Green Bay News

GREEN BAY- Winds will be brisk Tuesday and we’ll see snow showers that could make driving conditions hazardous.

Snow will push through Tuesday morning and winds will be strong out of the southwest at 15 to 30 mph, resulting in blowing snow and low visibilities at times especially in open areas.

Temperatures are warming to near 28 and the chance of snow showers will continue Tuesday afternoon as a cold front moves across the state.

Snow accumulations will be less than an inch.

Winds turn to the northwest Tuesday night, ushering in another cold blast.

Temperatures Wednesday morning will be near -2 with wind chills near -15.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska on Tuesday became the third U.S. state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, but organizers don’t expect any public celebrations since it remains illegal to smoke marijuana in public.

In the state’s largest city, Anchorage police officers are ready to start handing out $100 fines to make sure taking a toke remains something to be done behind closed doors.

Placing Alaska in the same category as Washington state and Colorado with legal marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the Alaska state constitution.

When they voted 53-47 percent last November to legalize marijuana use by adults in private places, they left many of the details to lawmakers and regulators to sort out.

That has left confusion on many matters.

The initiative bans smoking in public, but didn’t define what that means, and lawmakers left the question to the alcohol regulatory board, which planned to meet early Tuesday to discuss an emergency response.

That’s left different communities across the state to adopt different standards of what smoking in public means to them. In Anchorage, officials tried and failed in December to ban a new commercial marijuana industry. But Police Chief Mark Mew said his officers will be strictly enforcing the public smoking ban. He even warned people against smoking on their porches if they live next to a park.

But far to the north, in North Pole, smoking outdoors on private property will be OK as long as it doesn’t create a nuisance, officials there said.

Other officials are still discussing a proposed cultivation ban for the Kenai Peninsula.

In some respects, the confusion continues a four-decade reality for Alaskans and their relationship with marijuana.

While the 1975 Alaska Supreme Court decision protected personal marijuana possession and a 1998 initiative legalized medicinal marijuana, state lawmakers twice criminalized any possession over the years, creating an odd legal limbo.

As of Tuesday, adult Alaskans can not only keep and use pot, they can transport, grow it and give it away. A second phase, creating a regulated and taxed marijuana market, won’t start until 2016 at the earliest. That’s about the same timeline for Oregon, where voters approved legalizing marijuana the same day as Alaska did but the law there doesn’t go into effect until July 1. Washington state and Colorado voters legalized marijuana in 2012 and sales have started there.

And while possession is no longer a crime under state law, enjoying pot in public can bring a $100 fine.

That’s fine with Dean Smith, a pot-smoker in Juneau who has friends in jail for marijuana offenses. “It’s going to stop a lot of people getting arrested for nonviolent crimes,” he said.

The initiative’s backers warned pot enthusiasts to keep their cool.

“Don’t do anything to give your neighbors reason to feel uneasy about this new law. We’re in the midst of an enormous social and legal shift,” organizers wrote in the Alaska Dispatch News, the state’s largest newspaper.

Richard Ziegler, who had been promoting what he called “Idida-toke” in a nod to Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, reluctantly called off his party.

There’s no such pullback for former television reporter Charlo Greene, now CEO of the Alaska Cannabis Club, which is having its grand opening on Tuesday in downtown Anchorage. She’s already pushing the limits, promising to give away weed to paying “medical marijuana” patients and other “club members.”

Greene – who quit her job with a four-letter walkoff on live television last year to devote her efforts to passing the initiative – plans a celebratory toke at 4:20 p.m.

Meanwhile, Alaska Native leaders worry that legalization will bring new temptations to communities already confronting high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and suicide.

“When they start depending on smoking marijuana, I don’t know how far they’d go to get the funds they need to support it, to support themselves,” said Edward Nick, council member in Manokotak, a remote village of 400 that is predominantly Yup’ik Eskimo.

Both alcohol and drug use are prohibited in Nick’s village 350 miles southwest of Anchorage, even inside the privacy of villagers’ homes.

But Nick fears that the initiative, in combination with a 1975 state Supreme Court decision that legalized marijuana use inside homes – could open doors to drug abuse.

Initiative backers promised Native leaders that communities could still have local control under certain conditions. Alaska law gives every community the option to regulate alcohol locally. From northern Barrow to Klawock, 1,291 miles away in southeast Alaska, 108 communities impose local limits on alcohol, and 33 of them ban it altogether.

But the initiative did not provide clear opt-out language for tribal councils and other smaller communities, forcing each one to figure out how to proceed Tuesday.

TOWN OF CENTER – Four people are injured after a three-vehicle crash Monday.

It happened just after 7 p.m. on State Highway 47 at County Highway S, in the Town of Center.

Officials say an eastbound car on County Highway S failed to stop at a stop sign and struck a northbound pickup truck on State Highway 47.

Authorities say the eastbound car then struck a southbound vehicle on State Highway 47.

The driver of the southbound vehicle, a 45-year-old Freedom man, did not suffer any injuries in the crash.

The eastbound vehicle was driven by an 18-year-old Green Bay man. He sustained minor injuries in the crash.

Police say a man and a woman who were passengers in the eastbound car suffered significant but non life-threatening injuries.

The driver of the pickup, a 53-year-old Shiocton man, suffered minor injuries.

Officials say the intersection was closed for about an hour. The crash is being investigated.

MANITOWOC – Manitowoc police are looking for the suspect in an armed robbery.

It happened about 10 p.m. Monday at the Citgo on South 10th Street.

Police say a man went into the store and confronted the cashier behind the counter.

Police say the man had a knife and demanded cash.

Investigators say he was wearing a mask, a hood and gloves.

If you have any information, call Manitowoc police at (920)686-6500.

MANITOWOC – Four people have been displaced by a duplex fire in Manitowoc.

The fire happened before 8 p.m. Monday at a duplex in the 1200 block of South 13th Street.

Fire crews say the upstairs unit was on fire when they arrived.

Everyone got out. One person was taken to the hospital with possible smoke inhalation, but has been released.

Firefighters were able to put the fire out before it spread, but it did cause extensive smoke damage.

The Red Cross is helping the four people who lived in the duplex.

Firefighters say the duplex had no working smoke detectors. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

OSHKOSH – Is Oshkosh turning around from a wage loss of up to $100 million a year? The region was hit hard by 2,000 lost jobs at Oshkosh Defense the last two years.

So what are area leaders doing to change the local economy, to offset those losses?

The Oshkosh Defense layoffs were a wake up call.
Area leaders say they realized the local economy needs to change.

“Looking at diversifying the economy, basically getting off the reliance on defense contractors and defense contracts,” explained Eric Fowle the Executive Director of the East Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission

$1.8 million in grants from the department of defense are helping to do that.

But altough Oshkosh is the epicenter of the conversation, the work isn’t just going on here. This is a partnership among five counties: Winnebago, Calumet, Outagamie, Waupaca and Fond du Lac.

“People cross boundaries, across county, city borders, because that’s where the jobs are,” explained Mark Rohloff, Oshkosh’s City Manager.

“We actually are working on trying to build a better economic development ecosystem, as we call it and how our partnerships align between the municipalities, between the changes, between counties,” added Naletta Burr a Community Account Manager for Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.

Monday night leaders on this project met to discuss progress so far.

One step they’re taking is to help some of the suppliers to Oshkosh Defense.

“Going back and taking a look at that supply chain to see what areas are there that we can help along should they need it,” said Rohloff.

“To prep them to get away from defense projects and to manufacture other products that might be in need,” added Fowle.

Another step is to use assets like EAA, AirVenture and a new aviation business park to build up the local aerospace industry.

“We’re looking at their airpots as a system and what they can offer, what the communities can offer to really grow and expand opportunities in aerospace and aircraft manufacturing,” explained Fowle.

Finally, the leaders told us they’re improving communication among the different cities and counties. They said they’re using Highway 41 as a unifier, to bring more people into the conversation.

“This is always a challenge whenever you’re dealing with all these conplex issues with economic development. So I really hope from tonight’s meeting we can just take it as a launch pad,” Rohloff told FOX 11.

Oshkosh and Winnebago County broke ground on the new aviation business park in the fall. Much of the work should be done by the end of the year.

GREEN BAY – Capitol protests are already planned for Madison as state legislators move forward with right-to-work legislation.

However, it’s unclear whether the protests will match those of other states who passed right-to-work legislation or the Act 10 protests from 2011.

“Everything is happening so fast, it takes time to put those types of things in action,” said Dean DeBroux, former president of Bay Lakes United Educators.

DeBroux says he protested in Madison almost every weekend for two months when Act 10 was being debated. He doubts there will be enough time to organize area teachers to similarly protest right-to-work.

“We’re focusing more of our attention on educating people on what is in there and what the impact of this law is going to be,” said DeBroux.

Some area union leaders are already in Madison to protest. However, Sally Feistel of Menasha says she probably would have been at the Capitol anyway for a pre scheduled United Steelworkers event.

“This bill is just another attack on working families,” said Feistel. “There is no reason to have right to work.”

Right-to-work supporters are already making their voice heard too. Wisconsin Manufacturers Commerce released a radio ad.

“Right-to-work legislation increases worker freedom, while protesting workers’ rights to collectively bargain,” the radio ad stated.

The Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce is a member of Wisconsin Manufacturers Commerce. However, it has decided to not take a position on right-to-work legislation.

“Given how quickly this issue has come to a vote, we are not in a position to take a position,” said Josh Dukelow with the Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce.

Instead, the chamber says it’s taking an approach similar to DeBroux, focusing on educating others on the issue. Both say that takes time, which makes it hard to predict whether right-to-work will produce a Capitol scene similar to four years ago.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Milwaukee police say a tampered sprinkler caused up to $250,000 in damage at a downtown hotel over the weekend.

Police say someone tampered with a bathroom sprinkler system at the Hilton Milwaukee City Center, and water seeped into a lobby.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports officers were called to the hotel shortly before 1 a.m. Sunday on a report of vandalism.

Hotel employees told police someone had broken the sprinkler system in a first-floor public bathroom and the resulting water flow damaged dry wall, wood trim, ceiling tiles and carpeting.

No arrests had been made as of Monday afternoon.

Even though the Great Lakes had been relatively open even through a couple weeks ago, that’s quickly changing as lake ice is rapidly expanding.

It’s not obvious if you’re right along the shoreline, like in Kewaunee on Monday.

Some brisk winds lately have pushed the ice just off-shore, but not too far.

Large sheets of ice are still visible from the shore line.

And though you can’t see too far out, much of Lake Michigan is in fact covered in ice.

While the very middle of Lake Michigan is still pretty ice-free, there are large shelves of ice extending out from all shore lines, and overall is 56 percent covered in ice right now.

And the Great Lakes as a whole are 84 percent covered in ice, the second-highest mark since 1994, topped only by last year’s 92.5 percent.

Much of this growth has been fairly recent.

Just looking at Lake Michigan, the concentrations have gone from 28 percent two weeks ago to 51 percent last week to 56 percent today.

And with bitter cold expect to return after a brief break from it tomorrow, those figures on lake ice will likely increase as February comes to a close.

MILWAUKEE – Jail officials in Milwaukee are breathing a big sigh of relief that a loaded gun found in the dirty laundry sent from the county jail didn’t fall into the wrong hands.

Monday morning’s incident is under investigation, but it appears the gun was sneaked into the county jail last week by an inmate who stashed it in dirty laundry.

Like clockwork, the dirty laundry was sent to the Milwaukee County House of Correction (HOC) in the morning for cleaning.

The HOC ran a search of the gun through the FBI’s National Crime Information Center and it was reported as a stolen weapon.

TOWN OF FRIENDSHIP – A former special education teacher at Horace Mann High school in North Fond du Lac is charged with seven counts of sexual assault of a student by school staff.

According to the criminal complaint, Dominic Carmona, 45, had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl, from Dec. 1, 2014 to Jan. 31, 2015.

The school district said Carmona resigned from his position at the school on Feb. 3.

The school district says it is cooperating with the Fond du Lac county Sheriff’s Department and will continue to do whatever it can to assist with the investigation.

The criminal complaint states the relationship began after the girl confided in Carmona in study hall. The complaint goes on to say, Carmona gave her his cell phone number for her to call him next time she was feeling sad.

The girl told investigators the relationship started off with the two of them holding hands and watching a movie together. The criminal complaint said the two would email back and forth and many were sexual in nature. According to court documents, many of the sexual encounters happened while the two were in Carmona’s vehicle.

Carmona was a teacher at Horace Mann for approximately 5 years.

COLLINS – Hundreds of Snowy Owls have been seen across the state this Winter, but one in Manitowoc County, has become somewhat of an on-screen star.

For the past week, a Snowy Owl has been spotted high atop a 110-foot fire observation tower at the Collins Marsh Wildlife Area.

The Snowy Owl is one of about 20 birds that have been seen in the area.

“The Snowy Owl decided to use it as its overlook, as one of its main perches near the nature center,” said Jeff Pritzl, D.N.R. District Wildlife Supervisor.

Pritzl says the Neustadter Nature Center operates a camera to observe osprey, which are similar to hawks, during the summer months.

He says the camera has been on this Winter too, and the owl has made an appearance.

“The osprey platform is up there. It’s using it as a resting place, and it will move down closer to the ground when it is time to feed in the late afternoon,” said Pritzl.

People in nearby Collins and the Town of Rockland say the birds are in the area.

“I seen them twice now. Sitting on the road sign. One night, we came home, and he was right along side the road,” said Glen Behnke, Collins.

“They’ve been flying around. They’ve landed on the two rooftops down from us. We’ll sit there with our binoculars and watch them,” said Linda Gilbertson, Town of Rockland Deputy Clerk/Treasurer.

Wildlife experts say the birds come and go.

Pritzl says the nest was empty Monday morning.

But he says, if you do see one of the owls, enjoy the sight from a distance.

“They’re very visible with a pair of binoculars, or even a camera with a telephoto lens. It’s not necessary to get right up on the owl,” said Pritzl.

Pritzl says the birds should be heading to nesting grounds in the north next month. The osprey are due back in the area by April.

GREEN BAY – The cold weather means no time to rest for some utility crews, who are dealing with calls for water frozen in the pipes and water main breaks.

The problems are even impacting some homes and schools Monday.

Although nothing like last year, the prolonged cold – 15 days in a row now when the temperature has not reached 32 degrees – is causing problems.

But remember what we were dealing with last year at this time: water trickle orders – numerous calls for service because people couldn’t get water in their homes throughout Northeast Wisconsin. All because of the severe freeze.

However, utility officials aren’t batting an eye at the repair work.

“This is more what we’re used to dealing with,” said Paul Pavlik the distribution manager with the Green Bay Water Utility.

Monday morning, Green Bay Water Utility Crews were scraping, salting and jackhammering their way through the frozen pavement and ground to the problem that turned Oneida Street – and part of the sidewalk – into an unsafe location for an ice skating rink late Sunday night.

Another water main break on Green Bay’s east side forced the Green Bay Area Public School district to cancel its Head Start programs at its Harvey Street location Monday afternoon.

Apparently water mains are fed up with the cold, too.

But if you think these repairs have been the norm this winter, Pavlik says otherwise.

“Since the first of November, up through today, we’ve had 66 main breaks,” said Pavlik. “And last year, were at about 172 through the end of February.”

He says there have been 22 calls for frozen service lines this year, compared to the nearly 700 last winter, requiring contractors to be called in to help with the extra work.

Pavlik says the frost line is currently at about four feet – about two feet shy of reaching most buried utility lines.

He says the utility tries to notify customers before the department shuts off water service to repair the line, allowing time for water to be stocked up – as needed

One upshot to this ‘milder’ winter is cost savings for the utility. So far, there is less unplanned overtime for employees and the need to bring in contractors to help with the work.

KIMBERLY – A Fox Valley woman wants to help more local artists get their creative juices flowing by bringing a new business to the area.

The abandoned building on Kimberly Avenue is going to be turned into an art shoppe.

But for now, most of the jewelry, hats and scarves have temporarily overtaken owner Alissa Henrickson’s kitchen.

With the name Creative Juices Artisan Shoppe, Henrickson is hoping her new business will spark the interest of people in her community along with local artists.

“There will be hand stamped jewelry, pottery, and a photographer that’ll have work on display,” said Alissa Henrickson.

Some of the jewelry will come from Henrickson who specializes in metal art.

“I design wearable metal pieces, custom jewelry items, that you can have a special message or if you wanted like a favorite verse of scripture, something inspirational, a quote or even just names,” Henrickson said.

Her shoppe will also feature art classes.

“A lot of people don’t know what they’re capable of or maybe they’re afraid of the cost of investing in the tools to do something a little bit different or artsy. This is a great avenue for them to be able to come and try something,” Henrickson said.

Henrickson says her new business will do more than just promote artists from Northeast Wisconsin.

“I want to try to train future artists,” Henrickson said.

The store’s opening is still three weeks away. For more information click here.

PULASKI – A pole shed barn is a total loss after it caught fire Monday afternoon in Pulaski.

Fire officials said they were called to the fire at 112 Main Laney Drive around 2:30 p.m. They say a skid steer caught fire.

A second skid steer was removed from the barn and saved, but the rest of the barn is a loss.

No one was injured and the scene was cleared around 4:30 p.m.

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Smoking, growing and possessing marijuana becomes legal in America’s wildest state Tuesday, thanks to a voter initiative aimed at clearing away 40 years of conflicting laws and court rulings.

Making Alaska the third state to legalize recreational marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the state’s constitution.

But when they voted 52-48 percent last November to legalize marijuana use by adults in private places, they left many of the details to lawmakers and regulators to sort out.

Meanwhile, Alaska Native leaders worry that legalization will bring new temptations to communities already confronting high rates of drug and alcohol abuse, domestic violence and suicide.

“When they start depending on smoking marijuana, I don’t know how far they’d go to get the funds they need to support it, to support themselves,” said Edward Nick, council member in Manokotak, a remote village of 400 that is predominantly Yup’ik Eskimo.

Both alcohol and drug use are prohibited in Nick’s village 350 miles southwest of Anchorage, even inside the privacy of villagers’ homes.

But Nick fears that the initiative, in combination with a 1975 state Supreme Court decision that legalized marijuana use inside homes – could open doors to drug abuse.

Initiative backers promised Native leaders that communities could still have local control under certain conditions. Alaska law gives every community the option to regulate alcohol locally. From northern Barrow to Klawock, 1,291 miles away in southeast Alaska, 108 communities impose local limits on alcohol, and 33 of them ban it altogether.

But the initiative did not provide clear opt-out language for tribal councils and other smaller communities, forcing each one to figure out how to proceed Tuesday.

November’s initiative also bans smoking in public, but didn’t define what that means, and lawmakers left the question to the alcohol regulatory board, which planned to meet early Tuesday to discuss an emergency response.

In Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city, officials tried and failed in December to ban a new commercial marijuana industry. But Police Chief Mark Mew said his officers will be strictly enforcing the public smoking ban. He even warned people against smoking on their porches if they live next to a park.

Other officials are still discussing a proposed cultivation ban for the wild Kenai Peninsula. But far to the north, in North Pole, smoking outdoors on private property will be OK as long as it doesn’t create a nuisance, officials there said.

While the 1975 court decision protected personal marijuana possession and a 1998 initiative legalized medicinal marijuana, state lawmakers twice criminalized any possession over the years, creating an odd legal limbo.

As of Tuesday, adult Alaskans can not only keep and use pot, they can transport, grow it and give it away. A second phase, creating a regulated and taxed marijuana market, won’t start until 2016 at the earliest.

And while possession is no longer a crime under state law, enjoying pot in public can bring a $100 fine.

That’s fine with Dean Smith, a pot-smoker in Juneau who has friends in jail for marijuana offenses. “It’s going to stop a lot of people getting arrested for nonviolent crimes,” he said.

The initiative’s backers warned pot enthusiasts to keep their cool.

“Don’t do anything to give your neighbors reason to feel uneasy about this new law. We’re in the midst of an enormous social and legal shift,” organizers wrote in the Alaska Dispatch News, the state’s largest newspaper.

Richard Ziegler, who had been promoting what he called “Idida-toke” in a nod to Alaska’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, reluctantly called off his party.

There’s no such pullback for former television reporter Charlo Greene, now CEO of the Alaska Cannabis Club, which is having its grand opening on Tuesday in downtown Anchorage. She’s already pushing the limits, promising to give away weed to paying “medical marijuana” patients and other “club members.”

Greene – who quit her job with a four-letter walkoff on live television last year to devote her efforts to passing the initiative – plans a celebratory toke at 4:20 p.m.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin union leaders probably won’t get much help from judges if they challenge Republicans’ right-to-work provisions in court, a labor expert said Monday.

The proposal, which prohibits unions from reaching deals with businesses that require workers to pay fees to the unions as a condition of employment, is on a fast track for approval in the Republican-controlled Legislature, with Gov. Scott Walker promising to sign it. That leaves the courts as a last-ditch option for unions and other opponents.

But legal challenges to recently enacted right-to-work laws in Indiana and Michigan have lost in both state and federal courts. The Wisconsin proposal – which is up for a public hearing Tuesday- closely mirrors laws in those states, making a successful lawsuit here unlikely, said Paul Secunda, a law professor who coordinates Marquette University’s labor and employment law program.

In fact, no one has ever successfully won a legal challenge against right-to-work, Secunda said.

“These laws have existed for over 60 years,” he said. “You can file all the lawsuits you want but the presumption is going to be that the law is going to be good.”

Twenty-four states already have right-to-work laws. Supporters see them as a way to help the economy, spur business and give workers the freedom to choose whether they want to pay union dues. Opponents, including public and private-sector unions, say the laws are just another way for Republicans to weaken unions that favor Democrats and help businesses reduce salary and benefit expenses.

For organized labor in Wisconsin, the new bill marks the second blow of a one-two punch that began with Walker’s plan to strip nearly all public workers of their union rights. Republicans passed that measure in 2011 despite massive, round-the-clock demonstrations at the Capitol that attracted tens of thousands of people and went on for weeks. The protests and an ensuring recall attempt helped Walker become a national conservative star who is now likely to run for president.

Union leaders planned rallies Tuesday and Wednesday at the Capitol to protest the right-to-work bill. It’s unclear how large these protests might be, but Secunda said he doesn’t expect the same energy demonstrators displayed during the public union restriction protests. Only 11.7 percent of Wisconsin workers belonged to unions last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A nationwide Gallup poll done in August showed 71 percent of respondents said they would vote for a right-to-work bill; 22 percent said they would not.

With passage all but certain, unions’ only recourse would be lawsuits. But that looks like a losing proposition, too.

Last year the Indiana state Supreme Court rejected two challenges to that state’s right-to-work law that alleged the law unconstitutionally required labor unions to provide services to nonunion workers without compensation. The 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last year also rejected arguments that federal labor law pre-empts Indiana’s law.

A state judge in Michigan earlier this month dismissed a union lawsuit alleging that state’s right-to-work is invalid because state police temporarily closed the Capitol while the Legislature debated the bill in 2012.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III last year ruled federal law doesn’t trump that state’s right-to-work law in a challenge from the Michigan AFL-CIO, calling right-to-work a valid exercise of state power. Murphy refused to dismiss other parts of the lawsuit, however; a hearing is set for July.

Myranda Tanck, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said Wisconsin Republicans modeled their bill on Michigan’s and Indiana’s laws to ensure the legislation would withstand legal muster.

“Right to Work is not an idea that is untried or untested,” Tanck wrote in an email. “It has been successfully implemented and repeatedly upheld … we are confident that (the bill) is legally sound and will withstand any court challenge.”

Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, said Monday that he didn’t know what legal options may be available for right-to-work opponents.

“We haven’t gotten that far,” he said.

Secunda said that short of massive strikes unions have no way of stopping the bill from becoming law.

“It’s looking very bleak,” he said. “(Republicans) have the votes in the state Senate and the votes in the state Assembly and Walker’s going to sign it. States that have gone right-to-work have never gone back. Labor’s last shot, as far as I can see, is just pulling out the stops and withholding their work from their employers.”

___

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report.

FOX 11’s Robert Hornacek examines the financial aid program known as The Wisconsin Covenant. The program was created under former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle. But under the Walker administration, the program is being phased out. Where does that leave high school kids who had already signed the Covenant? Watch Robert’s report on FOX 11 News Wednesday at Five and Nine.

GREEN BAY – The WWE will return to the Resch Center in April for WWE Raw.

The event, on April 27, will feature some fan-favorite superstars such as Roma Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Deam Ambrose, Money in the Bank Winner Seth Rollins, and many more.

Tickets go on sale Feb. 28 at 11:00 a.m. Tickets start at $17.

To purchase tickets, you can go to ReschCenter.com, Ticket Star box office in the Resch Center or call 800-895-0071.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Wisconsin home sales slipped in January but median prices continued to rise.

According to a housing market analysis by the Wisconsin Realtors Association, home sales in Wisconsin dropped 3.7 percent last month compared with the same time last year.

But the organization’s chairman, Dan Kruse, notes that January is typically the group’s slowest month for home sales.

Generally, January home prices account for about 5 percent of all sales in a year in Wisconsin, as home sales slow in the winter months.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports median housing prices in Wisconsin continued their three-year trend upward, rising 34 of the last 35 months. The figure rose 6.5 percent in the past 12 months, from about $127,000 in January 2014 to $135,000 last month.