Green Bay News

SEYMOUR – Are students prepared for the work force after school?

It’s an issue schools across Wisconsin are taking a look at this February.

One local school is being praised for its career and technology education programs.

As they welcomed the state superintendent Tuesday, students in Seymour showed off their business presentation skills.

It’s all part of Career and technology education month.

“Business, agriculture, technology and then also family and consumer science prepares students for careers in those fields,” said Sydney Wilcox, a Seymour High School Junior, and Future Business Leaders of America member.

Seymour teachers say they’re proud their programs have been highlighted by the state as successful.

“We offer classes here at Seymour they can take and actually earn college credit at Fox Valley Tech,” said Business and Information Technology Teacher Katie Grassel.

And teachers say they’ve tried to stay on the cutting edge.

“One of the things that we have most recently added in Seymour is a course that teaches web app development,” said Grassel.

Students at Seymour say they might be from a small town, but the career skills they are learning here will take them anywhere in life.

“It’ll get you prepared for your future, so you know kind of what you want to do,” said Wilcox.

“I think these are great opportunities, because a lot of times we hear about the opportunities for students living in a bigger metropolitan area,” said Grassel.

But the state superintendent says places like Seymour provide a good environment for career partnerships.

“When the community and local businesses participate in what’s going on in schools, it’s a winning combination. I think you can pull that off easier in rural Wisconsin than you could in urban areas. So, Seymour is a good example for that,” said State Superintendent Tony Evers.

After giving their guests a grand tour, students like Wilcox said it was right back to business, as they start to plan their futures.

“At this point, I’m not 100 percent sure as to what,” said Wilcox. “I know somewhere in the accounting or finance area.”

Evers also visited Brillion High School, which has similar partnerships with local colleges and tech companies.

You can watch Gov. Scott Walker’s full State Budget Address on Feb. 3, 2015.

Click here to read the full state budget.

You can also read excerpts from Gov. Walker’s speech here and see how the address unfolded in Madison from our FOX 11 reporters here.

 

ASHWAUBENON – It’s being called the largest retail theft bust ever in Ashwaubenon.

A mother and daughter-in-law have been charged with stealing thousands of dollars worth of merchandise from area stores.

Six years, nearly 50 stores, and $120,000 worth of merchandise later, a criminal complaint lays out the charges against 54-year-old Rosa Maria Gutierrez Carranza and her 37-year old daughter-in-law Leticia Morales Bolanos.

The two have been charged with retail theft.

According to the criminal complaint one of the stores hit was Cabela’s in Ashwaubenon.

The complaint says an employee noticed the two women walked into the fitting room with two jackets and walked out with only one.

“The officer took the report. It ended up being turned over to investigations for follow up. When the investigator began the follow up on the case he was basically treating it like a normal retail theft case,” said Lt. Jody Crocker with Ashwaubenon Public Safety.

As the investigation continued, police say they were led to Green Bay’s east side. Officials say they found a home with a large amount of clothing and the home was set up like a retail store.

Lt. Crocker says it took several days to sort through all of the merchandise.

The criminal complaint says the stolen Cabela’s merchandise totaled almost $3,000.

The complaint also shows the two women allegedly stole clothing from multiple stores in the Fox River Mall and Bay Park Square.

The largest amount totaled more than $25,000 from Abercrombie & Fitch in the Fox River Mall.

“We believe that these folks were using anti-theft detection devices where they were able to remove the tags,” Crocker said.

Armando Martinez-Osorio has also been charged. Police say the Green Bay man stole some of the items.

“The male was supplying the females with other stolen merchandise that they would buy at a greatly discounted rate and then the females would resell the items,” Crocker said.

Police say Gutierrez-Carranza and Morales-Bolanos admitted to being a part of what police are calling a theft ring conspiracy.

FOX 11 reached out to attorney Brett Reetz. He’s representing both women in the case and said, “Upon arrest, both women fully cooperated.”

Police say majority of the items that were stolen have been returned to the stores.

DE PERE – One of the secrets to St. Norbert men’s basketball’s success is a man who’s been coaching since before not only his players were born, but many of their parents.

“I’ve been around the game a long time,” said Green Knights assistant coach Woody Wilson. “50 years. I just try to pass on what knowledge I have.”

St. Norbert, up 5 spots to 9th in this week’s D3Hoops.com rankings, has had Wilson as a fixture at practice as a volunteer assistant for 9 years. The veteran coach has spent five decades helping lead teams, racking up enough high school basketball coaching wins at Sparta High School to get into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and even spending time as a Division I basketball assistant. His time at college’s highest level included coaching at UW-Green Bay while his current boss Gary Grzesk was a player for the Phoenix.

“One of my all-time favorite players,” said Wilson.

“I just don’t have the energy that I wish I had to do more out here with the players … but it might be because I’m getting old, too!’”

—Woody Wilson, SNC Assistant Coach

The 72-year-old says Grzesk asked him to be an assistant when he took over St. Norbert, which was an easy decision to make. Grzesk says Wilson focuses on fundamentals, excelling at improving players’ shots, and allows him to focus on the bigger picture at practice. He’s also a voice of reason; helpful during such a successful season.

“He tells me things I need to hear, not necessarily what I want to hear, which is refreshing,” said Grzesk. “[For instance] that I’m not that good a coach, that our team’s not that good, that we need to work on X, Y and Z to get better. It’s refreshing.”

In 50 years of coaching, this current season might be the most difficult. Not because of the team: St. Norbert has just one loss and Wilson raves about the character of the players Grzesk brings to De Pere. It’s been off-court challenges facing Wilson this year.

“Well, I got prostate cancer,” said Wilson. “Coach Grzesk and the team have been very understanding with my treatment, and the treatments are going good.”

Grzesk is impressed that Wilson has still attended “almost every practice” this season. The two talk on the phone daily, sometimes about what’s going on with Wilson, but largely about hoops: what to work on at practice, what kind of drills to run.

“I feel good, I’m really happy with the cancer doctors that I have, I just don’t have the energy that I wish I had to do more out here with the players,” said Wilson, adding with a laugh, “but it might be because I’m getting old, too!”

Attend a practice and you’ll see that neither age nor ailment has slowed down the 72-year-old much. Wilson’s current players appreciate the energy he brings and soak in the tips he provides.

“He brings a lot of great basketball mind to the program,” said freshman point guard DJ DeValk. “Always listen to what he has to say, he has so much experience with the game. It’s nice learning from somebody who’s been through it all and knows so much about the game of basketball.”

Wilson says he intends to keep coaching as long as he can, or as long as his former player Grzesk keeps him on the staff. He still enjoys seeing his players accomplish something, a new skill, an aspect of the game that they’ve struggled with before. That good feeling is matched, perhaps understandably exceeded, by what he’s felt from the community during a tough year.

“I want to thank everyone for the support they’ve given me over the past few months here,” said Wilson. “Got lot of cards, a lot of calls and all that. I really appreciate it. It kind of tells you how people are thinking about you.”

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s budget would lower property taxes on the typical home over the next two years, based on excerpts he released before the prime-time speech Tuesday that comes as he takes steps toward a likely presidential run.

Walker was to release the two-year spending plan during the speech before a joint meeting of the Republican-controlled Legislature. He already has announced he will propose cutting the University of Wisconsin System by $300 million, require drug tests for people seeking public benefits and keep aid for public schools largely unchanged.

“Our plan is based on growth and opportunity, which leads to freedom and prosperity for all,” Walker said in the excerpts. “Secondly, our plan will use common sense reforms to create a government that is limited in scope and, ultimately, more effective, more efficient, and more accountable to the public.”

Walker’s budget was not expected to include any tax increases, even in the face of the shortfall and after his own Department of Transportation secretary called for raising taxes and fees by about $750 million to pay for roads and other projects.

Democrats have criticized Walker and Republicans for using a previous surplus to pay for nearly $2 billion in tax cuts – targeting income, property and manufacturing taxes – over the past four years. Those tax cuts helped fuel the current budget gap.

Walker, in the excerpts provided by his office, said his budget will result in property taxes being lower in two years than they are now on the typical Wisconsin home. He said his budget will help restore the American dream in Wisconsin for people who have felt it has been out of reach.

Just to continue spending at its current levels, the state will be about $928 million short by mid-2017. If state agencies get what they request, which they certainly won’t, the shortfall grows to $2 billion.

Walker has already said he’s ignoring UW’s request to get $95 million more and instead will call for a $300 million cut, while also freezing tuition and granting more freedom from state oversight and laws.

And to deal with the state’s roads and infrastructure needs, Walker is choosing to borrow $1.3 billion rather than raise the gas tax or vehicle registration fees.

Both the size of the UW cut and opting to increase borrowing for roads by 30 percent has attracted criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Walker also is calling for drug tests for able-bodied adults seeking Medicaid, unemployment, Wisconsin’s version of food stamps and other public benefit programs.

Walker hasn’t said whether aid to K-12 public schools will increase or how he will follow through on a promise to expand the statewide private school voucher program.

Once Walker submits his roughly $70 billion budget, the debate shifts to the Legislature, where lawmakers will spend the next four months working over his proposal before voting on it likely sometime in June.

While that’s happening, Walker will be hitting the campaign trail once again as he seriously considers a run for president. Walker last week created a tax-exempt committee to boost his presidential aspirations, while also traveling to Iowa and Washington, D.C.

In 2005, Stu Kuehl was serving with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“I don’t remember the exact explosion, I remember we got hit and then the next thing I remember is taking morphine to cut the pain off,” Kuehl said.

Kuehl was hit by two explosions while out on one of his projects.

“Right side of my face was rebuilt. Loss of vision in my right eye, shattered left side – my arm, my leg.”

An injury that left him feeling helpless.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to golf again.”

Not until he met PGA Golf Pro Bob Burns.

“There are all sorts of different people with different injuries that think they can’t play,” golf pro Bob Burns said. “They’ve been in accidents at work, car accidents. I have hundreds of those stories.”

Ever since Burns was a young boy, golf has been a way of life.

“Picking up balls on the range, working in the bag room,” he said. “And then worked my way up to the pro shop and eventually became assistant pro.”

This golf pro isn’t seasonal; he is Making a Difference year round. Bob works one-on-one with the veterans that come to his shop, focusing on their specific needs.

“I was golfing with my shoulders and my arms. He got my hips back into the game,” Kuehl said.

The lessons don’t cost a penny. And even though winter has set in, they can still be taught outdoors. A heated shed holds some high-tech equipment to help Burns watch and evaluate each move.

• Click here to learn more about Burns’ lessons

Kuehl is just one of many veterans Burns teaches.

“I didn’t golf for the longest time and then once I saw an interview with Bob about how he was helping veterans, I came out, “ veteran Joshua Huber said. “It means a lot. It helps you take you mind off of stuff.”

“Starting off this year I think I played one time prior to coming out here and then after that my back was feeling good so I think I played like three or four more times this year,” veteran James Jesperson Jr. said.

“My work is not done – this is work in progress – and I’m learning, too,” Burns said. Those there to teach must never cease to learn – that’s what I’ve always said.”

Bob Burns, Making a Difference, working with vets, and proving the word “handicap” should only be used to help determine your golf score.

Valders’ Connor Grall talks about 39-28 win over Wrightstown on Monday.

WRIGHTSTOWN — The Valders girls basketball team entered Monday’s game at Wrightstown knowing a win would put this young team right in the middle of the Olympian Conference race.

Despite playing on the road and having just one senior on the roster, the Vikings made a statement against the Tigers with a 39-28 win.

The Vikings pulled down Wrightstown into a second-place tie with them at 10-4, while Roncalli is in first at 10-3.

“I thought this year we’d compete for the middle of the conference,” Valders coach Dan Wagner said. “I thought we would struggle against the better teams. I hoped we could compete at a high level, and to do it this year in the manner in which we have of dominating on defense; real proud of the kids. I definitely think we’re playing ahead of schedule.”

Monday was all about defense for Valders (12-6), who held Wrightstown to 12 first-half points. The Vikings never let Wrightstown (11-6) get comfortable.

“Lately we’ve been playing well and have been holding teams to very low numbers,” junior Conner Grall said. “We were pretty confident coming into this game.”

“I thought our defense was the difference in the game,” Wagner said. “I thought it frustrated them, I thought it limited them possessions.”

Wrightstown’s point total was a season-low and Wagner knew the Tigers, who have scored as many as 77 points in a game, can be explosive.

“Wrightstown’s a talented team,” Wagner said. “They’re an athletic team and long and they have a good scheme on defense when they try to pressure you.”

Valders led 17-12 at halftime, and coaches always say the first few minutes of the third quarter can be the difference. It was Monday as Valders scored the first four points and never looked back.

“Quick start to the third quarter was important because it doesn’t give them much hope,” Grall said. “That was good for our confidence.”

Four games are left in the regular season for Valders and it could run the table as the last four teams are all under .500 in conference. A conference title would be great and ahead of schedule for the program.

“The game was huge for our team and our program,” Wagner said. “We’ve been competing well against the top of the conference, but we have struggled to win those games. The last couple weeks we’ve taken down three of the top four teams in the conference. This win is huge for us.”

“For us to get to the top of the conference we have to take down every single team to get to the top of the conference,” Grall said.

Monday, Valders took one step in that direction.

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

FOX 11’s Meteorologist Phil DeCastro took the FOX 11 Storm Chaser for a drive this afternoon, checking out the beginning of tonight’s anticipated snowfall.

Snow is expected to move through the area early tonight and although we won’t have much accumulation, it could make roads slippery this evening.

You can check on current road conditions on WisDOT’s website here.

For more on tonight’s weather conditions, click here.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A federal jury ordered Toyota Motor Corp. to pay nearly $11 million to victims of a fatal Minnesota crash on Tuesday after ruling that a design flaw in the 1996 Camry was partially to blame for the 2006 wreck.

The jury said the company was 60 percent to blame for the accident, which left three people dead and two seriously injured. But jurors also decided that Koua Fong Lee, who has long insisted he tried to slow his car before it slammed into another vehicle, was 40 percent to blame.

Lee was driving when his car crashed into another vehicle at a high speed after he exited Interstate 94 in St. Paul. His attorneys insisted the crash was caused by an acceleration defect in his vehicle, but Toyota argued there was no design defect and that Lee was negligent.

After the 2006 wreck, Lee was charged and convicted of vehicular homicide, and sentenced to prison. But he won a new trial after reports surfaced about sudden acceleration in some Toyotas, and questions were raised about the adequacy of his defense. Prosecutors opted against a retrial and he went free after spending 2 ½ years behind bars.

Lee and his relatives, along with other people who were injured or lost loved ones in the crash, later sued Toyota in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. The verdict was announced late Tuesday afternoon.

During the trial, Lee’s attorney, Robert Hilliard, told jurors that there was a defect in the car’s design. He said the Camry’s auto-drive assembly could stick, and when tapped or pushed while stuck, it could stick again at a higher speed.

Hilliard also accused Toyota of never conducting reliability tests on nylon resin pulleys that could be damaged under heat and cause the throttle to stick.

“This is what makes the car go. This is what turns it into a torpedo, a missile, a deadly weapon,” Hilliard said during his closing argument.

Toyota said there was no defect in the design of the 1996 Camry, and that Lee was negligent. The company’s attorney, David Graves, suggested that Lee was an inexperienced driver and mistook the gas pedal for the brake, and that’s why the car accelerated.

Toyota also noted that Lee’s car was never subject to the recalls of later-model Toyotas.

Jurors were asked to decide whether there was a defect in the design of the 1996 Camry that was unreasonably dangerous, and if so, whether that defect caused the plaintiffs’ injuries.

The crash killed the driver of the other vehicle, Javis Trice-Adams Sr., and his 9-year-old son, Javis Adams Jr. His 6-year-old niece, Devyn Bolton, was paralyzed and died in October 2007.

Trice-Adams’ daughter, Jassmine Adams, who was 12 at the time, was seriously injured, as was Trice-Adams’ father, Quincy Ray Adams. Those two and Devon Bolton’s mother, Bridgette Trice, were the other plaintiffs in the case.

POUND – An area man is expected to be recognized by Governor Walker during his budget address Tuesday night.

19-year-old Trevor VanDrisse is part of a program that is part school, and part work.

VanDrisse says he had to take off early Tuesday from work and school to head to Madison.

He and his family were going to meet Governor Scott Walker.

“We’ll get to meet him before his speech. And then we’ll be sitting there, he’ll kind of recognize, or something along those lines, of that during his speech, so that will be cool.” said Trevor VanDrisse, Riesterer & Schnell Student/Employee.

VanDrisse says someone from the Governor’s office called his family last week to be featured during the budget address.

VanDrisse is an agriculture technician apprentice at Riesterer and Schnell implements in Pound. The John Deere corporation paid VanDrisse’s $12,000 tuition at Madison Area Technical College. In return, VanDrisse agreed to work at the Pound location for three years after graduation.

“Trevor is an employee. Student employee. So he’s going to school, he’s actually on his job-time basically now. He doesn’t stop school for two years straight. He’s either working here or in Madison,” said Casey Longtine, Riesterer & Schnell IT Director.

VanDrisse says he started working at Riesterer and Schnell while still in high school. Now, he’s gaining full-time experience every day.

“They got a lot of sensors on them. A lot of computers. So it can be really technical on how to tear them apart and work on them. So it can be complicated at times,” said VanDrisse.

The John Deere scholarship requires good grades.

“I’m on the dean’s list. I did above 3.5 this year, so it’s been an exciting year so far,” said VanDrisse.

And there’s that special trip to Madison.

“It’s exciting. I think everyone here is excited for him,” said Longtine.

“Oh, excited, not too nervous. Probably get more nervous when I see all the cameras and stuff down there. All the people,” said VanDrisse.

Valders visited Wrightstown in a girls basketball game Monday. Valders won, 39-28.

WASHINGTON D.C. – Close ties between the U.S. and Israel have been part of our history.

But over the last few years, it’s been clear the relationship between the two country’s leaders is far more complex.

Next month, Israel’s Prime Minister will visit Washington to address Congress, but he won’t be meeting with President Obama.

“I’m declining to meet with him simply because our general policy is we don’t meet with any world leader two weeks before their election,” Obama said.

But the bigger picture is not so simple, and reveals growing tensions, which Arizona Senator (R) John McCain says could be dangerous, “No other president has had such difficult relationship with the state of Israel since it became a country.”

The latest tensions stem from Iran, a country with which the US is trying to negotiate a nuclear deal, and one Israel simply doesn’t trust.

Haim Malka, Center for Strategic and International Studies says, “The Obama administration is going to try to convince the Israeli Prime minister that he should give sanctions a bit more time to work while Israel is going to try to convince the US govt that time is running out.”

Those differences are just the beginning, and now, two lawmakers are looking into reports that American money and a former Obama administration official are helping the group opposing Netanyahu in the upcoming election, and questioning the state department’s role.

But Michael Brenner, Director of the Center for Israel Studies at American University, says the differing strategies shouldn’t take away from what the two countries share.

“The two countries really have very similar interests in the region and in the world. They share common values and they actually want the same thing,” said Brenner.

But without a clear path on how to get there, and Netanyahu expected to win his upcoming election, it could be another rocky couple of years.

Prime minister Netanyahu is scheduled to address congress on March 3. That’s two weeks before the election in Israel.

 

 

 

 

APPLETON – High school teens from around the area came together to build leadership skills Tuesday in the 2015 Teen Symposium.

The Fox Cities United Way hosted the event at the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton.

It is a one-day leadership conference open to freshmen from all over the area.

The conference featured multiple guest speakers and a community resource fair, as well as other leadership activities. Those who helped at the event say it is a great way to shape freshmen into becoming successful in their careers.

Grant Berhagen of Kimberley High School, said “I think it’s really important that freshman at an early age learn how to develop their leadership qualities so that at an early age they can learn where to lead so they can make a difference later in their high school years and into their college and later careers.”

This year’s event had the largest attendance with more than 400 ninth grade students and chaperones from 20 different local high school groups.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – There is a growing divide between who earns a bachelor’s degree by age 24, with the gap between the nation’s richest and poorest students doubling during the last four decades, according to a report released Tuesday.

The percentage of students from the lowest-income families – those making $34,160 a year or less – earning a bachelor’s degree has inched up just 3 points since 1970, rising from 6 to 9 percent by 2013.

Meanwhile, college completion for students from the wealthiest families has risen dramatically, climbing from 44 to 77 percent.

“It’s really quite amazing how big the differences have become between those from the highest and lowest family incomes,” said Laura Perna, a University of Pennsylvania professor and executive director of the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy, one of two organizations that published the study examining college costs and degree attainment.

The study comes amid renewed debate on college affordability spurred by President Barack Obama’s proposal to make two years of college free. If adopted in every state, the proposal would benefit a projected 9 million students a year. It would cost taxpayers an estimated $60 billion over 10 years – a price the Republican-controlled Congress is likely to be hesitant to embrace.

The widening gap in college completion mirrors a growing divide in income inequality: While pay for the richest 10 percent of the nation has jumped in recent decades, salaries for most Americans have stagnated after accounting for inflation.

“If anything, the returns to education, the benefits from attaining more education, have been growing over the last 20 years,” said David Zimmerman, an economics professor at Williams College in Massachusetts. “So to the extent that the education gap is widening between students from more and less advantaged families, than the predicted gap in earnings would widen as well.”

Among the report’s other findings: The percentage of students from all income levels enrolling in college has increased during the last four decades. There was a 46-point gap between rich and poor in 1970, compared with a 36-point gap in 2012.

But completion gaps are growing: While 99 percent of students entering college from the highest-income families – those making $108,650 or more a year – graduate by 24, just 21 percent of students from the lowest-income families finish by that age.

Perna said there are a number of factors contributing to the widening divide, including access to the information and support needed to enter college and graduate; college readiness; and the availability of higher education that meets people’s needs, particularly for students who might have children, limited access to transportation and full-time jobs.

She also noted that the likelihood of finishing a degree varies dramatically by the type of institution. Students from the poorest families are overrepresented in public two-year institutions, which tend to have lower completion rates, while those from wealthier families are abundant in doctoral-granting institutions.

The Obama administration has expanded the availability of Pell grants and supported a tax credit for tuition costs, but the study says the amount of the maximum Pell grant award has not kept up with the rising cost of college. College costs were more than two times higher in 2012 than in 1975 at the start of the Pell grant program, which provides aid to low-income students based on need.

Pell grants covered 67 percent of college costs in 1975 but only 27 percent in 2012.

“We sometimes think that low-income students are taken care of because of the federal program. But you can see it covers so much less than when it was first established,” said Margaret Cahalan, director of the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, the second institution involved in the report.

It analyzed federal education and population data, and the findings fall in line with numerous studies showing that while college enrollment has increased across demographic groups, disparities exist by completion rates and type of institution.

“Most of our work has shown there is an underrepresentation of low-income students in the best colleges and universities,” Zimmerman said. “That has an effect on their completing college and their future income.”

Michael Kramer, 29, is the first in his family to attend college. The son of a country club maintenance supervisor and a factory worker, he went straight to jobs in retail and plumbing after graduating high school, unable to afford college. He eventually enrolled in a community college while working full time and is now taking out loans to help finish his bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“We’re a country that says everybody should be getting higher education, and nowadays, to get any decent job, you need a bachelor’s degree,” Kramer said.

But for low-income students like him, Kramer said the high cost of college often means making a difficult choice between fulfilling basic food and housing needs and obtaining a postsecondary education.

“It’s a continuous cycle that they get stuck in,” he said.

DENVER (AP) – Selfies were a likely factor in a small plane crash near Denver last year that killed the pilot and his only passenger, according to a new National Transportation Safety Board report.

The report, released last week, said recordings from a GoPro camera that escaped damage and had been mounted on the Cessna 150K’s instrument panel show the pilot and other passengers repeatedly taking photographs of themselves with their cellphones, even using the flash, during several previous short flights in the hours leading up to the May 31 crash.

Although there was no video of the deadly flight, evidence of the pilot’s previous cellphone use that day makes it likely that cellphone use contributed to his disorientation and loss of control, investigators concluded.

Eric Weiss, an NTSB spokesman, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that one of the agency’s priorities this year is calling attention to the dangers of a variety of distractions, whether in the air or on the ground.

“Selfies would be by definition distraction,” Weiss said, adding pilots are advised to restrict activities and conversation to the task at hand when they are at the controls.

The May crash killed 29-year-old pilot Amritpal Singh of Aurora and his passenger shortly after they took off from Front Range Airport in Adams County on a night flight. The wreckage was found in a wheat field about a mile west of the airport.

NTSB investigators said they did not find evidence Singh had met requirements to fly at night with passengers. He did hold a commercial pilot certificate and had more than 700 hours of flying time.

Watch live streaming video of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2015 State Budget Address below.

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GREEN BAY – The Oshkosh man accused of possessing ricin returns to federal court Wednesday, when a judge might rule if his Miranda rights were violated.

Kyle Smith, 21, faces two counts: knowingly developing and possessing ricin for use as a weapon, and having ricin not in its naturally occurring form and not for a reasonable purpose. The first count carries maximum penalty of life in prison, while the second count has a maximum penalty of ten years in prison.

According to a criminal complaint, Oshkosh police and the Wisconsin National Guard found 1 1/2 grams of ricin in Smith’s apartment on Halloween.

Trial is scheduled for Feb. 17 before federal Judge William Griesbach. Besides the hearing Wednesday, another pretrial conference is scheduled for Friday morning.

Smith’s attorney has challenged the legality of the statements Smith gave police, and has requested the charges themselves be dismissed.

The Miranda issues were argued at a hearing last month, with the defense arguing Smith was in custody and questioned before officers read him his rights.

A magistrate judge has recommended to Griesbach that the defense motion to dismiss the case be denied:

“Smith nevertheless argues that § 175(b) is unconstitutionally vague because it does not contain a specific, heightened scienter requirement and it “requires a defendant charged with violating this section to prove himself innocent.” (Def.’s Reply 7.) Not so. Under § 175(b), the burden is on the government to prove that the defendant knowingly possessed a refined toxin of a type or in a quantity that, under the circumstances, was not reasonably justified by a prophylactic, protective, bona fide research, or other peaceful purpose. Consequently, the government must prove that Smith possessed refined ricin under specific circumstances, not circumstances deemed merely suspicious by the government,” wrote Magistrate Judge William Callahan Jr.

OSHKOSH – Another year of clear water has officials predicting a quick sturgeon spearing season.

The annual tradition on the Lake Winnebago system begins Feb. 14. Spearers are allowed to cut their holes in the ice during the two days leading up to the season.

“Water clarity is the best predictor of spearing success and 2014 brought the best clarity conditions we’ve had in five years,” Ryan Koenigs, senior fisheries biologist for the state Department of Natural Resources, said in a news release. “Water clarity this year looks even better, so based on current conditions, we are expecting a relatively short, busy and successful season.”

the DNR sold 13,134 licenses for the season, which is scheduled to last two weeks, but could end early if harvest caps are met. The DNR has set the total harvest cap for adult females at 878, a six percent increase from 2014. The cap for adult males is 1,250 and for adult females, it’s 430. The total harvest caps are broken down into two parts: for Lake Winnebago and for the upriver lakes of Butte des Morts, Winneconne and Poygan.

The system has been producing recdord-sized fish lately; dating back to 1941, nine of the 11 largest sturgeon have been speared since 2008.

The season doesn’t come without risks, however. High winds, fluctuating temperatures and the lack of a heavy snow pack have left ice conditions questionable on Lake Winnebago. Last month, a Sussex man and his eight-year-old son died as a result of their Jeep falling through the ice near Oshkosh.

SUPERIOR, Wis. (AP) – Warm weather may be to blame for the collapse of an ice sculpture in Superior.

The “Lake Superior Ice Project” was to have been the centerpiece of a Superior festival later this month. The sculpture was nearing its goal of 65 feet tall when it collapsed just after 10 a.m. Tuesday.

WDIO reports the structure fell straight down and did minimal damage to the equipment being used to form the sculpture.

Roger Hanson, who was hired by the city to build the sculpture on Barker’s Island, said he will review his data to determine the exact cause of the failure.  A statement from the city says warm weather in December and January may have weakened the structure’s core.