MADISON – Well, this was different.

“And better,” said Alexander Pendleton of Shorewood, Wis.

We stood May 17 on Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and took in the sight.

The grassy space is famous for hosting gatherings, sometimes even pranks by students. One of the most well-known was the Sept. 4, 1979 placement of about 1,000 plastic pink flamingos on the sloping terrain.

But this day Bascom was graced by something more natural.

The hill was peppered with dozens of wild turkey decoys. Hens. Toms. Preeners. Strutters. Feeders.

A crowd of people, volunteers, biologists, conservation organization staff and curious onlookers, reveled in the scene.

I think I even saw a satisfied smile crease the face of Pres. Abraham Lincoln, the statue that overlooks the hill.

Everybody knew this was no joke. This was a gathering with meaning.

“The most successful wildlife reintroduction in state history,” said Pendleton, accompanied by his wife Terese. “What an achievement.”

The May 17 event on Bascom, and a subsequent luncheon and program in UW Memorial Union, was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the reintroduction of wild turkeys to Wisconsin.

The National Wild Turkey Federation was the primary sponsor of the events. Department of Natural Resources staff, both current and retired, also took part.

Significantly, former DNR employees Ron Nicklaus and Jon Nelson were on hand. Nicklaus was the leader of field operations of the 1976 turkey reintroduction and helped release the first 29 birds near Romance in Vernon County. Nelson was hired as a field technician about three months after the first birds arrived and worked on the turkey project for 10 years.

“Nobody really knew how it would go,” Nicklaus said. “And if anyone tries to tell you they knew it would be so successful and over so much of the state, they are lying. It’s been incredible.”

Wild turkeys were native to Wisconsin but the species was depleted through the 1800s by removal of vast areas of timber and high, unregulated turkey harvests by market and subsistence hunters.

By 1860 the birds were rare, and in 1881 the last wild turkey in the state’s original flock was killed near Darlington, according to the Department of Natural Resources’ document “Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin.”

Efforts through the early to mid-1900s to bring the species back, mostly through stocking game farm birds, largely failed.

But by the 1970s the DNR had seen what worked in other states and put a plan together for Wisconsin.It was based on transferring wild turkeys obtained in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri into suitable habitat. In Wisconsin, the best wild turkey habitat was in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin.

The plan also relied on an agreement between state agencies. The Wisconsin DNR would exchange three ruffed grouse for each wild turkey provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

That proved trickier than it may seem. Nicklaus, who was tasked with capturing the grouse, had to bend and even break some rules to get it done.

“The grouse were tough to trap, and then of course you had to check the traps at least once a day, even on weekends and holidays,” Nicklaus said. “So we worked every day to get it done.”

Eventually enough grouse had been captured to convince the Missouri biologists to collect some wild turkeys for the trade.

Angelette Green has sold newspapers in Detroit for many years. But lately the news she has shared has focused on one person, the late David Woods, who sold papers for Woods at an iconic location.

• The article pays tribute to David Woods, a beloved newspaper hawker who worked for Angelette Green and recently passed away.
• Friends and family remember David Woods as a giving, loyal, and dependable presence in the community.

In today’s world, where most Americans and people around the globe get their news from digital devices, Detroiter Angelette Green represents something much different.

And in the process, she’s providing living proof that old school printed newspapers still have a dedicated audience.

On most weekdays, often during odd hours, while working for an independent contractor, Green plays an important role in making printed newspapers — including the Detroit Free Press — available in the Detroit market by delivering papers to area gas stations and other businesses that sell the papers.

Then on Sundays, Green can be found outdoors across the Detroit area, at newsstands that primarily sell the Sunday Free Press, which each have “hawkers” (salespeople) that work for Green, who drives her team members to their locations in a van.

Green provides chairs for her hawkers at each newsstand, but says sitting is not exactly a recipe for success when it comes to selling Sunday newspapers.

• The Milwaukee Panthers defeated the UCF Knights in the NCAA Baseball Tournament’s Auburn Regional.
• Milwaukee’s offense scored nine early runs, capitalizing on five extra-base hits and five walks.
• UCF faces an elimination game against the host team and No. 4 national seed, Auburn.

Milwaukee proved its offensive outburst in the Auburn Regional opener was no fluke, though UCF’s pitchers certainly aided the Panthers’ efforts on May 30.

The Horizon League champs tagged the Knights for five extra-base hits and capitalized on five walks in the first three innings to cruise for a 13-6 victory at Plainsman Park. Milwaukee (27-31) sits in the driver’s seat to become just the 10th regional No. 4 seed to advance to supers in NCAA baseball tournament history.

UCF (32-22) will meet Auburn (39-20) at 3 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game. The winner will turn around and face Milwaukee at 8, needing to upend the Panthers twice.

Milwaukee scored the game’s first nine runs to win for the 22nd time in their last 30 games. They jumped out to a 10-0 lead the day before to stun Auburn.

Andrew Williamson demolished his fourth home run of the regional to lead off the sixth inning, a 443-foot blast with an exit velocity of 110 mph off the bat. Evan Jones gave the Knights a chance at an improbable comeback with a career-high 4⅓ innings of two-run relief.

Here are three takeaways from an untimely upset that puts the Knights on the brink of elimination.

UCF had no answers for the top of Milwaukee’s order

Milwaukee’s big bats at the top of the lineup set the tone and proved to be near-impossible outs for UCF’s pitchers.

Panthers leadoff hitter Grant Ross reached base in each of his five plate appearances, including an unorthodox solo home run deflected off the head of UCF center fielder De’Amez Ross — reminiscent of an infamous 1993 José Canseco blooper in Cleveland.

“We’re just gritty, man. We’re grinding it out,” Grant Ross told the ESPN+ broadcast crew after the game. “We knew we had the talent all along. It’s just clicking.”