Green Bay News

A re-organization of Neenah Foundry after bankruptcy does not qualify it to be treated as a ‘new employer’ in terms of the state’s unemployment system, a state appeals court ruled Thursday.

The decision means that, over a seven-year period, Neenah Foundry will pay between $393,216 and $564,780 more into the unemployment insurance system than it would have paid as a new employer.

After a large number of layoffs in 2009, Neenah Foundry filed for bankruptcy, which was approved by a federal court in July 2010.

The company argued it should be consider a new employer in order to obtain a new employer experience rating and, thereby, reduce its unemployment insurance contribution rates. The state rejected the request, and after an appeals tribunal ruled for the state, the company appealed.

In the decision Thursday, the appeals court rejected the company’s arguments, noting that the ownership, management and operations remained largely the same before and after the bankruptcy.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The number of people seeking unemployment aid plunged last week to the lowest level in almost 15 years, a sign hiring will likely remain healthy.

The Labor Department says weekly applications dropped 43,000 to a seasonally adjusted 265,000, the lowest level since April 2000. That is also the biggest decline in two years. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, fell 8,250 to 298,500.

The latest drop may have been exaggerated by the federal holiday, which likely slowed the processing of some claims.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs, so the sharp decline means companies are cutting fewer jobs. The four-week average has fallen 11 percent in the past year. At the same time, hiring has picked up. Employers added almost 3 million jobs last year, the most since 1999.

ASHLAND, Wis. (AP) – Xcel Energy and two railroads have settled a lawsuit over contamination at the lakefront in Ashland.

Xcel says the Soo Line and Wisconsin Central have agreed to pay $10½ million to help cleanup contamination caused, in part, by a gas plant that operated near Chequamegon Bay from the late 1800s to the 1940s.

The Daily Press says Soo Line owned the land and operated a railroad corridor at the site from at least the 1870s through 1987 when it was acquired by Wisconsin Central. Xcel subsidiary, Northern States Power, says the settlement money is only a fraction of the total cleanup cost, estimated at $100 million.

The city of Ashland was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. City administrator Pete Mann says Ashland has been involved in settlement talks with Xcel for about a year.

GREEN BAY – The National Football League is still making good on its ticket debacle at Super Bowl XLV four years ago in North Texas.

Many Packers fans who bought tickets to that Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers are being compensated by the NFL with tickets to a future Super Bowl. Packers fans were hopeful 2015 would be the year, but a disappointed final two minutes in Seattle NFC Championship Sunday changed all that.

FOX 11 Investigates tracked down inconvenienced fans from Super Bowl XLV to see if the NFL has made good on its promise to make good on its mistake.

To set the stage it’s important to remember Super Bowl XLV was to be the most attended Super Bowl of all time. Back in 2011, the super-sized Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas was being retrofitted with thousands of extra temporary seats to accommodate over 104,000 fans to set a new record.

Work continued Super Bowl week to get the temporary seating in place.

The problem came Super Bowl Sunday for fans like Pete D’Amico of Ellison Bay when he and his son tried to enter with their paid Super Bowl tickets.

“And what happened was when they went to scan them a big red x came on their scanner,” said D’Amico. “It ended up being about 1,200 people that scanned bad.”

The problem was actually worse than that.

The NFL at the time indicated approximately 2,400 fans were affected. But court documents uncovered in a civil suit against the NFL cites the number of fans, who were displaced or delayed from getting to their seats, closer to 3,000.

D’Amico said he and the others were shuffled around and told to wait in a holding pen for several hours, which only angered those fans more.

D’Amico recalled the NFL just fumbled the way it handled the ticket problem from the start.

“They just weren’t prepared, and you’d think they’d have a plan and a secondary plan. I mean it’s the Super Bowl,” said D’Amico to FOX 11 Investigates.

What D’Amico didn’t know at the time was that work was still being done on the temporary seats right up until hours before kickoff. A fire marshal ended up ruling hundreds of the seats unsafe because in many cases there were no railings or exit plans.

After rejecting an offer to watch the game on televisions in the stadium’s basement, D’Amico and the others were eventually allowed into the stadium.  Some were left to roam, while others like D’Amico found their seats that were finally ready. But the game had already begun.

“Our seats were available to us but we had missed all the pregame, the Keith Urban, the BlueMan Group, everything we wanted to do,” said D’Amico.

In the days following the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged the last minute work on seats came up short.

Goodell commented on the ticket problems with fans during a news conference following the Super Bowl.

“We’re working at it. We apologize to those fans that were impacted by this,” said Goodell. “We are going to work with them and we are going to do better in the future.”

In the months following the Super Bowl seat debacle affected fans were given the option of reimbursement for their tickets or the promise of tickets to a future Super Bowl of their choice. They had 30 days to sign off on an NFL contract giving up their legal rights. According to court documents filed in Texas, as of two years after the incident 70 percent of the affected fans signed the deal.

D’Amico said in the past four years the NFL has been in contact with him every year to make good on its promise to do better.

D’Amico chose the option of future Super Bowl tickets.  Each year he has until after the NFC Championship Game to decide if he’s going. He had high hopes for this year in Phoenix but now, like the Packers, he’s focused on Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco.

“If we just relax, they’ll get there,” D’Amico laughed referencing quarterback Aaron Rodgers statement to relax earlier in the season when a game didn’t go well.

The NFL is promising lower level seats to D’Amico and VIP passes to allow him early entry into the stadium–a value he says will far exceed his $800 nosebleed seats he paid $2,600 a piece for four years ago.

Check out this year’s Super Bowl XLIX resale ticket prices here.

“Do you think the NFL learned its lesson, and won’t make this mistake again?” FOX 11 Investigates asked D’Amico.

“I think if a problem like this comes up, they are definitely going to put a solid plan in place,” said D’Amico.

FOX 11 Investigates learned a class action lawsuit filed against the NFL and the Cowboys was rejected. The Cowboys were also dismissed from the suit, but other lawsuits continued on by individuals.

At least one civil court case continues in Dallas. After four years the case brought by eight fans is finally set to go to trial in early March. Although the judge is urging all parties to settle out of court.

Due to the seat issue, the attendance at Super Bowl XLV was 103,219 coming up short of the record by just a few hundred fans.

Super Bowl XIV in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl holds the record with an attendance of 103,985.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – Summerfest has announced a third major headliner in its lineup for this year’s lakefront music festival in Milwaukee.

Summerfest organizers said Thursday that Keith Urban will perform Friday, June 26. Phillip Phillips will open for Urban. Tickets go on sale Feb. 6.

Previously announced headlines include Florida-Georgia Line on June 24 and Linkin Park on June 30.

FOND DU LAC – A Fond du Lac man’s love and devotion to his late wife, even in the middle of winter, is inspiring two city workers.

Bud Caldwell has a routine

“A lot of people might think it’s a dumb thing, but I don’t.”

In fact, it’s the best part of his day. Rain or shine, the 82-year-old visits the bench he bought and dedicated to his wife Betty. She passed two years ago.

He reports what he has going on, and leaves a daisy and a penny, after two of their favorite songs, “Pennies from Heaven” and “A Daisy a Day.”

“It just seemed the natural thing to do,” said Caldwell.

They spent almost 56 years together.

“I tried not to let her down, this is one way I can show that,” said Caldwell.

After it snowed a few weeks ago, Bud’s path here was blocked, he couldn’t bring betty her daisy or her penny, that is until he got a little help. Two Fond du Lac parks employees, Jerrod Ebert and Kevin Shultz, saw Bud sitting in his car in front of the snow covered walk way.

“We gotta make sure he can get to his bench and talk to his wife,” said Ebert.

So they grabbed shovels and cleared the path.

“Only because of his love for his wife,” said Ebert.

A gesture, neither will forget.

“Two young men did something so nice for one old man,” said Caldwell.

Since that day, Bud hasn’t missed the chance to tell Betty just that. Because of these two, he won’t have to.

“Because like the last verse goes, I come up here every day and give her a daisy a day.”

Some counties in our area are under a Freezing Rain Advisory.

FOX 11’s Emily Deem is checking out road conditions in the FOX 11 Storm Chaser.

Emily says people traveling on I-43 this morning are taking it slow.

Some plow trucks are out salting the roads.

No major accidents have been reported, but our crew in the FOX 11 Storm Chaser did see one car in the ditch in the Denmark area.

Click on the video for the latest.

ASHWAUBENON – Have you ever wanted to try out a cooking class?

You can in Ashwaubenon!

FOX 11’s Emily Deem spent Thursday morning at Cooks Corner to learn more about their cooking classes.

Chef Ace Champion joined Emily on Good Day Wisconsin to create some tasty dishes.

Some of the cooking classes include: The Best of New Orleans, Knife Skills 101, Romantic Home Dinner and more.

Click here for a list of the cooking classes.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia’s Civil Aviation Authority has officially declared the MH370 crash an accident, fulfilling a legal obligation that will allow efforts to proceed with compensation claims.

Malaysia civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said Thursday that the search for the Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared on March 8, 2014, “remains a proiority.”

In a pre-recorded message broadcast on Malaysian television he said “it is with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that we officially declare Malaysia Airlines Flight mh370 an accident.”

He said all 239 passengers and crew on board are presumed to have lost their lives.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Indonesian investigators say the co-pilot of the crashed AirAsia jet was in controls when he struggled to recover the aircraft as stall warnings sounded.

The Airbus A320-200 crashed into the Java Sea Dec. 28, halfway from Indonesia’s city of Surabaya to Singapore. All 162 people on board were killed.

Chief investigator of the National Transportation Safety Commission Marjono Siswosuwarno said Thursday that the cockpit voice recording indicated that the co-pilot, French national Remi Emmanuel Plesel, was flying the plane while Indonesia Capt. Iriyanto was monitoring.

Iryanto, who uses one name, was a former fighter pilot with more than 20,500 flying hours, while less experienced Plesel had about 6,000 hours.

Siswosuwarno said the plane was struggling to recover as stall warnings sounded until the end of the recording.

BROWN DEER, Wis. (AP) – Four middle school students are facing criminal charges after authorities say they recorded themselves at a so-called sex party that took place at a Brown Deer home over winter break.

Police were called to Brown Deer Middle School earlier this month after a student told a staff member about the gathering and videos recorded by partygoers. Four students were arrested by police after questioning and police have recommended they be charged with first- and second-degree sexual assault of a child.

Brown Deer Police Chief Michael Kass says it doesn’t appear any of the videos were posted on social media. He says authorities don’t believe any adults were involved but they want to send a clear message that this behavior isn’t acceptable among middle-school age kids.

The superintendent tells WISN-TV this isn’t a school matter because it didn’t happen on school grounds.

A Freezing Rain Advisory remains in effect Until 6 a.m. Thursday for Florence, Langlade, Menominee, Shawano, Waupaca and Waushara coutnies.

A Freezing Rain Advisory continues until 8 a.m. for Northern Marinette County, Northern Oconto County, Door, Outagamie, Brown, Kewaunee, Winnebago,Calumet, Manitowoc and Southern Oconto County.

Click on the links above for more information.

Director of Meteorology Pete Petoniak will have the latest on Good Day Wisconsin.

BROWN COUNTY – A 31-year-old Crivitz man is behind bars after a short chase Wednesday night on highway 41 in Brown County.

The State Patrol said it started when a trooper spotted the man’s vehicle near the Highway 29 exit and saw that neither he nor his passenger were wearing seat belts.

Authorities said when the trooper tried to pull the man over, he took off, heading south on hwy. 41.

They said the man eventually lost control and his vehicle struck the median wall and then went into a ditch near the Glory Road Overpass.

Authorities said the man and his passenger took off running. Both were found shortly after the crash.

The man was booked into the Brown County Jail, accused of his 5th OWI offense.

The Passenger was also booked into the jail, accused of obstructing an officer and possession of marijuana.

The crash is being investigated by Brown County Sheriff.

GREEN BAY – Some students headed to the UW-Green Bay bookstore Wednesday afternoon had possible UW system budget cuts on their minds.

“I think it’s offensive to students, honestly. I think we work hard for what we do here and we pay a lot in tuition,” said Katie Paar, a UWGB Senior.

“I think it’ll make them more effective,” said Governor Scott Walker.

On Tuesday, Governor Walker announced a proposed 300 million dollar cut to the UW System’s funding over the next two years. As part of the proposal, the UW System would also have more freedom to spend the money it does get as it wishes.

“We think it’s a strong thing. Long term it will be a benefit not only to the university system as a whole, but it’ll be a benefit to students,” said Walker.

A UW-Green Bay staff representative says the freedom is not a fair trade off when talking about the size of the potential funding cut.

“The 300 million dollar figure that’s been thrown around for the next biennium is really pretty devastating, I believe,” said Steven Meyer, a UWGB professor.

Some students say they do appreciate the tuition freeze that Governor Scott Walker put in place for the next two years. But, they worry tuition could go up after that, when the UW system can set its own rate.

“The tuition freeze has been helpful. But when dig deeper to what the necessities of our education system are, it becomes harder for all students,” said Vanya Koepke, UWGB Student Government President.

UWGB’s Chancellor has told FOX 11 tuition rates would remain competitive, even after the freeze is gone. And Governor Walker said he hopes that would be the same across the UW system.

“In the future I have every reason to believe the regents and leadership team will keep things affordable for families across the state,” said Walker.

Governor Walker will release the full details of his budget proposal next week.

Hortonville’s Maddie Dunathan talks about win over Appleton North.

Hortonville visited Appleton North in a Fox Valley Association girls basketball game Tuesday. Hortonville won, 60-50.

APPLETON — After a hot start to the game the Hortonville girls basketball team found itself down two points at halftime on Tuesday against Appleton North.

The co-leaders in the Fox Valley Association needed a pick-me-up in the second half and the Polar Bears found one.

Maddie Dunathan, the team’s leading scorer, sparked the Polar Bears in the second half by scoring 16 of her game-high 21 points as Hortonville remained tied with Kimberly atop the FVA by posting a 60-50 win.

“Maddie Dunathan’s a super player,” Hortonville coach Jeff Chew said. “She steps up when we need her to step up and she did an outstanding job.”

“I think as a senior one of things you want to do is take control when things are going bad,” Dunathan said. “Our team really helps out when they look for the open person.”

Hortonville (14-2, 11-1), ranked No. 2 in the FOX 11 Top 11, didn’t look like it would need Dunathan’s effort in the second half as the Polar Bears opened a 21-12 lead. However, North (8-8, 8-4) outscored Hortonville, 13-2, to end the second quarter with a 25-23 lead.

Hortonville turned the game around in the second half, but not because of any magic words at halftime.

“The message is we have to play smarter, we can’t get into foul problems, we can’t send them to the line,” Chew said. “Then we went through a stretch there where we didn’t take of the ball. I think we had four turnovers in five possessions. We just didn’t do some things real smart.”

Nonetheless, the Polar Bears remain in control of their own destiny. Win out and the conference title is won in their first year in the FVA after moving from the Bay Conference.

“We expected to contend for conference,” Chew said. “We’ve played very well. We’re just happy to be where we’re at.”

Based on schedule, North was the most challenging road game left for Hortonville, which hosts Kimberly on Feb. 6. However, the Polar Bears aren’t taking anybody for granted.

“Every game is big for us right now,” Dunathan said. “Playing on the road, we did that early this season, so it’s nothing new.”

Dunathan is confident Hortonville can win the conference.

“I’d say that every game we’re the team to beat,” Dunathan said. “No team you can take easy and no team’s going to take us easy.”

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Wednesday marks the 29th anniversary of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members, including New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe.

The shuttle exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Jan. 28, 1986.

McAuliffe was a social studies teacher at Concord High School. She was picked from among 11,000 candidates to be the first teacher and private citizen in space.

Today, an elementary school in Concord bears her name, in addition to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center and the high school’s auditorium. A painting of her in her astronaut uniform is in the lobby.

The Concord school district itself and the city have observed the Challenger anniversary quietly through the years, partly to respect the privacy of the McAuliffe family.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronting skeptical Republicans, attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch pledged a new start with Congress and independence from President Barack Obama Wednesday, even as she defended the president’s unilateral protections for millions of immigrants in the country illegally.

“If confirmed as attorney general, I would be myself. I would be Loretta Lynch,” the nominee told her Senate confirmation hearing as Republicans showered criticism on the current occupant of the job, Eric Holder. They said Holder was contemptuous of Congress and too politically close to Obama, and repeatedly demanded assurances that Lynch would do things differently.

“You’re not Eric Holder, are you?” Texas Republican John Cornyn, one of the current attorney general’s most persistent critics, asked at one point.

“No, I’m not, sir,” Lynch responded with a smile.

It was a moment that summed up a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that was often more about Obama and Holder than about Lynch, who is now the top federal prosecutor for parts of New York City and Long Island. If confirmed, she would become the nation’s first black female attorney general.

Holder, Cornyn contended, “operated as a politician using the awesome power conferred by our laws on the attorney general.”

Lynch asked the senator to take note of “the independence that I’ve always brought to every particular matter,” and she said that when merited she would say no to Obama.

On immigration, Lynch faced numerous questions from Republicans critical of the administration’s new policy granting work permits and temporary deportation relief to some 4 million people who are in the country illegally. The committee chairman, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa, called the effort “a dangerous abuse of executive authority.”

Lynch said she had no involvement in drafting the measures but called them “a reasonable way to marshal limited resources to deal with the problem” of illegal immigration. She said the Homeland Security Department was focusing on removals of “the most dangerous of the undocumented immigrants among us.”

Pressed by Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading immigration hard-liner, she said citizenship was not a right for people in the country illegally but rather a privilege that must be earned. However, when Sessions asked whether individuals in the country legally or those who are here unlawfully have more of a right to a job, Lynch replied, “The right and the obligation to work is one that’s shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here.”

Sessions quickly issued a news release to highlight that response. Under later questioning by Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, Lynch clarified it, stating there is no right to work for an immigrant who has no lawful status.

The hearing was the first such proceeding since Republicans retook control of the Senate in January. Although comments from Sessions and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as the session neared its conclusion suggested her stance on immigration and presidential authority would cost some Republican support, Lynch is expected to win confirmation with little difficulty, in part because Republicans are so eager to be rid of Holder. He has been a lightning rod for conservatives over the past six years, clashing continually with lawmakers and becoming the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress.

Lynch found occasions to differentiate herself from Holder without contradicting him.

She stated without hesitation under questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, that she considers the death penalty an effective punishment and has sometimes sought it in her district. That was a rhetorical shift from Holder, who has expressed personal reservations about capital punishment, particularly in light of recent botched executions, but has also sought it in past cases.

On another controversial topic, Lynch said current National Security Agency intelligence-gathering programs are “constitutional and effective.” She said she hopes Congress will renew three expiring provisions in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the FBI to obtain search warrants and communications intercepts in intelligence cases.

Questioned by Graham and other senators who are concerned that the use of civilian courts to try terrorists would give them too many rights, she said both military tribunals and civilian trials should be available for such prosecutions.

She also was asked whether she would support efforts to legalize marijuana. She said emphatically that she wouldn’t, and refused to endorse a viewpoint offered by Obama in a New Yorker article last year that marijuana was not more dangerous than alcohol.

“I certainly think the president was speaking from his personal experience and personal opinion,” not reflecting Justice Department policy, Lynch said.

Beyond his clashes with Congress, Holder has faced accusations from critics that he has aligned himself more with protesters alleging police violence than with members of law enforcement, a contention he and the Justice Department have strongly denied.

It’s an area Lynch is familiar with. She helped prosecute New York City police officers who beat and sexually assaulted Haitian immigrant Abner Louima in 1997, and her office in New York is currently leading a civil rights investigation into the police chokehold death of Eric Garner in Staten Island last summer. Lynch has been U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York since 2010, a role she also held from 1999 to 2001.

Lynch told senators that one of the most important issues facing the country is “the need to resolve the tensions … between law enforcement and the communities that we serve.” She said the best way to deal with the problem is to get all parties to meet and talk, “helping them see that, in fact, we are all in this together.”

Lynch was accompanied at the hearing by about 30 family members and friends. Her mother was unable to make the trip, but her father, a retired minister, sat behind her throughout the hearing along with her husband, her brother and several members of her college sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, wearing their trademark bright red.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – The Arkansas Board of Education voted Wednesday to assume control of Little Rock schools less than six months after a federal judge granted more independence to the historically embattled district and ended a quarter-century of payments to boost integration.

The board’s 5-4 decision at a special meeting in Little Rock followed nearly four hours of public testimony from students, teachers and community members who overwhelmingly opposed the takeover.

The state last year classified six of the district’s 48 schools as being in academic distress after fewer than half of the students at those schools scored at proficient levels on the tests. About 45 percent of its high school students attend campuses designated as underperforming.

The education board voted to immediately remove the seven-member Little Rock School District board. The superintendent will remain on an interim basis and will report to the state Department of Education commissioner. State education officials also voted to create an advisory committee of parents, students, business leaders and other community members.

The judge in August signed an order that will stop payments the state has been making to the district since 1989. The district sued the state in 1982, alleging state policies were still creating racial imbalance despite changes made since nine black teenagers were escorted into Central High School by federal troops in 1957.

Board members who advocated the change said they want to provide a better education to the students in the underperforming schools and expressed concerns about the district’s ability to budget properly after the integration payments stop in 2018.

Board chairman Samuel Ledbetter, who cast the tiebreaking vote, said students won’t see an instant change but he hopes to quickly improve the distressed schools.

“School will start in Little Rock tomorrow just like it did today,” he said.