Green Bay News

GREEN BAY – Legislators from both sides say they’ve using the two weeks since Governor Walker’s budget address to begin to look things over. They say they’re not finished yet, but some already have some things they want to change.

Speaking at Fox Valley Technical College, area Assembly Republicans say they’ve been doing a lot of budget reading the past two weeks.

“Well there is almost 2,000 pages in the budget, I’m at about 750 roughly,” said State Rep. Dave Murphy, a Republican from Greenville.

His reading might only be about 40 percent complete, but Murphy says he is already working on changes to Governor Walker’s budget. Specifically, Murphy says he’ll soon release a plan related to the proposed $300 million in cuts for the UW System.

“I think it works within the Governor’s framework, but stay tuned,” said Murphy. “There is more to come.”

“I’ve been told by a Republican colleague that they will fix it,” said State Sen. Dave Hansen, a Democrat from Green Bay. “The question is how are they going to fix it? Because $300 million is a lot.”

While speaking to students at UW-Green Bay, area Democrats said they are hopeful they can work with Republicans on alternative plans.

“I encourage citizens in the state of Wisconsin to reach out to try to shape the state budget,” said State Rep. Eric Genrich of Green Bay. “The state legislature is obviously elected by the citizens in the state of Wisconsin and hopefully accountable to them.”

Both Democrats and Republicans say they have heard plenty from constituents since Walker’s budget address. Lawmakers say the popular topics for themselves and constituents have been K-12 education funding and money for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena.

“I know it’s been two weeks, but there is still a lot of analysis of what is happening with the budget and looking at the revenue numbers and what the state can afford,” said State Rep. Mike Rohrkaste, a Republican from Neenah.

The new two-year budget cycle starts July 1st.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The family of a Madison man who died in a fire in 2013 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dane County, saying the delayed dispatch of firefighters contributed to his death.

Fifty-one-year-old Christopher G. Williams died in the Oct. 16, 2013, apartment fire. His family filed a lawsuit Friday seeking unspecified compensation. They allege that 911 dispatchers took nearly four minutes before they sent firefighters to the scene.

When firefighters found Williams, he had collapsed at his front door. He died of smoke inhalation.

Dane County risk manager Dan Lowndes said Monday that the county had not been served with the lawsuit and that he couldn’t comment on pending litigation.

County Executive Joe Parisi ordered changes at the 911 center last year to shorten response times.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Madison police are investigating a vandalism spree that included anti-Semitic and racist graffiti.

Police say about 25 homes and vehicles were damaged late Friday or early Saturday. The vandals spray-painted homes and cars with swastikas and references to the Ku Klux Klan, as well as vulgar images.

Police spokesman Joel DeSpain says investigators have not found evidence the victims were targeted because of race or religion, a key element needed to prosecute the case as a hate crime. He says such incidents typically are committed by teenagers who make really bad decisions.

One of the cars belongs to Jim Stein, president of the Jewish Federation of Madison, who agrees that residents likely were not targeted.

Mayor Paul Soglin says the vandalism shows the need to make Madison a welcoming place.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker has named Scott Neitzel secretary of the Department of Administration and Ellen Nowak as chairwoman of the Public Service Commission.

The appointments were among several announced by Walker on Monday.

Neitzel, a senior vice president for Madison Gas and Electric Co., replaces Michael Huebsch. Walker named Huebsch to the Public Service Commission.

Nowak takes over as PSC chair from Phil Montgomery, who had held the role since March 2011.

The governor also tapped Tricia Braun, a former vice president of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., as chief operating officer of WEDC.

Brian Schimming was named deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.

FORSYTH TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Army and an Italian aerospace and military company are planning to carry out three months of winter icing testing for a commercial helicopter at Sawyer International Airport in northern Michigan’s central Upper Peninsula.

The Army’s Redstone Test Center’s Aviation Flight Test directorate near Huntsville, Alabama, has sent a team to Sawyer to ice test the twin-engine AW189 helicopter. The group is working with an Italian flight operations team for AgustaWestland, maker of the twin-engine AW189 helicopter.

AgustaWestland is a subsidiary of the Rome-based Finmeccanica S.p.A.

The airport is at the site of the former K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in Marquette County’s Forsyth Township, south of Marquette.

Preliminary test trials were conducted last year in Duluth, Minnesota, AgustaWestland spokeswoman Lauren Slepian told The Mining Journal of Marquette. She said the icing trials allow the gathering of a large amount of data on the helicopter’s performance.

Slepian said the goal of the testing program is to get Federal Aviation Administration certification of the helicopter’s ice protection system.

According to AgustaWestland, the AW189 weighs 18,298 pounds and is suited for passenger transport, offshore oil and gas exploration projects, search and rescue, corporate travel, and law enforcement and homeland security purposes.

The Army has expertise in simulating icing conditions with a modified CH-47D Chinook helicopter that is equipped with an icing spray system, Slepian said. The sprayed water creates an icing cloud that the AW189 flies through, and crew members then note the effects of the ice formed on the helicopter.

In recent days, the winter conditions have been a bit too wintry, with blustery snowfalls and temperatures dropping well below zero, said airport Manager Duane DuRay.

“The weather has not been favorable for what they need to do,” DuRay said. “As soon as the weather cooperates, they’re going to do their testing. … Once they start testing, I think they’re going to go out every day.”

ASHWAUBENON – Moving is never a fun experience.

But for Lynn Schroeder, moving his truck parts and repair company to his new location at 855 Glory Road is a decision he can’t believe he nearly didn’t make.

“I don’t know how we operated, honestly, over there,” Schroeder said.

“Over there” meaning Potts Avenue, the northeast corner of the village which has served as its first industrial park, dating back to the 1950s when Schroeder’s Truck Equipment company was founded.

“We were so spread out (at our Potts Ave. location) and the efficiencies are so much better and everything else, it better serves our customers – definitely.”

Since moving into a new 73,000-square-foot, $3 million investment in late December, Schroeder says business has carried over – and then some. The company will have its official grand opening next Wednesday.

The move and land purchase were helped along by nearly $1 million in property tax incentives from the village. Schroeder says it was difficult to leave – as he was prepared to add on to the property.

But village leaders are looking to change the area’s industrial park past into a sports and entertainment district, in the future. And now taxpayers are picking up the tab for some of Schroeder’s old property.

“What we did is we sort of did a preventative measure, by making sure that that property didn’t increase in value,” said Ashwaubenon Village President Mike Aubinger, hindering – and likely costing – the village more money down the road.

The area is slated to become part of a larger entertainment district. Aubinger says $2.2 million in borrowing was approved unanimously by the village board last February to purchase Truck Equipment’s six Potts Avenue parcels.

Aubinger says government shouldn’t be in the real estate business. However, he says it could have cost the village at least $1 million more to purchase the property back for redevelopment.

So is it the right use of taxpayer dollars, without a concrete plan in hand?

“Initially, I was not thrilled with this,” Aubinger told FOX 11. “But I saw the reasoning behind it.”

Schroeder says he now sees the reasoning and benefits of investing more money on a new property, versus upgrading an old property.

“This has worked out so much better,” Schroeder said, “We’re getting new customers that are seeing us off the highway and we can just better serve the customers here.”

Aubinger says the village does not have a set timeline for coming up with concrete plans. However it is currently in the process of searching for and selecting a consultant to create a master plan for the area.

STOCKBRIDGE – For the sturgeon spearers who end up bagging one of the prehistoric fish, the question is, what do you do with it?

Some fishermen will tell you they won’t eat the sturgeon, but others say the fish is somewhat of a local delicacy.

“First thing I was thinking, was this is really heavy to get off the truck,” said Theresa Wilson, Stockbridge.

Wilson says she was still in shock when she registered a 73-pound sturgeon Saturday morning at Stockbridge.

“I was going to do some celebrating, but yeah, it’s going to make a lot of meals,” said Wilson.

When the Wilsons got the sturgeon home, her husband Scott did the carving.

“This is the filet of my sturgeon,” said Wilson.

She says the large chunk will serve about 8.

“A lot of people didn’t know that it was good for deep-frying, but it really is. You can pan-fry it, just like a fry magic thing or you can make a cream sauce. Put it in the oven, with a little dish, and it really comes out tender and tasty as well,” said Wilson.

Wilson says eight hours of hickory smoke from a homemade cooker, turn the sturgeon tails into a local delicacy.

“We’ll make a fish spread for crackers, kind of like a salmon spread,” she said.

So what does sturgeon taste like?

“It’s not fishy. I would equate the texture to a pork chop,” said Wilson.

Eric Nabbefeld registered his first fish at the Stockbridge station, Monday morning.

“What are you going to do with it? Eat it. Have you had sturgeon before? Yes. What’s it like? It’s a little greasier, kind of like catfish, I guess,” said Eric Nabbefeld, Appleton.

“They’re very good. You can boil them, and you can fry them. You can do all kinds of stuff, and we smoke them too,” said Mike Vogel, Kiel.

And that smoke is what many people say makes this fish a favorite.

“Many people don’t like it. I never thought I would years ago, but it’s really good,” said Wilson.

The Wilson’s say their family harvested three sturgeon already this year. They say it’s a good thing, because they used up their supply of last year’s sturgeon over the weekend.

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – A Wyoming man who died last year from a brain tumor is keeping Valentine’s Day special for his wife – even in death.

Shelly Golay, of Casper, received a bouquet of flowers two days before Valentine’s Day.

She initially thought her children had sent them.

But after contacting the flower shop, she learned that her late husband, Jim, had arranged before his death last summer for flowers to be sent to her every Valentine’s Day until she, too, dies.

Golay tells KCWY-TV the gesture shows that when it comes to her late husband’s love, there are no boundaries, even in death.

She likened it to the true love of fairy tales.

Jim Golay was 53 years old when he died.

The final week of the regular season for girls basketball has arrived, while the boys have two more weeks.

As the regular season comes to an end there is a battle brewing for the top spots in the FOX 11 Top 11. The boys’ top spot will be on the line Tuesday when No. 1 Kaukauna hosts No. 2 Kimberly, and as far as regular season games go, they don’t get bigger as each have one conference loss.

Also, on the girls’ side No. 1 De Pere puts its ranking on the line when it plays at Sheboygan North in a Fox River Classic Conference showdown between teams with one league loss each.

The boys’ top five has a little movement this week after No. 2 Freedom lost last week at Xavier. The top five after Kaukauna and Kimberly is, Seymour, Ripon and De Pere.

Meanwhile, on the girls’ side, Little Chute, St. Mary’s Springs, Xavier and Hortonville round out the top five.

Key Games This Week for Top 11 Teams

• Boys: No. 2 Kimberly at No. 1 Kaukauna (Tuesday). This will be a dandy.
• Boys: No. 7 West De Pere at No. 3 Seymour (Tuesday). Thunder leads Phantoms by one game in Bay.
  
• Girls: No. 1 De Pere at Sheboygan North (Tuesday): Each has one loss in FRCC action.
• Girls: No. 7 Fox Valley Lutheran at No. 4 Xavier (Thursday). Last game for these rivals in Eastern Valley action.
• Boys: No. 4 Ripon at No. 9 Xavier (Friday): Xavier trying to take step to second straight Eastern Valley title.

Here are this week’s rankings:

BOYS
1. Kaukauna (18-1): FVA lead on the line when Kimberly visits Tuesday. Last week: No. 1.
2. Kimberly (16-2): Makers hope to make it happen at Kaukauna. Last week: No. 3.
3. Seymour (18-2): Thunder owns 1-game lead on West De Pere, which visits Tuesday. Last week: No. 4.
4. Ripon (17-2): Tigers have two big games this week vs. Freedom and at Xavier. Last week: No. 5.
5. De Pere (17-3): Pritzl becomes school’s all-time leading scorer with 1,601 points. Last week: No. 6.
6. Freedom (17-2): Irish lose grip on conference lead in loss at Xavier. Last week: No. 2.
7. West De Pere (15-5): Phantoms looking to sweep Seymour with win on Tuesday. Last week: No. 7.
8. Brillion (17-2): Lions holding strong ton top of the Olympian. Last week: No. 8.
9. Xavier (16-3): Hawks have inside track on EVC title and they host Ripon on Friday. Last week: No. 9.
10. Luxemburg-Casco (15-4): Spartans looking to finish strong after going 4-3 in seven-game stretch. Last week: No. 10.
11. Ashwaubenon (14-5): Jaguars holding down third place in the FRCC. Last week: unranked.
Dropped out: No. 11 Shawano (15-5).

GIRLS
1. De Pere (19-1): FRCC title on the line Tuesday at Sheboygan North. Last week: No. 1.
2. Little Chute (17-3): Mustangs have clinched Eastern Valley title. Last week: No. 2.
3. St. Mary’s Springs (19-1): Ledgers host Kettle Moraine Lutheran, the only team to beat Springs, on Friday. Last week: No. 3.
4. Xavier (16-4): On a 6-game winning streak, Hawks finishing regular season strong. Last week: No. 4.
5. Hortonville (18-3): One more win and Polar Bears FVA title outright. Last week: No. 6.
6. Fox Valley Lutheran (16-4): Foxes post impressive rally in win at Algoma. Last week: No. 7.
7. Freedom (16-4): Irish looks to be playing well as postseason nears. Last week: No. 8.
8. West De Pere (17-4): Phantoms clinch at least a share of first Bay title since 1986. Last week: No. 9.
9. Green Bay Southwest (14-6): Hiedeman 15 points away from becoming Green Bay area’s all-time scoring leader. Last week No. 10.
10. Algoma (15-4): Baleigh Delorit has scored in double figures in all but three games. Last week: No. 5.
11. Seymour (17-5): Thunder’s loss at West De Pere drops it into second in the Bay. Last week: No. 11.
Dropped out: None.

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

Gruesome video released Sunday of a mass beheading in Libya of nearly two dozen Egyptian Christians by the Islamic State raises new fears about the terrorist organization’s reach and capabilities.

Video purportedly released by ISIS came with a signed message of “blood to the nation of the cross.”

21 Coptic Christians are believed to have been killed; the attack brought swift reaction from around the world, including the Vatican.

“It makes no difference whether they are Catholics, Orthodox, Copts or Protestants,” Pope Francis said Monday. “They are Christians. Their blood confesses Christ,” he added.

An attack on Christians and people of other faiths is not anything new for ISIS.

“I believe ISIS’s agenda has been religious from the get go,” said Dr. Faheem Younus, with the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.  “For them anyone who does not follow their perverted version of Islam is not worth living.”

Bill Braniff, a terrorism expert with the University of Maryland, says what the attack shows is a more clear dividing line between the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, in terms of tactics and ideology.

“Al Qaeda’s global Jihadism was an anti-western kind of Jihadism and they didn’t target Christians; they targeted the west – businessmen, embassies these types of targets.”

White House Press secretary Josh Earnest underscored the same sentiment in a press release:

“ISIL’s barbarity knows no bounds.  It is unconstrained by faith, sect, or ethnicity.”

Dr. Younus sees the war with ISIS playing out this way; “The endgame really is going to be from ideological and theological standpoint, when more and more Muslims stand up and say ‘no you are not Islam.’”

MADSION (AP) – Dane County Jail inmates are getting the chance to give homeless animals “A New Leash on Life.”

The jail is partnering with the Humane Society of Southern Wisconsin for the program, in which inmates will socialize and train dogs to make them more adoptable. They say the program is designed to give both inmates and pets a second chance at success.

A work release center welcomed a boxer mix named Bella last Tuesday. The 2-year-old stray will spend the next several weeks at the center where specially selected inmates will work with her.

Sheriff David Mahoney says Bella is providing a calming effect and already has reduced behavioral issues among inmates.

A professional trainer from the Badger Kennel Club is teaching the selected inmates the dog training skills they need.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah woman says she has smashed the world record for catching bridal bouquets at weddings and now is seeking recognition for it.

Salt Lake City’s Jamie Jackson submitted an application Wednesday to Guinness World Records, saying she has caught 46 bouquets since 1996 and has the documentation to prove it.

The current record of 11 bouquets caught by Stephanie Monyak of Pennsylvania has stood since 2004.

Jackson said she has attended as many as 100 weddings over the years because of her family’s connections to musical theater and their church. She jokes that what started out as a hobby has turned into “her sport.”

“It is something that you have to plan for and you have to be very strategic where you place yourself,” she told KSL. “My strategy is to be right up in the front because a lot of time the brides don’t know how far they are going to throw it.

“A lot of times it will hit a ceiling, it’ll hit a chandelier … I’ve had many, many catches where I’ve had to jump for it. And I’ve hit little kids by accident.”

Before she could apply to Guinness, Jackson had to track down all the brides whose bouquets she caught to obtain documentation and photos.

She said she was happy to learn 44 of the 46 brides were still married. “I consider myself a good luck charm,” she said.

Jackson has dispelled the myth that a woman who catches a bouquet will be the next to get married. She said some people joke that she’s purposely staying single to catch more bouquets, but she assures them that is not the case.

“It’s just been a fun process over the years,” she said.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – A train carrying crude oil derailed in southern West Virginia on Monday, sending at least one tanker into the Kanawha River and sparking a house fire, officials said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. Nearby residents were told to evacuate as state emergency response and environmental officials headed to the scene about 30 miles southeast of Charleston.

The state was under a winter storm warning and getting heavy snowfall at times, with as much as 5 inches in some places. It’s not clear if the weather had anything to do with the crash.

Public Safety spokesman Lawrence Messina said responders at the scene reported one tanker and possibly another went into the river. Messina said local emergency responders were having trouble getting to the house that caught fire. He did not know if anyone was inside the house.

West Virginia American Water spokeswoman Laura Jordan said the company shut down a water treatment plant, located about 3 miles away, at about 2:30 p.m. The plant serves about 2,000 customers.

State health officials said another water plant downstream in the town of Cedar Grove also closed its intake.

The U.S. Transportation Department is weighing tougher safety regulations for rail shipments of crude, which can ignite and result in huge fireballs.

Responding to a series of fiery train crashes, the government proposed rules in July that would phase out tens of thousands of older tank cars that carry increasing quantities of crude oil and other highly flammable liquids. It’s not clear how old the tankers were on the derailed train.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) – A grand jury in North Carolina indicted a man Monday on three counts of murder in the shootings of three young Muslims in what authorities have said was a dispute over parking spaces.

Television stations WRAL and WTVD reported a grand jury in Durham County handed up the indictments Monday for 46-year-old Craig Hicks.

No one answered a phone call from The Associated Press at the courthouse, which closed midday for an impending ice and snowstorm.

Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21; and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were all found dead in their Chapel Hill condominium last week. Hicks was their neighbor, and others who lived nearby said he had frequent problems with where people parked in the complex near the University of North Carolina.

Police in Chapel Hill have said they have not uncovered any evidence Hicks acted out of hatred for his neighbor’s faith, but their investigation continues. The FBI is also investigating.

Hicks, 46, is scheduled to be in court on the murder charges March 4.

Hicks described himself online as a “gun toting” atheist. Search warrants listed a dozen firearms taken from his home, including four handguns, two shotguns and six rifles – as well as a large amount of ammunition. He was carrying a pistol when he turned himself in several hours after the Feb. 10 shooting.

Family members of the victims have said they were executed with shots to the back of the head. Police have not discussed specifics on how they were killed.

Hicks remains in jail without bond. His court-appointed lawyer, Stephen Freedman, has said he could not comment on the case.

NEW YORK (AP) – Singer-songwriter Lesley Gore, who topped the charts in 1963 at age 16 with her epic song of teenage angst, “It’s My Party,” and followed it up with the hits “Judy’s Turn to Cry,” and the feminist anthem “You Don’t Own Me,” died Monday. She was 68.

Gore died of lung cancer at New York University Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, according to her partner of 33 years, Lois Sasson.

“She was a wonderful human being – caring, giving, a great feminist, great woman, great human being, great humanitarian,” Sasson, a jewelry designer, told The Associated Press.

Brooklyn-born and New Jersey-raised, Gore was discovered by Quincy Jones as a teenager and signed to Mercury Records. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in English/American literature.

Gore’s other hits include “She’s A Fool,” ”Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows,” ”That’s the Way Boys Are” and “Maybe I Know.” She co-wrote with her brother, Michael, the Academy Award-nominated “Out Here On My Own” from the film “Fame.”

She also played Catwoman’s sidekick in the cult TV comedy “Batman.”

In the 1990s, Gore co-wrote “My Secret Love” for Allison Anders’ film “Grace of My Heart,” released in 1996. A couple of years later, she appeared in “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” on Broadway. Gore had been working on a stage version of her life with playwright Mark Hampton when she died.

In 2005, she released “Ever Since,” her first album in 30 years, but was sure to revisit older hits in front of fans. “If I’ve learned anything in this business,” she told The New York Times that year, “how stupid would it be not to do ‘It’s My Party’ when people come to hear it?”

She officially came out to the public when she hosted several episodes of the PBS series, “In The Life,” which dealt with gay and lesbian issues.

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Gore turned “You Don’t Own Me” into an online video public service announcement demanding reproductive rights which starred Lena Dunham and Tavi Gevinson, among others

In the last few years, she performed at Feinstein’s at the Loews Regency in New York and, along with Ronnie Spector and LaLa Brooks, headlined the “She’s Got the Power” concert outdoors at Lincoln Center in 2012.

In addition to Sasson, Gore is survived by her brother and mother, Ronny. Services will be held on Thursday at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home on Madison Avenue.

WAUTOMA – Eric Banaszak was charged with hit & run resulting death for a crash Saturday which killed a bicyclist.

James Shafer, 56, of Redgranite, was wearing reflective clothes and had lights on his bike, according to the Waushara County Sheriff’s Department. He was found lying on County EE early Saturday morning.

Banaszak turned himself in to authorities Sunday and was charged Monday, according to online court records.

Bond was set at $7,500 cash. An initial appearance is scheduled for Feb. 24.

FOX 11’s Gabrielle Mays is working on the story will have a full report tonight at five.

NEW YORK (AP) — True to his breed, Matisse the Portuguese water dog likes to play in the koi fish pond. He enjoys going on long bicycle runs, chewing Benny Bully’s liver treats and falling asleep on his back.

Pretty standard stuff for a lot of pooches.

Oh, he also got a holiday card from the White House.

So perhaps it was only fitting Monday that when the Westminster Kennel Club dog show started on Presidents Day, the Portie who’s a cousin to Obama family pet Sunny was the early favorite.

“He’s a real dog. He likes to play, he likes to get dirty,” co-owner Milan Lint said. “He just cleans up really well.”

At 3 1/2 years old, Matisse indeed has cleaned up. This is the 400th event he’s entered — he’s won best in show 238 times, among the most in canine history.

“Spectacular dog,” praised popular Westminster television host David Frei.

On a frigid day in New York, Matisse got to rest as many of the 2,711 dogs in 192 breeds and varieties stepped into the judging ring at Piers 92 and 94, the exhibition space stretching into the icy Hudson River.

The hound, toy, nonsporting and herding group winners were to be picked Monday night at Madison Square Garden.

Matisse is in the working group, which he’s won the last two years at Westminster. The sporting, working and terrier winners will be selected Tuesday night, with retired California trial-court judge David Merriam choosing the best in show right before 11 p.m.

If picked, Matisse would become the first Portie to win America’s top dog show. Among the other prime contenders: Swagger the old English sheepdog finished second at Westminster in 2013 and Nathan the bloodhound won the recent National show that’s tape-delayed and televised on Thanksgiving Day.

“At this point, we’re just focused on getting him to the ring healthy and happy,” Lint said. “The results are the results.”

Matisse definitely knows his way around the ring. The nation’s top-winning show dog in 2014 likes to entertain his fans. He often gets into the “downward dog” yoga position, stretching his back, as he approaches the judge.

He has that “hard to identify quality, that je ne sais quoi,” Lint said.

Lint also was one of breeders for Sunny, who in 2013 joined another Portie named Bo as a pet for President Barack Obama and his family.

Sunny and Matisse have never met. Not yet, anyway. But who knows? A few months after Uno the beagle won Westminster in 2008, he visited President George W. Bush at the White House.

With a black, curly coat and a spirited temperament, Matisse mirrors the standards for an ideal Portuguese water dog. His hair is done in a traditional lion clip for the breed, with the muzzle and hindquarters trimmed close.

Officially, he’s GCh — grand champion, in dog parlance — Claircreek Impression De Mattise. Co-owner Donna Gottdenker, an art lover, named him for famed French artist Henri Matisse. Peggy Helming is the third co-owner, having co-owned 2004 Westminster winner Josh the Newfoundland.

Even though the No. 1-rated show dog wins less than half the time at the Garden, the math for Matisse is formidable.

Lint, who works in the financial world, keeps a spreadsheet that documents Matisse’s previous 399 career shows: 396 wins in the breed round, 332 victories in the group competition.

“There are certainly characteristics of the individual exhibit that have driven him to this degree of winning,” Lint said. “It doesn’t defy the imagination or explanation, but those are very impressive totals.”

Living in Chesapeake City, Maryland, and guided by expert handler Michael Scott, Matisse could easily break the best in show record of 275 wins by Mystique, a German shepherd that competed into the mid-1990s.

Lint, however, said that’s not going to happen. After Tuesday, the plans are to enter Matisse in just a few more shows before retiring.

“We’re not striving to meet or break that record,” he said. “I’m a firm believer you leave a party before a party leaves you.”

PHOENIX (AP) – An Arizona mother is asking thieves to return her baby’s ashes stolen during a burglary.

KSAZ-TV reports that the Phoenix apartment of Alyssa Ruiz was ransacked Saturday as burglars stole a laptop, a television and other items. Ruiz says she also found the silver keepsake box containing her baby’s ashes open and upside down.

The ashes of Matthew Isaiah Hernandez, which were in a sealed bag, were gone.

Ruiz says she cremated her child after his death because she had no money for a burial. She’s hoping the thieves return the bag and she promises to ask no questions.

No arrests have been made. Phoenix Sgt. Vince Lewis  says a report of the burglary was taken and the investigation is ongoing

Next month marks the eighth anniversary of her son’s death.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – Kayla Mueller stood before her boyfriend in a Syrian detention cell, faced with a question that could have secured her freedom from Islamic State militants.

“Why are you telling them you are not my wife?” Omar Alkhani asked Mueller before she broke down in tears.

“I don’t know,” she said.

Alkhani had persuaded a string of people to let him plead for her release, but he left empty-handed. He said he saw Mueller’s face for just a few seconds when guards uncovered it to show she was the American hostage from Prescott, Arizona.

The guards told Mueller, 26, that Alkhani would not be harmed if she told the truth, so she apparently stuck to honesty to save him rather than take the slim chance to save herself, he said.

“Since she’s American, they would not let her go anyway. No sense to stay here, both of us,” Alkhani said. “Maybe she wanted to save me. Maybe she didn’t know I came back to save her.”

Thinking about others first was Mueller’s nature. She had long been content without spending the wages she earned as an international aid worker on new clothes, a hair dryer or makeup so she could use her money to help others instead, Alkhani said.

The Syrian spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday via webcam from Turkey in one of his first interviews, detailing how he met Mueller in 2010 and the last time he saw her in 2013 as a prisoner of the Islamic State group.

The U.S. government and Mueller’s family confirmed her death last week. In the days since, hundreds of people have gathered to honor her in her hometown and in Flagstaff, where she attended Northern Arizona University.

Mueller and Alkhani were taken hostage in August 2013 after leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, where he was hired to fix the Internet connection. Mueller had begged him to let her tag along so she could see the suffering firsthand and help, despite the dangers of traveling into the war-torn region. He said he agreed reluctantly.

“We argued about it,” he said. “In the end, I was afraid if she didn’t go with me, she would go with someone else.”

Mueller took advantage of an unexpected overnight stay at the hospital when the repairs took longer than expected and asked Syrian women about how they managed daily life. During what should have been a 10-minute trip to the bus station the next day, Mueller, Alkhani, the taxi driver and a fourth person were ambushed by six masked men with automatic rifles and threatened with death.

“‘Maybe it’s a mistake,'” Alkhani said he told Mueller, who was afraid and shaking. “‘Please be strong until we find somebody to talk to.'”

Mueller remained a hostage, while Alkhani said he was released 20 days later after being beaten and interrogated about his work as a photographer, his religion and his relationship to Mueller.

His captors told him to forget about Mueller and his camera equipment, he said.

Against the advice of his friends, Alkhani said, he returned to Syria from Turkey later in 2013 to try to get back the woman he met three years earlier in Cairo after she responded to an advertisement he posted to house international visitors.

Mueller stayed less than a week in Cairo, but Alkhani said they quickly bonded and kept in touch through the Internet and traveled together, discussing ways they could change the world. They became a couple, and he said he promised her that he would always look out for her.

While she was in France learning the country’s language to go to North Africa, Mueller encouraged Alkhani to follow his dream of helping fellow Syrians. She eventually joined him in Turkey near the Syrian border where she saw people living in the streets and standing in line for hours to get food.

She solicited donations from whomever she could to buy a wheelchair for a handicapped boy, pay rent for a family or get sewing machines so women could start a clothes-making business, Alkhani said.

“She didn’t come to tell people there are tanks in the street – everybody knows,” Alkhani said. “She came to find a young lady in the garden who can’t find a place to sleep, tell people that there’s a human here.”

Alkhani said he had spoken to her often about Syria, where bloodshed has gripped the country under the regime of embattled President Bashar Assad, and sent her recordings, photographs and other information that she used for her blog. Nearly half of Syria’s population has been displaced, and some 200,000 people have died in the fighting.

“She wanted everyone to use their freedom to help us get freedom,” he said.

When they were captured together and detained, Alkhani said he at least had some reassurance she was alive. He would cough or say something to make sure his voice was heard, and she sometimes would cough in return. Other times, he or his cellmates would peer under the door and see the sandals she was wearing, he said.

Alkhani said he learned that Mueller was being held in the industrial area of the Aleppo suburbs. When he finally arrived at the lockup, he said he was given the opportunity to ask Mueller himself if they were married. He moved past a couch surrounded with body guards and saw her, seemingly in good health.

“At least I tried,” he said. “My conscience, I can’t say I’m OK with my conscience, because I put her in this in the beginning. If I refused to take her with me, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Alkhani said he has been in touch with Mueller’s family and held out hope like they did during her 18 months of captivity that she was alive. He thought, maybe the militants would release her recognizing that she was only in Syria to help people, he said.

“I didn’t realize one day I will receive this call from somebody telling me, ‘I am sorry,'” he said.

A spokesperson for Mueller’s family said they have no reason to not trust Alkhani’s account, and the family believes he loved her and tried to help her. The spokesperson talked to the AP on condition of anonymity because the person works in media relations for other families in Middle East hostage situations and wants to remain anonymous for safety reasons.