A 12-day trip to Rome became more than the Rev. Edward Looney bargained for when he boarded a plane Sept. 1.

“I had never been to Rome, and I was really looking forward to it,” said Looney, the pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Shawano.

Looney had previously made several trips to the European nations including France, Spain and Portugal.

Alex Nelson left the University of Wisconsin-Madison three years ago with an engineering degree and plenty of college experiences.

They include attending events over three years as Bucky Badger, the school’s official mascot.

It’s been 75 years since Bill Sagal became the first person to wear a Bucky Badger costume.

The official mascot of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will also celebrate its 85th birthday Oct. 2, and to mark that milestone, former UW students that served as a Bucky Badger mascot over the years are spreading the word about an endowment fund that will help set the mascot program up for the future.

Teachers on Call, the company that the Shawano School District has used to recruit and hire substitute teachers and staff, has merged with Kelly Education. A representative of the new company spoke to the Shawano School Board on Sept. 22 about what will stay the same and what will change in terms of substitute services.