and only works with debit cards.