Green Bay News

WAUPACA – A count of first-degree intentional homicide was filed today against Alison Roe, for allegedly killing Craig Dake last Friday in Fremont.

Bond was set at $1 million cash.

Fremont Police Chief Gene Goode described the murder as a “stabbing – domestic related” in a news release.

Roe appeared in court this afternoon. She is due back in court March 17.

FOX 11’s Gabrielle Mays was in court today and will have a full report tonight on FOX 11 News at Five.

MADISON (AP) – Madison Mayor Paul Soglin says he’s cautious about giving police body cameras and isn’t saying what sort of impact on the investigation into a white officer killing a biracial man they might have had.

Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson on Friday during a confrontation in an apartment. Kenny wasn’t wearing a body camera. Soglin refused to speculate Tuesday on what a body camera would mean to the investigation during a news conference.

He said the city plans to complete a study on the cost and implications of body cameras by this fall. He said he’s cautious about using them because immigrants and battered women may decide not to call police out of fear of being recorded.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says President Barack Obama should be looking to states like Wisconsin as examples for how to grow the economy, rather than criticize his signing of a right-to-work bill into law.

Obama issued a statement Monday night after Walker signed the bill, saying right-to-work “will weaken, rather than strengthen workers.”

Obama says Walker, a likely 2016 Republican presidential candidate, should do more to help working-class Americans “by taking meaningful action to raise their wages and offer them … paid leave.”

Walker says in his statement that the law prohibiting private-sector workers from having to join a union or pay dues gives them the power to choose and provides the state with “one more tool to encourage job creators to continue investing and expanding.”

MADISON (AP) – Madison’s mayor says he’s pleased demonstrations over a white police officer killing an unarmed multiracial man have remained peaceful.

Mayor Paul Soglin said during a news conference Tuesday that he’s heard Madison being compared to other cities where similar slayings have taken place – a veiled reference to Ferguson, Missouri, where riots ensued after a white officer killed an unarmed black man last year.

He says Madison’s city government is trying to help black people, pointing out the city is part of Cities United, an effort by municipalities to eliminate violent deaths of black men, and My Brother’s Keeper, a public-private partnership President Barack Obama launched to improve the lives of young minority men.

Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson on Friday in a Madison apartment house.

MADISON (AP) – Known as a liberal haven with a long history of progressive politics, Madison takes pride in being named one of the nation’s best places to live, raise a family and retire, lovingly embracing its unofficial motto as “77 square miles surrounded by reality.”

But the fatal shooting of an unarmed young biracial man by a white police officer in the heart of one of the city’s most liberal neighborhoods is forcing a renewed discussion about the racial divide in a community where African-Americans make up 7 percent of the population but account for a disproportionate share of arrests, incarcerations and children in poverty.

“Madison relies on its progressive history and past to ignore the current realities,” said Sergio Gonzalez, a 27-year-old graduate student at the University of Wisconsin who grew up in Milwaukee. “It’s unfortunate it takes the death of a 19-year-old to open up the eyes of Madison.”

Tony Robinson was shot and killed by police officer Matt Kenny early Friday evening while investigating a call that the young man was jumping in and out of traffic and had assaulted someone. The officer heard a disturbance and forced his way into an apartment where Robinson had gone. Authorities said Kenny fired after Robinson assaulted him.

The Associated Press had described Robinson as black based on police descriptions of him as African-American. But at a news conference Monday, family members repeatedly emphasized that he embraced a biracial identity from having a white mother and black father.

Since the shooting, the police chief and mayor – both white – have struck a conciliatory tone with black leaders, who have organized peaceful protests and marches in reaction to the shooting. The police chief apologized for the shooting on Monday without acknowledging any wrongdoing by the officer or the department. An investigation by the state Department of Justice is ongoing.

Those who have worked for years on addressing Madison’s racial disparities hope that the shooting brings new attention to underlying problems in the city of 240,000 that is anchored by the university and the state Capitol.

A 2013 report by Wisconsin Children and Families analyzed census data to paint a picture of two Madisons – one where white people were thriving and blacks were struggling.

The report showed that the unemployment rate for blacks in Dane County, which includes Madison, was 25 percent in 2011 compared with 5 percent for whites. That was a larger divide than both the state and national average.

Other statistics are even more striking. The percentage of black children living in poverty in Madison was 58 percent over a three-year period ending in 2013, compared with 5 percent for white children. Nationally, 38 percent of black children were in poverty over that time.

Student test scores, juvenile and adult arrests rates, incarceration rates and graduation rates all show massive gaps between whites and blacks.

“This is one of the best places in America, and I love this community. But until we solve some of the issues in this city, we can’t call ourselves progressive,” said Michael Johnson, leader of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. “It’s like a cancer. You have to root out the problems causing the economic challenges for the city.”

Erica Nelson, project director for the Race to Equity report, said since it was released there have been small improvements in the numbers, but the problems remain.

“Madison is a wonderful place to live, but it also to its detriment relied on the status quo of that reputation for a long time and therefore was able to brush under the rug many of these issues, or they haven’t been brought to the forefront,” she said. “It’s easy to live in this self-satisfying status quo.”

Jacquelyn Hunt, a mother of seven and grandmother of four who moved to Madison from Chicago 25 years ago, said Madison’s white liberals have convinced themselves there is equity and justice in the city.

“But we’re finding out more and more that’s not the case,” said Hunt, who is African-American. She came to the Capitol on Monday to join high school students who walked out of class to speak out against the shooting.

The message can be a difficult one for a city where President Barack Obama carried 78 percent of the vote in 2012 and residents pride themselves on their progressive politics.

The shooting occurred on Williamson Street, affectionately known as Willy Street by the locals, just one block from a well-known natural food co-op. Rep. Mark Pocan, an openly gay Democratic congressman, used to live just a few blocks away. In a statement, he noted that black men in Madison are arrested at eight times the rate of whites.

“My hope,” said Pocan, who is white, “is that out of this tragedy comes an opportunity for our community to grow stronger together.”

Rhea Vedro, a white woman who carried a sign that said “White Silence White Consent” to Monday’s rally, said it’s easy for people in Madison to ignore the racial divide.

“There are two or three different Madisons,” Vedro said. “People don’t really mix unless they have to in school.”

Madison’s racial problems are systemic, said Stace Rierson, a 46-year-old white woman who came to the rally wearing a T-shirt that said “Racism Still Exists.”

“White liberals have so much privilege in Madison,” she said. “For others to gain power, someone else has to give up their power. And are whites ready for that?”

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — University of Oklahoma President David Boren has expelled two students he says have been identified as leading a racist chant as part of a fraternity event.

Boren said in a statement Tuesday the two students were dismissed for creating a “hostile learning environment for others.” The students’ names were not released.

The video posted online shows several people on a bus participating in a chant that included a racial slur, referenced lynching and indicated black students would never be admitted to OU’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Boren says he hopes the dismissal of the two students will help students realize “it is wrong to use words to hurt, threaten, and exclude other people.”

Boren severed ties with the fraternity on Monday and ordered its house shuttered.

If you’re studying for a driver’s test or just want to refresh your knowledge of the rules of the road, you can now download Wisconsin’s motorists’ handbook to your e-reader, tablet or phone.

The state Department of Transportation has put downloadable copies of the book on its website in three file formats. A Spanish-language version is also available in PDF format.

• Click here to download the handbook

“This is chock-full of terrific information for applicants and drivers,” Debbie Kraemer, Bureau of Driver Services supervisor, said in a news release. “The e-book option for tablets makes this version especially convenient to study and prepare for the knowledge test that all applicants must pass to get a driver license.”

The handbook covers information for regular and Class D licenses. It is free to download.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Randall Cobb passed up five offers to stay in a comfortable situation with the Green Bay Packers.

Now Cobb is looking forward to keeping the Packers’ offense humming with quarterback Aaron Rodgers and fellow receiver Jordy Nelson also locked up for years to come.

Cobb said Tuesday that leaving Green Bay was a possibility, but he wasn’t sure if it was a serious option. In the end, Cobb says his heart was with the Packers.

The sides agreed to a four-year, $40 million deal over the weekend to avoid free agency, which starts Tuesday.

After Cobb, right tackle Bryan Bulaga might be the next priority for the Packers. He was part of one of the best offensive lines in coach Mike McCarthy’s nine-year tenure in Green Bay.

FOX 11 Director of Meteorology Pete Petoniak takes an in-depth look at temperatures in the coming days.

DETROIT (AP) – The U.S. Coast Guard is urging people to use caution on Great Lakes waterways due to warmer temperatures and unstable ice.

The warning specifically mentions Lake Superior and the northern parts of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

People are at risk of falling through the ice during above-freezing temperatures. The Coast Guard also notes that ice-breaking in harbors, ports and waterways also is increasing throughout the Great Lakes in preparation for the March 25 opening of the Soo Locks.

The Coast Guard says people should stay away from cracks, seams, pressure ridges, slushy areas and darker areas of ice since these could be hazards.

Meanwhile, The Muskegon Chronicle reports utility Consumers Energy is warning outdoor enthusiasts about thin ice and open water surrounding its generating and hydroelectric plants in Michigan.

TOMAH – VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson is scheduled to visit the Tomah VA Medical Center Tuesday.

The visit comes while the VA investigates reports of overprescribing and retaliatory behavior at Tomah. Separate investigations also have been launched by the VA’s Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Reports from whistleblowers at Tomah indicated that physicians were prescribing more painkillers than most VA hospitals.

Gibson is expected to visit with employees and facility leadership Tuesday.

FOX 11’s Andrew LaCombe and Mark Leland will be in Tomah today. Watch FOX 11 News at Five for balanced news coverage on the deputy secretary’s visit.

WINNEBAGO COUNTY – A fire is snarling traffic on Hwy. 21 in the Omro area.

Authorities say the fire, at Traxler’s Pet Shop on Hwy. 21, broke out around 7:30 a.m.

According to a tweet from the Winnebago Co. Sheriff’s Office, eastbound traffic is being detoured onto Hwy. FF, Hwy. E and Harrison Ave. The westbound lanes have reopened.

Fire scene on STH 21. Detour is CTH FF to CTH E to Harrison St. Expect delay/closure for several hours.

— Winnebago County SO (@WCSO_Wisconsin) March 10, 2015

FOX 11 will have more information as it becomes available.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Target Corp. says it is laying off 1,700 workers and permanently closing out another 1,400 open positions.

The announcement puts a number on last week’s announcement that the company would eliminate several thousand jobs as part of a restructuring aimed at saving $2 billion in costs over the next two years.

Target is trying to become more agile as it competes with other big box stores as well as online retailers.

Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder said the cuts will come primarily at headquarters locations in the Minneapolis area, where about 13,500 people work. The company will also eliminate jobs at a location in Bangalore, India, where Target has about 3,000 employees.

Earlier this year Target said it would end its foray into Canada, closing all 133 of its stores there and laying off about 17,000 workers.

Target had 366,000 employees as of Feb. 1, 2014. That number does not reflect the layoffs in Canada and an updated figure was not immediately available.

Target shares fell 31 cents to $78.26 in morning trading Tuesday.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton is opening up about her email practices as secretary of state, after days of silence and intensifying calls from Democrats as well as Republicans to address the matter.

The potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate planned to discuss her use of a private email account following a speech at the United Nations, and was expected to take questions, according to a person familiar with Clinton’s thinking. The person spoke on condition of anonymity and was not authorized to speak on the record.

Clinton ignored the issue at a forum Monday while fellow Democrats urged her to speak out about conducting business in a private email account while secretary of state. Republicans are ramping up their attention on the issue.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois — the No. 2 Senate Democrat — became the first member of his party’s leadership to call on Clinton to address the issue. “I think it’s only fair to say to Hillary Clinton: ‘Tell us your side of the story,'” Durbin said Tuesday on MSNBC. “What did you put on this personal email?”

Also on Tuesday, the five Democrats on the House panel investigating the fatal 2012 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, asked the State Department to make public some of Clinton’s emails that recently were provided to the committee. They wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry and urged him to make a priority of the 850 pages of documents that the department gave to the panel.

The State Department is reviewing 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton has turned over, and Republicans in Congress have said they plan to review her email practices.

The White House has said that President Barack Obama learned only recently that Clinton was using a privately run server for emailing during her tenure and that she was using private email for all official business. He was aware of the account’s existence before because the two had exchanged emails using it.

Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said Clinton should turn the server itself over to an “independent arbiter.”

The planned news conference would be her first since she left the State Department in early 2013. She gave several TV interviews during her book tour last year, frequently conducts question-and-answer sessions with moderators during speaking engagements and briefly answered questions from reporters at an Iowa event in September.

Clinton is under scrutiny over whether she fully complied with federal laws requiring government officials to preserve written communications involving official business. By using her own email server, traced to an Internet connection registered to her hometown in Chappaqua, New York, she gained more control over her email than she would have had using a government server.

During the past week, the State Department has faced a torrent of questions about Clinton’s email practices and has increasingly referred them to Clinton and her team.

Last week, Clinton said in a Twitter message that she wanted her emails released by the State Department as soon as possible — but did not address why she does not put them out herself. Clinton’s spokesmen and the State Department have said she never received or transmitted classified information on her private account, in which case there would be no concerns that disclosure of her messages could compromise national security.

Clinton is approaching a public decision on a 2016 presidential campaign and remains the leading prospect for the Democratic nomination if she seeks the White House again.

Republicans noted a State Department policy requiring all outgoing employees to turn over job-related materials before leaving. The policy required such employees to sign a “separation statement” declaring they had “surrendered to responsible officials all unclassified documents” related to official business during their employment.

Priebus said the “fact that Hillary Clinton did not abide by the same rules her State Department employees had to comply with is just the latest example of how the Clintons think the rules don’t apply to them.” It was not immediately clear if Clinton signed the agreement, but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the secretary of state is supposed to follow such department policies.

___

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

WAUSAU – A man sought by Oshkosh police has been arrested.

Oshkosh police say Tyler B. Yonke was arrested in Wausau. The 29-year-old Hortonville man was wanted for allegedly fraudulenty cashing checks.

Oshkosh police say the crimes happened throughout the Fox Valley.

MADISON (AP) – A Wisconsin business owner upset over enactment of a right-to-work law and other policies says he is expanding in Minnesota because the economic policies there are more conducive for his operation.

James Hoffman, president of Hoffman Construction in Black River Falls, said Monday that he was accelerating plans to expand an office in Lakeville, Minnesota, that currently has two full-time employees.

Hoffman testified against the right-to-work bill that passed the Wisconsin Legislature last week and that Gov. Scott Walker signed on Monday.

Hoffman says he worries that the law will cost his business money and he believes Minnesota’s proposal to increase spending on transportation projects that his highway construction business could bid on would be good for his operation.

Hoffman says the decision is based on business, not politics.

RHINELANDER (AP) – A northern Wisconsin teenager is charged with killing her mother and stepfather and holding the couple’s three younger children against their will.

A criminal complaint filed in Oneida County charges 17-year-old Ashlee Martinson with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of false imprisonment.

The complaint says the oldest of the three younger children, a 9-year-old girl, told detectives Martinson had killed the couple – Thomas and Jennifer Ayers. The girl told investigators she heard two gunshots in their home Sunday morning and saw Martinson fighting with her mother.

She told investigators Martinson later placed her and her two sisters, ages 2 and 8, in a room and tied the door shut.

Martinson and a 22-year-old man were later arrested in Boone County, Indiana, where they remained in jail Tuesday.

ROBERTS (AP) – Bomb technicians have been called to a village in St. Croix County.

Police in Roberts say what appeared to be a homemade incendiary device was found in a suspicious vehicle in a lot behind the Frito Lay plant about 2 a.m. Tuesday.

Two people were detained and the Marathon County bomb squad was called.

Police secured the area and closed a portion of Highway 12 nearby.

LA CROSSE (AP) – A group of citizens has gone to court in La Crosse County to try to block BNSF Railway’s plans to build tracks through the La Crosse River marsh.

Citizens Acting for Rail Safety is asking a judge to block a wetland permit issued by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and require the agency to do a more thorough environmental review.

The DNR last month granted BNSF a permit to fill about 7 acres of marsh and build a bridge over the river. The railroad plans to add about four miles of new tracks through the city of La Crosse.

The La Crosse Tribune says the citizens group is concerned about the growing number of trains carrying crude oil from North Dakota, such as the one that derailed near Galena, Illinois last week and caught fire.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin state lawmakers are considering a proposal that would delay the reporting of results from tests given to students this spring.

A joint hearing bringing together Senate and Assembly education committees was scheduled on the proposal Tuesday.

The measure comes after Gov. Scott Walker proposed eliminating the Smarter Balanced test, known as the Badger Exam, after this year. The test is aligned with the Common Core academic standards.

Bill sponsors say it’s not right to hold teachers and schools accountable based on a test that’s only going to be used for one year. The proposal would also delay using the results as part of teacher evaluations.

The delay is supported by the state teachers’ union, the Department of Public Instruction and school choice advocates.