Green Bay News

Dominican’s Diamond Stone finally made the decision everyone in the state of Wisconsin was waiting for Friday night when the top 10 national recruit announced his college decision.

The co-Mr. Basketball of Wisconsin announced on Twitter he will play collegiately at Maryland, and in the process disappointed many Badgers fans. Stone was down to his final four schools of Maryland, Wisconsin, Oklahoma State and Connecticut.

Tweeted Stone: “I Am Committing To The University Of Maryland” #Terps

Stone just completed one of the most prolific careers in the state, leading Dominican to four straight Division 4 state titles. He averaged 24.6 points per game and 11.8 rebounds per game.

DE PERE – Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy helped out another green and gold football program Friday evening.

He was the guest speaker at a St. Norbert College football fundraiser.

Welcomed by a standing ovation, Coach Mike McCarthy loosened up a little, literally, for the St. Norbert College football fans—taking off his tie at the fish fry fundraiser.

“Been here nine years, I should know better than that,” McCarthy quipped to the crowd. He was dressed in a sport coat, when many others wore jeans.

Throughout his brief speech, McCarthy touched on what it means to be a college athlete.

“You cannot lead until you have first served,” the coach advised, speaking on humility.

The usually tough head coach even became a little emotional when speaking about life’s losses on and off the field.

“You have to learn lessons from the life that’s lived, as well as the one that’s lost,” he said. McCarthy choked up and gently pounded his fist on the podium.

“That’s what you gotta do in football. And in life it’s the same thing. Just thinking about my brother, excuse me. Hell, eat some fish. Jesus Christ!” he said, sending the crowd into sympathetic laughter and applause.

McCarthy lost his brother, Joe, in January. St. Norbert College players say the coach’s message was inspirational.

“To be honest it’s a great honor to have someone of his prestige. You know, having won a Super Bowl, all of his success, really something that we can all learn about here at St. Norbert,” said Mark Villers, a senior on St. Norbert College’s football team.

“It’s surreal, you know, because with all of his success and stuff. And just the Packers being a huge part of Green Bay and being in De Pere, it’s so close, it’s just really special to have him here,” said Stuart Kwaterski, a St. Norbert College freshman.

And the head coach’s presence helped bring in close to 20 thousand dollars for college athletic programs.

“It could be much more than that tonight given the increased numbers and the interest because he’s going to be here,” said Don Malinski, the director of athletic fundraising for St. Norbert College.

Supporting and inspiring today’s college athletes to be leaders in the future.

St. Norbert College says this year’s annual fish fry benefit was one of the most well-attended, because of Coach McCarthy.

PEORIA, Ill. — Bradley University has announced the appointment of Brian Wardle as its new basketball coach.

Wardle led Wisconsin-Green Bay to the 2014 Horizon League regular-season championship and three straight postseason appearances in the five years he was at that school.

Bradley Director of Athletics Chris Reynolds on Friday said Wardle has a track record of success and has a work ethic and personality that fit the Bradley Braves.

Reynolds says Wardle, who was an assistant at Marquette from 2003-2005, will be formally introduced on Saturday.

In a statement, Wardle said he is honored by his appointment, saying Bradley’s tradition and support was a draw for him.

Wisconsin-Green Bay won 24 games last season, finishing 24-9. The team received an at-large selection to the NIT after finishing runner-up in the Horizon League regular-season and postseason tournament.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy talks about playing football at a small college at a St. Norbert College fundraiser , March 27, 2015.

MILWAUKEE – This takes deep-fried food to a whole new level.

Miller Park will offer hungry baseball fans new food items to the menu.

Among the new items added, Delaware North, the food, beverage, and retail partner at Miller Park, introduced Inside the Park Nachos.

These nachos have a twist, or rather, a stick.

Inside the Park Nachos will start with a stick of beef, surrounded with refried beans, rolled in Doritos, and then deep-fried and drizzled with sour cream and cheese.

“We’ve sold nachos before, but some people don’t want to get messy,” said Jamie Hodgson, Delaware North’s general manager at Miller Park. “I think this is going to be a big seller because you can eat this in one hand and have a beer in the other.”

Regular nachos will see a makeover as well in the Miller Park Bratchos; kettle chips topped with sour cream, fried jalapenos, sauerkraut and four types of sausages – chorizo, Italian, Polish and bratwurst.

Another new addition to the menu is the Down Wisconsin Avenue Brat, a fully-loaded brat covered with gravy, french fries, cheese curds, cheese sauce, fried sauerkraut and jalapenos topped with sour cream and chives.

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin’s attempt to ban same-sex marriages will cost taxpayers more than $1 million.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that an agreement announced Friday calls for the state to pay the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented eight gay and lesbian couples who sued to overturn Wisconsin’s 2006 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Since the couples won their lawsuit, the ACLU can recover legal costs.

The case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the appeal after the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals had already struck down Wisconsin’s ban.

We’ve run the gamut this month in terms of weather, seeing hints of spring and winter alike.

And when it comes to March, there really is no other month like it in Northeast Wisconsin.

We’ve seen light snow, reminding us that winter isn’t too far behind us.

And before that, highs in the 50s and 60s, reminding us that spring was just around the corner.

The month of March is a transitional one, and this March is no different.

We started the month with some decided winter-like temperatures, with some sub zero lows and days running 20 degrees below average.

But much of the middle of March sprung into spring, maybe a bit early.

After a solid two weeks running in the teens above average, we’ve come back down of late.

This cooler stretch has even given us some snow the past few days.

And that’s why you see ice piled up along the shore of Bay Shore Park in Brown County, while the park is simultaneously preparing for the start of the outdoor recreation season.

Winter isn’t too far gone, and spring is already arriving.

The month of March has seen some wild extremes historically, too.

The all-time record high, set just a few years ago in 2012, is 82 degrees.

The all time record low, set in 1962, is 29 degrees below zero.

That’s a difference of 111 degrees!

When you compare it to other month’s all-time record lows and highs, those swings aren’t even close.

The next biggest difference is February, with a 94 degree difference.

But when it comes to feeling just about everything mother nature has to offer us, the month of March can’t be beat.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court has canceled oral arguments it planned to hold next month on three cases related to the secret investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012 recall campaign.

The court had scheduled arguments for April 17 and April 20. But in an order released Friday, the court said “it is neither legally nor practically possible to hold oral argument.”

The arguments were expected to be awkward, given that much information remains shielded from public view, including the names of unnamed petitioners trying to halt the investigation.

The court said Friday it was “strongly adverse” to closing the courtroom to the public, but it would be impossible to protect the secrecy of the case by holding arguments.

Instead, the court will decide the case based on written filings by attorneys.

STURGEON BAY – A popular Door County attraction is gearing up for another season.

The tugboat John Purves draws around 20,000 visitors each year.

The tours at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay are scheduled to start next month.

Two of the tour guides have decades of experience with the boat.

At 149 feet long, the 96-year-old John Purves is considered one of the biggest in the business.

The tug John Purves is docked at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay, March 27, 2015. (WLUK/Eric Peterson)

“It was the most powerful tug on the Great Lakes in the sixties, and seventies,” said Bob Purves, Tour Guide.

Bob Purves has a special connection. Bob’s father, John Purves, worked for John Roen’s Steamship Company. Roen bought the ship in 1956, and named it after Purves.

“They were buddies, pals and captain Roen just wanted to do it for his good friend, and general manager,” said Purves.

Bob Perlewitz made a career on the tugboat. He started in the engine room, and worked his way up to chief engineer.

“When the engines were running, you couldn’t hear anything. You had to have ear plugs, ear muffs. It you didn’t wear them, when you left the engine room, you couldn’t hear anything,” said Bob Perlewitz, Tour Guide.

Perlewitz says the Purves worked on all the Great Lakes, pushing barges until ships got in trouble.

“Sometimes you were there for five or six hours. Or you might be there five or six days getting them off,” said Perlewitz.

12 years ago, the Purves was donated to the Door County Maritime Museum. After five and a half years of renovations, the tug is ready to open a new season of tours ahead of schedule.

“It just shows the people that were actually working at that time, what they were going through. What their lives were like,” said Rick O’Farrell, Door County Maritime Museum Executive Director.

Perlewitz and Purves are two of the guides.

“When they end the tour, they shake your hand, and thank you for talking about the history,” said Perlewitz.

“My dad would be astounded if he could know his namesake would be sitting here today,” said Purves.

FOND DU LAC – Investigators are not releasing many new details into the investigation of the shooting of a Wisconsin State Trooper and a Marinette County man, but we are learning more about the suspect in the murders.

Authorities say Steven Timothy Snyder had a warrant out for his arrest in Michigan for a misdemeanor domestic assault involving his wife on Christmas Day.

And more information is starting to trickle in from authorities.

According to the Fond du Lac County court clerk’s office, documents surrounding the exchange of gunfire between Trooper Trevor Casper and Snyder have been filed, but sealed from public view.

The Fond du Lac District Attorney is not commenting.

At some point Casper and Snyder exchanged gunfire during a confrontation near the Pick ‘n Save on Fond du Lac’s west side Tuesday evening, killing both.

“It’s a very large and comprehensive investigation at this time, making it impossible for us to really bring all the facts together and make any more statements,” said Wisconsin Department of Justice Investigator Dave Matthews Tuesday evening, during a press conference at the crime scene.

The DOJ’s Division of Criminal Investigation is handling the case. The agency hopes autopsies on Casper and Snyder will help explain what happened during the shooting.

The Fond du Lac County medical examiner’s office confirmed Thursday those autopsies were complete.

In response to FOX 11’s requests for information regarding the autopsy results, a DOJ spokesperson said in an email Thursday afternoon there was no set timeline for more information about the case to be released, saying “This remains an ongoing investigation, so we don’t have anything to share until its completion.”

SEATTLE (AP) – Despite the murder case hanging over her head, Amanda Knox tried to lead a normal life in the more than three years since she was freed from an Italian prison: She recently got engaged and has started writing theater reviews and other articles for a weekly paper in her hometown.

An appeals court in 2011 cleared Knox in the 2007 slaying of British roommate Meredith Kercher and ordered her released after she had spent four years in prison. But her acquittal was overturned and Knox’s case has slowly wound its way through the country’s judicial system. She was convicted in absentia in 2014. On Friday, Italy’s highest court overturned that murder conviction, finally closing Knox’s long legal saga.

Mostly left alone by the media in Seattle since her return from Italy, the 27-year-old former exchange student completed her studies at the University of Washington and spends time with family and friends.

Knox graduated from the University of Washington last year with a degree in creative writing. She recently started working as a freelance reporter for the West Seattle Herald.

Managing Editor Ken Robinson told The Associated Press that Knox has completed pieces on local theater productions and “the occasional feature story.”

“She’s very good. She’s knowledgeable about her subjects she writes well and she gets stuff on deadline,” Robinson said. “She’s a local person. We knew that she was interested in writing.”

Her articles have included a review of a production of the David Henry Hwang play “Chinglish” and a story about a kidney disease survivor to mark National Kidney Month.

Knox also wrote a memoir about her life and her experiences in Italy, which was published in 2013. She was paid a reported $4 million.

She plans to marry Colin Sutherland, a musician who recently moved to Seattle from New York.

WAUSAUKEE – Family and friends of Tom Christ say he was a kind and quiet person and a hard-working logging truck driver.

The 59-year-old Town of Wausaukee man was killed near his property Tuesday afternoon. Police say Steven Snyder of Michigan killed Christ after robbing a bank.

Snyder then traveled to Fond du Lac, where he and Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper both died in a shootout hours later.

John Christ and his younger brother Tom were more than siblings. For the last 20 years they worked together driving logging trucks.

• Click here to read Tom Christ’s obituary.

“We’re together every day,” said John Christ. “Our day starts at 2:00 to 2:30 in the morning, we pick up our coffee at the Exxon, and we go to Kaukauna every morning.”

Mark Huempfner, the owner of Wild Rivers Forestry and the Christs’ boss, is still in shock.

“You don’t find people like that anymore,” said Huempfner. “I couldn’t believe it (Tuesday). I still don’t. It’s just beyond what I can fathom right now. It’s just too good of a guy to lose like this.”

Investigators say after Snyder robbed the State Bank of Florence in Wausaukee Tuesday, he stole an employee’s car and drove to the road where Tom Christ lived.

Investigators stand near Jermac Road in the Town of Wausaukee after Tom Christ was found dead, March 24, 2015. (WLUK/Andrew LaCombe)

“We think that the bank robber had another car parked on the property, and evidently their paths crossed right there,” said John Christ.

Investigators still haven’t said why the robbery suspect traveled to Jermac Rd. – about a mile away from the bank. But they say that’s where he encountered Christ, shot him and then drove away.

“He never went out of his way to cause issues,” said John Christ. “It’s just so crazy that something like this would happen to him. I’m just believing it was a freak bad timing.”

John says his brother was on his way home from work. Tom had parked his logging truck a couple miles away down State Highway 180.

Tom Christ’s logging truck sits with a full load in the Town of Wausaukee, March 27, 2015. (WLUK/Andrew LaCombe)

That truck, with Tom’s name on it, still holds the logs he would have delivered Wednesday.

“It’s not going to move for a while,” said Huempfner. “It’s too difficult to see it without him in it.”

Tom Christ leaves behind his wife of 35 years, two sons and two grandchildren. Services are planned Tuesday morning in Wausaukee.

ROME (AP) – Italy’s highest court overturned the murder conviction against Amanda Knox and her ex-boyfriend Friday, bringing to a definitive end the high-profile case that captivated people on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Finished!” Knox’s lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova exulted after the decision was read out. “It couldn’t be better than this.”

The decision by the supreme Court of Cassation is the final ruling in the case, ending the long legal battle waged by Knox and Italian co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito. Both Knox, who was awaiting the verdict in her hometown of Seattle, and Sollecito have long maintained their innocence in the death of British student Meredith Kercher.

The supreme Court of Cassation overturned last year’s convictions by a Florence appeals court, and declined to order another trial. The decision means the judges, after thoroughly examining the case, concluded that a conviction could not be supported by the evidence.

Their reasoning will be released within 90 days.

The case has aroused strong interest in three countries for its explosive mix of young love, murder and flip-flop decisions by Italian courts.

Kercher, 21, was found dead Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment that she shared with Knox and two other students. Her throat was slashed and she had been sexually assaulted.

Knox and Sollecito were arrested a few days later. Eventually another man, Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast, was arrested, tried and convicted of the murder in a separate trial and is serving a 16-year sentence.

The couple maintained their innocence, insisting that they had spent the evening together at Sollecito’s place watching a movie, smoking marijuana and making love.

Knox and Sollecito were initially convicted by a Perugia court in 2009, then acquitted and freed in 2011, and then convicted again in 2014 in Florence after the Cassation court overturned the acquittals and ordered a new appeals trial.

That Florence appeals conviction was overturned Friday.

___

AP television producer Paolo Santalucia contributed.

JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) – Clean up efforts are underway on Interstate 90 near Janesville after an early morning chemical spill that shut down the highway for most of the day.

A westbound lane of Interstate 90 was still closed Friday afternoon, and the Wisconsin State Patrol reports that traffic is backed up for miles.

The Janesville Fire Department reports the spill happened early Friday after a semitrailer carrying swimming pool-type chemicals crashed into another semitrailer that had caught fire a day earlier and was on the shoulder of the road.

A hazmat team was called in. Authorities also evacuated homes in the neighborhood as a precaution.

The Janesville Gazette reports that a cleanup crew from Elkhart, Indiana, has set up air monitors around the spill and will be removing the chemicals.

NEENAH –  If you are looking to make improvements to your home, you might want to head to Neenah this weekend for the Fox Valley Home and Landscaping Expo.

Vendors will be showcasing the latest in home heating, landscaping and much more.

The event also includes seminars on do it yourself projects such as replacing windows.

Expo manager, Vickie Frank says there is something for everyone, “The show is geared towards homeowners, people that are looking to buy a home, people that are looking to do remodeling, possibly an addition, possibly looking to find out what it takes to qualify to own a home. Looking to landscape, maybe set up a swing set in the backyard. I mean, if you own a home and live in Wisconsin, there’s something here for you.”

The event is taking place at the Tri-County Ice Arena and runs through Sunday.

For more information on the event, click here.

Giving an altruistic explanation, the senate’s top democrat is almost ready to hand over his gavel for good, though he still has some time left and sarcastically reminded republican counterparts.

“My friend Senator McConnell, don’t be too elated. I’m going to be here for 22 months,” said Harry Reid.

Why now? Support for the 5-termer has waned as of late. A handful of senate democrats didn’t support keeping him as leader, he could’ve  faced a real challenge back in Nevada & recently suffered that serious eye injury.

“Harry Reid is known as a solid or some would say stubborn individual and if he had been physically able I think he would have run for reelection. He’s claiming his recent injuries had nothing to do with it but he’s 75-years-old, he was badly injured at the beginning of this year, it’s hard to believe the didn’t have some impact on this decision,” said Larry Sabato

All across Washington, you could almost feel the elbowing over who will take the helm.

And the front runner, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.

“I can tell you that Senator Schumer is a pretty aggressive guy and has already been working the phones,” said Senator Ben Cardin (D) Maryland.

Harry Reid wasted no time in endorsing Senator Schumer as his replacement. But keep in mind, there won’t likely be an immediate changing of the guard, Reid could very well hold that position until the next congress takes office in January of 2017.

 

APPLETON – Lawrence University is one of six colleges to receive grant money to develop course involving online instruction.

The $335,000 grant comes from the Teagle Foundation, which is based in New York City.

University leaders say they will work with Albion College, DePauw University, Grinnell College, Hope College and Wabash College to develop what they call hybrid courses. Teams of faculty from several disciplines are tasked with developing the courses during the rest of this year, with the first courses begin offered in spring of 2016.

While the courses may include some online components, the instruction will still be mostly face-to-face.

“This project will allow faculty to explore new instructional methods such as the flipped classroom to deliver content online and enrich the face-to-face experience with new forms of team-based learning,” David Berk, director of instructional technology at Lawrence, said in a news release.

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) – The fiancee of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez took the stand in his murder trial Friday, telling the jury that he was drunk in the hours before the slaying of her sister’s boyfriend.

Shayanna Jenkins also told jurors that she found a handgun in a kitchen junk drawer before the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd.

She avoided looking at Hernandez as she testified. As she left the stand, she mouthed something to him, and her face looked ashen.

Jenkins was granted immunity by the court in February, which meant she could be compelled to testify or face time behind bars. There had been a question about whether prosecutors would call Jenkins, who has been in a relationship with Hernandez since high school and is the mother of his 2-year-old daughter.

Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to killing Lloyd, the boyfriend of Jenkins’ younger sister, Shaneah. Lloyd was found shot to death at an industrial park less than a mile from the home that Shayanna and Hernandez share.

Before Jenkins took the stand, Superior Court Judge Susan Garsh announced that a male juror had been dismissed from the case, but she didn’t elaborate. He is the third juror to be dismissed from the trial. Fifteen jurors remain, and three of those will be alternates chosen randomly after closing arguments.

Shayanna Jenkins has pleaded not guilty to perjury in connection with the case. Prosecutors say she lied to a grand jury investigating the killing.

The sisters introduced Lloyd and Hernandez in 2012 during a game at Gillette Stadium.

Shayanna Jenkins has been coming to court sporadically and sitting behind Hernandez, whispering “I love you,” to him and occasionally joking with him. She has not appeared in court since March 6.

When Shaneah was called to testify earlier in the trial, Shayanna scribbled notes and then passed them to Hernandez’s lawyers, occasionally sighing as her sister spoke.

Surveillance video played for the jury showed Shayanna removing from their home a garbage bag with what appeared to be a box inside. Prosecutors said before the trial that they believe the box contained the murder weapon, which has never been found.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — As airstrikes in Yemen intensified on their second day Friday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia were considering an intervention on the ground, aimed at giving the president a secure foothold to return to the country, while backing Sunni tribesmen to fight against Shiite rebels and their allies, military officials said.

A likely entry point for troops from the Saudi-led Arab coalition was the southern port of Aden, the Yemeni and Egyptian military officials told The Associated Press. But that could be a tough prospect: The city is already a battleground, and on Friday forces loyal to the rebels’ top ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, were advancing toward it.

The officials’ comments to the AP draw broad outlines for the likely strategy for the ambitious campaign launched Thursday, led by Saudi Arabia with a major role by its ally Egypt. The aim, they said, was to carve out enough room for President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who was forced to flee the country from Aden, to return. Longer-term, the campaign aims to wear down the Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and Saleh’s forces, enough to reach a power-sharing accord. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the plans.

“The credibility and legitimacy of President Hadi erode with every day he spends outside the country,” said one Yemeni military official. Hadi fled by boat from Aden on Wednesday, making his way to Saudi Arabia, and on Friday arrived in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for an Arab summit due to start the following day.

The forces of Saleh appear to be a key concern. Saleh ruled Yemen with an autocratic hand for nearly 40 years until he was forced out and replaced by Hadi in 2012 following an Arab Spring uprising. But he remained in Yemen and kept the loyalty of many military commanders. One Yemeni official Friday estimated that 70 percent of the army is loyal to Saleh, including many of the best armed and trained units based around the country.

Those pro-Saleh troops have been fighting alongside the Iranian-allied Houthis, enabling them to take over the capital Sanaa and much of the country over the past months — at least 10 of Yemen’s 21 provinces.

Saudi Arabia and fellow Sunni-led allies in the Gulf and the Middle East view the Houthi takeover as an attempt by Iran to establish a proxy on the kingdom’s southern border. Iran and the Houthis deny that Tehran arms the rebel movement, though it says it provides diplomatic and humanitarian support. Washington says the U.S. is providing refueling tankers and surveillance flights for the Saudi operations, and there are several U.S. troops working in the operations center, but the U.S is not taking direct military action.

A second day of intense airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and its allies hammered Sanaa and five other provinces, hitting bases of units loyal to Saleh. They struck in Saleh’s stronghold of Samhan, outside Sanaa, where Saleh is believed to have fled, and the Houthis’ main stronghold, the mountainous northern region of Saada, where the group’s leader Abdul-Malik Houthi is located.

At least 24 civilians were killed in Friday’s strikes, bringing the toll from two days to 45 civilians, the Houthi-run Interior Ministry said. The Houthis’ TV station showed footage from a market in Saada it said was struck by missiles, with images of charred bodies and wrecked vehicles.

Yemeni security officials said around 80 fighters from Houthi or Saleh forces have been killed in the strikes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press. By Friday afternoon, more than 40 percent of Yemen’s air defenses were destroyed, according to Yemeni Brig. Gen. Saleh al-Subaihi, a pro-Hadi officer.

The figures of civilian and combatant casualties could not be independently confirmed.

Also Friday, Saudi and Egyptian warships deployed to Bab al-Mandab, the strategic strait off Yemen at the entrance of the Red Sea, Egyptian military officials said. The strait gives the only access to Egypt’s Suez Canal from the Arabian Sea and is a vital passage for shipping between Europe and Asia.

On his party website, Saleh proposed a cease-fire by the coalition, Hadi’s forces and the Houthis — without mentioning his own — and a return to U.N.-sponsored negotiations.

But all sides appeared to be moving to confrontation in the south. “We are used to long wars,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam said. “The situation in the south is much better than before … There is full readiness.”

Militias and military units loyal to Hadi hold much of Aden, but pro-Saleh units control the airport and parts of the city. The two sides clashed in northern neighborhoods on Friday, with snipers firing from rooftops. In a further complication, al-Qaida militants — who have been battling the Houthis — control another northern district on Aden’s outskirts.

On Friday, a pro-Saleh force of dozens of troop carriers from the southern town of Lawdar was heading to Aden, reaching some 80 kilometers (50 miles) outside it. A pro-Saleh military official told AP that Saleh had ordered the force to join loyalists in Aden and secure it before the end of the Arab Summit this weekend. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the press.

Ahmed Asiri, the Saudi spokesman of the coalition campaign, known as Decisive Storm, told reporters that “the main objective is to protect the government in Aden,” referring to Hadi’s supporters. When asked about the possibility of a coalition ground deployment, he said, “We are supporting the Yemeni army and we will do what it takes to protect the legitimacy of Yemeni government.”

Yemeni Foreign Minister Riad Yassin said there was an “arrangement” for ground troops of the Saudi-led coalition to deploy in Yemen. “It’s a comprehensive military operation,” he told the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news channel.

The Yemeni and Egyptian military officials said a ground deployment by troops from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other allies would come after airstrikes have weakened Houthi-Saleh forces sufficiently. As an alternative to Aden, the forces could deploy further east in Hadramout province, another pro-Hadi stronghold.

At the same time, the coalition is looking to further arm and bankroll Sunni tribes in the north and the south to fight the Houthis, they said. Many of these tribes are already receive considerable Saudi largesse to secure their loyalty.

If Arab troops can secure Aden, they would have to widen the pocket of control further in southern Yemen. Houthis and Saleh’s forces hold several provinces in the area, but they face resistance. In Dhamar and Taiz — two areas overrun by the rebels — thousands of demonstrators staged protests Friday in support of the Saudi airstrikes.

In the southern city of al-Dhale, pro-Hadi militias were fighting Saleh’s forces.

Battles were also going on in the southern city of al-Houta, just north of Aden. There, part of the city is controlled by pro-Hadi militias, another part is controlled by al-Qaida militants, and both were separately fighting Houthi and pro-Saleh forces, Yemeni security officials said.

___

Hendawi reported from Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in cairo, Aya Batrawy in Dubai, Asif Shahzad in Islamabad, Amir Vahdat in Tehran and Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

 

Find details on tours of the tug John Purves at the Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon Bay.