Green Bay News

FOND DU LAC – Two lucky Chilton residents won the $1 million Powerball prize.

Dennis Brannon and Jody Kalinka bought the Saturday, Jan. 31 winning ticket from Kornell’s Prairie Express in Fond du Lac.

They will each take home $336,750.25 after taxes.

For selling the $1 million winning ticket, Kornell’s Prarie Express, located at 919 East Johnson Street, will receive a $20,000 commission.

Lottery retailers who sell winning tickets with prizes of $600 or more, earn 2 percent of the prize.

GREEN BAY – New development could be coming near Green Bay’s East Town Mall.

City leaders say U-Haul is proposing a $3.5 million project in an abandoned big-box store.

Near East Town Mall, the number of vacant storefronts rivals the number that are filled.

“It just gives a big negative message to the community or to anyone passing by that this area isn’t worth stopping in,” said Pat Fuge, owner of Gnome Games.

After spending five years inside East Town Mall, Gnome Games moved a few blocks away in 2012. To Fuge, the difference has been huge.

“On a scale of one to ten, about a 15,” said Fuge. “East Town Mall, for us, was a dead location.”

Fuge blames the mall’s foot traffic. A problem, he says became worse when nearby Kmart closed in 2009. Six empty years later, the old Kmart could now be the new U-Haul.

“Repurposing big box is a challenge,” said Jim Schmitt, Green Bay’s mayor. “That’s why you see some of these things being razed.”

The city has been marketing the area. Schmitt says he talked with Costco and Lowes about it, but neither was interested.

“I don’t think this is finally something, we’re going to jump at the first thing,” said Schmitt. “As I discussed, it’s a significant investment.”

In an email, Justin Kaminski, the president of U-Haul of Northern Wisconsin and the U.P. says the company “favors rehabilitating existing buildings in lieu of building new to preserve natural resources.”

The east side project still needs city approval, but would include climate controlled storage.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” said Fuge.

Behind the former Kmart, the old Cub Foods has sat empty for about as long. Mayor Schmitt says the catalyst to any development is East Town. The mall’s owners filed for bankruptcy a few years ago.

“I think it’s been difficult with some of the ownership changes we have had out there, but we’re committed to growth out on the east side,” said Schmitt.

Schmitt says he talked with mall leaders just last week and discussions continue about how to improve the area.

Mall managers told us they aren’t allowed to do interviews for news stories.

U-Haul is asking for a conditional use permit for the old Kmart building. The city’s plan commission is expected to make a recommendation next Monday.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel wants the Legislature’s budget committee to give the state Justice Department more positions in the state budget to deal with officer-involved death investigations.

Lawmakers signed a bill last year that requires outside agencies to lead investigations of officer-involved deaths. Attorney General Brad Schimel told the Joint Finance Committee on Monday that more agencies are turning to the DOJ to handle such investigations.

The agency asked Gov. Scott Walker to include funding for five new positions – three agents and two records specialists – to help with the workload. Walker didn’t include the request in his budget proposal.

Schimel told the finance committee that officer-involved death investigations are very time-consuming and asked the panel to reinstate the positions request.

Get out your red and white hat because Monday is Dr. Seuss’ birthday.

Also dubbed, “Read Across America Day,” students are encouraged to grab their favorite books.

But a lot has changed since books like “The Cat in the Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham” were first published.

At Meadowbrook Elementary School, in Howard FOX 11, wanted to find out if technology trumps paperback when it comes to reading.

It’s hard to find a classroom inside the school that doesn’t have some sort of technology in it.

From netbooks to student-assigned iPads, Meadowbrook Elementary embraces the digital age, especially when it comes to reading.

“It’s easier to read on your iPad because you don’t have to go through all the trouble like the library to find the book you want and it’s not there,” said 2nd grader Claire Brunette.

“You can do a lot more stuff on your iPad,” said 3rd grader Brayden Luedtke.

While some students prefer to swipe left to get to the next page, others would much rather flip through their favorite paper books.

“If you’re on your iPad, sometimes books, they won’t really load and then you have to go find another book and that may take a long time,” said 3rd grader Bryce Cowling.

“I read a lot in regular books. I like the challenge of some hard words,” said 1st grader Eliana Anderson.

While we can’t ask Dr. Seuss if he prefers something on a screen or print maybe a quote from one of his books reveals what’s most important – “The more that you read, the more things you will know.”

Students aren’t just required to read inside the classroom. Classes have to come to the library once a week for 30 minutes.

“When our 3rd and 4th graders are here, they bring their iPads and we do library skills and they use their iPads to look for books or read books online,” said Michelle Wick, a technology integration specialist for the school.

Wick works inside the school library and she says even with the latest technology checking out books is still popular among Meadowbrook students.

“They still read a lot of print books and often tell us that that is their favorite way to still read,” Wick said.

For now digital and print will continue to be intertwined because for Meadowbrook students, “the more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.”

If alive, Doctor Seuss would have turned 111-years old Monday.

Read Across America Day is in its 18th year.

ALGOMA – A familiar Lakeshore landmark may soon be owned by the City of Algoma.

The Algoma Pierhead Light is currently owned by the federal government.

It may cost the city nothing now, but there may be a bill, down the road.

Jeff Stangel says he bought his Algoma home four years ago for the view.

“I came inside here, and said, oh yeah, this is what it’s all about,” he said.

Stangel has a hilltop vantage point of the Algoma Pierhead Light.

The federal government owns the light, but wants to offer the Algoma lighthouse and several others like it, to organizations like local governments, non-profits, and historic preservation groups.

Mayor Wayne Schmidt says Algoma applied.

“Because it’s such an icon for the city, and part of our identity, we wanted to make sure that we could try to get ownership,” said Wayne Schmidt, Algoma Mayor.

Schmidt says he got an update last week.

“Number one, nobody else applied,” he said.

“The City of Algoma was the only one that put an application in. So, that being said, we should be able to retain ownership of the lighthouse,” said Schmidt.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will still owns, and maintains the light itself. Otherwise, the transfer of ownership will carry no cost.

As part of the deal, the mayor says the city has to maintain the structure. The Army Corps of Engineers painted the lighthouse last year.

“We’re figuring once it comes time to maintain it, the painting alone probably will be up in the area of $50,000 to have it sandblasted and everything,” said Schmidt.

The mayor says that could be 20 years down the road.

Meanwhile, people say they’re happy the pierhead light will stay.

“It’s such a tourist attraction. I can’t get over the people that come here, and take pictures, it’s almost every day,” said Elaine Wehausen, Algoma.

“We’re glad to have the lighthouse in home. Very happy about that,” said Beth Landry, Algoma.

“It’s a wonderful structure. It’s been there a long time, and hopefully it will be there again for a long time,” said Stangel.

The City says it could still take a couple months to work out the details. The mayor says due to the limited space inside the lighthouse, people will have to enjoy it from a safe distance.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is making his first trip to early primary state South Carolina later this month.

The South Carolina Republican Party announced Monday that Walker plans to attend fundraisers in four cities on March 19 and March 20.

Walker has been taking significant steps toward a likely presidential run, hiring key staff, courting donors nationwide and visiting important early primary states. He plans to return to Iowa this weekend and is headed to New Hampshire for the first time on March 14, just days before he goes to South Carolina.

Walker’s South Carolina itinerary includes a lunch in Columbia, a barbecue dinner in Greenville, a breakfast in Rock Hill and a lunch in Charleston.

He’s also expected to meet with Republican Gov. Nikki Haley.

ASHWAUBENON – The latest business to close near Lambeau Field is one of the first properties the team acquired west of the stadium. The Sideline Sports Bar closed on Sunday. Owner Kevin Burkel ran the bar for the last 15 years.

“It is very, very hard,” Burkel said of the bar’s closing.

Burkel sold the property to the Packers back in 2007 for $1.3 million. But he continued to operate the bar under a lease with the Packers. Burkel says last month, the Packers told him they weren’t interested in renewing the lease.

“I knew it was coming. I just didn’t know when,” Burkel said.

Sideline Sports Bar is the latest in a string of developments near the stadium. The Road Star Inn closed last month. The building that used to be home to the Blind Ref and Stadium Bakery was recently torn down.

Burkel says things near the stadium are picking up.

“I’ve seen its accelerated 1,000% from what it was,” he said.

“If you want to develop the area, at some time you’re going to have to pick up the pace and tear those buildings down,” said Ashwaubenon village president Mike Aubinger.

Aubinger expects the Packers to include both commercial and residential developments. He says he expects the Packers plans to be made public in the next few months.

“It’ll be a big boom for the area, not just Ashwaubenon but Brown County in general,” he said. “I can see where people would be excited about it because it’s going to be a big impact the community.”

Even though the Sideline Sports Bar is now closed, owner Kevin Burkel isn’t going far. A few years ago he opened another sports bar on the other side of the stadium called Burkel’s One Block Over. So he will still be keeping a close eye on the Packers developments.

“Whatever they have going on over here the way it’s accelerated over the last six months, there’s something coming soon,” Burkel said.

FOX 11 Investigates contacted the Packers and a spokesman said the team doesn’t have anything new to report about its plans.

“We have no specific updates at this time, but continue our planning process for the Titletown development west of Lambeau Field,” Packers spokesman Aaron Popkey said in an email.

Click here to see an interactive map of the Packers properties.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Guard Keifer Sykes has been selected as the Horizon League Player of the Year for a second straight season after leading the conference in scoring.

Sykes is the first player to win the honor in back-to-back seasons since Detroit’s Rashad Phillips in 2000-1.

Sykes averaged 18.5 points in leading the Phoenix to a 23-7 record. The senior is also averaging 4.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game.

Tony Bennett is the only other player in Green Bay’s Division I history to take the conference player of the year award twice, starting with the 1990-91 season.

Green Bay is the second seed in the league tournament which begins on Tuesday at campus sites. The Phoenix have a bye through the first two rounds, along with regular-season champion Valparaiso.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

APPLETON – Police are warning residents in the Fox Cities to check their credit card accounts after they arrested two men on multiple charges of identity theft on Feb. 27.

Police say Elston Howard, 32, of Miami Gardens, Florida and Christopher Trotter, 32, of South Holland, Illinois used credit cards encoded with stolen account information to make numerous purchases. Police said many of the victims live in the Fox Cities area.

If anyone has any information on these thefts or believe they’re a victim of identity theft in connection with this arrest, you can call Sgt. Whitney (920) 832-5548 or Sgt. Gleiss (920) 832-5516. You can submit your tip anonymously to Text-a-Tip by texting CRIMES (274-637) with the keyword APDTIPS at the start of your message.

The DNR is planning prescribed burns on public lands in Calumet and Manitowoc counties over the next four years.

The agency says the burns are set for seven sites in the Collins Marsh State Wildlife Area south of Reedsville, nine sites in the Killsnake State Wildlife Area east of Chilton and 10 sites in the Brillion State Wildlife Area between Hilbert and Brillion. Burns are set to begin this spring and end in winter 2018. They can be held any time of year, depending on weather and the goals of each burn, among other factors.

The DNR says periodic fires are needed to maintain biodiversity, set back woody vegetation in grasslands and control invasive weed species.

Comments or questions can be directed to Natanya Hayden, DNR wildlife biologist, 2220 East County Rd V, Mishicot, WI 54228 or by phone at 920-755-4983. Comments are due March 13.

DALLAS (AP) – The Dallas hospital that treated the first patient to be diagnosed in the U.S. with Ebola lied to Congress when it said its staff was trained to handle the deadly virus, a nurse who contracted the disease contends in a lawsuit filed Monday.

Nina Pham, who was an intensive care unit nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, says after being told last fall that she would be treating a patient suspected of having Ebola, “the sum total” of information she was given to protect herself was “what her manager ‘Googled’ and printed out from the Internet.”

She says in her lawsuit that the day after getting that information, the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, tested positive for the disease. Duncan, who contracted Ebola in his native Liberia but started showing symptoms during a trip to the U.S., later died at the hospital. Pham, 26, and another nurse who treated Duncan, Amber Vinson, contracted the disease but recovered.

In a statement released through her lawyers, Pham said she felt she had no choice but to sue the hospital’s parent company, Texas Health Resources. “I was hoping that THR would be more open and honest about everything that happened at the hospital, and the things they didn’t do that led to me getting infected with Ebola,” she said.

Wendell Watson, a company spokesman, said Texas Health Resources is optimistic that the matter can be resolved. He would not address specific allegations in the lawsuit about statements a hospital official made to Congress.

The lawsuit describes a chaotic situation at the hospital, where nurses scrambled to decide what kind of personal protective equipment to wear “without any formal guidance or training” from their supervisors. The lawsuit says Texas Health Resources “wholly failed to ensure that appropriate policies, procedures, and equipment were in place.”

Clear drop cloths were taped to the ceiling and walls of the hallway to create a makeshift containment facility, nurses had to dispose of hazardous waste – a job they weren’t trained for – and hazardous material placed in the room next to Duncan’s was allowed to pile up, the lawsuit alleges.

On the first day Pham treated Duncan, when Ebola was suspected but not yet diagnosed, she wore a regular isolation gown, double gloves, a surgical mask with a plastic shield a double booties. She says her hair and neck were exposed and that she wasn’t given disposable scrubs or a change of clothes to wear home, so she went home in the scrubs she wore while treating Duncan.

After his diagnosis, nurses put on hazmat suits with double gloves and added “chemo gloves” and taped them to the suit. They also added a personal respirator they covered with a gown. These decisions, the lawsuit said, were made without any guidance or training by supervisors.

Pham says that after Duncan died, she was told that what she had worn was safe and that she had no risk of contracting Ebola. So, confident in what hospital officials told her, she spent time with friends and family.

Pham also accuses Dr. Daniel Varga, the chief clinical officer and a senior executive vice president for Texas Health Resources, of making “numerous patently false statements” in testimony he gave to a congressional subcommittee. She says he falsely claimed that the hospital was trained to manage Ebola and that he misrepresented the type of protective equipment that nurses wore at various times while caring for Duncan.

Varga testified that as the Ebola epidemic worsened over the summer, the hospital system began educating doctors, nurses and other staff on the virus’ symptoms and risk factors. He said that included directing all hospitals to have a plan on how to care for patients with Ebola-like symptoms.

A hospital statement from Oct. 1, 2014, the day after Duncan tested positive, stated that it had “a robust infection control system and our staff is trained and prepared to take care of patients with a variety of infectious diseases,” including Ebola.

Pham’s allegations echo those of other nurses. Nurse Briana Aguirre told NBC’s “Today” show in the fall that when their infectious disease department was asked about protocol, the response was that they didn’t know and would get back to them. National Nurses United, the nation’s largest nurse’s union, said in the fall that staff treated Duncan for days without the correct protective gear, that hazardous waste piled up the ceiling and that protocols constantly changed.

In her lawsuit, Pham also contends that she was an unwitting pawn in its public relations campaign to restore its reputation. She says she is worried about her long-term health, and that she doubts she’ll ever return to being a critical care nurse again because of the stress and anxiety of the trauma she experienced and the “fear and stigma” that follow her.

Vinson’s attorney, Steve Malouf, said he had no comment on whether or not Vinson also planned to sue the hospital system.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to nearly 16,000 members of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee in Washington Monday at this year’s Policy Conference.

AIPAC is a Pro-Israel Lobbying Group with about 100,000 members nationwide.

His speech comes one day before he is scheduled to address members of Congress, urging them not to allow a deal with Iran, which Israel says is not to be trusted.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Switzerland meaning with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to try to make progress on a plan which supporters say could lead to a more peaceful middle east and relax sanctions on the struggling country.

Netanyahu told the packed DC Convention Center he feels he and President Obama have differences on how to best deal with the Islamic Republic.

“I have a moral obligation to speak up on these dangers while there is time to avert them,” Netanyahu said.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, vowed any future deal with Iran would not involve nuclear weapons.

The United States of America will not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon – period,” Power said at AIPAC.

But many in attendance did not agree.

“The deal that the administration is pursuing at the moment would allow Iran to have the capacity to build not just one nuclear weapon but dozens of nuclear weapons,” said Josh Block, CEO of The Israel Project.

But Block added that the differences should not overshadow the strong relationship between the two countries.

“The relationship itself is extremely strong, extremely durable.” Block said.

And Democratic Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) agrees the two countries should work things out, considering their long relationship.

“I think unfortunately politics has gotten put ahead of this issue,” Himes said.

ASHWAUBENON – Ashwaubenon-based Shopko is expanding by opening 20 new hometown stores outside of Wisconsin.

Stores will be added throughout the states of Colorado, Indiana, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, Kansas and Texas.

Shopko currently has 178 hometown stores.

Company officials say the new stores, much like its current hometown stores, will be in more rural areas.

Senior vice president, Jeff Csuy says, “Hometown markets did even better than our Shopko Big Box. Again, there is not a lot of competition in those markets. We really fulfill a need and again, when she can save time and money and stay right in that market, she is going to do that. So Shopko is good, Hometown is even better.”

Grand openings for the new locations are planned for later this month.

Once the addition of the 20 stores is complete, the company plans to add more Shopko Hometown stores in the second half of 2015 and into 2016.

SAUK COUNTY – Wisconsin’s most visited state park is now recognized on a national list of historic places.

Devil’s Lake State Park, in Sauk County, is not only the most visited park in the state, but it’s also the largest.

Last year, the park was nominated to be listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places.

Devil’s Lake is the second Wisconsin Park to receive this designation. The first was Copper Falls in Ashland County, in 2005.

Devil’s Lake became a state park in 1911.

NEW YORK (AP) – The last time the Nasdaq was this high, Bill Clinton was president, your Internet was probably still dial-up, Microsoft dominated the tech world and the iPod, iPhone and iPad didn’t exist.

Fifteen years later the Nasdaq has again closed above 5,000 and is close to topping its record from the dot-com boom. The index has clawed back, riding a six-year bull market, and is now 40 points from its all-time closing high of 5,048.62 reached March 10, 2000.

But this isn’t the Nasdaq of Pets.com and Webvan, when companies were valued on “cash burn rates” and “eyeballs.”

“Certainly, the Nasdaq at 5,000 conjures up images of a tech bubble,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank. “But we’ve had time for business profits to grow into those crazy expectations 15 years ago.”

As the tech-mania took hold, investors pushed up the prices of all kinds of internet-related stocks. Some were never profitable and disappeared. Others, like Priceline.com and Amazon, have survived and prospered.

On Monday, the index climbed 44.57 points, or 0.9 percent, to 5,008.10. The index is up 5.7 percent this year, the best performance among major U.S. stock indexes. One caveat: taking the effect of inflation into account, the index would have to rise much further to match its highs from the dot-com era.

The Nasdaq, while still focused on technology companies, is a little more diversified than it was back then. And while the index, which tracks 2,500-plus stocks, has been steadily climbing since 2011, its ascent isn’t the crazed surge that preceded its last record close.

Here’s a look at the Nasdaq then and now.

THE DRIVERS:

– Now

The Nasdaq’s current rise has been driven by technology and health care. In a slow-growth world, investors favor industries where earnings will be better than average. This pair qualifies. Tech stocks are poised to benefit as companies increase their spending on equipment and software to cut costs and improve productivity. Health care stocks have been climbing as investors bet that biotechnology companies will discover the next blockbuster drug.

Together, tech and health account for almost two thirds of the Nasdaq’s market value.

“Stocks follow earnings, and both tech and health care have been standouts,” said Jim McDonald, chief investment officer at Northern Trust.

One stock in particular holds sway over the Nasdaq: Apple. Its market value has surged to over $750 billion from $22.5 billion in March 2000. The company accounts for 10 percent of the Nasdaq’s market value.

Powered by tech and health care, the Nasdaq has climbed 15 percent over the past year, a more tempered rise than the 109 percent surge in the year before its last peak in 2000.

– Then

The Nasdaq had a much heavier tech-focus in 2000. At its peak, tech stocks made up 65 percent of the index compared with 43 percent today. Telecommunication companies were also a big component, accounting for 12 percent of the index’s market value versus 0.8 percent now.

The biggest stock in the index was Microsoft with a market valuation of $525 billion. Apple had yet to release the iPod, iPhone or the iPad.

HOW EXPENSIVE ARE STOCKS?

– Now

The price-earnings ratio of the Nasdaq, a measure of how much investors are willing to pay for every dollar of earnings the companies in the index generate, is 20.

– Then

When the Nasdaq was at its highest, its price-earnings ratio reached 194.

Valuations placed on tech stocks were “off the charts,” says Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist at asset manager BlackRock.

BROADER STOCK MARKET:

– Now

Like the Nasdaq, both the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones industrial average are trading at record highs, underpinned by record company earnings and optimism that the economy will continue to strengthen gradually.

-Then

The S&P 500 was also surging in 2000, rising with the internet bubble. The S&P 500 peaked at its then-record close of 1,527.35, on March 24, 2000. The Dow closed at a record of 11,722.98 on Jan. 14, 2000.

NASDAQ HEAVYWEIGHTS:

– Now

Apple is the titan and Microsoft is a distant second with a market value of $361 billion. Google, Amazon and Facebook round out the top five. The top 20, however, also includes Starbucks, pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts and retailer Costco.

-Then

When the Nasdaq reached its record in 2000, Microsoft was the biggest company in the index. Cisco, Intel, Oracle and Sun Microsystems completed the top five. The biggest 20 companies in the index were in technology or telecommunications.

THE ECONOMY:

– Now

The U.S. economy is slowly recovering from the financial crisis and Great Recession. Even with a slowdown in growth to 2.2 percent in the final quarter of last year, many economists forecast an expansion above 3 percent in 2015. Hiring is picking up and the unemployment rate, now at 5.7 percent, is falling. Economists expect steady, if not spectacular growth.

-Then

Optimism over the economy was high. The Federal government had recorded its largest budget surplus in nearly 50 years in 1998. At the end of 1999 the U.S. economy grew at a rate of 7.1 percent, and the unemployment rate stood at 4 percent. The first chapter of the Economic Report of the President, published in February of 2000, was entitled “Sustaining a Record-Breaking Expansion.”

CORPORATE EARNINGS:

– Now

Company earnings have been rising steadily since the Great Recession and are at record levels. Earnings for the average S&P 500 company are forecast to increase by 1.5 percent this year, according to S&P Capital IQ.

-Then

Company earnings surged in 2000. The average S&P 500 company increased its earnings by almost 12 percent. The hangover came a year later though, when earnings slumped by 19 percent.

ALSO HOT:

-Now

Beyonce is one of the world’s biggest artists. “Fifty Shades of Grey,” is a box office hit and “Birdman” took the Oscar for best picture.

– Then

Beyonce was starting to make a name for herself as a member of Destiny’s Child. Britney Spears was generating hit after hit from her debut album. And the Star Wars franchise had returned with the “The Phantom Menace.”

ATLANTA (AP) The only woman on Georgia’s death row will become the first female to be executed in 70 years in the state Monday unless the U.S. Supreme Court or the state parole board steps in with a last-minute reprieve.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner, 46, is scheduled to die by injection of pentobarbital at 7 p.m. at the state prison in Jackson for the February 1997 murder of her husband, Douglas Gissendaner.

The courts found she plotted the stabbing death of her husband by her boyfriend, Gregory Owen, who will be up for parole in eight years after accepting a life sentence and testifying against her.

Gissendaner would be only the 16th woman put to death nationwide since the Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to resume in 1976. About 1,400 men have been executed since then, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only entity authorized to commute a death sentence, denied clemency last week, but her lawyers urged them Monday to reconsider and “bestow mercy” by commuting her sentence to life without parole.

Also still pending is a response from the Supreme Court after an appellate court rejected her lawyers’ request for a delay on the grounds that Georgia’s lethal injection procedures aren’t transparent enough to be challenged in court.

Kelly and Douglas Gissendaner had a troubled relationship, repeatedly splitting up and getting back together, divorcing and remarrying. She was a 28-year-old mother of three children, 12, 7 and 5 years old. And she had an on-again, off-again lover in Owen.

In prison, Gissendaner eventually took responsibility: Rather than divorcing her husband again, she pushed Owen to kill him. Acting on her instructions, Owen ambushed her husband while she went out dancing with friends, and forced him to drive to a remote area. Then he marched him into the woods and stabbed him multiple times, prosecutors said.

Owen and Gissendaner then met up and set fire to the dead man’s car in an attempted cover-up, and both initially denied involvement, but Owen eventually confessed and testified against his former girlfriend.

Her lawyers challenged the constitutionality of her sentence as disproportionate, given that she wasn’t there when Owen killed her husband, and yet Owen will eventually be eligible for parole. But Georgia’s Supreme Court voted 5-2 Monday to deny her motion, citing Owen’s testimony that she pushed for murder rather than divorce so that she could get her husband’s insurance money.

In their request Monday for reconsideration, Gissendaner’s lawyers said the parole board did not have a chance to hear the overwhelmingly positive testimony of many corrections employees who declined to speak up for fear of retaliation.

Her clemency petition already included testimonials from dozens of spiritual advisers, inmates and prison staff who described a seriously damaged woman transformed through faith behind bars. She has shown remorse and provided hope to struggling inmates while helping guards maintain control, they said.

“The spiritual transformation and depth of faith that Ms. Gissendaner demonstrates and practices is a deep and sincere expression of a personal relationship with God,” Prison chaplain Susan Bishop wrote. “It is not a superficial religious experience.”

Two of Gissendaner’s three children also asked the board to spare their mother’s life, describing their own emotional journey from anger and bitterness to forgiveness.

“The impact of losing my mother would be devastating. I can’t fathom losing another parent,” wrote her daughter, Kayla Gissendaner. “My mom has touched so many lives. Executing her doesn’t bring justice or peace to me or to anyone. It will only bring more pain and destruction.”

But it also has been “a long, hard, heartbreaking road” for Douglas Gissendaner’s parents and sister, and they have made it clear they want the execution to go forward, the Gwinnett County district attorney’s office said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – For its next technological trick, Google will show you what it’s like to zip through trees in the Amazon jungle.

The images released Monday are the latest addition to the diverse collection of photos supplementing Google’s widely used digital maps. The maps’ “Street View” option mostly provides panoramic views of cities and neighborhoods photographed by car-mounted cameras, but Google also has found creative ways to depict exotic locations where there are no roads.

In its latest foray into the wilderness, Google teamed up with environmental protection group Amazonas Sustainable Foundation, or FAS, to explore a remote part of an Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Google Inc. lent FAS its Trekker device, a camera mounted on an apparatus originally designed to be carried like a backpack by hikers walking on trails.

FAS, though, sent the Trekker down a zip line. Google is renowned for going out on a technological limb, but even this project made the company nervous at first, said Karin Tuxen-Bettman, who oversees Google’s Street View partnerships.

The setup required FAS workers to tread through the rainforest to find a place where they could string the zip line so the Trekker wouldn’t bump into tree trunks and branches as it zoomed through the thick canopy. With the help of some monkeys who joined their scouting expedition, FAS workers found just enough room to erect a zip line for the Trekker’s roughly 65-yard trip.

“One of the things that I love about working at Google is that if a partner comes to us with a crazy idea, we will probably try it,” Tuxen-Bettman said.

Since Google developed the Trekker camera in 2012, the device has been dispatched on other unusual journeys. The Trekker went scuba diving in the Galápagos Islands to take underwater photographs of the preserve, and traveled on a dog sled in the Canadian Artic to photograph the tundra.

Google’s Street View feature has raised privacy concerns through the years because its photographs have occasionally captured images of unsuspecting bystanders engaged in embarrassing activities or near places where they didn’t want to be seen. Cars carrying Street View cameras also secretly vacuumed up emails and other personal information transmitted over unsecure Wi-Fi networks from 2007 to 2010, sparking outrage and legal action around the world.

Privacy issues shouldn’t be an issue in any of the photography taken by the zip-lining Trekker. Birds and insects are the only visible forms of life in the pictures it took.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Former rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight told a judge that he is suffering from blindness and other health complications moments before he was taken to a hospital Monday morning.

Knight told Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Brandlin that he had fired attorneys handling his murder case and was receiving inadequate medical treatment while in custody.

The Death Row Records co-founder said he was blind in one eye and had only about 15 percent vision in his other eye during a brief court appearance on Monday. Knight said he was having difficulty comprehending the proceedings and told the judge he had been shot six times last year and had a blood clot in his lungs and other complications. He also said he had lost 35 pounds as a result of his injuries.

Brandlin transferred Knight’s case to another judge, and he was taken for medical care before his case could be called in Judge Ronald Coen’s courtroom. Coen said before calling the case that Knight had been taken to a hospital, but he did not elaborate.

Knight has pleaded not guilty to murder, attempted murder and hit-and-run charges after he struck two men with his truck, killing one, on Jan. 29. He remains held without bail.

Attorney David Kenner, who has represented Knight since the case was filed, told Coen that his client has been jailed too long and a hearing to set bail should be convened as soon as possible. Coen ordered another hearing for Knight on March 9.

Knight said he had fired Kenner and his law partner, telling Brandlin, “I fired these lawyers.”

Monday’s hearing marks the third time Knight has been taken from a courthouse for medical care since he was charged with murder in early February.

Knight repeatedly tried to speak during the hearing in Brandlin’s courtroom, but the judge admonished him not to interrupt. Knight said down and muttered an expletive while Brandlin quickly concluded the proceedings. Knight wore orange jail attire and glasses during the hearing, and spoke while flanked by deputies.

Knight was shot six times at a nightclub in August. Within days of his release from the hospital, he was accused by a celebrity photographer of stealing her camera.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — A blind dog who wandered away from her Ester, Alaska, home during a cold snap has been reunited with her owner.

The 11-year-old Labrador retriever named Madera ventured away from home on Feb. 6, when the temperature dipped to 40 degrees below zero.

Her owner, Ed Davis, said he didn’t expect to find her alive. “My best hope was to walk those trails and look for a track that might be hers,” he said. “My best hope was to find a frozen dog.”

A man riding a bike accompanied by a bell-wearing dog located Madera in the woods last week, about a half-mile from the Davis’ home, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. Madera let out a whine when she heard the dog’s bell.

Davis said his dog lost 14 pounds but was, overall, healthy.

The man who rescued her, Constantine Khrulev, asked for the $100 reward money to go to the Fairbanks Animal Shelter Fund. Davis was so impressed by the gesture that he increased the donation to $250.

Madera is completely blind because of an autoimmune disease.

This isn’t the only tale of a lost, blind dog to end happily in Fairbanks in recent years: A blind 8-year-old dog named Abby walked more than 10 miles in 2012 from her home in the Two River area before she was rescued.

MADISON (AP) – Likely 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker is headed back to Iowa for an agriculture summit this weekend and fundraiser next month.

Walker is scheduled to be one of several potential presidential candidates speaking at the Iowa Ag Summit on Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are among those eyeing the White House who are also slated to appear at Saturday’s ag-focused summit.

In April, Walker is scheduled to return to Iowa to headline a multi-county fundraiser on the campus of Northwester Iowa Community College.

That is the night before Walker is to speak at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition spring kickoff event on April 25.