Green Bay News

The photo of this dress is sparking a debate online.

And it’s all over the color.

What color do you think it is?

Some people say it’s white and gold when they look at it.

Others look at the same picture, and see it as blue and black.

It might just be your eyes playing tricks on you.

The woman who initially posted the picture says the dress is actually blue and black.

GREEN BAY- After a frigid start to the day with temperatures near -7 and wind chills to -20, we’ll see lots of sunshine with a high near 17 and west/southwest wind at 5 to 12 mph.

As you start the weekend, Saturday morning’s temperature at 6 a.m. will be -4 with a wind chill near -15.

Saturday warms up a bit with mostly sunny skies and a high of 20.

Some light snow is possible on Sunday with mostly cloudy skies otherwise. Highs will be in the mid 20s. The snow may accumulate about an inch in some areas.

PLYMOUTH- Firefighters are battling a structure fire in Plymouth.

The fire broke out around 3 a.m. Friday on Eastern Avenue.

We will continue to follow this story and bring you updates as we learn them.

Keifer Sykes poured in a career-high 36 points as the Green Bay men’s basketball team held off UIC 72-67 Thursday night.

In his final homecoming, the senior had one of his biggest performances for the Phoenix. Tied at 61 with 2:54 to play, the guard gave his team back the lead with a lay up and added seven free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.

The Chicago native also eclipsed the 2,000 career point total in the contest, becoming only the second player in program history to hit the milestone.

High school teammate Alfonzo McKinnie, finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds. With the victory, the Phoenix still hold an outside chance at sharing the Horizon League championship. The team is now 22-7 overall and 11-4 in conference play.

Green Bay returns to action Saturday, when they host Oakland at the Resch Center. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.

 

After falling to Oakland earlier this season, the Green Bay women’s basketball evened the score Thursday night, defeating the Grizzlies 70-55.

After starting slowly in their previous meeting, the Phoenix shot 55.2 percent in the first half and took an 18-point lead into the break. It was an advantage they would not squander in the final 20 minutes.

It was a big night for sophomore standout performances as Sam Terry led the team with 16 points. Fellow classmate Tesha Buck added 15 points and eight assists.

With the victory, Green Bay clinches the outright Horizon League regular season title for the 15th time in the past 17 seasons The team is now 23-4 overall and 13-1 in conference play.

The Phoenix return to action Saturday afternoon when they travel to Youngstown State. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.

 

As the applause from his speech died down, Governor Walker quickly began taking questions from the crowd.

The first question:

“Would like to know, should you become commander in chief, how would you deal with threats such as ISIS?” asked a designated speaker from the American Conservative Union.

But it’s his answer to that question that isn’t sitting well with Democrats in the state.
This, in part, was his answer.

“I want a commander in chief who will do everything in their power to ensure that the threat from radical Islamic terrorists do not wash up on American soil. We will have someone who leads and ultimately will send a message that we will not only protect American soil but do not take this upon freedom loving people anywhere else in the world. We need a leader with this kind of confidence. If I can take on 100 thousand protestors, I could do the same across the world,” said Walker.

The “100 thousand protesters” references the crowds that gathered at the capitol against Walker’s Act 10 legislation in 2011. Democrats in that state say Walker’s response was inappropriate.

“I think it’s absolutely stunning, even by Scott Walker’s standards that he would compare the hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin, or working families, to radical and violent terrorists, you know simply because he disagrees with them. I just think it’s absolutely appalling that he would compare Wisconsin families to terrorists,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Spokesperson Melissa Baldauff told FOX 11’s Kelly Schlicht over the phone.

Walker later stood by his statement, but said, it was misinterpreted by the media.

“You’ll all misconstrue things the way you see fit, but I think it’s pretty clear that’s the closest thing I have in terms of handling a difficult situation, not that there’s any parallel between the two,” said Walker.

But state democrats have another view.

“I think that the governor is really appealing to the most extreme right wing of the Republican party, as he courts the nomination for president,” said Baldauff.

During his speech Thursday, Walker maintained he hasn’t made a decision whether to run for President in 2016.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich, who had recently launched a Republican campaign for governor, fatally shot himself Thursday in what police described as an “apparent suicide,” minutes after inviting reporters to his suburban St. Louis home for an interview.

Schweich’s death stunned many of Missouri’s top elected officials, who described him as a “brilliant” and “devoted” public servant with an “unblemished record” in office. Just 13 minutes before police got an emergency call from his home, Schweich had a phone conversation with The Associated Press about his plans to go public that afternoon with allegations that the head of the Missouri Republican Party had made anti-Semitic comments about him.

Flags around the Missouri Capitol complex in Jefferson City were lowered to half staff Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, after the death of State Auditor Tom Schweich, who died Thursday morning. Police in suburban St. Louis are calling the death of Schweich an “apparent suicide.” (AP Photo/The Jefferson City News-Tribune, Julie Smith)

The state GOP chairman denied doing so in an interview later Thursday.

Schweich had Jewish ancestry but attended an Episcopal church. Spokesman Spence Jackson said his boss had recently appeared upset about the comments people were supposedly making about his religious faith and about a recent radio ad describing Schweich as “a weak candidate for governor” who “could be easily confused for the deputy sheriff of Mayberry” and could “be manipulated.”

“The campaign had been difficult, as all campaigns are,” Jackson said. “There were a lot of things that were on his mind.”

But Jackson said Schweich had been diligently going about his work, with another audit scheduled to be released next week.

Clayton Police Chief Kevin Murphy said Schweich was pronounced dead at a hospital from a single gunshot after paramedics responded to the emergency call.

“Everything at this point does suggest that it is an apparent suicide,” Murphy said, adding that an autopsy would be conducted Friday.

Schweich was 54. He had been in office since January 2011 and had easily won election in November to a second, four-year term. He announced a month ago that he was seeking the Republican nomination for governor in 2016, and was gearing up for an expected primary fight against Catherine Hanaway, a former U.S. attorney and Missouri House speaker.

Naturally high-strung, Schweich seemed unusually agitated – his voice sometimes quivering and his legs and hands shaking – when he told an AP reporter on Monday that he wanted to hold a press conference to allege that Missouri Republican Party Chairman John Hancock had made anti-Semitic remarks about him.

Schweich postponed a planned press conference Tuesday. But he called the AP at 9:16 a.m. Thursday inviting an AP reporter to his home for a 2:30 p.m. interview and noting that a reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch also had been invited. An AP reporter spoke with Schweich by phone again at 9:35 a.m. to confirm the upcoming interview.

Police say the emergency call to Schweich’s house was received at 9:48 a.m.

In conversations with the AP, Schweich said he had heard that Hancock had been making phone calls last fall in which he mentioned in an off-handed way that Schweich was Jewish. Schweich said he felt the comments were anti-Semitic and wanted Hancock to resign the party chairmanship to which he had been elected last Saturday.

Hancock told the AP on Thursday that Schweich had talked to him about the alleged comments last November, but not since then.  Hancock, who is a political consultant, said he held meetings last fall with prospective donors for a project to register Catholic voters. Hancock said that if he had mentioned that Schweich was Jewish, it would have been in the context that Hanaway was Catholic but that was no indication of how Catholics were likely to vote.

“I don’t have a specific recollection of having said that, but it’s plausible that I would have told somebody that Tom was Jewish because I thought he was, but I wouldn’t have said it in a derogatory or demeaning fashion,” Hancock said.

At the Capitol early Thursday afternoon, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder joined lawmakers in the House chamber for a brief prayer service remembering Schweich.

Hanaway said in a statement that she was “deeply saddened” by Schweich’s death and described him as “an extraordinary man with an extraordinary record of service to our state and nation. ”

Schweich made his political debut in 2009. He had initially considered running for the seat being vacated in 2010 by Republican U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, and he had the encouragement of his mentor, former U.S. Sen. John Danforth. But Schweich defered to Rep. Roy Blunt to avoid a divisive GOP Senate primary and instead challenged and defeated Democratic State Auditor Susan Montee in the 2010 election.

Schweich spent last weekend wooing fellow Republicans during the state GOP’s annual conference in Kansas City. He spoke energetically, frequently touting his work rooting out government waste and corruption as auditor.

But he also emphasized charity, citing his Christian beliefs as a source of compassion and promising to cut back on government spending and misuse without hurting the poor.

“Part of being a Christian is you gotta help people,” Schweich said while speaking to about a dozen members of the Missouri Republican Assembly on Saturday, his wife watching from the back of a small conference room in the Kansas City Marriott Downtown.

Later that day he scooped dollops of ice cream for supporters until his hands hurt.

Schweich was Danforth’s chief of staff for the 1999 federal investigation into the deadly government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and followed Danforth to the United Nations, where he was chief of staff for the U.S. delegation.

President George W. Bush appointed Schweich to the State Department in 2005 as an international law enforcement official. Two years later, Bush picked Schweich to coordinate the anti-drug and justice reform efforts in Afghanistan.

___

Associated Press reporters Summer Ballentine and Marie French in Jefferson City and Alan Scher Zagier in Clayton contributed to this report.

DE PERE – Tonight is the night for seniors to shine at De Pere High School’s boys basketball game, and the team’s manager is no exception.

De Pere High School student Nate Wagner (middle) smiles for the camera with classmates. (De Pere High School)

Nate Wagner, who has down syndrome, has served as the team’s manager since he was a freshman. His role recently changed though to player.

Last Friday was the first time Wagner played in a game. He even took a shot.

Before tonight’s big game, he had a message for his senior teammates.

“I love you guys so much,” said Wagner. “Thanks for the four years together. We had fun together. Cherish the memory together and go Badgers.”

Brian Winchester, the coach of the team, said the hope is to get Wagner in the game tonight.

FOX 11’s Ben Krumholz is at the game and will have an update tonight on FOX 11 News at Nine.

DE PERE — After 38 seasons coaching St. Norbert women’s basketball, Connie Tilley knows what it takes to succeed in the postseason, as she gets her team ready to host the Midwest Conference Tournament: you need good players, a good gameplan and, of course, good soft pretzels.

“Pretzels are the biggest sellers,” said Tilley.

The coach, with a court bearing her name at Schuldes Sports Center, does a lot for her team in addition to coach; notably, she shops for the food and other items needed at the concession stand during games, making weekly stops at Sam’s Club and Wal-Mart. She also deals with the Pepsi and other vendors and even does some cooking herself.

“Making the taco meat is probably the worst thing, then cutting the onions,” said Tilley. “For me it’s horrible.”

Tilley runs the concession stands to raise money for her team. The hamburgers sold turn into things for her team they wouldn’t otherwise get at D-III St. Norbert, like shoes, travel bags and travel suits. The big goal is to take a trip with the team in an upcoming season.

“Every year they’re like, OK, we have to cut back a little bit on this, cut back on that,” said Tilley.” Providing an opportunity for my players and stuff like that to enjoy things and not have to spend money on travel suits and bags and shoes, that kind of stuff is a real plus.”

Tilley says she doesn’t stress her players by asking them to volunteer to much — she’s rather them focus on academics and basketball — but players do help out when they can and appreciate what their veteran coach does.

“It shows a lot of how much she cares,” said senior forward Tasha Giese. “We know she loves us because it takes a lot of time.”

Tilley’s work doesn’t stop there. After over 600 coaching wins, she also is an assistant athletic director at St. Norbert, head of the physical education curriculum and is on the school’s Title IX committee.

Occasionally her litany of responsibilities can be “a little tiring,” but Tilley doesn’t plan to slow down soon.
“It’s just fun, fun to do,” said Tilley. “Fun to be with the kids. I just know, when they have a day off, I miss them. I see them the next day, like, ‘guys I missed you yesterday. It never gets tired for me, I still have such a passion for the game and for the school. I just want to keep going as long as I have that feeling and things are going good. And that’s it.”

GREEN BAY – This week’s deadly officer-involved shooting in Green Bay has raised the question of use of deadly force by police.

So how does law enforcement determine what to do in these situations? FOX 11 spoke with an instructor at NWTC who has worked with several police agencies, and has been training police recruits for nearly two decades.

“As we go through our daily routines we come across danger at all times, and it can happen within seconds,” explained criminal justice instructor Ian Nishimoto.

Criminal justice instructors say officers are trained to quickly assess a person’s behavior and the environment.

“We use deadly force as a last resort. It’s where all the other options have been exhausted we do go through the verbal communication we always try to talk somebody down that’s our first choice,” Nishimoto said.

Tuesday night, two Green Bay police officers made the decision to use deadly force. It happened when they responded to Joseph Biegert’s apartment on Plymouth Lane for a welfare check. Police shot and killed Biegert after he allegedly stabbed one of the officers.

“It’s the unknown of how that person is going to react to you,” explained Nishimoto.

In training, skills are just one part of the equation. Nishimoto says it’s even more important to nail the decision making process.

“That has to be done immediately and imminently, and that’s the danger part of it, and if we’re not ready for that and we don’t train for that, we really jeopardize our officers’ safety and the safety of others,” Nishimoto said.

Nishimoto says 90% of the time, officers are able to verbally diffuse a situation. But in other situations, police must escalate to the level of force being used against them.

“Whether it be a knife of something that would create great bodily harm or death to that person or another person, I have to escalate my use of force to that level to stop that threat, which would be reasonable enough to stop that threat,” said Nishimoto.

The state Division of Criminal Investigation is leading the investigation into the Plymouth Lane shooting incident. The officers involved are on administrative duty.

NEENAH – It’s graduation day for ten students at the Plexus Corp. plant in Neenah.

The group is the seventh and last class of temporary workers that are now trained in advanced soldering techniques and soldering machines.

“I started operating the wave (soldering machine) when I first got here and now I can do just about anything in our department,” said Jill Raasch, 36, a soldering machine operator.

Raasch is one of 53 students who are now full-time employees, trained through Fox Valley Technical College. The program was paid through a $173,000 Dept. of Workforce Development grant.

“The skillset we are looking for does not exist in the valley, so we knew that we had to create the skill sets,” said Plexus general manager Scott Kettler.

Kettler says the company needed to create the education program, donating machines to FVTC, to train students to manufacture electronics that are used in hostile environments in the aerospace, medical and computing industries.

“We’re creating our own workforce, because, again, it’s just a skillset that does not exist in the valley,” said Kettler. “We’re not a large metropolis; we’re not a mecca-center for electronics.”

Now, the state and business groups are trying to strike a balance when it comes to two important needs for the workforce.

The need for skilled workers still exists.

But business groups say the spotlight also needs to be on keeping young professionals in the area, as younger workers may not feel connected to the community, and that is causing them to leave the area, or state all together – sometimes called a ‘brain drain.’

“Talent attraction or retention and attracting the best and the brightest from the rest of the world – essentially – is one of the top priorities for our businesses and is essential for building the economy,” said Tricia Braun, Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

“I think Wisconsin has done a great job of growing their own – so to speak – so where the gap comes in is because of the changes in essentially demographics, and increase of the baby boomers and not keeping pace with the proportion increase in the young professional population, we still need to have a net in migrations, so that’s where that attraction component becomes important.”

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation will spend $150,000 to promote programming among the state’s six young professional groups. As a part of the effort, a first-ever statewide Young Professionals Week will be held this coming April, featuring more than 85 events and programs. Those will include Green Bay Current and Pulse Young Professionals in the Fox Cities.

“If you engage with people who may be coming in from bigger cities, that’s something that they want to see, they want to see something that’s more familiar to home, but that they can be impactful here and I think that’s really the key,” said Adrienne Palm, the the leadership director with Pulse.

Prepping for the group’s annual awards event Thursday night, Palm says if young professionals or recent college graduates aren’t connected with their communities – outside of work – they tend to go elsewhere.

“Ultimately, we’re all in this together, and if we pool our resources, and we play on the strengths of one another, including manufacturers and skilled labor, and young professionals who are more interested in creative pursuits or what have you, it’s limitless what can be done with that.”

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Thursday that his experience taking on thousands of protesters in his state helped prepare him to take on terrorists across the world.

The likely Republican presidential contender’s comments came on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference – known as CPAC. The annual conference in suburban Washington features more than a dozen potential Republican presidential contenders over three days hoping to win over conservative activists.

Asked how he would handle the Islamic State group if elected president, Walker said, “For years I’ve been concerned about that threat, not just abroad but here on American soil.”

“If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world,” he said.

Walker is gearing up for a 2016 presidential contest in which foreign policy figures to play prominently.

Islamic State group militants have captured large parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria over the last year. They declared a self-styled caliphate on territories that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship.

Walker has limited experience with foreign policy, although he recently returned from a trip to England.

The Wisconsin governor has faced particularly aggressive protests from labor unions over his budget policies in the four years since he took office. He survived a recall election in 2010 and a bitter re-election test last fall.

Walker dedicated much of his remarks Thursday to the threat of radical Islam. He said he receives regular threat assessments from the FBI and the leader of Wisconsin’s National Guard.

“We need a president, a leader, who will stand up and say we will take the fight to them and not wait ’til they bring the fight to American soil,” he said. “We need to show the world that in America you have no better ally and no greater enemy.”

Walker was briefly interrupted during his remarks with a “Run-Scott-Run” chant.

“I’ve been running three times in the last four years,” he said, “so I’m getting pretty used to it.”

MADISON – The right to work bill will now head to lawmakers in the Assembly. It passed the Senate Wednesday night, with a vote that was mostly along party lines.

Right to work legislation makes it illegal to require workers to pay dues to get or keep a job.

Starting at 10 o’clock Monday morning the public will be able to testify once again on right to work.

“I’m of a firm belief that each and every person has a need and a desire to be heard and that as representatives of the people it’s our duty to do that listening,” said State Representative Andy Jorgensen a democrat from Milton.

The assembly labor committee will hold the hearing.

Democrats in the committee say they do not want to see people cut off like what happened during a senate committee hearing Tuesday. Senate committee republicans stopped the hearing 40 minutes short, citing a threat from union leaders to disrupt the end of the hearing. It’s a claim union leaders deny.

“I would hope that we can have a respectful debate on Monday that doesn’t take away from people who came to testify,” said State Representative Andre Jacque a republican from De Pere and the Assembly Labor Committee Chair.

The hearing is scheduled to go until 8:00 evening.

Jacque says each speaker will be given seven minutes. He says if more time is needed, that would be considered.

Democrats say they hope republican leadership sticks to that.

“Ideally we’re supposed to take that information, consider it and possibly even amend the bill or pass it, or not pass it based on what we get from that public input,” said State Representative Cory Mason a democrat from Racine.

Republicans and democrats agree right to work will impact the state’s economy. However, they disagree on what that impact would be.

“Drive down wages, hurt job creation, harm our economy and further divide our state,” said State Representative Christine Sinicki, a democrat from Milwaukee

Republicans say, though, it will make the state more attractive to businesses and give workers greater freedom.

“It’s always been the same that this is something I’ve been supportive of and when it comes to that I would seek to help advance it,” said Jacque.

After the committee meeting on Monday the full Assembly is expected to vote later in the week.

OSHKOSH – Thousands of fishermen will be taking to the ice on Lake Winnebago for what’s being called the one of the world’s largest tournaments.

The seventh annual “Battle on Bago” fundraiser starts Friday morning.

Dozens of volunteers transformed the parking lot at Menominee Park in Oshkosh, into ice fishing central.

“We’re expecting 10,000 people this weekend. So, it’s one of the largest, ice fishing tournaments in the world. We have $250,000 in prizes. Couple trucks, couple boats,” said Glenn Curran, Battle On Bago Organizer.

Curran says 18 scales inside the large tent can process 3,000 fish per hour.

“It goes by weight. But you can weigh walleyes, white bass, or any panfish in,” he said.

Before the tournament starts area fishing clubs have been checking conditions out on the lake. Experts say much of Lake Winnebago is covered in two feet of ice.

The Otter Street Fishing Club has four steel bridges stationed on cracks two miles off shore.

“We have to be prepared. Because when we have that much traffic a lot of times we’ll have to move them Friday or Saturday. Just because you get that much traffic and the ice will break off,” said Don Herman, Otter Street Fishing Club.

Herman says on a scale of one to ten, the current lake conditions are a nine.

“We have a road from Payne’s Point all the way to Wendt’s. You can drive the whole lake, from Neenah to almost Fond du Lac. You got to cross a few bridges, but the lake is pretty good this year,” said Herman.

And those running the benefit tournament says that’s encouraging news.

“Our goal is to raise $300,000 this year. With the amount of people expected, the nice weather, good ice conditions, I think we’ll hit that,” said Curran.

The event has raised nearly $500,000 in eight years.

That money has been split between 50 different organizations across the state.

The Battle on Bago Foundation also has a summer event.

There is a catch-and-release walleye tournament in June.

OSHKOSH – A Winneconne man was arrested and charged on two separate occasions in the last four months for not paying construction companies after they completed a service for his company.

Police in Oshkosh say Craig Stueck, 37, used his business to commit the thefts on two separate occasions. Officials say Stueck sub-contracted concrete work in the Oshkosh area to other construction companies and failed to pay for the services after he was paid by the property owners.

Stueck was arrested in Nov. 2014 and charged for theft-false representation in excess of $10,000 and one count of forgery. He was arrested a second time on Feb. 19 for theft-false representation again and for bail jumping, related to his first arrest.

If anyone has any other information about these two incidents or would like to speak with the Oshkosh Police Department about an incident that has yet to be reported, call Detective Jeremy Wilson at (920) 236-5700.

MADISON – Chants, speeches and songs supporting unions sounded around the state Capitol this week. The protests against a Republican-backed right-to-work bill reminded some of another fight over the reach of unions.

Act 10, which was passed four years ago, effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees.

Police estimated 2,000 people were in the area both Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s significantly smaller than crowds in 2011 of up to 100,000 people.

Barry Rokusek says he was at the Capitol for ten straight days then. He isn’t surprised turnout was smaller four years later.

Opponents to the governor’s bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers protest outside of the state Capitol in Madison, Feb. 26, 2011. Union supporters are on 12th day of protests at the Capitol. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

“They feel a sense of defeat,” said Rokusek. “They fought, me included, a really hard fight through the freezing winter and gave it our all to successfully recall Scott Walker. And when he won, a lot of people were shattered by it.”

Lawmakers, like State Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, also noticed a big difference this week.

“Nothing like that,” said Jacque. “Not nearly the volume of people. Not certainly the level of confrontation I’ve seen, and I think that’s a positive.”

There are many different issues surrounding each debate. Right-to-work doesn’t restrict private-sector unions’ bargaining powers, like Act 10 did for public employee unions.

And right-to-work isn’t a new idea. Twenty-four other states have similar laws that generally make it illegal for private-sector workers to be required to pay union dues to get or keep their jobs.

Capitol police did deal with a few issues in Madison this week. They say they arrested one person Tuesday and four people Wednesday.

Those arrests included two brothers from the Madison area who say they refused to leave a restricted area.

“I stated I had no intention to leave, this was a good view point to watch hat was going on and give myself a voice,” said Trevor Kramer of Madison. “He then stated that I’d be arrested if I didn’t move.”

His brother’s emotions were high after he didn’t get to testify at a public hearing the day before.

“I wasn’t planning on getting arrested (Wednesday),” said Will Kramer. “I have two young kids, and I care about the workers in the state, and I don’t think this bill is necessary. It’s worth it to stand up for that.”

The Wisconsin State Senate convenes Feb. 25, 2015, in an extraordinary session to discuss right-to-work legislation. (WLUK/Andrew LaCombe)

Republican leaders say they thought back to Act 10 and arranged a quick timeline for the right-to-work bill. The Act 10 debate lasted over several weeks after Senate Democrats left the state.

“One of the things that I noticed is familiar is that there’s life in here again,” added Rokusek. “I mean, it is our house. We are taxpayers of this state.”

A few people disrupted proceedings in the Senate chambers Wednesday during debate. Those people were forced to leave as the proceedings continued before the bill passed as expected.

The legislation heads to the Assembly next week. It’s expected to be approved there as well, and the governor has said he would sign it into law.

Take an interactive look at state-by-state laws and changing opinions on marijuana.

MADISON (AP) – Republican leaders of the Wisconsin state Assembly promised last year that a right-to-work bill would not come up this session.

Both Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Majority Leader Jim Steineke said the bill that is now on a fast-track for passage would not be debated.

Steineke, who was assistant majority leader last year, said at a September candidate forum in Green Bay that “right to work is off the table, I believe, for the next session.”

Steineke said Thursday the issue wasn’t on the Assembly’s agenda then, but since it passed the Senate this week “we’re going to have to deal with it.”

Vos said in October that right-to-work was not on the Republican agenda and “it’s not going to be.”

The Assembly plans to vote on it next week.

SUN CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Two quick-footed llamas that dashed in and out of traffic in a Phoenix-area retirement community were captured by authorities Thursday, causing a stir in the streets and on social media.

Television footage showed a large, white llama and a smaller, black llama darting through the streets of Sun City during the lunch hour. Cars and golf carts stopped in their tracks because of the wayward livestock.

The animals galloped along the sidewalk, through manicured yards and along street medians. The streets looked more like a rodeo arena as several people tried to lasso both llamas.

Their televised breakout quickly inspired a Twitter account and several hashtags including #LlamasonTheLoose, #llamadrama and #TEAMLLAMAS. Someone also started a Twitter account with the handle @SunCityLlamas. The user tweeted that the idea was inspired by someone starting an account for a bear that caused a frenzy by running around the Phoenix suburb of Mesa on Christmas Day. The animal was captured days later.

The llamas thwarted numerous attempts by Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies and bystanders to round them up before they were roped into custody.

The black llama was captured first. The white one was nabbed after two men in the back of a moving pickup truck repeatedly threw out a lasso. It took three men in all to secure the rope. Both animals were escorted to a waiting horse trailer.

The entire ordeal lasted about an hour. It was unknown if the llamas were anyone’s pets.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defying threats from Congress, the District of Columbia legalized possession of marijuana for recreational purposes on Thursday, becoming the first place east of the Mississippi River with legal pot.

The new law took effect at 12:01 a.m., despite last-minute maneuvers by Republican leaders in Congress and threats that city leaders could face prison time. Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, who took office in January, said it was her duty to implement the initiative city voters approved overwhelmingly in November.

“This is a major milestone on the road to ending marijuana prohibition in the United States,” said Robert Capecchi of the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for legalization. “If the president can brew and drink beer in the White House, adults should be allowed to grow and consume a less harmful substance in their houses.”

Possession of up to 2 ounces of pot for use at home is now legal, and people are also permitted to grow up to three mature plants. Smoking marijuana in public remains illegal, as does buying or selling the drug.

On Tuesday, Alaska also implemented a voter initiative legalizing the private use, sharing and cultivation of recreational pot, but lawmakers there won’t implement the next phase — creating a regulated market where legal marijuana can be sold and taxed — until 2016 at least.

The District’s initiative, approved by 65 percent of the voters in November, only addressed personal possession, not taxation or regulation, and District leaders acknowledge that Congress blocked any effort to implement a legal marijuana market. But they believe Congress acted too late to stop legalization for private use.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, urged Bowser in a letter late Tuesday to reconsider. He said that the mayor and any other district employees who spend money or time implementing any aspect of the initiative could face prison time for violating federal law.

“The penalties are severe, and we’re serious about this. Nobody’s wishing or wanting that to happen, but the law is clear,” Chaffetz told the AP.

Bowser responded sharply even as she tried to ratchet down the conflict.

“Bullying the District of Columbia is not what his constituents expect, nor do ours,” Bowser said. “We do disagree on a matter of law. There are reasonable ways to resolve that without us threatening him or he us.”

It would be up to the Justice Department, not Congress, to prosecute District officials, and that scenario appears unlikely. However, Congress could sue the city, and House Republicans also could retaliate by pulling federal funding for city programs.

Rep. Mark Meadows, a Republican from North Carolina, co-signed the letter to Bowser late Tuesday, which warned that by spending money to change pot laws, District officials would violate the Anti-Deficiency Act, which prohibits spending of unappropriated federal dollars. The oversight committee also demanded to see all District documents detailing money spent and time put in by city employees to implement the initiative.

No one has ever been convicted of violating the Anti-Deficiency Act, although city and federal workers and agencies have been punished administratively for violations.

Jamie Raskin, a constitutional law professor at American University, characterized the threat of criminal prosecution as “a lot of huffing and puffing on Capitol Hill.”

“The real power Congress has is the power of the purse,” said Raskin, who also serves as a Democratic state senator in Maryland. “They can exact their retribution financially against the District.”

Congress hasn’t struck down a specific city law in 25 years. Instead, members often add language to critical pieces of federal legislation to undo city policies they don’t like. The language on pot was included in a spending bill President Barack Obama signed to keep the government running.