Green Bay News

NEW LONDON – Power has been restored to parts of New London after a fire today at an electrical substation.

Here is the news release from the fire department:

On Tuesday morning March 10, at 6:05 am The New London Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at the Electic Substation located in the 600 block of East Douglas Street in the City of New London. Firefighters found electrical equipment inside the substation in flames upon arrival. New London Untilities workers were contacted and advised of the fire at their substation. The substation was de-energized. New London Firefighters and Utility workers were then able to extinguish the fire with dry chemical extiguishers.

According to New London Utilities a third of New London mainly on the south and east side of the city may have lost power because of the fire. New London Utility workers stated at 6:30am that power outage may continue another two hours for those areas until they are able to restore power. Theda Care Hospital in New London had been without power. Theda Care just reported to the Fire Department that their power has just been restored just before 8am. Other areas of the city still remain without power.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Farmers Field had a prime location in downtown Los Angeles, big-time boosters, a builder with an impeccable professional sports resume, even a name and sponsor – rare for a project in the planning stages.

What it did not have was an NFL team attached. And in the end that was all that mattered.

Just months after it was the latest, greatest hope for bringing the NFL back to the city for the first time in 20 years, the stadium project was declared dead by its developer AEG on Monday.

Its demise was sped by a pair of competing stadium plans that had the unbeatable advantage of having NFL owners and their teams attached.

“We are no longer in discussion with the NFL or any NFL team,” said Ted Fikre, vice chairman of AEG, which owns the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the downtown Staples Center, home of the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers.

The developer had spent five years and at least $50 million on the project, but AEG now says it will focus on other downtown development projects.

The announcement leaves two clear contenders for the NFL’s return to the area for the first time in two decades, both in cities just outside Los Angeles: A stadium in Inglewood proposed in January with the backing of St. Louis Rams owner Stan Kroenke, and a project in Carson announced last month with the joint backing of the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers.

The downtown project – which would have been unusual for the NFL where most venues are in suburbs instead of city centers – appeared to gain new life in October when the developer asked for and received from the city a six-month extension for its deadline to attract an NFL team for the project. AEG cited “new dialogue” with the league.

But Fikre said Monday that it will allow that extension to expire in April with no renewal.

The project’s boosters included Mayor Eric Garcetti, much of the City Council and local business leaders.

Michael Eisner, former chief executive at the Walt Disney Co., told The Associated Press in November that Farmers Field would have been an ideal addition to the re-emergence of downtown LA.

“It just felt to me that if we could pull this off, particularly in the downtown area, that the renaissance of Los Angeles … could be enhanced,” he said.

“I’m a Disney guy,” Eisner said. “I’m looking for the end of the movie to be happy.”

Garcetti’s spokesman, Yusef Robb, said the priorities of the mayor’s office “have always been about accelerating downtown’s revitalization,” but City Hall will be happy to cheer for a team and a stadium outside its borders.

“In terms of football, we continue to stand with the fans – we would welcome a team anywhere in our region that delivers the greatest benefit to our communities and economy,” Robb said in a statement.

In Inglewood, the City Council bypassed several environmental and other hurdles late last month by adding its stadium project to an already-approved development underway at the former Hollywood Park racetrack. That would appear to put it at the forefront of Southern California cities jockeying to build NFL facilities. St. Louis and the state of Missouri are working just as quickly to provide a proposal to build a new home there to keep the Rams.

In Carson, stadium backers turned in enough signatures last week for a ballot initiative that would allow a Chargers-Raiders joint stadium on the site of a former landfill. But those two teams have said the move to the Los Angeles area would come only if their current hometowns fail to offer desirable deals.

Amid what was becoming a frenzy, the NFL circulated a memo earlier this year reminding team owners that in the end, the league and the league alone will decide whether a team – and which team – will move to the Los Angeles area.

GREEN BAY – Bloggers Dan Zehr and Scott Brotherton-Zehr cooked up some of their favorites on Good Day Wisconsin.  First they showed us how to make Pierogis, a family favorite that Scott describes as a “polish ravioli.”  This version was inspired by the flavors of a twice baked potato.  Click here for the recipe.

The Platter Talk guys also showed us how to make their Crispy Chicken Cordon Bleu Stromboli. They came up with this recipe when they were challenged to find a new way to use chicken strips.  Click here for the full recipe.

Scott and Dan are two dads who blog about the food they make for their friends and family, including their six sons.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A man who fell asleep behind the wheel and struck and killed a bicyclist is sentenced in Dane County to a year in jail.

Twenty-four-year-old Timothy Grulke, of Waunakee, apologized in court Monday for the death of 37-year-old Carrie Pete in October of 2012.

Grulke pleaded guilty to homicide by negligent driving in a plea agreement with prosecutors. The State Journal reports Judge Nicholas McNamara told Grulke he had become a “willing symbol” of the dangers of driving while drowsy.

Prosecutors say Grulke should have known he wasn’t safe to drive after working an overnight shift and going to the gym.

GREEN BAY- A new exhibit at the Neville Public Museum is honoring local works of art.

The Art Annual is open to anyone 18 or older that currently live and produce art in the 24 counties of Northeastern Wisconsin and the 14 counties of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Of the 54 artists that applied this year, 22 had work that was accepted into the show. This year the juror was Ryan Mandell, a professor of art at UW-Milwaukee.

He felt that of the 129 individual pieces of submitted work, 29 pieces told the best story about this regions landscape and its change over time.

We took a look at some of the works of art on Good Day Wisconsin. Click on the videos to learn more.

GREEN BAY – Spring is less than two weeks away and the Green Bay Botanical has upcoming classes to get people prepared.

The Garden’s Soup for Substance series enters its fourth session this week with “Square Foot Gardening” on Friday, March 13 5:30 – 8 p.m.

John Holzwart of Moonwise Herbs will be teaching two classes Saturday, March 14. “Growing and Preserving Unusual Fruits” will take place 10 a.m. to noon and “Fruit Tree Grafting” will take place from 1 to 3 p.m.

Val Dantoin, NWTC Sustainable Ag Educator will have the ins and outs of “Raising Backyard Chickens” on Thursday March 12 from 6-7:30 p.m.

The garden also has various youth programs and summer camps coming up.

FOX 11’s Pauleen Le spent the morning checking it out.

For more information on the events, times and tickets, click here.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Police responding to a report from a fisherman about an overturned car in an icy Utah river were stunned to discover an 18-month-old girl dangling in a car seat inside, unconscious but alive.

They found the baby in the back seat and a woman dead in the front seat after flipping over the car. A firefighter jumped into the river and cut the car-seat straps, freeing the baby who was wearing only a flannel onesie and no hat or gloves.

Officers then formed a line in the river and handed the cold child from one person to the next until she was on the shoreline and in emergency workers’ arms.

Two days later, the toddler was recovering at a hospital, though authorities still don’t know exactly how she survived hanging upside-down for nearly 14 hours in frigid temperatures with no food or water.

“It’s heartbreaking. Was she crying most the night?” Spanish Fork Police Officer Tyler Beddoes said. “It’s a miracle. … She was needed for sure elsewhere.”

Beddoes spoke to the woman’s family and on Monday recounted the ordeal.

Police believe the crash occurred late Friday when the child’s mother, 25-year-old Lynn Groesbeck, struck a cement barrier on a bridge and careened into the river in Spanish Fork, about 50 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Groesbeck had visited her parents in Salem and was about halfway back to her home in Springville when it happened, Spanish Fork police Lt. Matt Johnson said.

Investigators don’t know what caused the crash, he said. There were no skid marks, and the midsize car had no signs of mechanical failures.

Police don’t suspect drugs or alcohol as a factor but were awaiting toxicology results. Groesbeck might have been tired or distracted, Johnson said, adding that authorities weren’t ruling anything out.

Even though the road that goes over the bridge gets plenty of traffic, no one saw the wreck because the cement barrier obstructed the view below, Johnson said.

If a fisherman hadn’t chosen that river Saturday morning, it could have been several more hours before the car was found, he said.

The overturned car was perched on the bank and rocks. As the girl dangled inside, icy water rushed just below her head through broken car windows. The temperatures were near freezing throughout the night and through the morning.

“She must have been just out of the water enough to be getting oxygen,” Beddoes said.

When the four officers responded to the vehicle, they didn’t know how long it had been there or who was inside.

After freeing the girl from the car, responders rushed her to an ambulance and performed CPR, Beddoes said.

On Monday, Lily Groesbeck was in stable condition and improving, according to hospital officials. Beddoes said the girl was opening her eyes and doing well.

Lynn Groesbeck was enrolled at Provo College with a goal of becoming a medical assistant, her sister Jill Sanderson told the Deseret News.

Beddoes said the family has thanked him and the other officers for helping save Lily.

“Knowing that she was trapped in there 14 hours, the cold water running through car, just blows me away,” Beddoes said.

GREEN BAY- We’ll see plenty of sunshine Tuesday, with a high near 55.

That’s nearly 20 degrees above our normal high of 36. Winds will be out of the southwest at 10 to 15 mph.

A cold front pushes through the state Tuesday night resulting in a bit cooler Wednesday but still above normal.

Expect a high of 49 with sunny skies and northwest winds at 5 to 10 mph.

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) – Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky is the Big Ten’s Player of the Year.

As Kaminsky led the Badgers to the outright Big Ten championship, the senior averaged 19.9 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in conference play.

Kaminsky has scored at least 20 points on 13 occasions this season and hauled in double-digit rebounds in 10 games.

Badger head coach Bo Ryan was named Coach of the Year by conference coaches, while Maryland head coach Mark Turgeon received the honor from the media.

In Maryland’s first Big Ten season, Turgeon led the Terrapins to the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

Ohio State’s D’Angelo Russell was named Freshman of the Year by coaches and media. Purdue’s Rapheal Davis was named the Defensive Player of the Year, and Iowa’s Gabe Olaseni was voted Sixth Man of the Year by coaches.

For the Badgers, Sam Dekker was named to the second team, while Nigel Hayes was honored with a third team selection.

Josh Gasser was on the all-defensive team for the third year in a row.

MADISON – Dane County Emergency Management reports the city of Madison was alerted of a credible cyber security threat on Monday.

The city’s website and email have been affected. Other local government and public safety communication systems could also be impacted.

Late Monday, the city of Madison started experiencing a high amount of internet activity, consistent with an outside cyber-attack.

Similar internet based security attacks have occurred in other communities after incidents like the one Friday night. That is when Madison police officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson.

It isn’t known how long the area will be affected, or who is responsible for the attacks.

The Dane County Emergency Operations Center has been opened as a result of the cyber-attack.

OUTAGAMIE COUNTY – Four people are behind bars, accused of being responsible for a large burglary ring in northeast and central Wisconsin.

Investigators believe they may have hit more than 20 businesses.

So far, two of the four have been charged. But authorities say more charges are on the way.

Businesses like the Skunk Hill Tavern in Freedom are breathing a sigh of relief.

“It makes me feel wonderful. We’ve been wondering who it was for a long time,” said Jolee Knorr, the manager of the Skunk Hill Tavern.

In mid-January, the bar was burglarized.

“Our liquor guy came in and found a couple of the machines busted open and the ATM busted open,” said Knorr.

The Skunk Hill Tavern in Freedom was just one of more than twenty businesses targeted in this alleged burglary ring.

Investigators say the burglaries began in December, and continued through the middle of February. The say the crimes stretched from Stevens Point, to Shiocton, to De Pere.

Sgt. Shawn Oligney with the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department says his agency, along with the Green Bay Police Department, have arrested four people they believe are responsible for the break-ins.

“Very intelligent, very calculating, very well-planned in their activities,” describes Sgt. Shawn Oligney with the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities say with the case spanning several counties, prosecutors are still trying to figure out what role each person played.

So far, two of the four suspects have been charged.

Joseph La Pere is facing one burglary count in Brown County. Tasheena Hawpetoss is charged with two burglary counts in Outagamie County.

Nickolas Smith and Robert Hammes are behind bars, but have not yet been charged. Investigators say the charges will be filed soon.

“They put a lot of work into scouting out places first. For instance, going into the bar earlier in the evening, having a drink or two, looking around the business,” said Oligney.

The Replay Sports Bar in De Pere was the only armed robbery. The rest of the businesses were closed when they were burglarized.

The investigation picked up after Green Bay detectives noticed similarities in suspects. Officers say more charges are expected as the investigation continues.

“I know our agency has four open investigations that look similar,” said Oligney.

Meanwhile, taverns say they’ve regained some peace of mind.

Most of the suspects arrested in the alleged burglaries have prior convictions for burglaries and robberies. Police were aided by informants.

BOSTON (AP) — A woman testifying from a wheelchair Monday in the Boston Marathon bombing trial recalled shielding her husband from the sight of his mangled leg, being pushed to the ground by a bystander frantically trying to extinguish the flames on her body and coming to grips with becoming a double amputee.

Jessica Kensky said she and her husband, Patrick Downes, each lost a left leg in the 2013 attack. After more than 18 months of surgeries and consultations with doctors around the country, she came to the painful conclusion that her right leg would have to be amputated, too, she said.

“I did not want to become a bilateral amputee,” Kensky said. “I wanted to paint my toenails, I wanted to put my feet in the sand, and I wanted to do all these things. To lose the second leg was a gut-wrenching, devastating decision.”

Kensky’s account came during the third day of testimony in the federal death penalty trial of bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, whose own lawyers have acknowledged his involvement but insist he was influenced by his older brother, Tamerlan, who was killed during a getaway attempt days after the bombings.

Joe Kebartas of South Boston holds anti-death penalty sign as he stands next to the federal courthouse Monday March 9, 2015, in Boston, during the federal death penalty trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev is charged with conspiring with his brother to place two bombs near the Boston Marathon finish line that killed three and injured 260 spectators in April 2013. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia)

Jurors also watched a timeline video compiled by the FBI using surveillance video from stores and restaurants near the marathon finish line. The video, which shows both brothers’ movements around the time of the bombings, focuses on Dzhokhar and shows him carrying a backpack up until he gets to the front of the Forum restaurant, when he is shown dropping the bag from his shoulder.

One frame then shows the backpack at his feet. The backpack is in a crowd of people and just feet from children standing on a metal barrier, including 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed, and his younger sister, Jane, who lost a leg in the blast.

As the first bomb explodes, the video shows everyone in the crowd turning toward the blast. Tsarnaev does not look in that direction and instead begins to walk in the other direction.

Seconds later, the second bomb explodes, and Tsarnaev, who prosecutors say detonated the second bomb, is seen running with a crowd of people who also are running. People are also shown jumping over metal barriers as smoke wafts over the scene.

Prosecutors showed jurors tweets from what they identified as two accounts of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

“If you have the knowledge and the inspiration all that’s left is to take action,” he tweeted April 7, a little over a week before the bombings.

“I want the highest levels of Jannah,” he tweeted March 10, referring to the Islamic concept of paradise. “I want to be able to see allah every single day for that is the best of pleasures.”

In January, three months before the bombings, he tweeted: “I don’t argue with folks who say islam is terrorism it’s not worth a thing, let an idiot remain an idiot.”

Prosecutors say the Tsarnaevs carried out the bombing to retaliate against the U.S. for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. During opening statements, a prosecutor cited a hand-scrawled note Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left on the walls of the boat he was captured hiding in and said he believed “he was a solider in a holy war against Americans” and had “taken a step toward reaching paradise.”

Three people died and more than 260 were injured when two pressure-cooker bombs filled with shrapnel exploded near the finish line.

Less than 30 minutes later, Tarnaev calmly walked into a Whole Foods store in Cambridge and bought a half-gallon of milk. The jury was shown store surveillance video of him making the purchase.

Also testifying Monday was a woman whose close friend, 23-year-old Lingzi Lu, died in the second bomb blast.

Danling Zhou said Lu grabbed her arm after the first bomb exploded, looking panicked, and said “What happened?” and “What should we do?”

Before Zhou could answer her, the second bomb exploded.

Zhou said she looked in front of her and saw a man whose legs had been blown off. When she looked at Lu, she thought she would be OK because she seemed to still have her arms and legs, Zhou said.

She found out later in the hospital that Lu had died. Both women grew up in China and were graduate students at Boston University.

 

ASHWAUBENON – You could soon see a new scoreboard at the Resch Center.

The new board will cost about $2 million.

PMI Entertainment asked the Stadium District Board to put $450,000 toward the addition. They agreed to do so Monday.

PMI plans to put between $200,000 to $400,000 toward it. They plan to ask the county to pay for the rest.

Ken Wachter, President and CEO of PMI says the current technology is outdated, “We’ve had the same scoreboard since 2001, so it’s 2001 technology and that is 5 years before the iPhone was even introduced.”

The new HD score board is expected to be installed this summer.

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The family of a 19-year-old biracial man shot to death by a Madison police officer says he wasn’t perfect but he shouldn’t be judged for his mistakes.

Tony Robinson was unarmed when he was shot by an officer Friday night. Police say Robinson assaulted and injured the officer, who was responding to a report of a man jumping in and out of traffic as well as a possible battery.

Robinson’s uncle, Turin Carter, says Robinson “was a kid” who “did some bad things.” But he says Robinson’s desire for love led him to do some of those things.

Robinson pleaded guilty to an armed robbery last year.

Carter says Robinson’s family believes an outside investigation will be fair, and people should respect police in protesting the shooting.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Department of Justice officials say agents around the state are probing how and why a white Madison police officer killed an unarmed biracial man.

Attorney General Brad Schimel issued a lengthy statement Monday saying the agency is working as fast as it can to complete the investigation. He says teams of agents from around the state are working the case. He also says the agency is providing the family with as much information as possible but hasn’t released details publicly out of concerns it could taint witness accounts.

Officer Matt Kenny shot 19-year-old Tony Robinson on Friday during a confrontation in an apartment house. DOJ is leading the investigation as per a state law that requires outside agencies to probe officer-involved shootings.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Targeting stagnant wages in an otherwise improving economy, President Barack Obama on Monday called on employers, educational institutions and local governments to develop a home grown high technology workforce that could help drive up higher-income employment.

The effort aims to attack a stubborn downside of the current economic recovery and fill what the White House says is a gaping demand for high-tech workers in the United States.

“We’ve got to keep positioning ourselves for a constantly changing global economy,” Obama said in announcing his “TechHire” initiative at a gathering of the National League of Cities. “If we’re not producing enough tech workers, over time that’s going to threaten our leadership in global innovation, which is the bread and butter of the 21st century economy.”

Obama has obtained commitments from more than 300 employers as well as local governments in 21 regions of the country to train and hire low-skilled workers for jobs in software development, network administration and cybersecurity.

Under the program, the Obama administration will provide $100 million in competitive grants to joint initiatives by employers, training institutions and local governments that target workers who don’t have easy access to training. The money comes from fees companies pay to the government to hire higher-skilled foreign workers under the H-1B visa program.

“Too many Americans think these jobs are out of their reach, that these jobs are only in places like Silicon Valley or that they all require an advance degree in computer science. That’s just not the case,” said Jeff Zients, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Among the communities that have pledged to participate are New York City, Louisville, Detroit, Nashville, San Francisco, and Kansas City, Missouri.

The initiative is designed to prepare U.S. workers for a growing number of technology jobs. According to the White House, of the 5 million jobs available today, more than half a million are in those fields.

Critics say U.S.workers are being hurt by immigration policies designed to let companies hire high-skilled foreign workers.

“The problem is not that Americans aren’t qualified to fill tech jobs, as the White House suggests, but that the H-1B and similar visas are being used in place of hiring qualified Americans,” said Stephen Miller, a spokesman for Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the chairman of a Senate subcommittee n immigration. “America is home to the world’s most talented IT workers, but these highly-trained and extremely talented individuals have seen their careers dashed by unfair guest-worker policies.”

Obama’s attention to technology comes as the unemployment rate is dropping but wages remain flat. The unemployment rate in February dropped to 5.5 percent but average hourly earnings rose just 3 cents from January to $24.78. Raising wages has become one of the biggest challenges of the current economic recovery.

“These tech jobs pay 50 percent more than the average private sector wage, which means they are a ticket to the middle class,” Obama said.

The administration’s plan is for universities and community colleges to provide training. It is also relying on high-tech educational academies, some of which have entered arrangements with cities to train workers in a matter of months and help place them in jobs.

The training academies undergo independent studies to confirm the rate of job placements.

“The world’s technology needs are just moving a lot faster than traditional education solutions. That’s the fundamental problem here,” said Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Greg Fischer, whose city has pledged to expand an existing program with high tech. “So that’s why these non-conventional methods are needed right now.”

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri appeals court judge was appointed Monday to take over Ferguson’s municipal court and make “needed reforms” after a highly critical U.S. Department of Justice report that was prompted by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown.

The Missouri Supreme Court said it is assigning state appeals Judge Roy Richter to hear all of Ferguson’s pending and future municipal court cases. The high court said Richter also will have the authority to overhaul court policies to ensure defendants’ rights are respected and to “restore the integrity of the system.”

Ferguson Municipal Judge Ronald J. Brockmeyer resigned Monday, saying through a spokesman that he was stepping down to promote public confidence in the court and help Ferguson “begin its healing process.”

Richter will take charge of the court on March 16. The Supreme Court said it also is assigning staff from the state court administrator’s office to aid Richter in reviewing Ferguson’s municipal court practices.

“Judge Richter will bring a fresh, disinterested perspective to this court’s practices, and he is able and willing to implement needed reforms,” Chief Justice Mary Russell said in a written statement.

“Extraordinary action is warranted in Ferguson, but the Court also is examining reforms that are needed on a statewide basis,” Russell added.

The change comes after the Justice Department released a report last week that cited cases of racial profiling and bigotry by police and chided what it described as a profit-driven municipal court system in the predominantly black St. Louis suburb where Brown, 18, was shot by a white Ferguson police officer in August. The shooting prompted protests in the St. Louis area and across the nation.

A St. Louis County grand jury and the U.S. Justice Department both declined to bring charges against Officer Darren Wilson. The Justice Department report said Wilson acted in self-defense when he shot Brown.

But the Justice Department said Ferguson’s police and court systems functioned as a money-making enterprise that heightened tensions among residents.

“It is not difficult to imagine how a single tragic incident set off the city of Ferguson like a powder keg,” Holder said while releasing the report.

The federal report noted that Ferguson was counting on revenues from fines and fees to generate $3.1 million, or nearly one-quarter of its total $13.3 million budget for the 2015 fiscal year.

Although it was rare for the court to sentence people to jail as a penalty for city code violations, the Justice Department report said the city’s court almost always imposes monetary penalties and then issues arrest warrants when people fail to pay on time or miss a court date. As a result, relatively minor violations can – and frequently do – lead to arrests and jail time, the report said.

Also Monday, the Ferguson City Council went into a closed meeting, and a city spokesman wouldn’t disclose the purpose.

FREEDOM – Fresh off the heels of an exciting win, Freedom High School’s wrestling team decided to celebrate.

It’s been 18 years since the team has won a Division 2 state title.

As a yellow bus pulled up in front of Freedom Elementary School Monday afternoon, students started to cheer.

The wrestling champs filed into the gym with a trophy in hand.

“It’s awesome. We put in all the work leading up to it,” said wrestler Cody Walrath.

The home of the Irish struck gold and the team wanted everyone in on the celebration.

“We’re number one, we’re number one,” chanted the crowd.

Even parents joined in on the excitement with their cameras and cell phones.

“This team win was just so much for everybody. Everybody is just so thrilled. It’s a great team,” Jodi Vosters, whose son is on the team.

While coming home with a win is an achievement, there’s something even more important to the wrestlers.

“We built each other up and we had a lot of fun. We kept the season fun,” said wrestler Ramsey Bloy.

Working together as a team and getting support from the whole town made the coaches even more proud.

“It’s our kids, the program, the coaches, and the community to get to something like this,” said head wrestling coach Justin Lancaster.

As the celebration continued, students lined up outside to get a better glimpse of the trophy and team.

The last time FOX 11 spoke to the wrestlers, they talked about a picture hanging on the wall of their practice room. The photo highlights the 1997 Division 2 state title.

“Every time I come in here, I’m like, I would love to see our team up there and say that was the team that did it next,”  Walrath said on March 6.

And now right next to the old picture, “A big old 2015 state champs picture, all of us smiling and having a good time,” Walrath said.

GREEN BAY – Lambeau Field Atrium renovations remain on budget and on schedule.

The Packers provided a behind the scenes tour of the projects to FOX 11 and the Stadium District Board.

Both projects are in the very early stages still.

Packers spokesperson Aaron Popkey says both the new restaurant and hall of fame will be about the same sizes as the old ones. Popkey says a major upgrade will be the main level synergy between the two.

“When you come into the building through the American Family Insurance Gate or Oneida Nation Gate or Miller Lite Gate, you’ve got much easier access straight into the restaurant or hall of fame,” said Popkey. “As you can see here on the first level, their entrances are right near each other.”

One difference with the new hall of fame is it will be on two levels.

Also, the new restaurant will not be called Curly’s like the old restaurant. The Packers have a new name picked out, but are waiting to reveal it.

Both projects are scheduled to open in late June or early July.

FOX 11’s Ben Krumholz will have more on this story on FOX 11 News at Nine.

HOWARD – This warmer weather has our snow pack disappearing quickly in Northeast Wisconsin.

Not that there was much to begin with– and that could be a bit of a problem.

When we don’t see much snow in the winter, it’s not just snow we’re missing out on– it’s all that water that normally goes back into the region’s soil and watersheds.

You can see it almost everywhere you look.

Where the snow is melting away, it’s leaving brown, dry vegetation in its place.

And even though the ground might be soft and mushy, that grass and brush is bone dry over top of it.

Fire danger is still low because the grasses and brush haven’t completely dried out quite yet.

But if this dry weather continues, that could change quickly.

According to John Lubbers, who works in the Forestry department of the Wisconsin DNR, “If it would stay dry through April and May, then things could really get ramped up for us and we’d have more of a fire season than average. If we get normal precip, things should be fine.”

And we have been bone-dry so far this year.

Since January 1st, the liquid equivalent of all snow and precipitation seen so far this year is just a shade over an inch.

That’s more than an inch and a half below average, and less than half of what we’ve normally seen through this time of year.

And over the 7 days, we’re expecting the warmth to continue, and the dry weather as well.

The only chance for rain the forecast is a slight chance a week from now, which wouldn’t do much to put a dent in these dry conditions.

Escalating fire danger over the coming weeks could be something we’ll have to keep a close eye on.