Green Bay News

TOWN OF LYNDON – One driver is hurt after their vehicle crashed into a dump truck in the Town of Lyndon Monday.

Deputies and first responders were called to the crash at the intersection of County Trunk Highway U and Blueberry Road at 12:04 p.m.

Officials say the crash between the car and dump truck in the intersection caused the car to overturn and trapped the driver of the car.

The driver was pulled out by first responders and taken to Froerdert Memorial Hospital in Wauwatosa for treatment.

 

LA CROSSE (AP) – A bald eagle nest being monitored by camera in Trempealeau County is seeing another year of drama.

The nest being watched by a Blair-Taylor Elementary School class has gone without eaglets the last two years. This year, two male eagles have fought over a pregnant female, with eggs in the nest being left uncovered in freezing temperatures.

A new male and female eagle came to the nest this year and mated, but another male was spotted at the nest shortly before the female laid two eggs.

The first male went missing. The new one didn’t incubate the eggs or bring food to the female, who left the eggs alone in late February to search for food. The first male eventually returned.

Third-grade teacher Darrin Briggs tells the La Crosse Tribune that it would be a “miracle nest” if an egg hatches.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Vanuatu’s president was rushing back to his country on Monday in the wake of what he dubbed a “monster” cyclone whose damage was still unknown beyond the devastation in the South Pacific archipelago’s capital city.

Looking weary and red-eyed, Baldwin Lonsdale told The Associated Press that the latest information he had was that six people were confirmed dead and 30 injured from Cyclone Pam, which he said destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the buildings in the capital alone. Lonsdale was interviewed in Sendai, in northeastern Japan, where he had been attending a U.N. disaster conference when the cyclone struck.

“This is a very devastating cyclone in Vanuatu. I term it as a monster, a monster,” he said. “It’s a setback for the government and for the people of Vanuatu. After all the development that has taken place, all this development has been wiped out.”

Lonsdale said because of a breakdown in communications infrastructure, even he could not reach his family. “We do not know if our families are safe or not. As the leader of the nation, my whole heart is for the people, the nation,” he said.

Damage to houses in Port Vila, Vanuatu is seen from the air in the aftermath of Cyclone Pam Monday, March 16, 2015. Vanuatu’s President Baldwin Lonsdale said Monday that the cyclone that hammered the tiny South Pacific archipelago over the weekend was a “monster” that has destroyed or damaged 90 percent of the buildings in the capital and has forced the nation to start anew. (AP Photo/Dave Hunt, Pool)

Officials in Vanuatu had still not made contact with outlying islands by Monday night and were struggling to determine the scale of devastation from the cyclone, which tore through the nation early Saturday, packing winds of 270 kilometers (168 miles) per hour. Bridges were down outside the capital, Port Vila, making travel by vehicle impossible even around the main island of Efate.

Paolo Malatu, coordinator for Vanuatu’s National Disaster Management Office, said officials had dispatched every plane and helicopter they could to fly over the hard-hit outer islands. The office was expecting to get full reports from the flyover crews early Tuesday.

“The damage to homes and infrastructure is severe,” Malatu said. “The priority at the moment is to get people water, food and shelter.”

The damaged airport in Port Vila has reopened, allowing some aid and relief flights to reach the country. Lonsdale said a wide range of items were needed, from tarpaulins and water containers to medical supplies and construction tools. Those on the ground pleaded for help to arrive quickly.

The city’s hospital was overwhelmed with patients, and some beds were moved outside due to fears the building is no longer safe.

“The wards have all been evacuated because of structural damage,” surgeon Richard Leona told Australia’s Channel 7. “We are badly needing this help. We need to get an urgent drug supply and food and also set up a mobile hospital to deal with the influx of patients coming in.”

In Port Vila, smashed boats littered the harbor, and sodden piles of household belongings tangled among twisted tree branches lay where some homes once stood.

Many of the city’s residents spent Monday clearing away downed trees and cleaning up what was left of their houses. Those left homeless were generally staying with loved ones whose houses had withstood the storm, or sleeping in temporary shelters provided by aid agencies, said UNICEF spokeswoman Alice Clements.

Access to food and water is an urgent concern, said Clements, who is in Port Vila. Much of the city’s water supply has been tainted, so residents are boiling water to drink.

Clements said she spoke to a woman who is nine months pregnant and lost her home in the storm. The woman’s situation, along with many others, is growing desperate, Clements said.

“She has no water, no food, no power,” she said. “This is an incredibly dangerous time.”

Some commercial flights have resumed, although services are limited. Georgina Roberts, New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Vanuatu, said two defense force planes were sent to retrieve about 100 stranded New Zealand tourists.

In Sydney, shaken Australian tourists returning from Vanuatu greeted loved ones with hugs and terrifying tales of the storm’s wrath.

“I’ve never seen or heard anything like that noise,” Ralph Scott said after arriving at Sydney’s airport. “It was frightening, it was supersonic, it was terrible.”

Scott said the aftermath of the storm was “utter devastation.”

“Houses, roads washed away,” he said. “People walking around like zombies.”

New Zealand radio journalist Frances Cook and her husband traveled to Vanuatu for their honeymoon two days before the cyclone struck. She said they knew a storm was coming but figured from the forecasts it wouldn’t be too bad.

“It’s been exciting,” she joked.

Instead of zip-lining through the jungle and looking at active volcanoes as planned, Cook has been reporting back home on the devastation. She said a lot of stranded tourists were desperate to leave and some were afraid for their security.

“It’s a glorious place and the people are so lovely,” she said. “It’s quite upsetting to see this happen.”

Vanuatu has a population of 267,000 people spread over 65 islands. About 47,000 people live in the capital.

Hannington Alatoa, head of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society, said flyovers by New Zealand and Australian relief teams showed much of the country had been “flattened.” At least half of the population has been affected, Alatoa said in Sendai.

“No trees, no foliage, no iron structures standing on the western part of Tanna (island),” Alatoa said. “People are in great need of water.”

The World Health Organization said it was sending health and emergency response workers and supplies, and coordinating with UNICEF and regional governments.

Vanuatu, a small archipelago about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii, has repeatedly warned it is already suffering devastating effects from climate change with coastal areas being washed away, forcing resettlement to higher ground and smaller yields on traditional crops.

Scientists say it’s impossible to attribute single weather events like Cyclone Pam to climate change.

“Climate change is contributing to the disasters in Vanuatu,” President Lonsdale said. “We see the level of sea rise. Change in weather patterns. This year we have heavy rain more than every year.”

The cyclone also caused damage to other Pacific islands, including Kiribati and the Solomon Islands. Some homes were evacuated in New Zealand on Monday to escape flooding as the weakening storm moved past North Island.

___

Kurtenbach reported from Sendai, Japan. Associated Press writer Kristen Gelineau in Sydney contributed to this report.

 

MADISON (AP) – A special legislative committee plans to meet this week to formally reject a contract that would give Wisconsin state troopers an average pay increase of 17 percent.

The Joint Committee on Employment Relations is expected to approve separate contracts Thursday for the Wisconsin State Attorneys Association and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee.

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos’s spokeswoman Kit Beyer says the trooper contract will be rejected. She says the contract must be formally rejected so negotiations can begin again.

Vos and other Republicans have said they oppose the trooper contract because the pay raise is too high.

Most state workers got pay increases of 1 percent in both 2013 and 2014. No pay increases are proposed in Walker’s budget for the two-year period that begins in July.

BOSTON (AP) — Boston set an all-time snowfall record and is flirting with another mark: most snark in a single winter.

The latest storm in an epic winter edged the total just over the 9-foot mark. Sunday’s storm dropped 2.9 inches at Logan International Airport, pushing the seasonal accumulation to 108.6 inches and surpassing the previous record of 107.6 set in 1995-96.

Forecasters said Monday that the city could get more snow later in the week — a bleak outlook for Bostonians who have had more than enough.

“Is this the part where we all get to say, ‘I’m going to Disney World?'” said Justin O’Brien, a Boston attorney, capturing the sense of cynicism and sheer snow fatigue.

Graphic shows record snowfalls for Boston.

The season snowfall record is measured from July 1 through June 30. Records go back to 1872.

“I wished I would have blocked the numbers from friends back in Southern California texting me screenshots of the 80-plus degree weather there,” said Matt Guerrieri, a wine distributor who moved to Boston a few weeks before the first snow fell.

Some were actually rooting for the record.

Richard Gilberg, an employee of Boston Harbor Cruises, said he’s happy about it.

“I figure with all the suffering we’ve gone through this winter we can deal with a couple more inches of snow,” he said as he cleared the company’s icy dock Monday morning.

Computer models indicate a coastal storm could develop Friday, but they differ on its track. The storm could bring little to no precipitation to southern New England, or it could bring “a decent slug” of rain and snow to the region, the weather service said.

“I wasn’t excited to break the record. I was hoping that we’d have no more snow,” said Boston resident Teri Davidson. “It’s been just miserable. All the delays getting into work — all the days off work. It’s been awful.”

The snow that has already fallen didn’t bury Bostonians’ collective sense of humor.

Mayor Marty Walsh tweeted that the Boston yeti — a local who’s been dressing up as the abominable snowman and walking around the city drawing laughs — would be taking over as interim mayor.

Bruce Mendelsohn, a Cambridge public relations executive, quipped, “Boston has a rich tradition of leading the nation in the pursuit of liberty, freedom, sports titles and snowplows.”

Michael Burkin, a real estate attorney, said the record is “not really a cause for celebration.” He said what’s remarkable about this winter is that most of the snow has been packed into a short period between late January and mid-March. “I don’t know if that’s ever happened before, and it’s really hurt everybody.”

Paula MacPhee, struggling to walk her dog through Monday’s fresh drifts, said she’s just relieved that winter’s nearly over.

“I’m glad the spring is coming, that’s for sure. I think we’ll enjoy it a little bit more this year,” she said.

 

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — A senior U.S. official says Iranian negotiators confronted their American counterparts about a letter from Senate Republicans warning that any nuclear agreement could expire the day President Barack Obama leaves office.

The official says the letter came up in nuclear talks Sunday between senior U.S. and Iranian diplomats. It was raised again in discussions Monday led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

The official wouldn’t characterize Iran’s position. But both Iranian and U.S. officials have criticized the letter written by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and signed by 46 fellow GOP senators.

Kerry has said several times that the letter undermines U.S. diplomatic efforts and falsely claims Congress can change an executive agreement.

The official wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and briefed reporters only on condition of anonymity.

 

LAGUNA BEACH, California (AP) — The starving sea lion pup was so tiny that it looked like a rock at the base of the seaside cliff until it struggled to raise its head as humans approached.

It bleated weakly as volunteer Brennan Slavik eased it into a crate for transport to a rescue center, where it peered from a child’s playpen with woeful eyes made enormous by an emaciated frame.

At almost a year, the pup weighed just 23 pounds (10 kilograms) — a third of what it should — and staff quietly took it to a private room, euthanized it and moved on.

It’s a scenario playing out daily in California this year as rescue centers struggle to keep up with hundreds of sick and starving sea lion pups washing up along the coast. More than 1,100 pups have been rescued since January from beaches, but also from inside public restrooms, behind buildings and along railroad tracks.

It’s not unusual to have some sea lions wash up each spring as the pups leave their mothers, but so far, the number of stranded babies is five times greater than in 2013, the worst season in recent memory.

“These animals are coming in really desperate. They’re at the end of life. They’re in a crisis … and not all animals are going to make it,” said Keith A. Matassa, executive director at the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which is currently rehabilitating 115 sea lion pups.

The situation is so bad that Sea World suspended its sea lion show so it can focus on rescue efforts. The theme park has treated 400 pups — more than twice the number it would care for in a typical year — and constructed two temporary pools to house them.

Scientists aren’t sure what’s causing the crisis, but suspect that warmer waters from this winter’s mild El Nino weather pattern are impacting the sea lion birthing grounds along the Channel Islands off the Southern California coast.

The warm water is likely pushing prime sea lion foods — market squid, sardines and anchovies — further north, forcing the mothers to abandon their pups for up to eight days at a time in search of sustenance.

The pups, scientists believe, are weaning themselves early out of desperation and setting out on their own despite being underweight and ill-prepared to hunt.

Sea lions wouldn’t normally start showing up in large numbers until April or May but this year, rescue centers began to get calls in December, said Matassa.

For rescue centers like the one in Laguna Beach, that translates into round-the-clock, back-breaking work for dozens of volunteers who’ve arrived from all over the U.S. to help.

The center in one of Southern California’s premiere beach communities has rescued more than 213 pups since the beginning of the year and has treated ones that weighed as little as 14 pounds (6 kilograms)at eight months old.

On a recent day, in the course of two hours, five suffering animals came into the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.

Harried volunteers moved urgently along a narrow hallway between pens as they unloaded each one, wrapped it in a towel and performed a battery of tests. Most of the animals were so weak they barely resisted.

Those that make the cut are tube-fed a gruel of pureed herring, Pedialyte, vitamins and milk three or four times a day after starting out with a simple broth of hydrating fluids and dextrose.

Those that graduate to whole fish are playfully called “feeders” and those that can once more compete for fish tossed into a pool are called “fighters.”

The goal is to get the pups strong enough to swim free again — but the volunteers who nurse them back to health may never know if they make it in the wild.

The DNR has suspended burning permits in 22 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties as windy, dry weather continues in the state.

Most of the affected counties are in the northwestern and southern parts of the state.

• Click here for the updated map

“We have soil, leaf litter and brush that is drying rapidly from winter’s low snowfall and shallow frost,” DNR Forest Protection Director Trent Marty said in a news release. “Add those dry conditions with strong gusty winds, low humidity and today’s anticipated warmer temperatures, and that’s fire weather.”

This is the time of year when people begin cleaning up their yards and property, including burning piles of leaves and brush. The DNR recommends waiting until conditions improve before doing any burning.

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Ohio River was very slowly receding Monday after reaching its highest level in two decades, and forecasters expect it to stay above flood stage for most of the week.

Melted snow and rainfalls have caused flooding that swamped roads, businesses and homes in scattered low-lying areas in the Cincinnati region that includes southeast Indiana and northern Kentucky. At least half a dozen homes were evacuated, and dozens of businesses remained closed because they had flooding or access roads were closed by high water.

The National Weather Service said the river was at 57 feet Monday morning, after cresting Sunday morning at 57.7 feet — 7 feet below the 1997 level that caused severe, widespread flooding in the Cincinnati area. Forecasters said the river will be above the 52-foot flood stage until late Thursday.

“It’s a large river. It carries more water,” meteorologist Brian Coniglio said. “It’s going to take a long time.”

Officials in the village of New Richmond some 20 miles southeast of Cincinnati said at least five homes flooded, and many roads in the area had water over them, making travel difficult. Numerous basements in the Cincinnati area had water in them, too.

A Hamilton County emergency management official said Monday that reports were still being compiled, but overall flooding problems appeared to be “very minimal” across the county that includes Cincinnati.

Bary Lusby, operations manager for the county Emergency Management Agency, said a family was evacuated from a flooded rental home in the California neighborhood and at least one other house was flooded in that eastern Cincinnati community.

“The biggest impact is to the businesses,” Lusby said. “Roads are closed, and that’s affected a number of businesses.”

The Montgomery Inn Boathouse in downtown Cincinnati was among the riverfront businesses still closed Monday. The restaurant closed Saturday night because of the rising river.

“It gets in our basement,” said Lisa Mikula, event manager at the restaurant, adding that they are hoping to reopen Tuesday

At least residents could clean up Monday in temperatures hitting the 70s in clear skies. The weather service said light rainfall is possible Thursday, but dry conditions are expected before and after that.

“The weather conditions are going to be favorable for it to continue to drop,” Coniglio said.

 

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana National Guard on Monday identified the pilots and crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in the Santa Rosa Sound along Florida’s Panhandle in a nighttime training exercise in dense fog last week with seven elite Marines aboard.

All eleven on the Black Hawk were killed when the helicopter crashed into about 25 feet of water in the channel of the sound.

Three members of the flight crew were from Louisiana and one was from Virginia.

Piloting the helicopter were Chief Warrant Officer George Wayne Griffin Jr. of Delhi, 37, and Chief Warrant Officer George David Strother of Alexandria, 44. Both were decorated veteran pilots.

Also killed were Staff Sgt. Lance Bergeron, 40, of Thibodaux and Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich, Fairfax, Virginia.

Military burials with full honors were being planned for the dead, said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.

Across Louisiana flags are flying at half-staff until sunset March 20 to honor the guard members and seven Marines who died in the crash March 10.

The soldiers from Hammond each did two tours in Iraq and participated in humanitarian missions after Gulf Coast hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill off Louisiana.

Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of Marine Corps special operations forces, has said they were practicing rappelling down ropes into the water and heading for land, but had decided to abort the mission as too risky.

The crash is being investigated by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, based in Fort Rucker, Alabama.

The Marines who died were stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

Officials earlier identified them as: Capt. Stanford Henry Shaw III of Basking Ridge, New Jersey; Master Sgt. Thomas Saunders of Williamsburg, Virginia; Staff Sgt. Liam Flynn of Queens, New York; Staff Sgt. Trevor P. Blaylock of Lake Orion, Michigan; Staff Sgt. Kerry Michael Kemp of Port Washington, Wisconsin; Staff Sgt. Andrew Seif of Holland, Michigan; and Staff Sgt. Marcus Bawol from Warren, Michigan.

All were from the 2nd Special Operations Battalion of the Marine Corps Special Operations Command.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says he’s looking forward to riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle across the early presidential voting state of New Hampshire.

The La Crosse Tribune reported Monday that Walker made the comment after speaking at a tourism conference, noting that New Hampshire is just 65 miles wide.

Walker spent the weekend in New Hampshire for his first visit since 2012. Walker is taking steps toward a likely presidential run, but has not yet officially declared his intentions. He qualified his comments about the New Hampshire Harley ride, saying he wants to do it “If we get in.”

Walker plans to make his first trip to South Carolina on Thursday, for a four-city swing. He’s scheduled to return to New Hampshire in April.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. will pay $84 million to settle a class action lawsuit over changes it made to annuities.

29,000 former owners of the annuities and 4,000 current holders will be eligible to share in the settlement. Northwestern Mutual spokeswoman Betsy Hoylman says the company decided it was in everyone’s best interest to avoid the continued cost of litigation and the “uncertainty of the legal process.”

The Journal Sentinel says the lawsuit stems from changes the company made to annuities it sold before 1985. The plaintiffs said Northwestern Mutual improperly changed the way it paid the annuity owners without notifying them or getting permission – and that they lost dividend income over the next 20 years.

MADISON (AP) – Madison Police Chief Mike Koval is defending a white officer who killed an unarmed biracial man, urging people not to leap to conclusions about the incident.

Officer Matt Kenny shot Tony Robinson in an apartment house on March 6. Police say Kenny was responding to 911 calls that Robinson had attacked two people and was running in traffic. The state Justice Department expects to complete an investigation within the next two weeks.

Koval wrote in his blog Monday that he’s outraged over people judging Kenny without any facts. He says he’s known Kenny for more than 12 years, notes Kenny has a college degree and had what he called a robust career as a U.S. Coast Guard medic.

He wrote that Kenny has received 45 commendations as a Madison officer.

A Fond du Lac mother convicted of beating and starving two of her children was sentenced to 18 months in jail.

Jeana Riehl was convicted of two counts of child abuse.

She was also placed on probation for three years at Friday’s sentencing, according to online court records.

Court documents say Jeana Riehl would beat her two adopted children with items like rolling pins, hunting arrows and a horse whip. Those beatings allegedly drew blood and left bruises.

The children were adopted from Africa and are 11- and 12-year-old boys.

According to the criminal complaint, Riehl starved the children and locked them in rooms for days on end.

The documents say her husband, and the boys’ adoptive father, Troy Riehl saw the abuse, but never reported it. He was previously convicted and placed on probation, although the conviction could be erased from his record.

NEW LONDON, er, NEW DUBLIN – Some leprechauns were spotted in Northeast Wisconsin Monday morning.

They changed all of New London’s welcome signs to say “New Dublin.”

It’s an annual tradition ahead of the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, which is scheduled for Saturday. There’s also lots of Irish-themed entertainment scheduled throughout the week.

• Click here to see the full New Dublin schedule

MARINETTE – The suspect in a 2008 murder made his initial appearance in Marinette County court Monday morning, via video.

Erik Smith allegedly killed Eric Volp. Prosecutors allege the two left a Michigan bar, argued and, when Volp got out of Smith’s car, Smith ran him over. Smith then put Volp’s body in the trunk, prosecutors say, and drove to a stream in Marinette County, where he left the body.

Bond was set at $250,000 cash, according to online court records, although Smith is currently serving a federal prison sentence on unrelated charges.

A preliminary hearing is set for Wednesday afternoon.

He was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison after being convicted of possessing child pornography in 2010.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana National Guard on Monday identified the pilots and crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in the Santa Rosa Sound along Florida’s Panhandle in a nighttime training exercise in dense fog last week with seven elite Marines aboard.

All eleven on the Black Hawk were killed when the helicopter crashed into about 25 feet of water in the channel of the sound.

Three members of the flight crew were from Louisiana and one was from Virginia.

Piloting the helicopter were Chief Warrant Officer George Wayne Griffin Jr. of Delhi, 37, and Chief Warrant Officer George David Strother of Alexandria, 44. Both were decorated veteran pilots.

Also killed were Staff Sgt. Lance Bergeron, 40, of Thibodaux and Staff Sgt. Thomas Florich, Fairfax, Virginia.

Military burials with full honors were being planned for the dead, said Maj. Gen. Glenn H. Curtis, the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.

Across Louisiana flags are flying at half-staff until sunset March 20 to honor the guard members and seven Marines who died in the crash March 10.

The soldiers from Hammond each did two tours in Iraq and participated in humanitarian missions after Gulf Coast hurricanes and the 2010 BP oil spill off Louisiana.

Maj. Gen. Joseph L. Osterman, commander of Marine Corps special operations forces, has said they were practicing rappelling down ropes into the water and heading for land, but had decided to abort the mission as too risky.

The crash is being investigated by the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, based in Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Photos from a weekend excursion to Long Slide Falls in Marinette County.

Learn more about the spring meeting for your local county deer advisory council.

See what’s going on for St. Patrick’s Day in New London, which changes its name to New Dublin for the week.