Local news briefs News-Chronicle Green Bay Miss Green Bay deadline approaching Applications for the Miss Green Bay Area 2004 contest will be accepted through Thursday. The contest will be held Feb. 21 at Bay Port High School. Applicants must be ages 17-24 and have permanent residency in Brown County. Contestants will compete in talent, physical fitness in swimwear, evening wear and interview categories. Miss Green Bay will win a scholarship and will represent the area in the Miss Wisconsin competition in June. Runners-up will also receive scholarships. For more information, call Kristen Oxenford at 430-8015. Food drive before game today The Packers Women's Association will hold its 17th annual food drive for Paul's Pantry before today's noon game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lambeau Field. Members of the group will be recognizable by their husband's or significant other's jersey or T-shirts that read "Help the Pack Sack Hunger." Volunteers from Paul's Pantry will help with the collection. Nonperishable food items and cash donations will be collected by the women in the stadium parking lot and at the gates prior to kickoff. Food items can be placed in bins located throughout the Lambeau Field parking lot. For every $5 donation or five nonperishable food items, fans will receive a ticket stub that will be go into a raffle drawing to win Packers autographed items. The Packers Women's Association has collected more than 320,300 nonperishables and $130,400 for Paul's Pantry in the 16 years it has been conducting the food drive. Parking spaces open at Lambeau PMI has announced the opening of 200 parking spaces in the Lambeau Field parking lot for each home game for the rest of the season. The spaces will sell for $25, plus convenience fees when purchased in advance. Purchase parking spaces either online at www.ticketstaronline or by calling the Ticket Star Box Office at the Resch Center, 494-3401 or 1-800-895-0071. The spaces will also be sold on game day, pending availability, on a first-come, first-served basis. House of Hope open house An open house will be held from 5-8 p.m. Thursday at House of Hope, 1660 Christiana St. House of Hope is a transitional program that provides safe, stable housing and support to parenting and/or pregnant homeless women ages 18-21 and their children. The home can accommodate up to 10 families with one or two children, who may stay up to 18 months free of charge. The center opened in 2000 and is operated and financed mostly by store sales from the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Green Bay. Additional financial support is provided by United Way's Adolescent Parenting Coalition, along with donations from area residents and businesses. De Pere Fire Rescue has open house De Pere Fire Rescue will honor National Fire Prevention Week through Saturday. This year's theme is, "When Fire Strikes: Get Out! Stay Out!" De Pere Fire Rescue will visit each school in the city, teaching fire safety measures to pupils in kindergarten, first, second and third grades. A Fire Department open house will offer demonstrations on stovetop fire extinguishers and vehicular extrication. Children will learn how to "stop, drop and roll," and have the chance to play games and take tours of the fire station. National Fire Prevention Week, Oct. 5-11, commemorates the Peshtigo Fire and the Great Chicago Fire, both of which occurred in 1871. Casco Satellite programming theft charges dropped Three felony counts against a Casco man accused of stealing satellite programming for financial gain have been dismissed in Kewaunee County Circuit Court, although he has been found guilty in federal court on two counts related to telecommunications piracy, said Kewaunee County assistant district attorney Elma Anderson. Daniel J. Herison, 35, was convicted on the federal charges last month and is scheduled to be sentenced in January, Anderson said. Herison was arrested in January after what Sheriff John Cmeyla said was a two-year investigation conducted by the Kewaunee County Sheriff's Department and Echostar Technologies Corp., the parent company of DISH Network. Court records accused Herison of illegally creating so-called "smart cards," which allowed him to illegally access and decode encrypted DISH Network satellite programming. He allegedly sold the cards and equipment to others, which allowed them to illegally access satellite programming without authorization.