Green Bay News

APPLETON- The Family’s Help for the Homeless Hygiene Drive continues until March 15.

It’s an opportunity to help area homeless coalitions to stock the shelves of 79 homeless and crisis programs around Northeast Wisconsin.

The goal is to supply a year’s worth of product to each agency.

Cleaning supplies

Laundry Soap
Dish Soap
Garbage Bags
Floor Cleaner
Bleach
Cleansers
Sponges
Disinfectant Cleaner
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
Dryer Sheets
Dishwashing Gloves

Hair care

Shampoo
Conditioner
Hair Brushes
Combs
Clips & Elastics
Styling Products – for all types of ethnicity
Little Girl Items

Dental

Toothbrushes (soft)
Toothpaste
No Mouthwash Please – contains alchohol
Dental Floss
Denture Care

Paper Products

Toilet Tissue
Facial Tissue
Paper Towels
Feminine Care, Pads (young teens), Tampons

Personal Care

Soft Soap
Bar Soap
Deodorant (unscented)
Razors
Shaving Cream
Nail Clippers
Cotton Balls
Q-tips
Moisturizer/Lotions
Contact Solution
Lip Balm

Baby Care

Diapers (sizes 3,4,5 & pull ups)
Wipes
Baby Bottles
Sip Cups
Baby Lotion
Baby Shampoo
Rash Ointment

First Aid

Children’s Pain Meds
Pedialyte
Band Aids
Rubbing Alcohol
Hydrogen Peroxide
Anti-Diarrhea Meds
Antacids
Antibiotic Ointment
Cold Meds
Liquid Benadryl
Sun Screen
Treatment for Head Lice

BROWN COUNTY – The latest and greatest in new home construction will be on display this weekend for the Brown County Homebuilders Association Spring Showcase of New Homes.

There will be 49 homes a part of the showcase. Nearly half of the homes are for sale. The homes variety in sizes from around 1,600 to nearly 7,000 square feet.

Five homes on tour will display dream dog houses and visitors are invited to vote or bid on their favorite. Students from five area middle schools built the dog houses. The participating schools can win two, $250 awards based on popularity and quality of the houses.

The show runs March 7-8 and 12-15.

Kids under 16 get into the homes for free on family night – March 12 and 13.

Tickets bought by March 6 are $12. Regular admission is $15 beginning March 7.

FOX 11’s Pauleen Le spent the morning in Hobart checking out home #22 on the tour.

For more information on the Brown County Home Builders Association Spring Showcase of New Homes, click here.

BAYFIELD COUNTY- It will be a great weekend to check out the ice caves in Bayfield County.

According to its facebook page, the ice caves will be open all weekend.

You can also take part in a free ice cave tour on Saturday, March 7.

For more information, click here.

GREEN BAY- We’re starting out in single digits with wind chills below zero.

But it will get warmer Friday, with a high near 28.

Saturday’s high will be even warmer with a high of 38 (the normal high is 35).

Sunday we’ll see a small chance of snow as a fast-moving storm system pushes to our north but the warm-up will continue with a high near 37.

For Director of Meteorology Pete Petoniak’s full forecast, click here.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Wisconsin wasn’t about to let up after clinching at least a tie for the Big Ten title last weekend.

The Badgers had plenty of red-clad support with them on the road for inspiration. There was a certain 7-footer with all kinds of skills who helped a lot, too.

Frank Kaminsky had 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting plus seven assists, Sam Dekker added 20 points and No. 6 Wisconsin became regular season conference champions with a 76-63 victory over Minnesota on Thursday night.

“It’s been a crazy ride. It’s been fun. To win it in a rivalry game on Minnesota’s court with so many of our own fans here is something pretty special,” Kaminsky said. “We could hear them the whole game. They were loud.”

Nigel Hayes had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Badgers (27-3, 15-2), who have their fourth title under coach Bo Ryan and the first in seven years.

“It’s not like they trash-talked. It was a goal they had,” Ryan said.

The Badgers made seven of their first 10 attempts from 3-point range and finished with 18 assists against just nine turnovers.

“That’s about as impressive a team as I’ve seen,” Minnesota coach Richard Pitino said.

Nate Mason had 15 points and Carlos Morris added 11 for the Gophers (17-13, 6-11), who fell behind by 20 points in the first half and couldn’t fully recover.

“When you get stops against them, that’s when you can make some runs and come back,” said Joey King, who had seven points and five rebounds for Minnesota. “But when they’re scoring the ball at will, it’s tough to stop.”

With the Big Ten not as strong as it was the last few years and the Gophers stuck in the bottom half of the conference standings all winter, this was the first buzzworthy game at the old barn this season. Ohio State, which was No. 22 in The Associated Press poll at the time, was the only other ranked team to visit. The Gophers furiously rallied that night to force overtime but fell 74-72.

Two months later, with seven losses in Big Ten play by six points or less still stinging, the Gophers brought some momentum into the final week of the schedule coming off a rare win on the road over Michigan State. But even an upset of the Badgers wasn’t going to be enough to put them in the NCAA Tournament conversation.

Perhaps reminded of their 81-68 loss here last year, their fourth defeat in the last five trips to Minnesota, the Badgers took immediate control. The Gophers were at a disadvantage in most of the one-on-one matchups, and the Badgers confidently and patiently built a lead as big as 36-16 behind their sharp outside shooting. This was supplemented by some smooth, deliberate drives to the basket by Kaminsky and a couple of super-quick backdoor cuts for easy points by Dekker.

“They were doing what Wisconsin does: making shots and not turning the ball over, just controlling the pace of the game,” said Minnesota reserve DeAndre Mathieu, who had nine points without a turnover.

Josh Gasser added eight points, five assists and four rebounds for the Badgers.

“Josh was making shots. Sam was getting stuff going off the cuts and everything. It just felt like everything was clicking tonight,” Kaminsky said.

The Gophers had a 13-2 run late in the first half and were within 46-40 on Mason’s 3-pointer a few minutes into the second half, but the Badgers tacked on a few more timely 3-pointers. Kaminsky threw down a dunk to spoil an otherwise-stiff defensive effort by the Gophers on one possession near the midpoint of the second half.

“He’s grown up so much, and that confidence is at an all-time high right now,” Dekker said of Kaminsky, who leads the Badgers in points, rebounds, blocks, assists and steals. “I think he’s even going to step it up more down the stretch here.”

THREATENED BY THE THREE

The Badgers finished 10 for 20 from 3-point range, the fourth time in the last five games the Gophers have given up 10 or more 3-pointers at a 40 percent or better rate.

TIP-INS

Wisconsin: The Badgers improved to 28-7 away from the Kohl Center over the last two seasons, the third-best winning percentage among the power conference teams.

Minnesota: Andre Hollins, who sprained his ankle last year just 16 seconds into the game here against the Badgers, hit an off-balance 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to bring the Gophers within 44-34. He became the program’s all-time leader in 3-point attempts with 683, passing Blake Hoffarber. He’s 10 behind Hoffarber for career 3-pointers with 269.

UP NEXT

Wisconsin wraps up the regular season on the road against No. 23 Ohio State.

Minnesota finishes the regular season at home against Penn State.

Thursday’s sectional semifinal girls basketball highlights and state scores.

Thursday’s Scores
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
Division 1 Sectional 1
Sectionals
D.C. Everest 54, Marshfield 49
Neenah 45, Appleton North 43

Division 1 Sectional 2
Sectionals
Arrowhead 40, Waukesha West 22
De Pere 52, Kimberly 50

Division 1 Sectional 3
Sectionals
Janesville Craig 51, Madison Memorial 26
Middleton 71, Verona Area 59

Division 1 Sectional 4
Sectionals
Divine Savior 49, Brookfield Central 34
Oak Creek 32, Franklin 29

Division 2 Sectional 1
Sectionals
Mosinee 64, Hortonville 56
Onalaska 36, River Falls 30

Division 2 Sectional 2
Sectionals
Cedarburg 52, Beaver Dam 41
Green Bay Southwest 43, Notre Dame 39

Division 2 Sectional 3
Sectionals
Waterford 53, Monona Grove 51
Waunakee 40, Edgewood 36

Division 2 Sectional 4
Sectionals
New Berlin West 46, Cudahy 32
Pius XI 46, Shorewood 17

Division 3 Sectional 1
Sectionals
Durand 39, West Salem 32
Hayward 50, Baldwin-Woodville 46

Division 3 Sectional 2
Sectionals
Valders 43, Denmark 32
Xavier 58, Wittenberg-Birnamwood 40

Division 3 Sectional 3
Sectionals
Dodgeville 49, Adams-Friendship 25
Whitewater 60, Brodhead 43

Division 3 Sectional 4
Sectionals
Kettle Moraine Lutheran 54, Saint Thomas More 33
Waupun 47, Laconia 34

Division 4 Sectional 1
Sectionals
Cameron 82, Athens 37
Fall Creek 55, Colfax 42

Division 4 Sectional 2
Sectionals
Algoma 36, Shiocton 33
Marathon 63, Crandon 24

Division 4 Sectional 3
Sectionals
Aquinas 69, Wisconsin Heights 59
Cuba City 60, Cambridge 42

Division 4 Sectional 4
Sectionals
Dominican 44, Kenosha Saint Joseph Catholic Academy 41
Saint Marys Springs 56, Howards Grove 47

Division 5 Section 1
Sectionals
McDonell Central 64, Flambeau 58
South Shore 61, Northwood 34

Division 5 Section 2
Sectionals
Assumption 56, Loyal 52
Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran 43, Niagara 38

Division 5 Section 3
Sectionals
Bangor 53, Cashton 36
Barneveld 53, River Ridge 31

Division 5 Secton 4
Sectionals
Fall River 49, Monticello 32
Sheboygan County Christian 59, Heritage Christian 56

MADISON –  Assembly leadership asked each speaker to stick to five minutes. But that didn’t always happen.

Nearly every speaker got a standing ovation.

Republican supporters say right-to-work will give workers more freedom.

State Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, (R) of New Berlin said, “All it does is give the worker the freedom or the choice to decide if they’re going to pay union dues.”

State Rep. Eric Genrich, (D) of Green Bay, disagrees, “To tear down working people and the organizations they’ve chosen for representation.  So you can beat your chest and wrap this bill in the language of freedom and liberty, but the tune you’re singing is hitting some false notes.”

There was also disagreement about the potential impact of the bill.

State Rep. Amanda Stuck, (D) of Appleton said, “Let’s be honest. Senate Bill 44 isn’t about availing anyone their right to work, it’s about defunding and ultimately smashing organized labor.”

“As I’ve talked to my Republican colleagues across the country when they enacted right to work, almost immediately they said it made unions stronger, because they had to stand up for workers, they actually had to be responsive to their membership,” said State Rep. Robin Vos, (R) Assembly Speaker.

Democrats say the bill will not just impact union workers.

“Higher wages and fringe benefits, safer conditions and more reasonable hours.  This bill is designed to reverse those gains,” said State Rep. Stuck.

But Republican supporters say having right to work in place, will make the state more attractive for businesses.

State Rep. Mike Kuglitsch, (R) of New Berlin said, “Does this bill lower wages? No. Does this bill take away any safety, OSHA, federal, state safety rules? No. Does this bill take away any training rights? No.”

Click here to follow the debate live in Madison throughout the evening.

 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed after he and his partner exchanged gunfire with two suspects trying to rob a video game store, city officials said Thursday.

The slain officer, Robert Wilson III, fired back even as he was being shot by suspects on either side of him. One was struck and taken to a hospital while the other was in custody, police said.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, red-eyed as he spoke at an evening news conference, said he had met the 30-year-old Wilson and his partner when they took part in a recent pilot program in which officers wore body cameras.

“I knew him, had met him. He was one of the best police officers this city has to offer, period,” Ramsey said, standing beside the mayor, the district attorney and other city officials.

It was not immediately clear if Wilson was wearing a body camera when he was shot at 4:44 p.m. Thursday, but authorities did seize video from store security cameras. He was shot multiple times. He was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. at Temple University Hospital.

His survivors include a 9-year-old son and 1-year-old child, Ramsey said.

Wilson and his partner were inside a GameStop, located in a North Philadelphia strip mall, when the two suspects entered and announced a robbery, Ramsey said. The partner also exchanged gunfire with the suspects, but was not shot. Both suspects have prior records, Ramsey said.

“This 9-year-old is going to grow up without a father because of what happened today,” Ramsey said. “This 1-year-old is going to grow up without a dad.”

Wilson was an eight-year veteran of the department.

“Our thoughts are with the officer,” said Joey Mooring, director of public relations at the Texas-based GameStop.

The last city officer killed, 40-year-old Moses Walker Jr., was fatally shot in an attempted robbery as he walked to a bus stop after an overnight shift in August 2012. His assailant was convicted of first-degree murder in December in a nonjury trial that spared a possible death sentence.

Police believe the suspects Thursday were armed with two guns.

“This senseless act is devastating and a stark reminder of the danger faced everyday by our brave men and women in uniform,” Gov. Tom Wolf said in a statement.

ASHWAUBENON – Elephants are being phased out of what’s known as the “Greatest Show on Earth.”

By 2018, The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus says it will no longer feature the animals.

The decision came among increasing public concern over how the elephants are treated. Ringling’s parent company owns 43 elephants. 13 are currently performing.

The other 29 live at the company’s 200-acre center for elephant conservation in Florida.

There are several circus companies in the United States. And one has performances starting tomorrow in our area.

However, the Shrine Circus still uses elephants. That has some people upset.

Area animal rights activists say they’re relieved to hear elephants will no longer perform under the big top at Ringling Brothers Circuses.

“It’s been overdue in getting rid of elephants in the circus because there is no need for elephants in the circus,” said Sally Anderson.

The Shrine Circus is in Ashwaubenon this weekend. We came out Thursday afternoon as crews began to set up. It said it has no plans to do away with its animal acts.

“We have people backstage that take care of those animals individually that have been doing this years and years and years. Our elephant trainer is third generation elephant trainer,” said Larry Clark, a performer in the Shrine Circus.

The Shriners produce the circus through an entertainment company George Carden International, which provides performers and animals. The three-ring performers in town told us the animals are well taken care of.

“Come the hour before, you can take a look for yourself. And see how we have it, watch them get fed. It is kind of tough though. We listen to it, because we think well maybe they know something that we don’t, but we live this life every day. I think we kind of know what we’re doing,” said Clark.

But animal rights supporters say the circus could go on without the animals. As in years past, they plan to protest outside the Brown County Arena this weekend.

“We’re not against the circus and the fundraiser for the Shriner’s. But they can certainly do it and get the money that they need for their organization without using animals,” said Anderson.

A representative from the local Beja Shriners told FOX 11 over the phone that the organization will not consider using a circus group without animals.

The Shrine Circus has performances tomorrow through Sunday.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Likely presidential candidate Scott Walker’s spokeswoman blasted Democrat Hillary Clinton on Thursday for using a personal email account during the four years she was secretary of state – even though the Wisconsin governor did something similar when he was Milwaukee County executive.

The State Department is reviewing a huge cache of Clinton’s emails for possible release after revelations she conducted official business as secretary of state using a private account. Walker used a private email account to communicate with aides over a secret router system installed in his county executive’s office in 2010.

“Hillary Clinton’s potential evasion of laws is something she should answer questions about,” said Kirsten Kukowski, spokeswoman for Walker’s political committee Our American Revival, in an email to The Associated Press. “Wisconsin has a strong open records law with a broad presumption of access to records and the governor has very specific policies in place in his office to assure that the laws are complied with fully.”

Before he was governor, Walker’s county executive staff set up the secret email system where Walker and others exchanged messages related to government business, campaign fundraising and politics. Two former Walker associates were convicted for campaigning on government time as part of an investigation that ended in 2013.

Tens of thousands of pages of emails collected by prosecutors as part of that investigation have been publicly released since the close of the probe. Walker was never charged or convicted as a result of the investigation.

Walker’s staff has said that no such secret network exists in the governor’s office. And Walker said last year that when he became governor in 2011 he created a “clear distinction between things that are political and official.”

Walker also instituted a policy in his office nearly a year into office, in November 2011, requiring that “any campaign work should be done away from the Capitol or state office building with your own phone, computer, and personal email.”

Clinton, in a departure from predecessors, relied exclusively on the private account for emails about government business. The emails were sent from a private computer server using an Internet address that traces back to Clinton’s family home in Chappaqua, New York.

On Wednesday, the House committee investigating the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, issued subpoenas for emails from Clinton. Republicans are calling for an investigation.

Liberal groups called Walker a hypocrite for criticizing Clinton – the probable Democratic presidential nominee.

“These cheap, political attacks are ignorant of Governor Walker’s record – and reality,” said Jessica Mackler, vice president of the liberal group American Bridge 21st Century.

GALENA, Ill. (AP) – A freight train loaded with crude oil derailed in northern Illinois, bursting into flames and prompting authorities to evacuate everyone within 1 mile.

Galena authorities say eight cars of the BNSF train derailed around 1:20 p.m. Thursday where the Galena River meets the Mississippi. Authorities said the evacuation didn’t affect many people. The derailment happened in a rural area about 3 miles from Galena.

The train had 103 cars loaded with crude oil, along with two buffer cars loaded with sand. Firefighters could only access the derailment site by a bike path. Galena Assistant Fire Chief Bob Conley said firefighters had to pull back for safety reasons and were allowing the fire to burn itself out.

BAGHDAD (AP) – Islamic State militants “bulldozed” the renowned archaeological site of the ancient city of Nimrud in northern Iraq on Thursday using heavy military vehicles, the government said.

A statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities didn’t elaborate on the extent of the damage, saying only that the group continues to “defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity” with this latest act, which came after an attack on the Mosul museum just days earlier.

The destruction of the site of one of ancient Mesopotamia’s greatest cities recalled the Taliban’s annihilation of large Buddha statues in Afghanistan more than a dozen years ago, experts said.

Nimrud was the second capital of Assyria, an ancient kingdom that began in about 900 B.C., partially in present-day Iraq, and became a great regional power. The city, which was destroyed in 612 B.C., is located on the Tigris River just south of Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul, which was captured by the Islamic State group in June.

The late 1980s discovery of treasures in Nimrud’s royal tombs was one of the 20th century’s most significant archaeological finds. After Iraq was invaded in 2003, archaeologists were relieved when they were found hidden in the country’s central Bank – in a secret vault-inside-a-vault submerged in sewage water.

The Islamic State extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming that they promote apostasy. Earlier this week, a video emerged on militant websites showing Islamic State militants with sledgehammers destroying ancient artifacts at the Mosul museum, sparking global outrage.

Last year, the militants destroyed the Mosque of the Prophet Younis – or Jonah – and the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, two revered ancient shrines in Mosul. They also threatened to destroy Mosul’s 850-year old Crooked Minaret, but residents surrounded the structure, preventing the militants from approaching.

Suzanne Bott, the heritage conservation project director for Iraq and Afghanistan in the University of Arizona’s College of Architecture, Planning and Archaeology, worked at Nimrud on and off for two years between 2008 and 2010. She helped stabilize structures and survey Nimrud for the U.S. State Department as part of a joint U.S. military and civilian unit.

She described Nimrud as one of four main Assyrian capital cities that practiced medicine, astrology, agriculture, trade and commerce, and had some of the earliest writings.

“It’s really called the cradle of Western civilization, that’s why this particular loss is so devastating,” Bott said. “What was left on site was stunning in the information it was able to convey about ancient life.

“People have compared it to King Tut’s tomb,” she said.

Iraq’s national museum in Baghdad opened its doors to the public last week for the first time in 12 years in a move Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said was to defy efforts “to destroy the heritage of mankind and Iraq’s civilization.”

The Islamic State group has imposed a harsh and violent version of Islamic law in the territories it controls and has terrorized religious minorities. It has released gruesome videos online showing the beheading of captives, including captured Western journalists and aid workers.

A U.S.-led coalition has been striking the group since August, and Iraqi forces launched an offensive this week to try to retake the militant-held city of Tikrit, on the main road linking Baghdad to Mosul.

Jack Green, chief curator of the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago and expert on Iraqi art, said Thursday that the IS group seems bent on destroying objects they view as idols representing religions and cultures that don’t conform to their beliefs.

“It’s the deliberate destruction of a heritage and its images, intended to erase history and the identity of the people of Iraq, whether in the past or the present,” Green said. “And it has a major impact on the heritage of the region.”

Green noted that in many of these attacks on art, pieces that can be carried away are then sold to fund the IS group, while the larger artifacts and sculptures are destroyed at the site.

___

Associated Press writers Verena Dobnik in New York and Amanda Myers in Washington contributed to this report.

DE PERE – The sun is a beautiful thing, and we are about to get more of it, but it does come at a price.

“To be honest, I am scared, simply because I’ll have to wake up earlier,” said Davis Cox, a sophomore at St. Norbert College.

Less sleep? Those are scary words on any college campus, St. Norbert in De Pere included.

“It’s kind of been a busy semester, so I probably will miss the extra hour, but I need to get to sleep earlier, so it’ll be a good kick in the butt,” said Megan Carpenter, freshman at St. Norbert College.

“Spreading out that loss over a number of days is going to be better on your body than just waiting until Saturday to absorb the loss,” said Donald Beno, a pediatrician for Aurora Baycare.

The time to prepare is now or possibly a day or two ago. Doctor Beno recommends hitting the hay 15 minutes earlier than the night before in the days leading up to the spring forward.

“Those that have more adjustment issues, the big thing is to take that little nap, power nap usually, 40 to 20 minutes,” said Beno. “You try to do it earlier in the day rather than bedtime as that will just keep you up late again.”

The clock change is also a good time to remember how much sleep you should be getting. For infants, 12 hours plus two naps is recommended. From there the naps and hours wind down. Toddlers through middle school aged children should get about 10 hours, with high school and adults getting 8 to 9 hours.

“With sleep in general, the number one thing is to get enough of it,” said Beno.

So with time change on the mind, will you actually adjust your sleep schedule accordingly?

“That’s a good question,” said Cox. “Probably not, because I don’t know. Life just gets away from me. I’ll be fine.”

Lucky for Cox and his sleepless peers, spring break is next week, leaving plenty of time to catch up on shut eye.

You have eight months to enjoy Daylight Saving Time. It ends the first Sunday in November.

GREEN BAY – According to students, their teachers can seem to know everything. But some area teachers didn’t know they would be presented with a Golden Apple.

FOX 11’s Michelle Melby surprised Golden Apple recipients in their classrooms Thursday afternoon.

The reactions were unpredictable.

For art teacher Sara Hoffmann of Pulaski Middle School, the moment was overwhelming, “This belongs to every teacher in this school and all of these awesome students, who I love, and the administration, the school district. I am so blessed, thank you.”

There were cheers and smiles when physical education instructor, Chris Wendorf of Sunnyside Elementary, got his Golden Apple.

“I feel extremely proud right now to receive such an award. It’s a great honor. When you think of all of the people that are nominated and to be one of the seven finalists, it’s really amazing. It’s a great feeling,” said Wendorf.

Kari Groeneveld got a great round of applause from her 3rd grade students, at Glenbrook Elementary, when she was surprised.

“I am.speechless. I am just so happy and so proud to be representing teachers. And my students they work so hard for me and I’m amazed. I’m amazed right now,” Groeneveld said.

It was a group hug for Elizabeth Ruh, who teaches physical education at Forest Glen Elementary school.

Her students were having a ball, when she was caught off guard.

“Let me catch my breath! I’m very proud. Because I work really hard for our school and our district. I do it for the kids. And I’m going to cry,” Ruh exclaimed.

It was a remarkable day, filled with smiles, hugs and golden apples.

The Golden Apple Awards are a program of the Greater Green Bay Chamber, and are sponsored by FOX 11, Associated Bank, Imperial, Humana, Schneider Foundation, Schreiber, The Press-Gazette, and the Shopko Foundation.

The Golden Apple Awards banquet is April 22 at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center. For information on registering to attend the event, call Carina Raddatz at 920-593-3419.

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Cottage Grove man is charged with setting a fire that destroyed the future home of a convicted sex offender.

Fifty-year-old Russell Speigle was charged Thursday with one felony count of arson. Speigle lives near the home, which burned on Feb. 22.

According to the complaint, Speigle bought two gasoline containers about a week before the fire. The complaint says the containers match the type police believe were used by the person who started the fire.

The fire destroyed the house where a 40-year-old sex offender was to live. The house also had sustained $90,000 damage in another fire in December after it was announced the offender would live there.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports Speigle’s signature bond was continued Thursday. Speigle will return to court on April 6.

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) – The father of a 3-year-old girl and his girlfriend will stand trial on charges in the toddler’s death in La Crosse County.

Medical examiner Vincent Tranchida testified Wednesday in court that Audryna Bartsh had suffered bleeding on the brain, a black eye and more than 4 dozen scrapes and bruises before she died Oct. 31. The toddler was also dehydrated and emaciated.

Thirty-year-old Dylan Bartsh and 24-year-old Jaymie Rundle are charged with child neglect resulting in death and physical abuse of a child. Bartsh and Rundle were living in Holmen. The La Crosse Tribune (http://bit.ly/1GnBVtz ) says they’re due back in court for arraignment Tuesday.

Bartsh’s attorney declined comment Thursday. A defense attorney for Rundle did not immediately respond to calls for comment.

Actor Harrison Ford, 72, was injured after the small plane he was piloting crashed at a California golf course.

Los Angeles fire officials say the single-engine plane went down at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday on the green at Penmar Golf Course in the Venice area of Los Angeles.

According to a news conference, his injuries are moderate and he has been hospitalized. First responders say he was alert and conscious.

A small plane lies where it crash-landed on Penmar Golf Course in the Venice area of Los Angeles on Thursday, March 5, 2015. The course is near the Santa Monica, Calif. Municipal Airport, just west of a runway, but there was no immediate confirmation on whether the plane had taken off or was trying to land. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

The plane appeared to be a World War II-era vintage training plane. It was mostly intact after the wreck, and Ford was the only person aboard.

Nobody on the ground was hurt, but people rushed the scene and started helping Ford.

Jeff Kuprycz was golfing when he saw the plane taking off.

“Immediately you could see the engine started to sputter and just cut out, and he banked sharply to the left,” he said. “He ended up crashing around the eighth hole.”

Kuprycz said the plane was about 200 feet overhead when it plunged to the ground.

“There was no explosion or anything. It just sounded like a car hitting the ground or a tree or something. Like that one little bang, and that was it,” Kuprycz said.

Ford is cast to play swashbuckling space-age soldier-of-fortune Han Solo in his fourth “Star Wars” movie, set for release in December.

The original “Star Wars” in 1977 made Ford an overnight star who remains an A-list actor with several colossal box office hits in his credits. He played whip-slinging archaeologist Indiana Jones in four movies in that series.

Ford was hospitalized in 2012 after injuring his ankle in an accident on the London set of “Star Wars: Episode VII.”

He’s been married since 2010 to “Ally McBeal” actress Calista Flockhart.

Ford got his pilot’s license in the late 1980s and has served as a spokesman to various airline associations. In 2009, he stepped down as chairman of a youth program for the Experimental Aircraft Association.

His flying made headlines in 2001 when he rescued a missing Boy Scout on his helicopter.

Nearly a year before, he rescued an ailing mountain climber in Jackson, Wyoming. He has also volunteered his services during forest-fire season, when rescue helicopter are busy fighting blazes.

The actor has said his rescues “had nothing to do with heroism.”

“It had to do with flying a helicopter. That’s all,” he said.

 

 

TOWNSEND – With temperatures expected to push close to 50 next week, an already abbreviated snowmobile season may soon be over.

But in some areas, the season never really began.

The sounds of snowmobiles filled the frigid air Thursday afternoon, near Townsend.

“Right now, they’re out riding, they’re having a good time,” said Joe Kampf, Red Arrow Snowmobile-ATV Club President.

Kampf’s group is one of nine snowmobile clubs that maintains more than 520 miles of trails in Oconto County.

“We’ve had a great season up there, for the small amount of snow that we’ve had. Mother Nature cooperated. We had some nice cold temperatures that held the snow that we had,” said Kampf.

But in other areas, it’s a much different, much quieter situation. In places like Brown County, the snowmobile trails have been closed all season long.

“No snow. Not enough to do anything. Not enough to groom. Not enough to ride on,” said Mike Tilleman, Brown County Snowmobile Alliance President.

Tilleman says he has ridden the 192 miles of trails in Brown County for 40 years.

“I can’t remember the last time that we’ve never opened some of the trails in Brown County. I’ve been able to open some. This is the first year that none of the trails in Brown County were ever opened that I can remember,” said Tilleman.

Tilleman says his snowmobiles are in storage.

“I haven’t taken mine out this year. They’re ready, but there hasn’t been any snow. So what do you do,” he said.

“The lack of snow in the southern area has really affected our area, because we did get a lot more traffic, and north of us, they had more traffic,” said Kampf.

But club leaders say the time on the Townsend trails may end this weekend.

“This time of the year, when we get the sun cooking, and the temperatures up, it does go very fast. So we’re looking at this could be the last “hoorah” for everyone to get up there, and do some riding,” said Kampf.

County leaders and area snowmobile clubs typically coordinate to figure out how long trails should stay open.

The Green Bay Packers have signed LB Josh Francis.

Francis, a 6-foot-0, 238-pound first-year player out of West Virginia, spent time with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League in 2014 and the Wichita Falls Nighthawks of the Indoor Football League in 2015. After two years at Lackawanna College (Pa.), Francis played two seasons for the Mountaineers (2011-12), starting 13 of 21 games played. He led the team with 15 tackles for loss in 2012.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Zully Broussard thought she was going to help one person by donating a kidney.

Instead, she helped six.

The Sacramento woman’s donation to a Benicia man set off an organ swap that resulted in five more sick people getting new kidneys Thursday at a San Francisco hospital. Three transplants were planned for Thursday, and the remaining three Friday.

“I thought I was going to help this one person who I don’t know, but the fact that so many people can have a life extension, that’s pretty big,” Broussard said.

Domino-like kidney swaps are still relatively new but are becoming increasingly common.

With a total of a dozen patients and donors, this week’s surgeries at the California Pacific Medical Center represent the largest kidney donation chain in its transplant center’s 44-year history, hospital spokesman Dean Fryer said. The patients at are between 24 to 70 years old, and most are from the San Francisco Bay Area.

Transplant chains are an option when donors are incompatible with relatives or friends who need kidneys.

In this case, six donors are instead giving kidneys to strangers found through a software matching program developed by 59-year-old David Jacobs, a kidney recipient whose brother died of kidney failure. Its algorithmic program finds potential matches using a person’s genetic profile.

Jacobs, of San Francisco, said he understands first-hand the despair of waiting for a deceased donor.

“Some of these people might have waited forever and never got the kidney,” he said. “But because of the magic of this technology and the one altruistic donor, she was able to save six lives in 24 hours.”

Fewer than 17,000 kidney transplants are performed in the U.S. each year, and between 5,000 and 6,000 are from living donors, considered the optimal kind.

Kidney swaps are considered one of the best bets at increasing live-donor transplants, and they are becoming more common as transplant centers form alliances to share willing patient-donor pairs. The United Network for Organ Sharing has a national pilot program underway.

In 2001, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, performed a transplant chain that started as a two-way kidney exchange and grew to 30 pairs.

Jacobs’ kidneys failed in early 2000 from a genetic disease. In late 2003, a living unrelated donor provided an organ for a transplant.

A new chance at life got him thinking.

“I talked to my doctor about kidney-paired donation. He was excited about the idea but didn’t know how to do it,” he recalled. “I was a tech person. I’ve been in technology my whole professional career. I thought of it as an enterprise software problem I could solve.”

He said the two months he imagined it would take to take to develop the software stretched into six years.

The National Kidney Foundation reports more than 100,000 people in the United States are awaiting kidneys, and 12 people die a day while waiting.

Broussard said her son died of cancer 13 years ago and her husband passed away 14 months ago, also from cancer.

Asked why she volunteered to donate a kidney to a stranger, the 55-year-old said: “I know what it feels like to want an extra day.”