Green Bay News

MADISON (AP) – Members of the state Natural Resources Board are calling Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to strip the panel of its policymaking authority a mistake.

The move would place the DNR under complete control of its secretary, a gubernatorial appointee.

Board member Jane Wiley, who was appointed to the board by former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, says the proposal has left her speechless. She says the move would be an incredible mistake. She also questioned whether the move would neuter the Conservation Congress, a group of sportsmen who advise the board on policy.

Board member Christine Thomas, another Doyle appointee, says making the board advisory would eliminate opportunities for the public to participate in a transparent policymaking process.

BEAVER DAM (AP) – The woman who agreed to leave a McDonald’s restaurant in Beaver Dam after a customer complained about the kangaroo she carried says she owns four additional kangaroos and a menagerie of other animals.

Diana Moyer lives on a farm near Columbus and has a collection of animals, including sheep, goats, emu, deer, horses and chickens. Police asked Moyer to leave McDonald’s last week after she brought her eight-month-old kangaroo, Jimmy, to the restaurant in an infant car seat. Moyer says she takes her baby kangaroo everywhere, including the movies and church. Moyer says the kangaroo is a therapy animal for which she has a doctor’s approval.

Moyer tells the Daily Citizen that her farm is licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and that it has been inspected.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker is taking to the road to defend his state budget that would slash funding for the University of Wisconsin System, expand the private school voucher program and slightly cut property taxes.

Walker was starting Wednesday with a stop in La Crosse, before heading to Eau Claire, Stevens Point, De Pere and Oconomowoc.

The $68 billion budget Walker released on Tuesday would cut UW funding by 13 percent, while also giving the 26 campuses more freedom from state laws and oversight.

Walker wants to remove an enrollment cap on the voucher program, while keeping funding for public schools flat over the next two years.

His plan would also result in property taxes dropping $10 over two years on a typical home.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker’s plan for removing an enrollment cap on the statewide private school voucher program is being questioned both by longtime critics and supporters of expanding choice schools.

Walker wants to eliminate a 1,000-student cap on the program. Students from public schools could enter at any time, but private school students could only come in when they are entering kindergarten, first or ninth grades.

The amount of the taxpayer subsidy would be pro-rated and come out of the budget of the public school that’s losing the student.

That new calculation is being criticized by Jim Bender, president of School Choice Wisconsin, because he says it could end up being lower than the current voucher payment.

State Superintendent Tony Evers says the change hurts public school budgets.

GRAND CHUTE – State inspectors found two violations at a Denny’s restaurant where a child fell into a grease trap.

On Jan. 23, a thee-year-old boy jumped on the lid and fell into it. His father pulled him out and the child did not suffer serious injuries.

The findings and orders by the state Dept. of Safety and Professional Services:

• The tank lids were secured but not properly fastened, with at least two screws/bolts missing. The restaurant must “Provide proper tank manufacturers fastening screws/bolts to properly secure tank lids in all fastening holes provided,” the report says.
• There was no label stating “grease interceptor” on the cover. Such labels must be installed where appropriate.

No citations or fines were issued. If the restaurant doesn’t do the work, it could then face fines.

• Click here to read the notice of violations and orders

MADISON – Both Democrats and Republicans from Northeast Wisconsin say they will have to dig much deeper into Gov. Scott Walker’s full proposal before they can make any concrete decisions.

Walker’s speech was fairly short and left out many of the details of that proposal.

However, Republicans found a lot of positive points.

“Seeing that our property taxes are going to be the same or lower for 6 years in a row, I think is a significant accomplishment,” said State Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere. “I really like the investments in worker training – particularly apprenticeships, which I’ve been very involved in legislatively – as well as investing in our veterans and getting them jobs and small business opportunities.”

Democrats, though, were less enthusiastic.

“The reality is we’re in a dire budget situation, due to past decisions that have been anything but growth and opportunity,” said State Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh. “We’ve got a $2.2 billion shortfall, we’re going to borrow for roads, we’re going to expand school choice. You know, I heard a lot of different things that I’m concerned about, but we’re really going to have to wait and see what the details are.”

And there was a fair amount of criticism on the proposal from both sides of the aisle. That includes some concern Walker wants to borrow too much money for transportation and infrastructure.

There were also worries about the governor’s plan to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System. Area lawmakers say that cut is too deep, and could lead to higher tuition in the future.

“We’re going to have to see if there’s a way we can get them over this gap in the next couple of years,” said State Rep. Dave Murphy, R-Greenville. “I know that the Joint Finance Committee is probably going to be looking at ‘can we cut that $300 million back a little bit?’ It’s something that we will certainly be looking at.”

“(The) number one investment has to be in our schools, so I’m a little concerned about the proposed cuts to the UW System,” said State Rep. Amanda Stuck, D-Appleton. “In the long run that will be on the backs of families, you know, tuition could go up, increasingly a lot. I think it was almost 40% once the freeze is over and with the cuts that they’ve made.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the final budget will probably look quite different from what Gov. Walker has proposed.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Nearly 243,000 people in Wisconsin hold a permit to carry a concealed gun.

A report from the state Department of Justice says about 34,000 permits were issued in 2014 – the third full year after the concealed carry law was approved by legislators.

There was a rush of applications after Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow concealed weapons in 2011. The new numbers show a much slower pace now for obtaining a permit.

The Journal Sentinel says the DOJ’s report shows several thousand applications were rejected or revoked last year for a variety of reasons. They include a felony conviction, a domestic violence conviction or mental incompetence. Hundreds of permits were revoked because the holder no longer lives in Wisconsin.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A Medford man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for burning down his pizza business in order to collect insurance money.

Federal Judge Barbara Crabb also ordered David Johnson on Tuesday to pay restitution of nearly $155,000. The 36-year-old Medford man earlier pleaded guilty to arson for setting fire to Main Street Pizza and Grill in February 2013.

Crabb determined Johnson’s actions knowingly put people that lived in a neighboring building at risk. The restaurant was a total loss and the adjacent building was damaged.

SUAMICO – NEW Zoo Director Neil Anderson joined Good Day Wisconsin Wednesday morning with the river otters.

The zoo has 2 female otters and 1 male otter. Minnie is about 17 years-old and Bonnie is nearly 2 years-old. The male, Skokie, is 5 years-old.

River otters have a high metabolism. Zookeepers feed them 3 times a day.

Otters are very active during the winter. Their exhibit has holes cut in the ice so the otters can swim during the winter.

GREEN BAY – The Department of Veterans Affairs has been under fire for a year because of an investigation into delays in patient care. While Green Bay’s VA clinic has not been singled out in that investigation, a congressman is now calling for a separate investigation into the Green Bay clinic.

An insider tells FOX 11 Investigates there is a delay in getting the clinic fully operational. The issue is the surgery center inside the clinic.

FOX 11 Investigates found that more than one year after the veterans’ clinic opened, not a single surgery has been performed at the surgery center.

Rep. Reid Ribble (R-8th District) sent a letter to the VA secretary asking for a federal investigation into the clinic. The letter came after Ribble was contacted by a doctor who works at the facility.

• Click here to read Ribble’s letter.

“The thing, I think, that most concerns me is the fact that the entire process is moving at a snail’s pace. It almost seems like there’s no urgency at all,” Ribble said.

Coming up tonight on FOX 11 News at Five and Nine, we’ll hear from the doctor about what’s happening inside the clinic.

We’ll also hear from the VA about why the surgery center is still not up and running.

NEW YORK (AP) – Staples is buying Office Depot in a cash-and-stock deal valued at nearly $6 billion.

Office Depot Inc. shareholders will receive $7.25 in cash and 0.2188 of a share in Staples Inc. at closing. The deal values Office Depot at $11 per share. The companies put the transaction’s value at $6.3 billion.

The deal is expected to close by year’s end.

GREEN BAY- Be careful on your morning commute, it could be slick.

We’ll see a mix of sun and clouds Wednesday with a high near 18.

It will be blustery with winds out of the northwest at 10 to 20 mph with gusts to 25.

An area of high pressure builds Wednesday night bringing clearing skies and very cold temperatures.

Thursday morning, we’ll have a temperature of -8 and a wind chill near -20 degrees.

Cease and desist letter outlining questionable supplements.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Milwaukee Department of Public Works is investigating after a snow plow driver was found napping on the job.

WISN-TV reports a camera crew recorded the driver asleep in an idling plow early Tuesday morning on the city’s east side. The driver told the news station he was working a 12-hour shift and slept through an alarm he set to wake himself up.

Milwaukee Alderman Joe Dudzik says snow duty can be grueling, but the driver should’ve gone back to the office if he needed a break.

The Department of Public Works commissioner says the driver’s nap violated policy. He says the department is investigating the incident and will determine the appropriate disciplinary action for the sleeping plow driver.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – Bottles of Walmart-brand echinacea, an herb said to ward off colds, were found to contain no echinacea at all. GNC-brand bottles of St. John’s wort, touted as a cure for depression, held rice, garlic and a tropical houseplant, but not a trace of the herb.

In fact, DNA testing on hundreds of bottles of store-brand herbal supplements sold as treatments for everything from memory loss to prostate trouble found that four out of five contained none of the herbs on the label. Instead, they were packed with cheap fillers such as wheat, rice, beans or houseplants.

Based on the testing commissioned by his office, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday he has sent letters to the four major store chains involved – GNC, Target, Walmart and Walgreens – demanding that they immediately stop selling adulterated or mislabeled dietary supplements.

Schneiderman said the supplements pose serious risks. People who have allergies or are taking certain medications can suffer dangerous reactions from herbal concoctions that contain substances not listed on the label, he said.

“This investigation makes one thing abundantly clear: The old adage ‘buyer beware’ may be especially true for consumers of herbal supplements,” the attorney general said.

The herbal supplement industry criticized the method used to analyze the samples and raised questions about the reliability of the findings.

Walmart’s vice president of Health & Wellness, Carmen Bauza, said testing by Walmart suppliers hasn’t revealed any issues with the relevant products, but the company will comply with the attorney general’s request to stop selling them in New York.

“We take this matter very seriously and will be conducting side-by-side analysis because we are 100 percent committed to providing our customers safe products,” Bauza said.

Walgreen pledged to cooperate with the attorney general, who asked the store chains for detailed information on production and quality control.

“We take these issues very seriously and as a precautionary measure, we are in the process of removing these products from our shelves as we review this matter further,” Walgreen spokesman James Graham said.

GNC said it, too, will cooperate, but spokeswoman Laura Brophy said: “We stand by the quality, purity and potency of all ingredients listed on the labels of our private-label products.”

Target said it can’t comment without reviewing the full report.

Nutritionist David Schardt of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the tests show that the supplement industry is in urgent need of reform, and until that happens, consumers should stop wasting their money.

A 2013 Canadian government study estimated there are 65,000 dietary supplements on the market, consumed by more than 150 million Americans. The nonprofit American Botanical Council estimated 2013 sales of herbal supplements in the U.S. at $6 billion.

The Food and Drug Administration requires companies to verify their products are safe and properly labeled. But supplements are exempt from the FDA’s strict approval process for prescription drugs.

Schneiderman said tests found no echinacea or any other plant material in bottles of Walmart’s Spring Valley Echinacea. He said no ginseng was found in 20 tests of GNC’s Herbal Plus Ginseng, which is taken to boost energy.

Other supplements tested included garlic, which is said to boost immunity and prevent heart disease; ginkgo biloba, often touted as a memory-booster; and saw palmetto, promoted as a prostate treatment.

DNA tests found such substances as rice, beans, pine, citrus, asparagus, primrose, wheat, houseplant, wild carrot and unidentified non-plant material – none of which were mentioned on the label.

The store chain with the poorest showing was Walmart, where only 4 percent of the products tested showed DNA from the plants listed on the labels.

The investigation looked at six herbal supplements sold at stores across the state. Testing was performed by an expert in DNA technology, James Schulte II of Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York.

The DNA tests were done on three to four samples of each supplement purchased. Each sample was tested five times. Overall, 390 tests involving 78 samples were conducted.

Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition, a dietary supplement trade group, criticized the testing procedure and accused Schneiderman of engaging in a “self-serving publicity stunt under the guise of protecting public health.”

“Processing during manufacturing of botanical supplements can remove or damage DNA,” Mister said. As a result, he said, DNA analysis “may be the wrong test for these kinds of products.”

Michael McGuffin, president of the American Herbal Products Association, said identification of an herb through DNA testing must be confirmed through other means, such as chromatography or microscopy.

But Arthur Grollman, a physician and pharmacology professor at Stony Brook University, called the study “a well-controlled, scientifically based documentation of the outrageous degree of adulteration in the herbal supplement industry.”

BC-AS–Taiwan-Plane Crash,9th Ld-Writethru
Taiwan plane with 58 aboard crashes in Taipei; 19 killed
Eds: Updates throughout with details, comments from TransAsia director and aviation expert, manufacturer sending team to Taiwan. With AP Photos. AP Video.
By RALPH JENNINGS
Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A Taiwanese flight carrying 58 people turned on its side in midair, clipped an elevated roadway and careened into a shallow river Wednesday shortly after taking off from Taipei, killing at least 19 people and leaving 24 missing, officials and media reports said.

More than half of the passengers aboard TransAsia Airways Flight GE235 were from China and the death toll was expected to rise as rescue crews cleared the mostly submerged fuselage in the Keelung River. Teams in rubber rafts clustered around the wreckage, several dozen meters (yards) from the shore.

Dramatic video clips apparently taken from cars on Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 1 were posted online and aired by broadcasters, showing the ATR 72 prop-jet as it pivoted onto its side while zooming toward the elevated highway. In one of them, the plane rapidly fills the screen as its now-vertical wing scrapes over the road, hitting a vehicle before heading into the river.

It was the airline’s second French-Italian-built ATR 72 to crash in the past year. Wednesday’s flight had taken off at 11:35 a.m. from Taipei’s downtown Sungshan Airport en route to the outlying Taiwanese-controlled Kinmen islands. The pilot issued a mayday call shortly after takeoff, Taiwanese civil aviation authorities said.

TransAsia director Peter Chen said contact with the plane was lost four minutes after takeoff, but that weather conditions were suitable for flying and the cause of the accident was unknown.

“Actually this aircraft in the accident was the newest model. It hadn’t been used for even a year,” he told a news conference.

Thirty-one passengers were from China, Taiwan’s tourism bureau said. Kinmen’s airport is a common link between Taipei and China’s Fujian province.

Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration said 19 people were confirmed dead, 15 were injured and 24 were still missing.

Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official who was coordinating the rescue, said the missing people were either still in the fuselage or had been pulled down the river.

“At the moment, things don’t look too optimistic,” Wu told reporters at the scene. “Those in the front of the plane are likely to have lost their lives.”

Rescuers were pulling luggage from an open plane door to clear the fuselage, and Wu said they planned to build a pontoon bridge to facilitate those efforts.

The plane’s wing hit a taxi on the freeway, and the driver and a passenger were injured, Chen said.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it had sent 165 people and eight boats to the riverside rescue scene, joining fire department rescue crews.

Another ATR 72 operated by the same Taipei-based airline crashed in the outlying Taiwan-controlled islands of Penghu last July 23, killing 48 at the end of a typhoon for reasons that are still under investigation.

ATR, a French-Italian consortium based in Toulouse, France, said it was sending a team to Taiwan to help in the investigation.

The ATR 72-600 that crashed Wednesday is ATR’s best plane model, and the pilot had 4,900 hours of flying experience, said Lin Chih-ming of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Greg Walden, Asia managing editor at Flightglobal magazine in Singapore, said the ATR 72-600 is the latest iteration of one of the most popular turboprop planes in the world, particularly favored for regional short-hop flights in Asia.

It has a generally good reputation for safety and reliability and is known among airlines for being cheap and efficient to operate.

While it’s too early to say what caused the crash, engine trouble or weight shifting were unlikely to be causes, Waldron said. Other possible factors include pilot error, weather or freak incidents such as bird strikes.

“It’s too early now to speculate on whether it was an issue with the aircraft or crew,” Waldron said.

The accessibility of the crash site should allow for a swift investigation, and an initial report should be available within about a month, Waldron said.

_____

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) – A Taiwanese flight with 58 people turned on its side in midair, clipped an elevated roadway and careened into a river Wednesday shortly after takeoff from the island’s capital of Taipei, killing at least 15 people, local media and officials said.

The death toll in the TransAsia Airways flight was expected to rise as rescue crews cleared the mostly sunken fuselage in the Keelung River a couple dozen meters (yards) from the shore. Teams of rescuers in rubber rafts clustered around the wreckage.

The ATR 72 prop-jet aircraft was flying on its side, with one wing scraping past Taiwan’s National Freeway No. 1 just seconds before it plunged into the river, local television images showed. It was the airline’s second French-Italian-built ATR 72 to crash in the past year.

Wednesday’s flight had taken off from Taipei’s downtown Sungshan Airport en route to the outlying Taiwan-controlled Kinmen islands.

Civil aviation officials said the flight took off at 10:53 a.m. and lost contact with controllers two minutes later. Thirty-one passengers were from China, Taiwan’s tourism bureau said. Kinmen’s airport is a common link between Taipei and China’s Fujian province.

Taiwan’s civil aviation authority said 15 people were killed out of 28 pulled from the fuselage and that 30 people were still missing.

Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department official who was coordinating the rescue, said the missing people were still in the fuselage or had been pulled downriver, he said.

“At the moment, things don’t look too optimistic,” Wu told reporters at the scene. “Those in the front of the plane are likely to have lost their lives.”

Rescuers were pulling luggage from an open plane door to clear the fuselage, and Wu said they planned to build a pontoon bridge to facilitate those efforts.

The plane’s wing also hit a taxi, the driver of which was injured, on the freeway just before it crashed into the river, Taiwanese broadcaster TVBS reported.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it had sent 165 people and eight boats to the riverside rescue scene, joining fire department rescue crews.

A TransAsia media office declined comment on possible reasons for the crash, deferring to a news conference scheduled for later on Wednesday. Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration also was also unable to discuss possible causes of the crash.

Another ATR 72 operated by the same Taipei-based airline crashed in the outlying Taiwan-controlled islands of Penghu last July 23, killing 48 at the end of a typhoon for reasons that are still under investigation.

APPLETON – High school students in the Fox Valley are learning about career opportunities.

FOX 11’s Emily Deem spent Wednesday morning at Boldt in Appleton to find out more about their job shadow program.

The AGC job shadow program is a workforce development program that teaches students about the many different careers available in the construction industry, both in the field and office.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef
Salt and pepper
2 cans (10.75 ounces) condensed tomato soup
2 soup cans of water
1 jar (24 to 28 ounces) spaghetti sauce
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese cheese, divided

Directions:

Your favorite pizza toppings liked chopped pepperoni, sliced mushrooms, sliced black olives, and diced green peppers.
In a soup kettle brown beef over medium heat until crumbly and no longer pink. Drain any grease and season with a little salt and pepper. Add soup, water, spaghetti sauce and Italian seasoning and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes. Add cheese cook and stir until melted. If soup gets to thick add a little extra water. Serve soup in bowls with extra cheese and if desired your favorite pizza toppings on top. Great with garlic bread or bread sticks for dipping! Kids love this with pizza flavored Goldfish crackers on top!

VALHALLA, N.Y. (AP) – A crowded commuter train slammed into a sport utility vehicle on the tracks at a suburban New York crossing and burst into flames, killing seven people and seriously injuring nearly a dozen in the railroad’s deadliest crash, authorities said.

The collision involving a Metro-North Railroad train and a Jeep Cherokee Tuesday evening in Valhalla, about 20 miles north of New York City, sent hundreds of passengers scrambling to get to safety. Authorities said the impact was so forceful the electrified third rail came up and pierced the train.

Killed were the SUV’s driver and six people aboard the train, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, making this crash the railroad’s most deadly.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said the front part of the train was “completely charred and burned.”

“I am amazed anyone got off that train alive. … It must have been pure panic, with the flames, the third rail and the smoke,” he said.

Astorino said 12 people were injured, 10 of them seriously.

Authorities said the SUV’s driver had gotten out of her vehicle momentarily after the crossing’s safety gates came down around her. She then got back in and was trying to drive forward when she was hit, they said.

“You have seven people who started out today to go about their business and aren’t going to be making it home tonight,” Cuomo said Tuesday at the crash site.

The northbound Metro-North Railroad train left Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan around 5:45 p.m. and struck the SUV about 45 minutes later.

It was unclear how fast the train was going, but the maximum would be 60 mph, a railroad official said.

The train shoved the SUV about 10 train car lengths. Smoke poured out of the scorched front rail car, its windows blackened.

“This is a truly ugly and brutal site,” Cuomo said.

Witnesses said they saw the flames shooting from where the crash occurred, in a wooded area near a cemetery.

Ryan Cottrell, assistant director at a nearby rock climbing gym, said he had been looking out a window because of an earlier, unrelated car accident and saw the train hit the car, pushing it along.

“The flames erupted pretty quickly,” he said.

Passengers described a bump and said they smelled gasoline from the vehicle.

Around 650 passengers likely were aboard the train, including Justin Kaback, commuting home to Danbury, Connecticut.

“I was trapped. You know there was people in front of me and behind me, and I was trapped in the middle of a car and it was getting very hot,” he told ABC News. “All the air was turned off so there was no circulation so it was definitely scary especially when people are walking by on the outside and they said, ‘The train’s on fire. There’s a fire.'”

Passenger Stacey Eisner, who was at the rear of the train, told NBC News that she felt the train “jerk” and then a conductor walked through the train explaining what had happened. She said her train car was evacuated about 10 minutes later using ladders to get people out.

The other rail passengers were moved to the rear of the train so they could get off. Buses picked them up and took them to other stations.

All railroad grade crossings have gate arms that are designed to lift automatically if they strike something like a car on the way down, railroad safety consultant Grady Cothen said. The arms are made of wood and are designed to be easily broken if a car trapped between them moves forward or backward, he said.

Officials didn’t comment on whether the gates were working properly. The National Transportation Safety Board said a team was being sent to investigate.

Metro-North is the nation’s second-busiest railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road. It was formed in 1983 and serves about 280,000 riders a day in New York and Connecticut. Service on its Harlem Line was suspended between Pleasantville and North White Plains after the crash.

Metro-North has been criticized severely for accidents over the last couple of years. Late last year, the NTSB issued rulings on five accidents that occurred in New York and Connecticut in 2013 and 2014, repeatedly finding fault with the railroad while also noting that conditions have improved.

Among the accidents was a Dec. 1, 2013, derailment that killed four people, the railroad’s first passenger fatalities, in the Bronx. The NTSB said the engineer had fallen asleep at the controls because he had a severe, undiagnosed case of sleep apnea.

Last March, the Federal Railroad Administration issued a stinging report on Metro-North, saying it let safety concerns slip while pushing to keep trains on time. Railroad executives pledged to make safety their top priority.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Trying to stop Frank Kaminsky would be a tough enough task alone for most teams.

The unique predicament posed by No. 5 Wisconsin is that the 7-footer has two frontcourt running mates who can make life in the paint just as miserable for opponents.

Kaminsky scored 23 points and shot 9 of 12 from the field, Nigel Hayes added 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting and the big men led the Badgers to a 92-78 win on Tuesday night over undersized Indiana.

Guard Bronson Koenig provided balance from the outside with 15 points, going 3 of 4 from 3-point range as Wisconsin (20-2, 8-1 Big Ten) won its fifth straight.

“I think our guys made some tough shots inside,” coach Bo Ryan said. “We had to have that because we knew they were going to hit some 3s.”

Sam Dekker, the third member of the athletic starting frontcourt, added 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Reserve guard Zak Showalter added a season-high nine points, entertaining a crowd that braved a snowstorm with 3-point plays on tough transition layups during back-to-back possessions in the second half.

Wisconsin quickly turned an eight-point halftime lead into a 30-point rout with 10 minutes left. Indiana (16-7, 6-4) shot 2 of 11 during that stretch.

The Hoosiers hit 5 of 6 on late 3-pointers to make the score more respectable.

They just didn’t have an answer for Wisconsin’s big men all night long.

“Frank and Nigel seemed to be open every time they touched the ball,” Showalter said.

It’s not the way that Indiana coach Tom Crean had envisioned his team would respond after getting to within 44-36 at the half despite being without leading scorer James Blackmon, Jr., who had an ankle injury. The Hoosiers had answered Wisconsin’s 9-0 run to start the game by hitting 8 of 11 from 3-point range in the first half.

“It really comes down to defensive activity,” Crean said. “You’ve got to account for everybody … They’re constantly keeping you in movement. You’ve got to make every catch harder.”

Nick Zeisloft had 17 to lead Indiana, which had to go with a three-guard starting lineup supplemented by two 6-foot-7 sophomores in the frontcourt.

They were overmatched. The Badgers continually took advantage of Indiana defenders overplaying entry passes, allowing clear paths to the bucket.

“What we wanted to do we really didn’t do so well,” Crean said. “We’ll see if we get a chance to play them again.”

Robert Johnson had 16 points for the Hoosiers, while Troy Williams added 14 points and seven rebounds.

MEDICAL REPORT

Crean said Blackmon didn’t practice the last couple days after hurting his ankle during a 72-64 win over Rutgers on Saturday. Blackmon wasn’t able to go after testing out the ankle before Tuesday’s game.

LATE RUN

Kaminsky said he thought his team might have let up the intensity for a bit in the second half after leading by as much as 32. Indiana benefited by getting on another hot stretch from 3-point range. The Hoosiers finished 13 of 24 on the night from beyond the arc.

“We were able to give ourselves a huge cushion that whatever they did would have been hard to come back from,” Kaminsky said.

TIP-INS

Indiana: The Hoosiers lost their third straight conference road game. … Indiana had at least three drives to the bucket wasted by mishandled dribbles, leading to turnovers against a Wisconsin team that can be especially difficult in the paint defensively with 7-footer Kaminsky.

Wisconsin: Guard Josh Gasser started his 126th game, tying Alando Tucker for most in school history. Gasser finished with 11 points to put all five starters in double figures. … Wisconsin won its 13th straight in the series at home, where the Badgers haven’t lost to the Hoosiers since 1998. … Dekker showed off his athleticism just before the halftime buzzer by tapping in a missed shot with his left hand while falling backward for the eight-point lead.

UP NEXT

Indiana hosts Michigan on Sunday.

Wisconsin hosts Northwestern on Saturday.