Green Bay News

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House voted by a wide margin Wednesday to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of Americans’ phone records and replace it with a system to search the data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis.

The 338-to-88 vote set the stage for a Senate showdown just weeks before the Patriot Act provisions authorizing the program are due to expire.

If the House bill becomes law, it will represent one of the most significant changes stemming from the unauthorized disclosures of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. But many Senate Republicans don’t like the measure, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has introduced a separate version that would keep the program as is. Yet, he also faces opposition from within his party and has said he is open to compromise.

President Barack Obama supports the House legislation, known as the USA Freedom Act, which is in line with a proposal he made last March. The House passed a similar bill last year, but it failed in the Senate.

Most House members would rather see the Patriot Act provisions expire altogether than re-authorize NSA bulk collection, said Rep. Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the intelligence committee. “I think the Senate is ultimately going to pass something like the USA Freedom Act,” he said.

The issue, which exploded into public view two years ago, has implications for the 2016 presidential contest, with Republican candidates staking out different positions.

The revelation that the NSA had for years been secretly collecting all records of U.S. landline phone calls was among the most controversial disclosures by Snowden, a former NSA systems administrator who in 2013 leaked thousands of secret documents to journalists.

The program collects the number called, along with the date, time and duration of call, but not the content or people’s names.  It stores the information in an NSA database that a small number of analysts query for matches against the phone numbers of known terrorists abroad, hunting for domestic connections to plots.

Officials acknowledge the program has never foiled a terrorist attack, and some within the NSA had proposed abandoning it even before it leaked – on the grounds that its financial and privacy costs outweighed its counterterrorism benefits.

Proponents of keeping the program the way it is argue that the rise of the Islamic State group and its efforts to inspire Westerners to attack in their own countries make it more important than ever for the NSA and FBI to have such phone records at their disposal to map potential terrorist cells when new information surfaces. And they say there is no evidence the program has ever been misused.

Under the House measure, the NSA would no longer collect and store the records, but the government still could obtain a court order to obtain data connected to a specific number from the phone companies, which typically store them for 18 months.

If the legislation is enacted, “Americans will now rest easy knowing that their calls and other records will not be warehoused by the government, no matter how careful the government is in their procedures to access those files,” said Rep. Jim Himes, a Connecticut Democrat on the intelligence committee.

The House measure also provides for a panel of experts to advocate for privacy and civil liberties before the secret intelligence court that oversees surveillance programs. And it allows the government to continue eavesdropping on foreign terrorists without a warrant for 72 hours after they enter the U.S., giving authorities time to obtain such a warrant.

The Senate will have a short window to act before Patriot Act provisions authorizing the phone records program and other counterterrorism-related measures expire June 1. If McConnell’s bill passes to reauthorize the law with no changes, that would be seen as a crushing defeat for surveillance opponents.

On Tuesday, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers and FBI Director Jim Comey briefed senators on the program. Afterward, Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters the NSA was not collecting all the data it should be. He declined to be specific, saying the briefing was classified, but he appeared to be addressing the fact that the collection does not include most mobile calls in an era when many people have stopped using landlines.

“The way it’s being implemented today, I don’t see how it’s … useful at all to the American people,” said Corker, who wants to reauthorize the current law. “And I’m shocked, shocked … by the small amount of data that is even part of the program. It needs to be ramped up.”

U.S. officials have confirmed the mobile records gap, saying it stemmed from technical and policy issues that ultimately would have been addressed absent the Snowden leak. Under the House’s USA Freedom Act, they said, the NSA would expand its queries to include mobile records, creating a potentially more effective program. But they have expressed concerns about working out an arrangement with phone providers to standardize the data so the information can quickly be searched.

Those officials, not authorized to comment publicly by name, spoke only on condition of anonymity.

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Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann contributed to this report.

JERUSALEM (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is wrapping up a five-day “listening tour” through Israel, his first visit to the U.S. ally. But don’t ask the Republican White House prospect where he went, whom he listened to or what was said as he shapes his foreign policy.

Walker isn’t taking questions. And his aides refused to disclose his itinerary or the identities of his traveling companions.

As Republicans criticize Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton for limiting public scrutiny, Walker has adopted a similar strategy on what may be the most significant international fact-finding mission of his political career. His staff confirmed a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – one of several high-level meetings – only by referring to a picture of the two shaking hands posted on Twitter.

He said before leaving that he’d talk about his trip when he was back in the U.S.

On the Democratic side, Clinton has answered only a handful of questions from reporters since launching her presidential bid a month ago. Her campaign events are tightly scripted and allow for limited public access.

At a town hall in Nevada on Wednesday, Republican rival Jeb Bush on several occasions chided what he called Clinton’s limited interaction with voters and the press since launching her campaign.

“You can’t script your way to the presidency, put yourself in a protective bubble and never interact with people – only talk with people that totally agree with you, have it all scripted out,” Bush said. “That’s not going to work. That’s not very sincere.”

Yet Bush was pressed by a voter at the town hall for dismissing the relevance of questions about the Iraq war as hypothetical. The voter asked Bush whether such questions are fair game, considering that his own presidential aspirations are hypothetical at this point. He hasn’t announced his candidacy.

“Talking about the future is more than fair,” Bush said. “Talking about the past, saying how would you have done something after the fact is a little tougher, and it doesn’t necessarily change anything.”

Walker has limited foreign policy experience heading into an election already focused on America’s position. Like some rivals, he’s working to bolster his resume on the foreign policy front. He stumbled rhetorically at times during a more public European tour earlier this year, perhaps explaining why he’s relying on his own social media for getting the word out on his travels in Israel.

Beyond Netanyahu, tweets from Walker and his staff confirm private meetings with the Israeli minister of intelligence, legislative leaders, chairman of the Jewish Home Party and the U.S. ambassador to Israel. Other posts show photographs of him, wearing a yarmulke, at significant local stops, the Western Wall among them.

The trip was paid by Walker’s political organization and the Republican Jewish Coalition, whose board includes Republican donor Sheldon Adelson. Walker’s staff said Adelson did not accompany him. Tweets confirm the coalition’s executive director, Matt Brooks, who is close to Adelson, was on hand.

Israel’s minister for strategic affairs, Yuval Steinitz, put out a statement Wednesday saying he had met Walker the day before. The statement gave few details about their talks.

Steinitz, who is responsible for monitoring Iran’s nuclear program, gave Walker an “up to date picture” on Israel’s objections to the emerging multinational nuclear deal with Iran, the statement said.

It also said Steinitz, a former finance minister, and Walker shared their enthusiasm for passing two-year budgets.

Walker spokesman AshLee Strong said the trip has been “an incredible spiritual and cultural experience” for Walker and a chance to hear about Israel’s concerns about “the future of our alliance and identify ways to restore the ruptured bonds between our two countries.”

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Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.

KIMBERLY —John Wuebben gathered his team after it fought to a 1-1 tie with Kimberly on Tuesday and the Appleton North coach was nothing but positive.

The Lightning entered the game as the only untied and undefeated team in the Fox Valley Association, and while it didn’t end the day untied the good news is North remains on top of the FVA.

“I’m really happy with it, we had a lot of people who were injured today that couldn’t play or didn’t play to their capability,” Wuebben said. “We’re a young team, we have six freshmen and five sophomores, so to go up against a quality team like Kimberly, very satisfying. We’d like the win, but we’ll take the tie.”

“It’s good to know we haven’t lost anything,” North freshman Brynn Desens said. “We just keep work and work to win the conference.”

The teams battled to a scoreless first-half tie but Kimberly freshman Rachel Sanderfoot and Desens scored in the second half and then battled the last 20-plus minutes to break the tie.

Both goals were sort of fluky and Desens knows her goal was big after Kimberly grabbed a 1-0 lead.

“It brings up the team’s confidence, we’re still in the game,” Desens said. “We just had to work for that one goal.”

It never came for either team, so the FVA remains a question as to who or how many teams will eventually win the league title. North is 5-0-1, Neenah 4-0-2, Kimberly 3-1-1 and Fond du Lac 3-1-2.

“It still comes down to you have to play everybody and do everything, so a lot will be riding on our Neenah game at the end of the next week,” Wuebben said. “It is still good to come out of here ahead of Kimberly and still leading the conference.

“We’ve come a long way from the first game this season and have a long way to go.”

“I feel that we’re continuing to progress,” Desens said. “I think by the end of the year we’ll be very good, unstoppable.”

Follow Doug Ritchay on Twitter @dougritchay

ANDERSON, S.C. (AP) – A South Carolina school district has asked a private security guard not to return after a fifth-grader was able to pull the officer’s gun out of its holster.

Anderson School District 5 spokesman Kyle Newton told media outlets that the guard was sitting on a bench Monday with a student on either side at Varennes Elementary School when one of the students was able to take the gun out of the officer’s holster.

Authorities say the gun was not fired and was only free for about 10 seconds.

The guard worked for Defender Services, a private company that helps provide security officers for schools. His name was not released.

School officials say the student is also being disciplined.

GREEN BAY – A bench that was installed just over two weeks ago was formally dedicated Wednesday.

Students at the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College designed a bench to remember former Green Bay City Planner, Dale Preston.

Students spent the semester working on the bench, which is in the shape of a compass.

Preston’s wife, Nancy, says she is overwhelmed by the generosity of those who helped make it possible, “It’s beautiful, I’m very touched that we have something in his memory that’s very available to the general public.”

Preston had been a city planner for 40 years.

He died two years ago at the age of 75.

Appleton North freshman Brynn Desens scored one goal as the Lightning tied Kimberly, 1-1, Tuesday in soccer.

NEW YORK (AP) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will test a new unlimited shipping service for online shoppers this summer that will be priced below Amazon’s widely popular $99 per year Prime service.

Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the shipping subscription service will cost customers $50 a year. Products will arrive in three days or less.

Wal-Mart offers a grocery delivery and pickup service in five markets. But the unlimited shipping program marks a substantial commitment and underscores how serious the retailer is about accelerating the growth of its online business, which has seen a slowdown.

Ravi Jariwala, a company spokesman, said the offering is in response to increasing demands from customers who are looking for predictable and affordable shipping. It’s also part of Wal-Mart’s overall strategy to test new ways to serve customers who are increasingly researching and buying on their PCs or mobile devices and are looking for convenience

Jariwala said the service will be available by invitation only for now and it will offer more than one million top-selling items, from toys to electronic gadgets. Wal-Mart’s online site sells more than seven million products.

For now, he said the service would not offer features like free video and music streaming that Amazon provides. He said that customer feedback will direct how the program will evolve.

Click here for more information on the Festival of Nature at Ridges Sanctuary in Balieys Harbor.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Five people killed in a murder-suicide in a Tucson home were all members of the same family, police said Wednesday.

Police said 25-year-old Christopher Carrillo killed his family before turning the gun on himself.

The others killed were 58-year-old Raul Carillo, 53-year-old Karen Saari, 32-year-old Erik Carrillo and 17-year-old Isela Rodriguez.

The bodies were found Tuesday evening by a man who went to the single-story house, police say.

Police did not know what lead to the shooting and an investigation is ongoing.

Details were sparse, but all of the dead had signs of gunshot trauma, police Sgt. Pete Dugan said.

Authorities weren’t actively searching for suspects because they believe it was a murder-suicide, he said.

“They are trying to figure what took place,” he said.

The shootings occurred in a blue-collar neighborhood on the south side of Tucson that residents said has seen an uptick in drug dealing recently.

The home had a no-trespassing sign on the door, and two tricycles and a small basketball court in front. An abandoned home stood on one side of the residence.

Neighbor Araceli Zatarain said a family of four has lived in the home for more than 20 years. Police officers arrived at the home with guns drawn and demanded that Christopher Carrillo come out, she said.

Police later went inside and found the bodies.

Zatarain said she was not close with the family but always said hi to them. The patriarch, Raul Carillo, spent a lot of time outside walking and sweeping the floor, said Zatarain’s daughter, Carol Ibarra.

Ibarra says she didn’t see Raul Carrillo outside at all on Tuesday but also didn’t hear any strange noises or gunshots.

Lupita Garcia, the grandmother of Isela Rodriguez’s boyfriend, said she was stunned and saddened. Rodriguez, who went by the name “Chela,” lived with Garcia and was visiting her grandparents.

Garcia said her grandson became worried after Rodriguez stopped responding to his calls. He ran frantically for nearly a mile but found police tape around the house when he arrived, Garcia said. She said the grandson was so devastated that he was hospitalized and later released.

Garcia said her grandson had been dating Rodriguez for several years. She described her as a good young lady who was kind and pleasant.

“I’ve never had a pain like this,” Garcia said.

GREENVILLE – The Fox Valley Humane Association is in “dire need” of pet food, leaders say.

The humane association says it is currently housing more than 300 animals. More are expected to come in as summer approaches.

The group is looking for donations of money or dry dog and cat food. Preferred brands are Purina One and Iams, although the humane association says it will accept any brand.

Donations can be made in person at the shelter, N115 Two Mile Road, Greenville. For more information or to donate online, call (920) 733-1717 or visit the Fox Valley Humane Association’s website.

A look at the scene of the Amtrak train derailment includes aerial imagery locating the site of derailment and location of train cars following the crash. Also included, a look at other deadly Amtrak accidents. It will be updated this afternoon with details about the train.

ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) – A western Michigan couple with 12 sons already have kept the all-male streak alive with the birth of boy No. 13.

Jay Schwandt tells The Associated Press that his wife Kateri gave birth to the boy Wednesday.

The couple had said they were sticking to the tradition of not knowing the sex of the baby ahead of time.

The 40-year-old father confirmed the birth in a text message to The Associated Press, saying the family will release details Thursday morning on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

The Schwandts live Rockford, north of Grand Rapids.

Forty-year-old Kateri Schwandt says she has a lot of experience with large families, growing up as one of 14 children.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Those birthday cards, bills and other first-class stamped mail often are taking a little longer to get to their destination.

Newly-released figures from the U.S. Postal Service show a decline in on-time delivery for first-class stamped mail for the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

An independent organization that tests service performance for the Post Office found about 63 percent of first-class mail that would typically take three to five days – a letter sent from Washington to Boston, for example – arrived on time. That’s down from about 84 percent during the same period in 2014.

The Postal Service says horrible winter weather that grounded flights and disrupted service in many parts of the country was part of the problem.

HOUSTON (AP) — Rain that continues to lash parts of Texas has led to flooding and water rescues in the Houston area, while officials in North Texas are taking the unusual step of releasing water from lakes to avoid banks from being breached.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings Wednesday for many regions. The Houston suburb of Clear Lake received 11 inches of rain over a three-hour period Tuesday.

Houston fire spokesman Jay Evans said Wednesday that 20 people, most of them motorists, needed to be rescued from high water. He says some intersections have 5 feet of standing water.

Parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth area have received 10 inches of rain over the past week, with more expected. Lakes long-parched by drought have overflowed with water in recent days.

BOSTON (AP) – Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Wednesday made their final appeals to the jury that will decide the fate of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as jurors prepared to deliberate whether the Boston Marathon bomber should get life in prison or the death penalty.

“The choice between these very serious alternatives is yours and yours alone to make,” Judge George O’Toole Jr. told the panel.

Jurors must be unanimous in their decision to impose the death penalty. If even a single one votes against death, Tsarnaev will get life in prison.

Prosecutor Steve Mellin said Tsarnaev wanted to cause his victims as much physical pain as possible to make a political statement.

“The bombs burned their skin, shattered their bones and ripped their flesh,” Mellin said. The blasts “disfigured their bodies, twisted their limbs and punched gaping holes into their legs and torsos.”

“Merely killing the person,” he said, “isn’t nearly as terrifying as shredding them apart.”

Defense attorney Judy Clarke asked jurors to spare Tsarnaev’s life, saying her client “is not the worst of the worst, and that’s what the death penalty is reserved for.”

She asked jurors to hold open their minds and try to understand how and why Tsarnaev became involved in the plot.

“We think that we have shown you that it’s not only possible, but probable that Dzhokhar has potential for redemption,” she said, adding that he was “genuinely sorry for what he’s done.”

The prosecutor showed a large photograph of 8-year-old Martin Richard, who was killed in the attack, and other children standing on a metal barricade near where Tsarnaev placed his bomb. Another photo showed bloodied victims on the sidewalk.

“This is what terrorism looks like,” Mellin said.

Tsarnaev, he said, showed no regret after the bombings, calmly going to buy a half gallon of milk 20 minutes later.

“He acted like it was any other day. He was stress-free and remorse-free,” Mellin said. “He didn’t care because the death and misery was what he sought that day.”

During the four-month trial, prosecutors portrayed Tsarnaev as a callous, unrepentant terrorist who carried out the deadly attack with his radicalized older brother, Tamerlan.

From the start, Tsarnaev’s lawyers admitted he participated in the bombing, but they told the jury he was “a good kid” who was led astray by Tamerlan, who wanted to punish the U.S. for its actions in Muslim countries.

Clarke said Tsarnaev’s parents favored his older brother and pinned their hopes on him, believing he would become an Olympic boxer. She showed photos of his father at boxing matches with Tamerlan, then asked “Where are the pictures of Dzhokhar? He was the invisible kid.”

She noted the testimony of one witness who said the younger Tsarnaev followed his older sibling around “like a puppy.”

Tamerlan was a “jihadi wannabe” who returned to the U.S. angry and frustrated after an unsuccessful attempt to join Islamic extremists in Russia, Clarke said. Then he decided to find another way to wage jihad.

“If not for Tamerlan, this wouldn’t have happened. Dzhokhar would never have done this, but for Tamerlan. The tragedy would never have occurred but for Tamerlan – none of it,” Clarke said.

Mellin dismissed the contention that the older Tsarnaev somehow led his brother down the path to terrorism. “They were partners in crime and brothers in arms. Each had a role to play and each played it,” he said.

Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two bombs exploded near the marathon’s finish line on April 15, 2013.

Tsarnaev, 21, was convicted by a federal jury last month of all 30 counts against him, including use of a weapon of mass destruction. The same jury must now decide his punishment.

Defense lawyers have said a life sentence would also help the families of his victims, who would not be subjected to the years of appeals and public attention that would almost certainly follow a sentence of death.

The defense showed the jury photos of the federal Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, where Tsarnaev would probably be sent if he gets life. There, his lawyers said, he would be locked in his cell 23 hours a day – a solitary existence that would deny him the martyrdom he apparently sought.

A sentence of life “reflects justice and mercy,” Clarke said. Mercy “is never earned. It is bestowed, and the law allows you to choose justice and mercy.”

She disputed prosecutors’ characterization of Tsarnaev as unremorseful. She cited testimony of Sister Helen Prejean, who said Tsarnaev told her he was sorry about the pain and suffering victims endured.

“What unrepentant, unchanged, untouched jihadi is going to meet with a Catholic nun?” she said.

Mellin reminded jurors that some of them – before they were chosen for the jury – expressed a belief that a life sentence may be worse than death.

“This defendant does not want to die. You know that because he had many opportunities to die on the streets of Boston and Watertown. But unlike his brother, he made a different choice,” Mellin said. “A death sentence is not giving him what he wants. It is giving him what he deserves.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than two out of five American honeybee colonies died in the past year, and surprisingly the worst die-off was in the summer, according to a federal survey.

Since April 2014, beekeepers lost 42.1 percent of their colonies, the second highest loss rate in nine years, according to an annual survey conducted by a bee partnership that includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“What we’re seeing with this bee problem is just a loud signal that there’s some bad things happening with our agro-ecosystems,” said study co-author Keith Delaplane at the University of Georgia. “We just happen to notice it with the honeybee because they are so easy to count.”

But it’s not quite as dire as it sounds. That’s because after a colony dies, beekeepers then split their surviving colonies, start new ones, and the numbers go back up again, said Delaplane and study co-author Dennis vanEngelsdorp of the University of Maryland.

What shocked the entomologists is that is the first time they’ve noticed bees dying more in the summer than the winter, said vanEngelsdorp said. The survey found beekeepers lost 27.4 percent of their colonies this summer. That’s up from 19.8 percent the previous summer.

Seeing massive colony losses in summer is like seeing “a higher rate of flu deaths in the summer than winter,” vanEngelsdorp said. “You just don’t expect colonies to die at this rate in the summer.”

Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maine and Wisconsin all saw more than 60 percent of their hives die since April 2014, according to the survey.

“Most of the major commercial beekeepers get a dark panicked look in their eyes when they discuss these losses and what it means to their businesses,” said Pennsylvania State University entomology professor Diana Cox-Foster. She wasn’t part of the study, but praised it.

Delaplane and vanEngelsdorp said a combination of mites, poor nutrition and pesticides are to blame for the bee deaths. USDA bee scientist Jeff Pettis said last summer’s large die-off included unusual queen loss and seemed worse in colonies that moved more.

Dick Rogers, chief beekeeper for pesticide-maker Bayer, said the loss figure is “not unusual at all” and said the survey shows an end result of more colonies now than before: 2.74 million hives in 2015, up from 2.64 million in 2014.

That doesn’t mean bee health is improving or stable, vanEngelsdorp said. After they lose colonies, beekeepers are splitting their surviving hives to recover their losses, pushing the bees to their limits, Delaplane said.

TOKYO (AP) — A strong earthquake hit Japan on Wednesday in the same region devastated by a major quake and tsunami in 2011. Authorities said there was no risk of tsunami.

The magnitude 6.8 quake struck at 6:12 a.m. at a depth of 46 kilometers (29 miles) off the coast of Miyagi prefecture, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

It shook a wide swath of northern Japan and was felt in Tokyo, 415 kilometers (260 miles) to the southwest. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Meteorological agency official Yohei Hasegawa told a news conference that the earthquake was an aftershock of the magnitude 9.0 disaster that killed more than 18,000 people in March 2011.

No abnormalities were reported at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was damaged beyond repair in the 2011 disaster, or at other reactors in the region.

LONDON (AP) — The entire U.S. men’s sprint relay team was stripped of its silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics on Wednesday as a result of Tyson Gay’s doping case, two officials with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not yet been announced.

The International Olympic Committee notified the U.S. Olympic Committee by letter that the 4×100 relay team has been disqualified and all the medals withdrawn, the officials said. The letter asks the USOC to collect the medals and return them to the IOC.

Gay returned his own medal last year after accepting a one-year doping suspension and the loss of results going back to July 2012, but the status of the U.S. second-place finish in London and the medals of Gay’s relay teammates had remained in limbo until now.

Under international rules, an entire team can be disqualified and stripped of medals because of doping by one member.

Gay was a member of the American team that finished second in London behind a Jamaican team anchored by Usain Bolt. The Americans set a national record in the final with a time of 37.04 seconds.

The other U.S. team members losing medals are Trell Kimmons, Justin Gatlin, Ryan Bailey, Jeffery Demps and Darvis Patton. Kimmons, Gatlin and Bailey ran in the final with Gay.

Gay tested positive for steroids at the U.S. championships in 2013. He received a reduced suspension — rather than a two-year ban — because he cooperated with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation that led to an eight-year ban for his former coach, Jon Drummond.

Gay’s results were annulled going back to July 15, 2012, the date when he first used a product containing a banned substance.

If the London medals are reallocated, the silver will go to Trinidad and Tobago, which finished third in 38.12 seconds. The bronze would go to the French team which placed fourth in 38.16 seconds.

NEW YORK (AP) — Noted labor attorney Jeffrey Kessler will aid in the players’ union’s planned appeal of Tom Brady’s suspension.

The New England Patriots quarterback was suspended by the NFL for the first four games of the 2015 season for his role in the deflating of footballs. He has until 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday to file the appeal. His lawyer, Don Yee, and the union have said they will appeal.

Kessler has litigated some of the most famous sports antitrust cases, including working for a variety of player unions. He was instrumental in getting NFL free agency established and had a key role in helping end the league’s lockout of the players in 2011.

Along with Brady’s suspension, the NFL fined the Patriots $1 million Monday and stripped them of a 2016 first-round draft choice and a 2017 fourth-rounder.

But Kessler would be involved only in Brady’s case.

Kessler most recently represented Adrian Peterson in his appeal to reduce his league suspension for violating the personal conduct policy. Peterson served his full suspension through April 15, albeit on the commissioner’s exempt list, where he was paid his salary. The running back has been reinstated, although he has not reported to the Minnesota Vikings.

An NFL-sanctioned investigation by attorney Ted Wells asserted it was “more probable than not” that Brady “was at least generally aware” of plans by two team employees to prepare the balls to his liking, below the league-mandated minimum of 12.5 pounds per square inch. Wells also noted that Brady refused to turn over phone records. Wells said he had told Brady and Yee he did not need to see his phone and would have accepted a list of communications.

Brady would actually miss the first five weeks of the season because the Patriots have a bye. He would miss four game checks, totaling about $1.88 million.

MADISON (AP) – Hundreds of filings in three cases related to an investigation involving Gov. Scott Walker have been released.

The heavily blacked-out court documents were released Wednesday by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The filings shed light on legal arguments made by those involved in the cases, but it’s not immediately clear how much new information is contained.

The cases generally involve whether Walker’s recall campaign and conservative groups illegally coordinated during recall elections in 2011 and 2012.

Unnamed parties have filed two lawsuits challenging the probe’s validity. Prosecutors have filed another action seeking to reinstate quashed subpoenas that halted the investigation more than a year ago.

The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the cases in late June.