Month: October 2025

By Zoie Henry

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — The ninth annual donut smackdown in Milwaukee is raising $100,000 to replace the gym floor at the Daniels Mardak Boys & Girls Club, which was damaged during historic flooding in August.

Anne Zizzo, owner of the Zizzo Marketing Group that organizes the smackdown, explained that the gym serves more than 200 students daily, but currently, it cannot host after-school activities. To raise money, dozens of teams are competing in a donut-eating contest.

“This is my first year doing this fundraiser. Although I’ve been eating donuts my whole life,” said Jeremy Hillenbrand, a competitor.

Teams will raise money all month by receiving donations online. Competitors are eager to take on the challenge.

“I’ve slammed way too many mini donuts in my mouth at one time and forgot to get any kind of liquid in there. So it gets, it gets kind of challenging,” participant Pedro Guerrero said.

“You know, I tried to dump all the donuts in the water so they’d be easier to go down, but then I ended up eating dried donuts instead. So I think it was just, I got my own head a little bit,” Hillenbrand said.

The team that eats the most donuts in two minutes will be crowned by a Wisconsin sports legend.

“Donald Driver is actually coming to crown our donuts SmackDown champions. So we’re going to have a Super Bowl champion crowning three layers of donuts. SmackDown champions, the top three fastest eating teams, the highest three fundraising teams,” Zizzo said.

If you’d like to donate or sign up for the contest, head to the official Donut Smackdown website.

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By Hannah Hilyard

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — As fans fill up American Family Field for postseason baseball, there’s one man inside the ballpark who’s had a front row seat to Brewers history for nearly half a century.

You may not recognize his name, but Marty Wellskopf has been a part of the Brewers for 47 years.

He started in Brewers’ media hospitality in 1978 alongside his father. Wellskopf was just 18 at the time.

“When you first start out, everybody is older than you. The players are older, and all of a sudden, it’s like you’re the same age. And now it’s like I could be their grandpa, you know,” Wellskopf said.

He’s seen all the highs up close, like the team making its first and only World Series appearance in 1982 at County Stadium.

“I could stand out there and hear all the cars out on Wisconsin Ave. It was just like the old wedding back in the day when everybody honked their horns.”

Wellskopf has also experienced the lows, such as the absence of legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker, who passed away earlier this year.

“He’ll be missed. He was a big part of the game. I knew him from way back. Yeah, it was a lot of good memories,” Wellskopf said.

It’s his devotion to the game and his dedication to the job that keep him coming back for more. Although he retired from his day job five years ago, he has no plan to leave his post with the Brewers any time soon.

“I love baseball. And I love the people that I work with. It’s just a regular thing that I look forward to come spring, you know. It’s like, OK, it’s that time of year, let’s get going,” he said.

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By Gino Recchia

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    FRANKLIN, Wisconsin (WISN) — Milwaukee County Parks crews are moving fast to stop the spread of a deadly fungus discovered for the first time in the area. Roughly 30 oak trees at Whitnall Park are being cut down after the detection of oak wilt, a disease that can kill trees within weeks.

“It’s not unknown to the United States. It’s been around since the 1940s, starting in Texas, working its way up. But we haven’t had any in Milwaukee County Park property until now,” said Operations Manager Peter Bratt.

The fungus blocks a tree’s ability to move water from its roots to its canopy, causing the leaves to brown and wilt from the top down. It spreads both underground through connected roots and above ground through insects carrying fungal spores.

“The key is to really address it aggressively before it spreads to other adjacent oaks,” Bratt said.

Dark streaks or cracks in bark are other signs of oak wilt, and forestry officials urge residents to watch for symptoms in their neighborhoods.

“The good news is we have a lot of trained professionals who work on this. And other good news is we have a lot of partners for funding reforestation efforts.” Bratt said.

While it is tough to see so many trees come down, forestry crews say taking action now will save hundreds more in the long run. If parkgoers are concerned about trees in their area, they can contact Milwaukee County Parks at 414-257-7275.

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By Jesse Zanger, Alice Gainer

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    WHITE PLAINS, New York (WCBS) — A parking garage partially collapsed in White Plains Wednesday morning

It happened around 9:08 a.m. on Hale Avenue and South Broadway. City officials say several roads are closed around the area.

Officials said the fifth floor partially collapsed into the fourth floor.

Video shows multiple emergency vehicles near the large parking garage. A photo shows a metal beam apparently came down, along with slabs of concrete, crushing at least three cars within the garage. There are up to 15 cars in the collapse zone, officials said.

The garage, located at 50 Hale Avenue, is connected to Westchester One office tower, next to the Westchester Mall and Senesta Hotel.

“This morning, we received word of a partial collapse in this garage. The most important thing I can say at the beginning – no injuries, no fatalities,” Mayor Tom Roach said.

“We’re blessed that it wasn’t something more tragic. If it was at 8:30 in the morning, who knows what would’ve happened when people were coming into work. So we’re blessed that there really wasn’t anybody inside the garage,” White Plains Public Safety Commissioner David Chong said.

It’s not yet clear what caused Wednesday’s collapse.

Fire departments from Yonkers, New Rochelle, Scarsdale and more all responded to assist.

“We’ve had a great, supportive response from mutual aid, so we have all types of equipment here,” Roach said. “But the bottom line is that what we’re working on now is shoring up the garage to make it safe to remove the vehicles that are in there. The fire department, along with multiple fire departments that are assisting us, is actually constructing columns. They put in columns initially, but they’re constructing more substantial columns to ensure the safety of anyone who goes into the building.”

Once engineers sign off on that, vehicles will be removed from the garage under police supervision. Officials expressed optimism that process may start by the end of the day Wednesday, though it may take longer.

In 2023, a parking garage collapse in Lower Manhattan killed one person and injured several others. That collapse prompted New York City officials to implement a new inspection program, requiring owners of some 4,000 parking garages in the city to submit reports on their garage’s safety. As part of that report, an engineer is required to walk through each garage and make note of conditions.

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By Mauricio Maldonado, Sergio Candido

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    JACKSONVILLE, Florida (WFOR) — A Florida mother is accusing a Jacksonville police officer of using excessive force after she was arrested outside her daughter’s school, an encounter that was caught on video and has now gone viral.

The incident happened the afternoon of Oct. 7 outside an IDEA charter school in Jacksonville’s Riverview neighborhood.

Erika McGriff, 39, had parked her car in an intersection and left it running while picking up her 9-year-old daughter in the rain, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

“I asked the principal what was the proper procedure when picking up the walkers whenever it was raining,” McGriff later said in a press conference on Tuesday. “He explained to me the procedures. I then went to pick up my daughter.”

JSO officers said McGriff’s driver’s license had been revoked in the past. An officer working at the school, Randy Holton, approached her and she attempted to walk away, authorities said. A verbal confrontation between McGriff and Holton turned physical as the officer attempted to arrest the woman, JSO said.

Videos showed the confrontation escalating as the officer tried to handcuff McGriff.

Police bodycam footage from the officer involved showed McGriff getting up and taking a swing at the officer.

Cellphone video from another angle showed the mother and the officer fighting and throwing punches at each other. That video also showed the officer throwing McGriff to the ground while attempting to arrest her. At one point, he put her in a headlock and she can be heard screaming that she can’t breathe.

“All I was trying to do was get my daughter out of the school, from out of school, without getting wet, drenched in the rain. That’s all and none of this. Everything that happened that was just like uncalled for and it’s not fair,” McGriff said.

McGriff, represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump, alleged that the officer used unnecessary force during the arrest.

She claims the officer used chokeholds, grabbed her hair, punched her with closed fists and put a knee on her neck.

“The type of force used on Erika McGriff, the chokeholds, the hair grabbing, being punched with closed fists in the face, having a knee put on her neck, should be reserved for armed and dangerous criminals who are a threat to the public and our safety,” Crump said as reported by CBS affiliate WJAX. “But not for mothers who are doing their part to go pick up their daughter from school so she won’t get rained on.”

For their part, JSO said McGriff violently resisted arrest, punched the officer, and bit him. She’s been charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and operating a vehicle with a revoked license.

Crump has vowed to fight the charges in court.

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WBZ

By AARON PARSEGHIAN

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    WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A Worcester store known as a community hub for all things Japanese manga culture was hit by a costly theft over the weekend.

John Le, owner of Otaku Sekai – which roughly translates from Japanese to “Nerd World” – said surveillance cameras caught a man stealing hundreds of Pokémon cards Saturday from his Park Avenue shop.

“It was a busy day,” Le said. “I had rows of people just trying to look at product cards and everything else. It was a very good opportunity for anyone that wanted to kind of, like, steal something.”

Video showed the suspect flipping through binders of Pokémon cards, stuffing several into his sweatshirt, then walking out with another full binder. Le estimated the man took around 500 cards worth more than $3,500.

“Three thousand dollars is two weeks of my staff’s pay,” Le said. “It’s a lot of money to us.”

The cards ranged in price from $5 to $15 each, far less than the rare, high-value collectibles that can sell for thousands. Le said the taking of that specific inventory makes the loss sting even more.

“My whole inventory in that price range is something that parents and kids can actually afford day to day,” he said. “So, it’s kind of sad that my whole inventory in that price range is gone.”

Le opened Otaku Sekai four years ago after leaving his corporate job, turning a small mall kiosk into a popular local gathering place for manga and trading card enthusiasts.

He says his goal was to create “a space for people to come and just hang out, be social, meet each other,” bonding through a common and growing interest.

Now, photos of the suspect are posted outside the shop as Worcester police investigate. Despite the setback, Le said he remains focused on the sense of community that first inspired his business.

“The family bonding – you know, the friends, the emotion, the feels that’s all into these cardboard that’s worth so much more than their monetary value,” he said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

By AARON PARSEGHIAN

Click here for updates on this story

    WORCESTER, Massachusetts (WBZ) — A Worcester store known as a community hub for all things Japanese manga culture was hit by a costly theft over the weekend.

John Le, owner of Otaku Sekai – which roughly translates from Japanese to “Nerd World” – said surveillance cameras caught a man stealing hundreds of Pokémon cards Saturday from his Park Avenue shop.

“It was a busy day,” Le said. “I had rows of people just trying to look at product cards and everything else. It was a very good opportunity for anyone that wanted to kind of, like, steal something.”

Video showed the suspect flipping through binders of Pokémon cards, stuffing several into his sweatshirt, then walking out with another full binder. Le estimated the man took around 500 cards worth more than $3,500.

“Three thousand dollars is two weeks of my staff’s pay,” Le said. “It’s a lot of money to us.”

The cards ranged in price from $5 to $15 each, far less than the rare, high-value collectibles that can sell for thousands. Le said the taking of that specific inventory makes the loss sting even more.

“My whole inventory in that price range is something that parents and kids can actually afford day to day,” he said. “So, it’s kind of sad that my whole inventory in that price range is gone.”

Le opened Otaku Sekai four years ago after leaving his corporate job, turning a small mall kiosk into a popular local gathering place for manga and trading card enthusiasts.

He says his goal was to create “a space for people to come and just hang out, be social, meet each other,” bonding through a common and growing interest.

Now, photos of the suspect are posted outside the shop as Worcester police investigate. Despite the setback, Le said he remains focused on the sense of community that first inspired his business.

“The family bonding – you know, the friends, the emotion, the feels that’s all into these cardboard that’s worth so much more than their monetary value,” he said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.