Green Bay News

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin Republicans have unveiled a new bill to restrict John Doe investigations after prosecutors used the process to go after GOP Gov. Scott Walker.

John Does are the Wisconsin equivalent of grand jury investigations where information is gathered in secret and tightly controlled. Since Walker took office in 2011, prosecutors in Milwaukee and the Government Accountability Board have used the process to investigate Walker’s aides when he was Milwaukee County executive and look into whether Walker’s 2012 gubernatorial recall campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups.

Under the bill, John Doe probes could be used to investigate serious physical crimes. Investigations would be limited to six months. Secrecy orders would apply only to judges, prosecutors, court officials and investigators. Witnesses and the probe’s targets could talk publicly.

MADISON (AP) – The Wisconsin Assembly has passed a bill that would give auditors access to the state elections board’s investigative records.

The measure passed on a voice vote Thursday. The Senate passed the bill earlier this month. It now goes to Gov. Scott Walker for his signature.

The Republican bill comes after state auditors released a report last year that recommended improvements in how the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board operates. Republicans are upset with the board since it approved an investigation into whether Walker’s recall campaign illegally coordinated with outside groups and have been using the report as justification for a more partisan agency.

The audit bureau’s report wasn’t complete, though. Then-Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a legal opinion that the board didn’t have to give auditors its investigative files.

MADISON (AP) – The Wisconsin Assembly has approved a bill that would allow judges to issue restraining orders against people in other states.

Under the Republican measure, a Wisconsin judge would have the authority to issue such an order if an act or threat that occurred outside Wisconsin is part of an ongoing pattern of harassment against someone who resides in Wisconsin or if the person seeking the restraining order has sought refuge from harassment or threats in Wisconsin.

The Assembly passed the measure on a voice vote Thursday. It goes next to the state Senate.

MADISON (AP) – A new analysis by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction estimates how much money schools across the state could lose under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget.

Walker is proposing that K-12 public school spending be held flat. But it would also eliminate a special aid payment of $150 per student statewide, or $127 million.

The School Administrators Alliance on Thursday posted a breakdown by the state Department of Public Instruction showing how much money schools are getting now thanks to that payment that would go away under Walker’s proposal.

• Click here to see the breakdown

The analysis shows Milwaukee would be the biggest loser, facing a drop of nearly $12.2 million. Madison schools is next with $4.1 million at risk.

Walker has said he’s open to working with the Legislature on increasing aid for schools.

MADISON (AP) – The Wisconsin Assembly has approved a bill that would allow grocery stores to hand out sample mini-shots of liquor.

The bipartisan measure would allow retailers with liquor licenses to provide customers with one half-ounce of booze, the equivalent of a third of a shot. They already can legally offer beer and wine samples.

The bill’s co-author, Republican Rep. Joel Kleefisch of Oconomowoc, says the measure would help distilleries and other liquor sellers compete with breweries and winemakers.

The Assembly passed the bill on a voice vote on Thursday. It now goes to the state Senate.

Similar bills failed in 2012 and 2014.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin exports reached an all-time high in 2014, up 1.4 percent from the previous year.

Gov. Scott Walker announced the latest figures on Thursday. He says Wisconsin businesses exported nearly $23.5 billion in good worldwide last year, up by more than 18 percent from four years ago.

Walker’s office released the numbers while he is in London for a trade mission.

Walker says the export growth was fueled by an increase in shipments to Canada and Mexico. Those are the two largest export destinations for Wisconsin products.

Exports to Mexico increased 12.7 percent while Canadian exports were up 5.5 percent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed President Barack Obama’s choice to run the Pentagon, handing Ash Carter the unenviable task of steering the military as the United States confronts Islamic State militants, conflict in Ukraine and other worldwide threats.

The vote in the Republican-controlled Senate was 93-5. Carter will replace Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator who had a rough relationship with Obama’s insular group of national security advisers.

Carter will be Obama’s fourth defense secretary in six years, joining a line of succession that began with Robert Gates and included Leon Panetta and Hagel.

One of Carter’s first tasks will be helping to win support for Obama’s call to Congress for new authority to use force against the IS extremists. Republicans and Democrats have reacted negatively to Obama’s draft proposal, criticizing both its limitations and vagueness.

In endorsing the 60-year-old Carter, Republicans expressed little hope that he would have better success in jelling with Obama’s inner circle than Hagel did. The former Republican senator and Vietnam War veteran was often the outsider and he announced in November he was stepping down.

The president’s relationship with the Pentagon has often been strained.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who backed Carter, said he “needs to have the courage to speak truth to power — to Congress, yes, but also to his commander in chief.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, alluded to the divide between the White House and Pentagon, saying he had “sincere hope and, sadly, little confidence that the president who nominated Dr. Carter will empower him to lead and contribute to the fullest extent of his abilities.”

While moving ahead on Carter, Senate Republicans delayed a committee vote on Loretta Lynch, Obama’s nominee for attorney general. Lawmakers said they had more questions for Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of New York who would become the nation’s first black female attorney general if confirmed.

Democrats complained that Lynch is being held to a double standard compared to other nominees and said her nomination should be approved immediately. Her confirmation is expected after Congress’ one-week recess.

Carter served as the Pentagon’s second-ranking official from 2011 to 2013, spent two years previously as the department’s technology and weapons-buying chief and was assistant secretary of defense for international security policy during Bill Clinton’s administration. He prefers to be called Ash rather than his given name, Ashton.

The next Pentagon chief faces a long to-do list for a military looking at reduced budgets and crises worldwide. The Islamic State group has claimed large swaths of Iraq and Syria. Russian-backed separatists threaten Ukraine. The war is winding down in Afghanistan after more than a decade of fighting, but there is widespread debate about whether the residual U.S. force is sufficient to protect gains.

At his confirmation hearing last week, McCain told Carter he hoped he would push back on any attempt by the White House to micromanage the Defense Department, or over-centralize U.S. foreign and defense policies.

“I’ll be entirely straight and upfront with the president and make my advice as cogent and useful to him in making his decisions as I can,” Carter promised.

Carter told the committee he was inclined to support providing defensive lethal aid to Ukrainians battling Russian-backed separatists. He also said he would consider recommending a change of plans for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2016 if security conditions worsen. About 10,600 U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan.

Carter said 2,106 American service members have lost their lives in Afghanistan. “Finishing the job there is very important,” he said.

Students at Parkview Middle School in Ashwaubenon make Valentines for senior citizens, Feb. 12, 2015.

NEW YORK (AP) — Longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, who covered most major overseas conflicts and news stories since the late 1960s during a five-decade career in journalism, has died in a car crash. He was 73.

Simon was among a handful of elite journalists, a “reporter’s reporter,” according to his executive producer, whose assignments took him from the Vietnam War to the Oscar-nominated movie “Selma.” He spent years doing foreign reporting for CBS News, particularly from the Middle East, where he was held captive for more than a month in Iraq two decades ago.

“Bob Simon was a giant of broadcast journalism, and a dear friend to everyone in the CBS News family,” CBS News President David Rhodes said in a statement. “We are all shocked by this tragic, sudden loss.”

A Lincoln Town Car in which Simon was a passenger Wednesday night hit another car stopped at a Manhattan traffic light and then slammed into metal barriers separating traffic lanes, police said. Simon and the Town Car’s driver were taken to a hospital, where Simon was pronounced dead.

Police said Thursday that Simon was not wearing a seatbelt. They are not required in livery vehicles and it’s a common practice not to use them.

The Town Car driver suffered injuries to his legs and arms. The driver of the other car was uninjured. No arrests were made, said police, who continued to investigate the deadly accident.

“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley, his eyes red, announced the death in a special report.

“We have some sad news from within our CBS News family,” Pelley said. “Our colleague Bob Simon was killed this evening.”

“Vietnam is where he first began covering warfare, and he gave his firsthand reporting from virtually every major battlefield around the world since,” Pelley said.

Simon had been contributing to “60 Minutes” on a regular basis since 1996. He also was a correspondent for “60 Minutes II.”

He was preparing a report on the Ebola virus and the search for a cure for this Sunday’s “60 Minutes” broadcast. He had been working on the project with his daughter, Tanya Simon, a producer with whom he collaborated on several stories.

Anderson Cooper, who does occasional stories for “60 Minutes,” was near tears talking about Simon’s death. He said that when Simon presented a story “you knew it was going to be something special.”

“I dreamed of being, and still hope to be, a quarter of the writer that Bob Simon is and has been,” the CNN anchor said. “Bob Simon was a legend, in my opinion.”

Correspondent Steve Kroft said the entire “60 Minutes” team was shaken by Simon’s death.

“He was a great writer, he was a wonderful colleague, he was a gutsy reporter, a true gentleman and really a stylish, old-school journalist who knew the Middle East as well as any reporter on the map,” Kroft said Thursday.

“Nobody could replicate him. Nobody could do it his way,” said “60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan. “He had that unique touch that people just loved.”

Jeff Fager, executive producer of “60 Minutes,” said in a statement, “It is such a tragedy made worse because we lost him in a car accident, a man who has escaped more difficult situations than almost any journalist in modern times. Bob was a reporter’s reporter.”

Simon joined CBS News in 1967 as a reporter and assignment editor, covering campus unrest and inner-city riots, CBS said. He also worked in CBS’ Tel Aviv bureau from 1977 to 1981 and in Washington, D.C., as its Department of State correspondent.

Simon’s career in war reporting began in Vietnam, and he was on one of the last helicopters out of Saigon when the U.S. withdrew in 1975. At the outset of the Gulf War in January 1991, Simon was captured by Iraqi forces near the Saudi-Kuwaiti border. CBS said he and three other members of CBS News’ coverage team spent 40 days in Iraqi prisons, an experience Simon wrote about in his book “Forty Days.” Simon returned to Baghdad in January 1993 to cover the American bombing of Iraq.

Simon won numerous awards, including his fourth Peabody and an Emmy for his story from Central Africa on the world’s only all-black symphony in 2012. Another story about an orchestra in Paraguay, one whose poor members constructed their instruments from trash, won him his 27th Emmy, perhaps the most held by a journalist for field reporting, CBS said.

He also captured electronic journalism’s highest honor, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, for “Shame of Srebrenica,” a “60 Minutes II” report on genocide during the Bosnian War.

Former CBS News executive Paul Friedman, who teaches broadcast writing at Quinnipiac University, said Simon was “one of the finest reporters and writers in the business.”

“He, better than most, knew how to make pictures and words work together to tell a story, which is television news at its best,” Friedman said.

Simon was born May 29, 1941, in the Bronx. He graduated from Brandeis University in 1962 with a degree in history. He is survived by his wife, his daughter and a grandson.

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Associated Press Writers Kiley Armstrong and Colleen Long in New York and AP Radio reporter Shelley Adler in Washington contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republicans said Thursday that President Barack Obama’s request to authorize the use of force against the Islamic State group is too weak to do the job, and the House’s Democratic leader said the White House is facing a stern challenge.

“It’s going to be hard,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., leader of a party that generally opposes the use of U.S. ground forces.

Republicans were troubled for far different reasons.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Obama’s proposal “ties his hands even further” than current law. The president’s draft legislation would bar “enduring offensive combat operations” and repeal a 2002 authorization that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq while leaving in force the authorization that was approved by Congress after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Boehner said the House will hold hearings, and any legislation will authorize sufficient military force to “fight the war wherever it is.”

The comments by Boehner, Pelosi and others epitomize the skeptical response from Capitol Hill as the White House searched for its first outright supporter for the measure.

Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Obama still “needs to make the case to the American people” and Congress. “This won’t be easy,” he said.

Referring to U.S. participation in airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, he said the “campaign isn’t pummeling the enemy as it should.”

“Congressional authority is of no value if the president isn’t willing to act decisively,” Royce said.

In the president’s own party, a new day brought new skepticism.

“We must make it clear that there is no authorization for the use of combat ground troops,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.

Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs panel, said coalition military operations were making good progress. He noted that Jordan has “doubled down on its commitment in the aftermath of the horrific murder” of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive.

“But we’re not out of the woods; far from it,” Engel said.

Freshman Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., a Marine veteran who served four tours in Iraq, said he was not ready to support Obama’s request until the administration presents a comprehensive strategy to ensure long-term success.

“I believe the only way to ensure the defeat of ISIL in the long term is for local forces, supported politically by moderate regional governments, to lead this fight and take ownership of their own future,” he said, using an alternative acronym for the terrorist group.

Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said he was baffled by Obama’s request.

“Why would the president be submitting to Congress a (request for use of force) that ties his hands?” Salmon asked. He said he could not imagine President Franklin D. Roosevelt standing before the American people in 1941 to say, “‘Here are the five things I am not going to do to the Japanese.’ It doesn’t make sense.”

Obama was resolute as he made the case for legislation in remarks Wednesday at the White House.

“Make no mistake. This is a difficult mission,” he said, calling for action against a group that he said threatens U.S. security.

He said it will take time to dislodge the terrorists, especially from urban areas, “but our coalition is on the offensive. ISIL is on the defensive, and ISIL is going to lose.”

Under Obama’s proposal, the use of military force against Islamic State fighters would be authorized for three years, not limited by national borders. The fight could be extended to any “closely related successor entity” to IS that has overrun parts of Iraq and Syria, imposed a form of Sharia law and killed several hostages it has taken, Americans among them.

While asking lawmakers to bar long-term, large-scale ground combat operations like those in Afghanistan and Iraq, Obama said he wants the flexibility for ground combat operations “in other more limited circumstances.” Those include rescue missions, intelligence collection and the use of special operations forces in possible military action against IS leaders.

GREEN BAY – If Pope Francis will not come to Green Bay, then Green Bay will go to him.

Bishop David Ricken will lead a six-day pilgrimage to the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia where Pope Francis will be attending  in September.

The pilgrimage will run form Sept. 22 to Sept. 27. Cost for the World Meeting of Families Pilgrimage is $1,650 per person.

For more information on the pilgrimage, call Amy Kawula at (920) 272-8212 or email at [email protected].

A brochure can also be downloaded on The Compass website.

MADISON (AP) – A Marshfield woman says the Tomah VA medical center didn’t do enough to save her father.

Candace Baer Delis says Thomas Patrick Baer, 74, died Jan. 14 after suffering two strokes at the hospital. She says her father had one stroke during two hours in the waiting room, and another in a triage room after what she said was negligent care.

Delis was taken by ambulance to a La Crosse hospital where doctors removed a blood clot, but he died two days later.

Hospital officials didn’t immediately return a call for comment. In a statement to Gannett Wisconsin Media, which first reported the story, they said they couldn’t comment specifically on the case.

The VA is investigating allegations of overprescribing opiates in Tomah after a Marine’s death in August.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget would bring changes to Wisconsin’s judicial system.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that under the proposed spending plan, the state Supreme Court would receive block grants and have more leeway in how it funds its operations and those of trial courts.

Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson said the funding change could have unintended effects, saying the budget doesn’t include a way to pay more than 300 court reporters. Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said it’s an oversight that would be fixed.

Under the proposal, Wisconsin’s highest court would also directly control the state Judicial Commission, which investigates allegations of misconduct. Justice Annette Ziegler, who had a complaint filed against her by the commission in 2007, said she’s not convinced it should be under Supreme Court oversight.

Patrick called the change an administrative one. Two other justices have had complaints filed against them by the Judicial Commission.

“If the Judicial Commission is going to investigate members of the Supreme Court, it’s difficult for them to do that to the extent the court has the ability to retaliate against them in some way,” said Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.

The budget also calls for the salary of the Supreme Court’s chief justice to be lowered to match those of other justices. A move Walker’s office claims will make it easier to raise pay for the other justices.

Wisconsin voters will determine April 7 if the chief justice should be chosen by Supreme Court members, rather than the current system of it automatically being the most senior member of the court.

Walker’s proposal would also eliminate the state’s Judicial Council, which develops new procedural rules for criminal cases and has advised the governor, Supreme Court and legislature. The plan says the Supreme Court could create its own such council if it wants.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker is defending his decision not to answer questions about foreign policy following a speech he gave at a prestigious London think tank dedicated to discussing international affairs.

Walker said in a Thursday conference call that he told organizers of the event at Chatham House that he would be talking about foreign trade and investment. Walker was asked a series of questions from the moderator and audience for 45 minutes.

Walker declined to answer, saying there is a tradition not to comment on such issues while on foreign soil out of respect to the president.

Chatham House spokeswoman Nicola Norton says Walker’s team was notified that he would be asked questions following the speech and “we don’t censor questions.”

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker is refusing for a second time to say whether he believes in the theory of evolution.

Walker told reporters on a conference call Thursday from London where he is on a trade mission that his position “isn’t an important part of being governor.” His comments came a day after he fielded a question about it following a speech at a London think tank, and said he was going to “punt” on answering.

Walker says he stands by a statement issued through his political organization that “both science and my faith dictate my belief that we are created by God.” He says faith and science are compatible.

Walker says the media is getting distracted by the issue.

GREEN BAY – The Green Bay Packers have shuffled around their coaching staff.

The team says Tom Clements has been promoted to associate head coach/offense and Edgar Bennett has been promoted to offensive coordinator. Alex Van Pelt becomes quarterbacks/wide receivers coach and Mike Solari has been hired as assistant offensive line coach.

Clements will handle play-calling duties for the offense, head coach Mike McCarthy announced.

On defense, Jerry Montgomery has been hired as a defensive front assistant.

On special teams, Ron Zook has been promoted to coordinator, succeeding Shawn Slocum, who was fired last month. Jason Simmons has been named assistant special teams coach.

Keep checking fox11online.com for updates to this developing story and watch FOX 11 News at Five and Nine for full reports.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Thousands of people are expected to attend a prayer service for three young adults gunned down in North Carolina in what police call a long-running dispute over parking spaces.

Family and friends gathering for Thursday’s funeral and burial services for the newlywed couple and the wife’s sister are grappling with questions about whether the violence had some connection to their Muslim faith. The father of the two slain women says hatred of Muslims might explain why the dispute erupted into death. Officials have said they are still investigating any possibilities the crime was hate-motivated.

Charged with three counts of first-degree murder is Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who has described himself as a “gun toting” atheist. Neighbors said Wednesday that he always seemed angry and confrontational. His ex-wife said he was obsessed with the shooting-rampage movie “Falling Down” and showed “no compassion at all” for other people.

His current wife, Karen Hicks, said that her husband “champions the rights of others” and that the killings “had nothing do with religion or the victims’ faith.” She then issued another brief statement, saying she’s divorcing him.

Officers were summoned when a neighbor called 911 Tuesday evening to report hearing multiple gunshots and people screaming.

Found dead at the scene were Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23; his wife, Yusor Mohammad, 21; and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. In a brief court appearance Wednesday, Hicks, who lived in the same apartment building as the victims, pleaded indigence and was appointed a public defender.

The women’s father, Mohammad Abu-Salha, said police told him each was shot in the head in the couple’s apartment and that he’s convinced it was a hate crime.

“The media here bombards the American citizen with Islamic, Islamic, Islamic terrorism and makes people here scared of us and hate us and want us out. So if somebody has any conflict with you, and they already hate you, you get a bullet in the head,” said Abu-Salha, a psychiatrist.

The killings are fueling outrage among people who blame anti-Muslim rhetoric for hate crimes. A Muslim advocacy organization pressed authorities to investigate possible religious bias. Many posted social media updates with the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter.

“We understand the concerns about the possibility that this was hate-motivated, and we will exhaust every lead to determine if that is the case,” Chapel Hill police Chief Chris Blue said in an email.

Chapel Hill Police asked the FBI for help, and Ripley Rand, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina, said his office was monitoring the investigation. Rand said the crime “appears at this point to have been an isolated incident.”

About 2,000 people attended a candlelight vigil for the victims Wednesday evening at UNC. Several people who knew them spoke about their selflessness as friends recounted kindnesses they had extended to others through the years.

Barakat and Mohammad were newlyweds who helped the homeless and raised money to help Syrian refugees in Turkey. They met while helping to run the Muslim Student Association at N.C. State before he began pursuing an advanced degree in dentistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Mohammad, who graduated in December, planned to join her husband in dentistry school in the fall.

Abu-Salha was visiting them Tuesday from Raleigh, where she was majoring in design at N.C. State.

“This was like the power couple of our community,” said Ali Sajjad, 21, the N.C. State association’s current president.

Many of the condominiums in the complex are rented or owned by students and recent graduates at UNC — campus is 3 miles away.

Hicks had less success. His wife said Hicks, unemployed and driving a 15-year-old car, had been studying to become a paralegal.

A Second Amendment rights advocate with a concealed weapons permit, Hicks often complained about organized religion on Facebook. “Some call me a gun toting Liberal, others call me an open-minded Conservative,” Hicks wrote.

Imad Ahmad, who lived in the condo where his friends were killed until Barakat and Mohammed were married, said Hicks complained about once a month that the two men were parking in a visitor’s space and their assigned spot.

“He would come over to the door, knock on the door and then have a gun on his hip saying, ‘You guys need to not park here,'” said Ahmad, a graduate student at UNC. “He did it again after they got married.”

Hicks and his neighbors complained to the property managers, who apparently didn’t intervene. “They told us to call the police if the guy came and harassed us again,” Ahmad said.

“This man was frustrated day in and day out about not being able to park where he wanted to,” said Karen Hicks’ attorney, Robert Maitland.

The killings were “related to long-standing parking disputes my husband had with various neighbors regardless of their race, religion or creed,” Karen Hicks said.

Police haven’t said how Hicks got in the condominium. There were no visible signs Wednesday of damage to the door, affixed with orange stickers warning of biohazardous material inside. A wooden placard bearing Arabic script that translates to “Thanks to God” hung over their doorbell.

A woman who lives nearby described Hicks as short-tempered.

“Anytime that I saw him or saw interaction with him or friends or anyone in the parking lot or myself, he was angry,” Samantha Maness said. “He was very angry, anytime I saw him.”

Hicks’ ex-wife, Cynthia Hurley, said that before they divorced about 17 years ago, his favorite movie was “Falling Down,” the 1993 Michael Douglas film about a divorced unemployed engineer on a shooting rampage.

“That always freaked me out,” Hurley said. “He watched it incessantly. He thought it was hilarious. He had no compassion at all.”

A probable cause hearing is scheduled for March 4. Police said Hicks was cooperating.

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Dalesio reported from Raleigh. Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed in Chapel Hill, Jonathan Drew in Durham and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker says he is open to extending a tuition freeze at the University of Wisconsin beyond the next two years as he is currently proposing.

Walker told reporters in a conference call Thursday that tying tuition hikes to inflation makes sense, but there’s no specific proposal to do that.

Tuition has been frozen the past two years. Walker is proposing capping tuition for two more years, while also cutting $300 million from UW’s budget and also giving it more freedom from state oversight and laws.

Walker also said he’s open to putting the organizational changes in place a year sooner than he proposed, but university officials have said that won’t help mitigate the cuts.

Republicans who control the Legislature have voiced concerns about the size of the cut.

OSHKOSH – Police are investigating a break-in at an Oshkosh store.

Just after midnight Wednesday, someone broke in to the back door of Skiers Outlet, 2550 S. Washburn St., investigators say. Clothes were stolen; it’s not known exactly how many.

Anyone with information is asked to call Oshkosh police at (920) 236-5700. Anonymous tips can also be left with Winnebago County Wide Crime Stoppers by phone at (920) 231-8477, by text message with the keyword IGOTYA to 274637 or online.

ASHWAUBENON – Valentine’s Day can be a day of love and joy for many. But for those without someone special in their lives, like the elderly, February 14 can be a lonely time.

That’s why Parkview Middle School 8th grader Rainee Laurence decided to take the lead on a project called “Love Letters for the Elderly.”

It stemmed from a leadership event designed to empower girls to create positive influences in the community.

In the week leading up to Valentine’s Day, Laurence has encouraged her classmates to help make dozens of valentines.

She’s set up a table in the school’s commons area and is asking students to make valentines at lunch time.

Laurence’s goal is to make 500 valentines. They will be dropped off and distributed by Meals on Wheels.

FOX 11’s Laura Smith is working on this story and will have a full report tonight.