Latest news with #GreenBay
USA Today
9 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
What are the Packers' biggest red flags heading into next season?
Despite coming off back-to-back playoff appearances, the Green Bay Packers need to take another step forward to show they are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. Or do they? Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports recently included Green Bay on his list of top NFL contenders in 2025. While it's positive the Packers are being mentioned in the same conversation as the Eagles, Chiefs, and Bills, the post highlighted each team's biggest red flags heading into next season. For the Packers, Benjamin believes depth and durability are their biggest flaws. "It was one thing for Jordan Love to battle multiple injuries in 2024; it was another for the quarterback to lose practically his entire receiving corps to various ailments by year's end," Benjamin wrote. "The Packers did their best to bolster their depth this offseason, spending not one but two early draft picks on receiver help, but at the end of the day, Matt LaFleur needs his arsenal to stay on the field to ensure his steady rate of postseason bids continues. That includes on defense, where Nate Hobbs will be tasked with filling the shoes of the also-oft-banged-up Jaire Alexander." Injuries were a major factor in Green Bay limping into the playoffs as the No. 7 seed and failing to advance past the NFC Wild Card Round. Two of their most important players—Jordan Love and Kenny Clark—never fully recovered from injuries they sustained in the season opener against Philadelphia. Jaire Alexander is now a Steeler because he appeared in only seven games. Winning a Lombardi Trophy next year will require some injury luck. Love getting hurt would be a worst-case scenario for Green Bay, which is why addressing the offensive line was a priority this offseason. GM Brian Gutekunst also went out and drafted two wide receivers in the first three rounds to give the quarterback more ammunition. Although the offensive line and wide receiver depth appear to be in good shape with training camp less than a month away, other positions aren't as solidified. Of course, every roster has weak spots, and the Packers' are pretty obvious, at least on paper. Edge rusher was thought to be a substantial need entering the offseason after the defense finished 26th in pass rush win rate, according to ESPN analytics. However, Green Bay didn't add a single pass rusher this free-agent cycle and waited until Day 3 to take an edge. That means they will rely on Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness, and Kingsley Enagbare to hold down the edges in 2025. Gary is coming off a good but not great season, while neither Van Ness nor Enagbare have ever been full-time starters. Behind those three, the depth is questionable with Brenton Cox Jr. and newcomers Barryn Sorrell and Collin Oliver. Cornerback is another position that has question marks in its top three. This will be Keisean Nixon's first time entering a season as an outside corner, and playing opposite him is expected to be Carrington Valentine, who started only seven games last season. Nate Hobbs was one of the team's big free-agent splashes as a solidified slot corner. After that, things look bleak. Javon Bullard is a solid backup option in the slot, but if Nixon or Valentine goes down, the team will have to move Hobbs outside or potentially turn to Kalen King, Kamal Hadden, or Micah Robinson. King and Hadden did not log a single defensive snap in 2024, spending most of the season on the practice squad. Robinson was the 237th overall pick in the seventh round and could end up as a practice squad stowaway. Gutekunst seems confident at edge and corner, making a significant change to the roster highly unlikely unless an issue arises during training camp. Even then, you're probably not adding a difference-maker. So, what do the Packers need to do to be a contender? Staying healthy will be key, but guys stepping up at key positions like wide receiver, edge rusher, and cornerback will be equally important in deciding how far this team goes next season.
CBS News
18 hours ago
- CBS News
Wisconsin man gets life in prison for fatally strangling cellmate because he was Black, gay
A Wisconsin man doing time for trying to kill his mother was sentenced Friday to life in prison for strangling his cellmate. A jury found Jackson Vogel, 25, guilty of first-degree intentional homicide in the death of 19-year-old Micah Laureano at the Green Bay Correctional Institution last year. Vogel told investigators he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay. Brown County Circuit Judge Donald Zuidmulder sentenced Vogel to life in prison with no possibility for extended supervision, which is similar to parole. Vogel told the judge he was sorry just before he was sentenced. "I may not show remorse, I may not be able to understand emotion, I may not be able to understand remorse itself," Vogel said. "That doesn't mean that a person cannot be sorry for what they did at any point in time. Because I am sorry." Vogel was already serving a 20-year prison term handed down in 2018 for repeatedly stabbing his mother, choking her and attempting to snap her neck in a failed attempt to kill her. A guard found Laureano's body hanging from the top bunk of the cell he shared with Vogel on Aug. 27, according to a criminal complaint. Laureano's hands and feet were tied together with orange material. Vogel, who is white, told the guard that he killed Laureano because Laureano was Black and gay, the complaint said. He said he knocked Laureano out, tied his hands and feet and strangled him. Green Bay Correctional Institution, a maximum security facility, opened in 1898. Gov. Tony Evers has proposed closing the prison as part of an overhaul of the state correctional system.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
More parents are raising a glass — and a toddler — at family-friendly breweries
Twice a month, 3-year-old Michael Gagnon walks into Zambaldi Beer in Allouez, Wis., like he owns the place. Sometimes at his parents' suggestion he'll approach the bar to say hi to the brewery's husband-wife co-owners, David and Abigail Malcolm, but typically he walks straight past the long, wooden-top tables in the tap room and makes a beeline for the corner near the bar. There, he sits down with the trains and chalkboard provided by the Malcolms, or with the toy cellphone that another child left behind, and plays. 'He is sometimes a little too confident there and will walk up to complete strangers and hug them,' his mom, Hailie Gagnon, tells Yahoo. 'I think he thinks everyone there knows each other because of how open and welcoming it is and how safe he feels.' Zambaldi — a Green Bay craft brewery that's made a name for itself locally as being welcoming to young children — opened in January of 2020 as part passion project, part response to a community survey in which respondents asked for a gathering spot, coffee shop or brewery in the neighborhood. Its success as an explicitly kid-friendly operation is significant as the stability of the craft brewery industry has fluctuated in recent years, and taprooms — that is, spaces where patrons can come to taste and buy what's in production — have emerged as one of the most profitable ways for craft breweries to continue to make money, according to the e-commerce platform BlueCart. Though the controversy around babies and beer has sparked Reddit threads, explainers, chat boards and general ambient disdain in the discourse, not a single source for this story could think of an instance in which children (or parents) caused an unmanageable situation, and Stephie Grob Plante wrote for Vox in 2019 that taprooms actually tend to be family-friendly by nature. They are 'typically open during daylight hours and close earlier than rowdy late-last-call spots, tend to be sunny, airy spots and often offer ample outdoor space,' she noted. Across the country, breweries like Zambaldi and families like the Gagnons are leaning into the idea that alcohol and fun for the whole family aren't mutually exclusive — and that blending the two benefits all. Increasingly, breweries offer parents that sense of having a 'village,' and a destination where their children are not only welcome but encouraged to join. Breweries, in turn, then build relationships with multigenerational customers that translate into long-term business viability and profit. Worth noting too is that while men own more than 75% of craft breweries in the United States, 'women are estimated to control 75% of discretionary spending by 2028,' according to So while men tend to be running these operations, women are the ones deciding whether or not to spend their money there. The Malcolms, who have two children of their own, designed Zambaldi with young families in mind: They prioritized making sure there was both indoor and outdoor areas for spreading out and accounting for differing seasonal needs, put infant changing tables in all bathrooms regardless of gender and host ongoing events like Sunday family-fun days and Bingo night. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Zambaldi had to temporarily close their doors only two months after opening, the community rallied, Abigail says. Neighbors paid for curbside growlers and left generous tips for employees. That support helped Zambaldi stay financially afloat, and five years later it is a profitable, thriving business. 'We really wanted to be a community gathering spot,' Abigail tells Yahoo — an investment that has paid both metaphorical and literal dividends. Jeffrey Stuffings, co-founder of the award-winning Jester King Brewery in Dripping Springs, Texas, estimates that probably 50% of their clientele are families and that the business has been designed with them in mind from day one. Jester King boasts a sprawling 165 acres with goats for children to feed, wood-fired pizza and Texas beef burgers as well as other kid-friendly snacks. In 2021, the property added a large playscape — something Stuffings loves to see the community's children enjoying in an era rife with screens. Stuffings himself became a parent in 2010, and though he remembers a time when whether breweries should be for families was more up for debate, his stance has always been clear: 'The brewery is a place for family. It's a place for community,' he says. 'There's a reason the roots of America came from beer halls and the social gathering that happens over beer.' The pandemic also brought to the foreground a renewed focus on outdoor space. A patio, lawn or playground for kids to roam and explore has always been valuable to parents, but widespread concern about air quality and ventilation put fresh air even higher on the priority list. Infants and children under the age of 5 weren't eligible for the COVID vaccine until 2022, so Lucy Huber — an editor at McSweeney's and writer who had her first child in June of 2020 — relied heavily on breweries as safe spaces when her family was ready to resume socializing. 'We didn't do anything indoors,' she tells Yahoo, but the mom group she was part of kept a running list of outdoor breweries where fellow group members felt at ease with their children. She also found that breweries bridge an important gap for parents and their child-free loved ones. 'Neither of my brothers have kids, right?' Huber said, 'Like, they're not going to come to Trampoline Zone or whatever. But they'll definitely come to a brewery and hang out with my kid. They're such a good bridge between being able to keep in touch with people in my life who don't have kids, and we're sort of meeting at the same level.' Janine Liberty, a mom of two and the communications manager at MIT AeroAstro, has found this to be true even within her own home. Though the Salem, Mass., native has been taking her now 9- and 10-year-olds to breweries for about a decade, their summer 2024 trip to Dr. Beer in Antwerp stood out as having crossed a certain threshold: 'It was one of the first times in their young lives when they noticed how happy we were,' Liberty recalls. 'We played poker and blackjack. … Both of them still bring it up.' In an environment with age-appropriate activities for the whole family, like cards or board games — and one that helps children witness the adults in their lives as three-dimensional people outside of being caregivers — parents can build a strong foundation for long-term relationships with their children — even as they approach the preteen years and beyond. 'At a nice brewery, we can have a little of everything, while also teaching them a bit about us as people, right?' Liberty says. 'And hopefully it means as they get older they'll still be willing to hang out with us in a place that's not entirely, 100% designed around their interests but is comfortable for them.' Now that both of Huber's two children are slightly older, their family makes frequent appearances at two Maryland favorites: BabyCat in Kensington and Lone Oak in Olney. Her main complaint? These spaces have become such a staple for families that the demand can outpace the supply of available play equipment. 'There's always a child crying,' she laughs, then pauses. 'It's usually my child.'
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
More parents are raising a glass — and a toddler — at family-friendly breweries
Twice a month, 3-year-old Michael Gagnon walks into Zambaldi Beer in Allouez, Wis., like he owns the place. Sometimes at his parents' suggestion he'll approach the bar to say hi to the brewery's husband-wife co-owners, David and Abigail Malcolm, but typically he walks straight past the long, wooden-top tables in the tap room and makes a beeline for the corner near the bar. There, he sits down with the trains and chalkboard provided by the Malcolms, or with the toy cellphone that another child left behind, and plays. 'He is sometimes a little too confident there and will walk up to complete strangers and hug them,' his mom, Hailie Gagnon, tells Yahoo. 'I think he thinks everyone there knows each other because of how open and welcoming it is and how safe he feels.' Zambaldi — a Green Bay craft brewery that's made a name for itself locally as being welcoming to young children — opened in January of 2020 as part passion project, part response to a community survey in which respondents asked for a gathering spot, coffee shop or brewery in the neighborhood. Its success as an explicitly kid-friendly operation is significant as the stability of the craft brewery industry has fluctuated in recent years, and taprooms — that is, spaces where patrons can come to taste and buy what's in production — have emerged as one of the most profitable ways for craft breweries to continue to make money, according to the e-commerce platform BlueCart. Though the controversy around babies and beer has sparked Reddit threads, explainers, chat boards and general ambient disdain in the discourse, not a single source for this story could think of an instance in which children (or parents) caused an unmanageable situation, and Stephie Grob Plante wrote for Vox in 2019 that taprooms actually tend to be family-friendly by nature. They are 'typically open during daylight hours and close earlier than rowdy late-last-call spots, tend to be sunny, airy spots and often offer ample outdoor space,' she noted. Across the country, breweries like Zambaldi and families like the Gagnons are leaning into the idea that alcohol and fun for the whole family aren't mutually exclusive — and that blending the two benefits all. Increasingly, breweries offer parents that sense of having a 'village,' and a destination where their children are not only welcome but encouraged to join. Breweries, in turn, then build relationships with multigenerational customers that translate into long-term business viability and profit. Worth noting too is that while men own more than 75% of craft breweries in the United States, 'women are estimated to control 75% of discretionary spending by 2028,' according to So while men tend to be running these operations, women are the ones deciding whether or not to spend their money there. The Malcolms, who have two children of their own, designed Zambaldi with young families in mind: They prioritized making sure there was both indoor and outdoor areas for spreading out and accounting for differing seasonal needs, put infant changing tables in all bathrooms regardless of gender and host ongoing events like Sunday family-fun days and Bingo night. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Zambaldi had to temporarily close their doors only two months after opening, the community rallied, Abigail says. Neighbors paid for curbside growlers and left generous tips for employees. That support helped Zambaldi stay financially afloat, and five years later it is a profitable, thriving business. 'We really wanted to be a community gathering spot,' Abigail tells Yahoo — an investment that has paid both metaphorical and literal dividends. Jeffrey Stuffings, co-founder of the award-winning Jester King Brewery in Dripping Springs, Texas, estimates that probably 50% of their clientele are families and that the business has been designed with them in mind from day one. Jester King boasts a sprawling 165 acres with goats for children to feed, wood-fired pizza and Texas beef burgers as well as other kid-friendly snacks. In 2021, the property added a large playscape — something Stuffings loves to see the community's children enjoying in an era rife with screens. Stuffings himself became a parent in 2010, and though he remembers a time when whether breweries should be for families was more up for debate, his stance has always been clear: 'The brewery is a place for family. It's a place for community,' he says. 'There's a reason the roots of America came from beer halls and the social gathering that happens over beer.' The pandemic also brought to the foreground a renewed focus on outdoor space. A patio, lawn or playground for kids to roam and explore has always been valuable to parents, but widespread concern about air quality and ventilation put fresh air even higher on the priority list. Infants and children under the age of 5 weren't eligible for the COVID vaccine until 2022, so Lucy Huber — an editor at McSweeney's and writer who had her first child in June of 2020 — relied heavily on breweries as safe spaces when her family was ready to resume socializing. 'We didn't do anything indoors,' she tells Yahoo, but the mom group she was part of kept a running list of outdoor breweries where fellow group members felt at ease with their children. She also found that breweries bridge an important gap for parents and their child-free loved ones. 'Neither of my brothers have kids, right?' Huber said, 'Like, they're not going to come to Trampoline Zone or whatever. But they'll definitely come to a brewery and hang out with my kid. They're such a good bridge between being able to keep in touch with people in my life who don't have kids, and we're sort of meeting at the same level.' Janine Liberty, a mom of two and the communications manager at MIT AeroAstro, has found this to be true even within her own home. Though the Salem, Mass., native has been taking her now 9- and 10-year-olds to breweries for about a decade, their summer 2024 trip to Dr. Beer in Antwerp stood out as having crossed a certain threshold: 'It was one of the first times in their young lives when they noticed how happy we were,' Liberty recalls. 'We played poker and blackjack. … Both of them still bring it up.' In an environment with age-appropriate activities for the whole family, like cards or board games — and one that helps children witness the adults in their lives as three-dimensional people outside of being caregivers — parents can build a strong foundation for long-term relationships with their children — even as they approach the preteen years and beyond. 'At a nice brewery, we can have a little of everything, while also teaching them a bit about us as people, right?' Liberty says. 'And hopefully it means as they get older they'll still be willing to hang out with us in a place that's not entirely, 100% designed around their interests but is comfortable for them.' Now that both of Huber's two children are slightly older, their family makes frequent appearances at two Maryland favorites: BabyCat in Kensington and Lone Oak in Olney. Her main complaint? These spaces have become such a staple for families that the demand can outpace the supply of available play equipment. 'There's always a child crying,' she laughs, then pauses. 'It's usually my child.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
14-year-old and 15-year-old arrested after stolen SUV crashes into a west-side Green Bay house
Two teenagers are in police custody after a two-vehicle crash involving a stolen SUV, which crashed into a home on Green Bay's west side, police say. According to the Green Bay Police Department, officers responded about 8 a.m. June 26 to a crash near the intersection of Thomas and Lark streets. Police discovered an SUV, which had been reported stolen that morning, had struck a parked SUV before crashing into a home in the 1200 block of Thomas Street. The crash caused "significant damage" to the house, police said. Witnesses said the SUV was speeding before the crash, with two people fleeing the scene on foot. About 30 minutes after the incident, police found and arrested a 15-year-old male with an active warrant, and a 14-year old male. Police said the 15-year-old is believed to be the driver and the 14-year-old the passenger. Both were transported to the Brown County Juvenile Detention Center. The two teenagers suffered nonlife-threatening injuries from the crash. No occupants of the home were reported to have sustained any injuries. Green Bay Police asks anyone with information on the crash to contact them at 920-448-3200 and reference case No. 25-230295. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 920-432-STOP (7867). You may also submit a tip online at or utilize the "P3 Tips" app. Rashad Alexander can be contacted at ralexander@ and 920-431-8214. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: 2 teens arrested after SUV crashes into house on Green Bay's west side
