Green Bay News

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Wednesday authorized a new U.S. government approach to deterring cyberattacks: financial sanctions against malicious overseas hackers and companies that knowingly benefit from the fruits of cyberespionage.

The latter category could include state-owned corporations in Russia, China and elsewhere, setting the stage for major diplomatic friction if the sanctions are employed in that way.

“Cyberthreats pose one of the most serious economic and national security challenges to the United States,” Obama said in a statement after signing an executive order creating the first sanctions program aimed at cyberattacks.

The order was the latest attempt by his administration to come up with options short of direct retaliation to deal with a growing cyberthreat coming from both nations and criminal groups. It gives the U.S. the authority to levy sanctions on individuals and companies, though no specific penalties were announced.

“We are excited about this new tool that will allow us to expose and isolate those behind malicious cyberactivity,” said John Smith, who directs the Treasury Department division that will administer the sanctions.

Obama said the sanctions would apply to those engaged in malicious cyberactivity that aims to harm critical infrastructure, damage computer systems and steal trade secrets or sensitive information. To be subject to sanctions, the hacking would have to be deemed to have harmed the national security or the economic health of the U.S.

The sanctions, which would name the targets, seize their U.S. funds and ban them from the American financial system, would also apply to “a corporation that knowingly profits from stolen trade secrets,” the White House said. U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials have long possessed evidence that state-owned companies in China and elsewhere are complicit in economic cyberespionage that targets the intellectual property of Western companies, but they have largely been unable to act on it.

The administration has “really thought about how to make this painful to the beneficiaries,” of cyberspying, said James Lewis, a cyber expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They’ve gotten away with this for a long time, so making them suffer a little for stealing is a good idea.”

The announcement follows the Obama administration’s allegations that North Korea was behind last year’s cyberattack on Sony Pictures. The U.S. did sanction several North Korean individuals in retaliation for the Sony hack, but they were not targeted specifically for their role in that incident.

In February, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, listed cyberattacks as the most pressing danger facing the country, and he said the cyberthreat from Russia “is more severe than we had previously assessed.”

U.S. officials have been warning of a growing cyberthreats for years. Major U.S. companies, including Target and Home Depot, have been the target of criminal hacking that put consumer information at risk.

Foreign intelligence services are probing and penetrating critical infrastructure, including U.S. power grids, so that they can inflict damage in the event of a conflict, American intelligence officials have said publicly.

They have also alleges that hackers based in Russia and China are engaging in a widespread pillaging of corporate trade secrets, some of it state-sponsored. Former National Security Agency director Keith Alexander has called that the greatest illicit transfer of wealth in history. China and Russia deny any role in the cyberthefts.

Last May, the Justice Department issued criminal indictments against five Chinese military hackers it accused of cyberespionage against U.S. corporations for economic advantage. FBI director James Comey said at the time the spying was to benefit Chinese companies, but he neither named the companies nor took formal action against them.

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AP White House correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Saudi-led coalition warplanes bombed Shiite rebel positions in both north and south Yemen early Wednesday, setting off explosions and drawing return fire from anti-aircraft guns. Airstrikes also hit a factory in a western port city and 35 workers died there, according to witnesses and officials.

The bombings came as the Saudi-led campaign against Yemen’s Shiite rebels known as Houthis entered its seventh day. The campaign aims to weaken the Iran-backed rebels who are also allied with forces loyal to Yemen’s deposed president, Ali Abdullah Saleh and halt their power grab.

Since their advance began last year, the Houthis have overrun the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and several provinces, and have forced the current president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to flee abroad from the southern port city of Aden.

Wednesday’s airstrikes targeted rebel-controlled army camps in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida, and hit warehouses belonging to a factory that produces dairy products.

Anti-aircraft guns returned fire before the factory itself was set ablaze. Parts of its main building collapsed from explosions with workers still inside, according to at least five eyewitnesses and officials. According to the medical center in Hodeida, at least 35 workers were killed, many of them crushed by the rubble or burned to death.

Two military officials said the factory had been used as a rebel weapons cache, and that while the airstrikes flattened the warehouses, the main factory building was only partially destroyed — suggesting it might have been hit from ground. All the officials and witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Hodeida death toll came a day after international aid groups expressed alarm over high civilian casualties in Yemen’s escalating crisis.

A report Tuesday by the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said 62 children were killed and 30 wounded during the fighting in Yemen over the past week. It was not clear if the deaths were the result of airstrikes or ongoing clashes between rival groups across the country.

Also Tuesday, the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said its staffers in Yemen confirmed that at least 19 civilians died when airstrikes hit a refugee camp near the Houthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen on Sunday, with at least 35 wounded, including 11 children.

Critics of the Houthis charge that they are an Iranian proxy — a claim the rebels deny. Iran has provided aid to the rebels, but both Tehran and the Houthis deny it has armed them.

In Tehran, dozens of Yemeni expatriates, including clerics and students, took to the streets on Wednesday to denounce the airstrikes. The protesters burned photos of Saudi King Salman and marched outside the Saudi Embassy.

TWO RIVERS – Some people were hurt Wednesday morning when a tree fell on them at Woodland Dunes Nature Center.

The Manitowoc Co. Sheriff’s Office and Two Rivers Fire Dept. say they have both sent emergency workers to the scene. Some of the people were taken to the hospital.

FOX 11 also has a crew on the way to the scene and will have more details as they become available.

SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France (AP) — Lufthansa’s chief executive said Wednesday it will take “a long, long time” to understand what led to a deadly crash in the French Alps last week — but refused to say exactly what the airline knew about the mental health of the co-pilot suspected of deliberately destroying the plane.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr and the head of its low-cost airline Germanwings, Thomas Winkelmann, visited the crash area Wednesday amid mounting questions about how much the airlines knew about co-pilot Andreas Lubitz’s psychological state and why they haven’t released more information about it.

The two men laid flowers and then stood silently facing a stone monument to the plane’s 150 victims that looks toward the French mountains where Germanwings Flight 9525 shattered into thousands of pieces on March 24. It bears a memorial message in German, Spanish, French and English.

Spohr said the airline is “learning more every day” about what might have led to the crash but “it will take a long, long time to understand how this could happen.”

He then deflected questions from reporters at the site in Seyne-les-Alpes and drove away.

Based on audio from the plane’s voice data recorder, investigators believe Lubitz intentionally crashed the plane and are trying to figure out why.

Lufthansa acknowledged Tuesday that it knew six years ago that Lubitz had suffered from an episode of “severe depression” before he finished his flight training at the German airline, but said he had passed all his medical checks since then.

The airline did not mention the severe depression episode when questions were raised last week about Lubitz’s medical history.

German prosecutors say Lubitz’s medical records from before he received his pilot’s license referred to “suicidal tendencies,” but visits to doctors since then showed no record of any suicidal tendencies or aggression against others.

The revelations intensify questions about how much Lufthansa and its insurers will pay in damages for the passengers who died — and about how thoroughly the aviation industry and government regulators screen pilots for psychological problems.

Germany’s Transport Ministry said Wednesday there are already checks in place for employees in security-sensitive jobs, including pilots. However, spokeswoman Vera Moosmayer said someone who in the past suffered from severe depression could become a pilot if he or she passes the relevant medical.

“We will wait and collect the insights that coming out of this terrible tragedy, and then decide whether changes need to be made,” Moosmayer told reporters in Berlin.

At the crash site Wednesday, authorities said investigators have finished collecting human remains. Lt. Luc Poussel said all that’s left are “belongings and pieces of metal.”

Officials at France’s national criminal laboratory near Paris say it will take a few months for the painstaking identification process to be complete and for the remains to be returned to the families.

New images of the recovery operation released by the Interior Ministry showed investigators tugging out large, mangled pieces of the plane: tires, sections with several twisted windows and what looked like a piece of the orange-painted tail.

Questions persist about reports in the German daily Bild and the French magazine Paris Match about a video they say was taken by someone inside the cabin of the doomed plane shortly before it crashed. The publications say their reporters were shown the video, which they said was found on a memory chip that could have come from a cellphone.

Marseille Prosecutor Brice Robin, who is overseeing the French criminal investigation into the crash, told The Associated Press that investigators had found no such video. But in a statement Wednesday, he left open the possibility that such video had been found but not given to authorities.

“In the hypothesis that someone is in possession of such a video, he or she should submit it immediately to investigators,” he said.

The Paris Match reporter who saw the video, Frederic Helbert, said on the magazine’s website Wednesday that he was “offered the possibility to view it” after working with unnamed intermediaries linked to unnamed people at the search site.

Helbert said the video was shot from the back of the plane. He said no one is identifiable but it conveys “the human dimension of the panic” right before the crash.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program appeared headed for double overtime on Wednesday, beset by competing claims after diplomats abandoned a March 31 deadline for the outline of a deal and agreed to press on.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said negotiators were still facing a “tough struggle,” indicating the talks were not likely to end anytime soon. And other officials indicated the efforts, already extended into Wednesday, probably would drag into Thursday.

Iran and six powers have been locked in haggling over what an initial understanding should look like for nearly a week, reflecting the significant gaps facing them.

Steinmeier said he hoped that when the talks end “we won’t just be reporting about closing gaps” but also will be providing details of agreement on important points. His comment reflected unhappiness with Iran’s insistence that the Lausanne talks should end only with a vague statement of principles.

The German said he held out hope that the sides would be able to negotiate a preliminary accord that will let them embark on a new phase of talks aiming for a final deal by June.

Earlier, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, told reporters that if the sides make progress on the text of a joint statement, then that could be issued by the end of Wednesday. But he suggested the statement would contain no specifics.

A senior Western official quickly pushed back, saying that nothing about a statement had been decided and that Iran’s negotiating partners would not accept a document that contained no details. The official was not authorized to speak to the negotiations by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Araghchi named differences on sanctions relief on his country as one dispute, along with disputes on Iran’s uranium enrichment-related research and development.

“Definitely our research and development program on high-end centrifuges should continue,” he told Iranian television.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners want to crimp Iranian efforts to improve the performance of centrifuges that enrich uranium because advancing the technology could let Iran produce material that could be used to arm a nuclear weapon much more quickly than at present.

The exchanges reflected significant gaps between the sides, and came shortly after the end of the first post-deadline meeting between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, his British and German counterparts and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif in the Swiss town of Lausanne. They and their teams were continuing a marathon effort to bridge still significant gaps and hammer out a framework accord.

Eager to avoid a collapse in the discussions, the United States and others claimed late Tuesday that enough progress had been made to warrant an extension after six days of intense bartering. The foreign ministers of China, France and Russia all departed Lausanne overnight, although the significance of their absence was not clear.

Zarif said solutions to many of the problems had been found and documents attesting to that would soon be drafted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said before leaving that the negotiators had reached agreement in principle on all key issues, and in the coming hours it would be put on paper.

Others were more skeptical.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Iran might still not be ready to accept what is on the table.

Officials say the intention is to produce a joint statement outlining general political commitments to resolving concerns about Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. In addition, they are trying to fashion other documents that would lay out in more detail the steps they must take by June 30 to meet those goals.

The additional documents would allow the sides to make the case that the next round of talks will not simply be a continuation of negotiations that have already been twice extended since an interim agreement between Iran, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany was concluded in November 2013. President Barack Obama and other leaders, including Iran’s, have said they are not interested in a third extension.

But if the parties agree only to a broad framework that leaves key details unresolved, Obama can expect stiff opposition at home from members of Congress who want to move forward with new, stiffer Iran sanctions. Lawmakers had agreed to hold off on such a measure through March while the parties negotiated. The White House says new sanctions would scuttle further diplomatic efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear work and possibly lead Israel to act on threats to use military force to accomplish that goal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has campaigned tirelessly for months against the emerging agreement, said it would “ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world.”

“A better deal would significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. A better deal would link the eventual lifting of the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to a change in Iran’s behavior,” he said.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners are demanding curbs on Iranian nuclear activities that could be used to make weapons, and they say any agreement must extend the time Tehran would need to produce a weapon from the present several months to at least a year. The Iranians deny such military intentions, but they are negotiating with the aim that a deal will end sanctions on their economy.

NEW YORK (AP) – McDonald’s says it is simplifying its grilled chicken recipe to remove ingredients people might not recognize, marking the latest sign the company is rethinking its menu to keep up with changing tastes.

The company says it expects the new “Artisan Grilled Chicken” to be in its more than 14,300 U.S. stores by the end of next week, in products including a new sandwich, as well as existing sandwiches, wraps and salads.

It says the biggest change is the removal of sodium phosphates, which it said was used to keep the chicken moist, in favor of vegetable starch. The new recipe also does not use maltodextrin, which McDonald’s said is generally used as a sugar to increase browning or as a carrier for seasoning.

Jessica Foust, director of culinary innovation at McDonald’s, said the changes were made because customers said they want “simple, clean ingredients” they are familiar with.

“Maltodextrin is just not something they have in their pantries,” Foust said.

The change comes as McDonald’s fights to hold onto customers amid the growing popularity of places like Chipotle that position themselves as more wholesome alternatives to traditional fast-food.

Already, that “clean label” trend has prompted numerous restaurant chains and packaged food makers to reformulate products, even while standing by the safety and quality of their previous recipes. Subway also introduced a new grilled chicken recipe earlier this year that it said had no artificial flavors or preservatives. And Panera Bread has said it plans to purge artificial colors, flavors and preservatives from its food by 2016.

As ingredient quality becomes a more powerful marketing advantage, executives at McDonald’s have also been trying to freshen up the company’s image and shake perceptions that it serves junk food. TV ads and signs in stores, for instance, are playing up the fact that Egg McMuffins are made with freshly cracked eggs. And last month, McDonald’s announced it would start asking suppliers to curb the use of antibiotics in raising chickens.

As for the new grilled chicken recipe, McDonald’s said it will now also be cooked with a blend of olive oil and canola oil and herb seasoning. Previously, it was cooked with liquid margarine, which included “artificial flavor” and the preservatives sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate as ingredients. Foust said she thinks customers will notice that it has “more of a lemon herb type flavor.”

“It’s a very real chicken experience – something closer to what you make in your own home,” she said.

Roger Clemens, an adjunct professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy and a former president of the Institute of Food Technologists, said sodium phosphates could be used to help chicken keep its moisture and texture when it’s being frozen and shipped.

“If you’re going to cook a fresh chicken, it’s not a big concern. But if you’re going to ship a chicken, there’s a change in structure,” he said.

Maltodextrin, meanwhile, might be used as a coating on chicken to distribute seasonings evenly, he said.

On its website, McDonald’s lists ingredients for its new “Artisan Grilled Chicken” including salt, vegetable starch, sugar, garlic powder, lemon juice concentrate, honey and onion powder. Terri Hickey, a McDonald’s representative, said the new chicken filet will have 12 ingredients, not including the cooking ingredients. The previous filet recipe had 18 ingredients.

Mike Andres, who took over as president of McDonald’s USA last year amid ongoing sales struggles, had said in December the company was looking at shrinking its ingredients lists.

Whether the new grilled chicken recipe helps change perceptions about the food at McDonald’s remains to be seen. The change comes after McDonald’s Corp. saw sales and customer visits at established U.S. restaurants slip two years in a row. In January, the company named Steve Easterbrook, its chief brand officer, to take over as CEO for Don Thompson. That change took effect in March, right before a “Turnaround Summit” for U.S. franchisees.

The U.S. Navy has approved the funding for another littoral combat ship to be built at Marinette Marine, Lockheed Martin officials said Wednesday.

Lockheed Martin is a general contractor for the LCS program, with the work performed in Marinette.

The Navy approved $362 million for LCS 21 construction in fiscal year 2015, plus another $79 million for material procurement for LCS 23, said Neil King, director of business development, Littoral Ship Systems.

These contracts will allow work to continue at Marinette Marine as scheduled, he said.

The companies are only expecting to build one ship in FY2016, however – and that could have an impact on the shipyard’s workforce, he said.

LCS 21 and 23 would be the 11th and 12th ships of the class built at Marinette Marine, and are part of a 10-ship contract. Even-numbered LCS are built by Austal in Louisiana.

The first ship on this 2010 contract, the Milwaukee (LCS 5), was christened and launched in 2013, and is slated to be delivered to the Navy this summer. Detroit (LCS 7) was launched in 2014. Little Rock (LCS 9) and Sioux City (LCS 11) are in construction, with LCS 9 christening and launch planned for this summer. Wichita (LCS 13) had its keel laid in February 2015. Billings (LCS 15), as well as Indianapolis (LCS 17) and to-be-named LCS 19 are in the construction phase.

MADISON – Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper will not be honored at this year’s ceremonies in Madison and Washington, D.C. for officers killed in line of duty.

Staff at both memorials say that Casper would be included in the 2016 ceremonies.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial ceremony will be May 13, 2016.

The Wisconsin Law Enforcement Memorial at the state Capitol will hold its ceremony May 20, 2016.

TOWN OF CARLTON – The owner of the shuttered Kewaunee Power Station nuclear plant has agreed to pay a $17,500 fine for a security-related violation.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the violation was found during routine inspections between June and December of last year. The NRC says plant managers corrected the violation before inspectors left the site.

Details about security-related violations are not made public, the NRC says.

The plant’s owner, Dominion Energy Kewaunee, says it has made changes to its security plan and does not plan to contest the violation.

Find a calendar of events for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in Northeast Wisconsin.

MADISON (AP) – State education officials say more Wisconsin high school graduates are taking Advanced Placement exams and earning scores high enough for college credit.

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s annual report on AP exam participation shows 34 percent of graduating seniors in 2014 took at least one exam. That’s up from 19 percent of graduates a decade ago.

Twenty-four percent of those taking the exam from the 2014 graduating class earned at least a 3 on a 1 through 5 ranking. Colleges usually accept AP exam scores of 3 or higher for credit. In 2004, 13 percent of test-takers earned a 3 or better.

• Click here to read the full report

The Journal Sentinel reports the overall exam participation rate in Wisconsin is 33.6 percent, slightly below the national average of 35.7 percent.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – The chief executive of Starbucks is expected to meet with the family of a Milwaukee man killed by a police officer.

Representatives of both Starbucks and the family of Dontre Hamilton say Wednesday’s meeting will be private.

Hamilton was shot 14 times by Officer Christopher Manney outside a Starbucks in downtown Milwaukee last April. Starbucks employees called police after seeing Hamilton sleeping outside the coffee shop.

The death of Hamilton, who’s black, by Manney, who’s white, has sparked demonstrations in Milwaukee. Manney says Hamilton grabbed his police baton and hit him, that’s why he opened fire.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz recently launched an initiative called “Race Together” to generate discussions about diversity. Some customers complained on social media when baristas were asked to initiate conversations about race. Starbucks has since dropped that aspect of the initiative.

FOND DU LAC – Police have arrested two people in connection with a bank robbery last month.

The Guaranty Bank inside the Pick ‘n Save store, 760 W. Johnson St., was robbed March 15, police say. A man went into the bank, gave the teller a note saying the bank was being robbed and to hand over money.

Tuesday night, police say they arrested a 26-year-old Oshkosh man and a 35-year-old Oshkosh woman. The suspects’ names were not released.

Watching Aaron Rodgers compete on FOX 11 is nothing new, but next month he’ll be putting his trivia knowledge – not his football skills – to the test.

The Green Bay Packers say Rodgers will appear on an episode of “Celebrity Jeopardy!” May 12. He’ll be going up against “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary and retired astronaut Mark Kelly.

O’Leary posted a photo of the three, along with host Alex Trebek, on Twitter, when they were together to tape the episode on Tuesday.

Ok contest time. Who can name the other 2 contestants, host and name of this iconic game show? Watch May 12! pic.twitter.com/UfNLLrUAnM

— Kevin O'Leary (@kevinolearytv) April 1, 2015

You can watch “Jeopardy!” every day at 6 p.m. on FOX 11.

GREEN BAY – A Green Bay man has been sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman while she was asleep.

Prosecutors say Avery A. Gomeyosh, 36, pleaded guilty in federal court to the attack, which happened last May 31 at a home on the Menominee Indian Reservation. Investigators say he admitted sexually assaulting the woman.

Gomeyosh was sentenced to five years and five months in federal prison, followed by 10 years on supervised release.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday called for changes to a religious objection measure facing a backlash from businesses and gay rights groups, saying it wasn’t intended to sanction discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The Republican governor said he wants changes to the bill lawmakers sent him prohibiting state and local government from infringing upon someone’s religious beliefs without a compelling interest. Hutchinson said he wants the Legislature to either recall the bill or pass a follow-up measure to make the proposal more closely mirror a 1993 federal religious freedom law.

Hutchinson had initially supported the bill and on Tuesday his office had said he planned to sign it into law.

The move comes after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a similar measure into law last week. Pence this week said he wants follow-up legislation to address concerns that the law allows businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation.

Similar proposals have been introduced in more than a dozen states, patterned after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. Nineteen other states have similar laws on the books.

Echoing the reaction to Indiana’s law, Hutchinson has faced pressure from the state’s top employers, including retail giant Wal-Mart, which complained that the measure was discriminatory and would stifle economic development. Little Rock’s mayor, the city’s Chamber of Commerce and Arkansas-based data services company Acxiom all urged the governor to reject the measure in recent days.

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights group, has run ads in Silicon Valley targeting technology firms Hutchinson hopes to attract to the state.

LA CROSSE (AP) – A Lutheran pastor has resigned in La Crosse days after an email threatening rape and laced with expletives was sent from his home account to a Milwaukee blogger.

Liberal Milwaukee activist and blogger Claire Van Fossen posted the email on social media. Van Fossen says the threat was one of many emails she received after criticizing police on her independent blog hosted on JSOnline, the Journal Sentinel website.

The Rev. David Wendt of First Evangelical Lutheran Church in La Crosse resigned Tuesday. A synod spokesman, Lee Hitter, says Wendt acknowledged the email address from which the message was sent is his, but denied sending the threat. No one answered the phone at Wendt’s home Wednesday in an attempt for comment.

Hitter says Wendt asked the local police department’s cyber crimes unit to investigate.

MADISON (AP) – Gov. Scott Walker’s promise of a “big announcement” on April Fool’s Day turned out to have nothing to do with presidential politics.

Walker, widely expected to compete for the GOP presidential nomination, took to Twitter to promise his followers big news at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Big announcement coming up at 10:00AM CT. Signup to hear the news first: http://t.co/rET7OzxkQw – SKW #Forward

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) April 1, 2015

At the appointed hour, Walker tweeted his support for the Wisconsin Badgers, who play top seed Kentucky on Saturday in the Final Four.

America needs big, bold leadership & that's why I'm supporting Coach Ryan & the @BadgerMBB Saturday.- SKW #AprilFools pic.twitter.com/1PwSaZtjab

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) April 1, 2015

“America needs big, bold leadership & that’s why I’m supporting Coach Ryan & the BadgerMMB Saturday,” Walker wrote, adding the hashtag #AprilFools.

DETROIT (AP) — The federal government said Wednesday that it is listing the northern long-eared bat as threatened, giving new protections to a species that has been nearly wiped out in some areas by the spread of a fungal disease.

White-nose syndrome was first discovered among bats in a cave near Albany, New York, in 2006 and since has killed millions of the flying mammals in the Northeast, South and Midwest. It spreads while they congregate on the wet walls of caves or abandoned mines, interrupting their hibernation and causing them to starve or dehydrate.

“Bats are a critical component of our nation’s ecology and economy,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Dan Ashe said in a statement. He said they play a key role in insect control and “we lose them at our peril.”

The service concluded that the northern long-eared bat meets the criteria for a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. It stopped short of declaring it endangered, which would mean that it is currently in danger of extinction.

While the threat to the northern long-eared bats and its cousins is dire, the tools to protect them are limited, Sullins said. That’s because the main threat is from a disease, rather than from human-induced changes in the environment. The protective measures improve their breeding opportunities by restricting some logging and tree removal from forest areas where the bats spend the warmer months. They will be in effect in June and July, when newborn bats live in nests before learning to fly, he said.

White-nose syndrome has been confirmed or is suspected among northern long-eared bat populations in 28 of the 37 states where the species lives, said Tony Sullins, Midwestern chief of the endangered species program for the Fish and Wildlife Service. He said the species has been hardest hit in New England.

“We’ve seen losses in the upper 90 percent range, 100 percent in some cases,” Sullins told The Associated Press.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said interim rules take effect May 4 and final rules will be issued by year’s end.

Meanwhile researchers are hard at work trying to find ways of treating and preventing the disease, Sullins said.

Keith Creagh, the director of Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision balances the interests of wildlife protection and the livelihood and convenience of people.

“The decision … represents a biologically sound determination that will address the conservation needs of these bats while providing flexibility for those who live and work within the bats’ range,” Creagh said. “We expect to continue working closely with the service as we focus on finding the right solutions to this conservation challenge.”

TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — Iraq declared a “magnificent victory” Wednesday over the Islamic State group in Tikrit, a key step in driving the militants out of their biggest strongholds.

Iraqi Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi made the pronouncement, saying security forces have “accomplished their mission” in the monthlong offensive to rid Saddam Hussein’s hometown and the broader Salahuddin province of the militant group.

“We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to announce the good news of a magnificent victory,” Obeidi said in a video statement. “Here we come to you, Anbar! Here we come to you, Nineveh, and we say it with full resolution, confidence, and persistence,” naming other provinces under the sway of the extremists.

Extremists from the Islamic State group seized Tikrit last summer during its advance across northern and western Iraq. The battle for Tikrit is seen as a key step toward eventually driving the militants out of Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city and the provincial capital of Nineveh.

Iraqi forces, including soldiers, police officers, Shiite militias and Sunni tribes, launched a large-scale operation to recapture Tikrit on March 2. Last week, the United States launched airstrikes on the embattled city at the request of the Iraqi government.

Recapturing Tikrit would be the biggest win so far for Baghdad’s Shiite-led government. The city is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad and lies on the road connecting the capital to Mosul. Retaking it will help Iraqi forces have a major supply link for any future operation against Mosul.

Earlier Wednesday, Iraqi security forces fired on snipers and searched homes for remaining militants. Soldiers fanned out in circles from the charred skeletal remains of the Salahuddin provincial government complex, captured the day before.

Militant mortar fire, which had been intense over previous days, fell silent Wednesday, with commanders saying only a few militant snipers remained in the city. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing operations.

The objective, Interior Minister Mohammed Salem al-Ghabban said Wednesday, is now to restore normalcy as quickly as possible.

“After clearing the area from roadside bombs and car bombs, we will reopen police stations to restore normalcy in the city, and we will form committees to supervise the return of people displaced from their homes,” al-Ghabban said. He said the government will help displaced residents return and that a civil defense unit will be combing the city for roadside bombs and car bombs.

“Daesh is completely defeated,” he added, using an Arabic name for the group.

During a visit to Tikrit, Iraqi Prime Minsiter Haider al-Abadi said that military engineering units still need more time to clear the city from booby traps. He also waved an Iraqi flag in photos posted on his social media accounts.

“God’s willing, there will be a fund to rebuild areas destroyed by Daesh and the war. Tikrit and Salahuddin areas will be covered by this fund,” al-Abadi said.

A satellite image of Tikrit, released in February by the United Nations, showed at least 536 buildings in the city have been affected by the fighting. Of those, at least 137 were completely destroyed and 241 were severely damaged. The current offensive also exacerbated previous damage, particularly in the south where clashes have been the most intense in recent days.

Iraq’s parliament speaker, Salim al-Jabouri, called on the government to find the means to resettle residents from damaged Tikrit buildings. He said this “requires effort and support by the central government in order to financially support the people in rebuilding their houses.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. mission to Iraq said Wednesday that violence claimed the lives of at least 997 people in March, a slight drop from the February death toll.

UNAMI said in a statement that among them were 729 civilians while the rest were security forces. It said at least 2,172 people were wounded, including 1,785 civilians.

The new U.N. envoy to Iraq, Jan Kubis, said he is shocked to see that Iraqis continue to “bear the brunt” of the ongoing violence in the country.

Kubis also said Wednesday that the offensive in Tikrit is “a victory for all the Iraqi people,” and that the U.N. was ready to assist the provincial and national authorities.

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Yacoub reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Vivian Salama in Baghdad contributed to this report.