Green Bay News

MILWAUKEE (AP) – A 27-year-old Milwaukee man is charged with attempted homicide after authorities say he shot at police investigating an apparent drug deal.

Jerimy Whitelaw also is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The Journal Sentinel reports Whitelaw was shot twice in the abdomen during an exchange of gunfire with one of the officers early Thursday.

Two officers were on patrol when they saw two people conducting an apparent drug deal. One person ran away when the officers stopped. Authorities say the other, identified as Whitelaw, shot at one of the officers as he got out of his squad car.

The officer chased Whitelaw into a yard where Whitelaw allegedly fired again. The officer returned fire.

Authorities say Whitelaw tossed the gun and continued to run, but fell and was arrested.

The Green Bay Packers have signed DB Kyle Sebetic.

Sebetic, a 6-foot, 197-pound first-year player out of the University of Dayton, was originally signed by the New York Giants on June 3, 2014. He was released by the Giants on Aug. 26, 2014, and spent a week on their practice squad in November.

Sebetic was a four-year starter at Dayton and was named first team All-Pioneer League as a senior. The Pleasant Prairie, Wis., native was a captain at Tremper High School in Kenosha, Wis.

CHICAGO — De Pere senior Brevin Pritzl will compete in the 2015 American Family Insurance High School Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships which will air on April 5 at 2:30 p.m. on CBS. The competition takes place April 1 at Carmel High School in suburban Indianapolis.

“This is a talented group of student-athletes,” said Telisa Yancy, vice president of Marketing at American Family Insurance. “It is their hard work, dedication and persistence that have gotten them to this point in their careers. We are excited to provide them this opportunity to celebrate those characteristics.”

Pritzl led the area in scoring at 25.5 points per game and made 50 of 139 3-point shots for 36 percent this past season.

Here are the competitors for the 3-point challenge:

D.J. Hogg – Plano West (Plano, Texas) – Texas A&M
Matt McQuaid – Duncanville (Texas) – Michigan St.
Brevin Pritzl – De Pere (Wisc.) – Wisconsin
Ryan Cline – Carmel (Ind.) – Purdue
Tevin Mack – Dreher (Columbia, S.C.) – VCU
Austin Grandstaff – Rockwall (Texas) – Ohio State
Jalen Coleman – La Lumiere School (Indianapolis) – Illinois

MILWAUKEE – The body of a Port Washington marine killed in a helicopter crash off the coast of Florida has arrived back in Wisconsin.

Staff Sergeant Kerry Kemp was one of the 11 service members killed in a crash earlier this month.

It happened during a night time training exercise.

The burial is restricted to family members, but the family does encourage visitors to take part in a funeral procession Saturday morning.

Kemp will be laid to rest with full military honors in Port Washington on Saturday morning.

You can make donations to the National Exchange Bank and Trust or you can call 1-800-707-2265.

ROME (AP) — Amanda Knox’s defense lawyer urged Italy’s highest court on Wednesday to overturn the American’s conviction in the 2007 murder of her British roommate, calling it a “grave judicial error.”

Knox faces 28 ½ years in an Italian jail for the 2007 murder of 21-year-old Meredith Kercher in an apartment they shared in the university town of Perugia, after being convicted by a Florence appeals court last year along with her former Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito.

Sollecito’s defense will make its case on Friday, when the case resumes before the Court of Cassation.

Winding up Wednesday’s full day of arguments, Knox defense lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova said the Florence court’s conviction of Knox “is not justice, it is a distortion of the facts.”

He argued, that based on analysis of blood stains, including two handprints on the victim’s pillow, in Kercher’s room and elsewhere in the house the two women shared, “there is not one trace of Amanda in the room of the crime.”

Amanda Knox (MGN)

“We are confronted with a very grave judicial error that must be set right,” he said before asking the court to overturn the 2014 guilty verdict.

Knox maintains her innocence. She returned to the United States in 2011 after an earlier appellate court verdict acquitted the pair. She was awaiting the high court’s decision in home town of Seattle, and is “worried, very worried,” Dalla Vedova said.

“I don’t think she is sleeping much,” he added.

Sollecito spent the day in court, joined by family members and supporters. Defendants are not permitted to address the high court. He remains free but his passport was seized after the Florence court sentenced him to 25 years.

The Cassation Court’s options include confirming the guilty verdicts, raising the question of extradition for Knox; overturning the convictions and ordering a third appeals trial; or overturning the convictions without a new trial, tantamount to acquittal.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in 2009 of the murder, then acquitted by a Perugia appeals court in 2011. The Court of Cassation, however, threw out the acquittal in a scathing decision, remanding the case to a Florence appeals court, which convicted the pair.

The judge who presided over the appeals trial that acquitted the pair said the defendants have been “devastated” by the drawn-out, contradictory decisions.

Now retired, Claudio Pratillo Hellmann, in comments to the Italian news agency ANSA, predicted that the United States wouldn’t agree to extradite Knox.

Kercher family lawyer Francesco Maresca said he hoped the Cassation Court would be reach a final decision, confirming the verdicts and ending the long legal saga.

“I hope that that family can remember the poor victim outside of the halls of justice after so many years,” Maresca said.

The case generated intense media attention after Kercher’s half-naked body was found in the apartment she shared with Knox and two Italian roommates in the university town of Perugia. Her throat was slit and she had been sexually assaulted.

Within days of her murder, suspicion fell on Knox and her Italian boyfriend of just a few days.

Knox has been portrayed alternately as a victim of a botched investigation and shoddy Italian justice, or a promiscuous predator who falsely accused a Congolese bar owner of the murder.

Arriving for Wednesday’s hearing in the ornate Palace of Justice, Sollecito was swarmed by cameras. The courtroom was so packed with legal teams and journalists that the presiding judge moved the proceedings to a much larger courtroom during a break.

Prosecutor Mario Pinelli challenged the defense argument that there was no clear motive for the killing. He said focusing on the motive was a “slippery slope” and that the high court should just concentrate on the evidence.

Pinelli also focused on Knox’s accusation against the bar owner, Diya “Patrick” Lumumba, who employed Knox. Lumumba, who is adamant about Knox’s guilt, was in court watching the proceedings.

Knox and Sollecito denied involvement in the murder, and said they had spent the evening at Sollecito’s place watching a movie, smoking pot and making love.

The Florence appeals court that convicted them most recently ruled that the pair acted in concert with Rudy Hermann Guede, a drifter born in the Ivory Coast who is serving a 16-year sentence for his role in the slaying and sexual assault. The presiding judge contended that Knox delivered the fatal knife blow because she wanted to “humiliate the victim.”

Knox has called the reversal unjust and blamed an “overzealous and intransigent prosecution,” ”narrow-minded investigation” and coercive interrogation techniques.

One of her attorneys, Luciano Ghirga, said before the hearing began that he was certain the high court would rule in her favor.

“I have always been confident,” he said. “Amanda is innocent.”

Sollecito’s lawyer, Giulia Bongiorno, who will address the court Friday, said the guilty verdicts were “littered with errors and absolutely littered with contradictions and by an illogical motivation.”

 

NEW CITY, N.Y. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man recovering from surgery has won $7 million off a lottery ticket tucked into his get-well card.

Joseph Amorese, of Easton, got the ticket from his father, who lives in the hamlet of Congers in Rockland County, New York.

Amorese had just undergone hernia surgery. A few scratches later on the “$7 million Golden Ticket,” and he was feeling great.

“I scratched the ticket and it was a good thing I was already sitting down because I was shocked. I was — and still am — in complete disbelief,” Amorese said.

“I had surgery so I didn’t jump up and down, but in my mind I was jumping up and down,” the beaming winner recalled Wednesday.

He sent a photo of the ticket to his dad, who agreed that it was a winner.

The 46-year-old Verizon employee then called his wife, Jodi, a social worker.

“I said, ‘Honey, I think we won $7 million.’ And there was silence on the other end for a long time. She was too stunned to talk,” Amorese said.

Lottery officials presented Amorese with a ceremonial check at the dollar store in New City, New York, where the ticket was purchased.

The new multimillionaire and his wife plan to keep their jobs.

 

FOND DU LAC – The Wisconsin State Patrol is mourning the death of one of its troopers.

Trooper Trevor Casper was killed in a shootout with a bank robbery suspect Tuesday in Fond du Lac. The suspect, Steven Timothy Snyder, was also killed in the confrontation.

Snyder is also suspected in a bank robbery and homicide earlier in the day in Marinette Co.

Wednesday afternoon, Lt. Col. Brian Rahn and Capt. Tony Burrell discussed the Fond du Lac incident and Casper’s history with the State Patrol.

Watch the video above to see the full news conference.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross says he’ll quit if he can’t convince legislators to reduce a $300 million cut that Gov. Scott Walker wants to impose on campuses.

Cross told faculty and students at UW-Milwaukee on Wednesday that he’ll resign if he can’t win substantial reductions in the cut and protect faculty tenure and academic freedom.

Walker’s budget calls for slashing $300 million from the system but decoupling it from state oversight. That would wipe out statutory guarantees for students and employees, such as shared governance and tenure, and allow regents to set policy.

The Legislature’s budget committee will spend the next few months revising Walker’s budget. Assembly Republicans have said Walker’s cuts are too deep. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald doesn’t think the cuts will change much.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Fees paid by everyone from nurses to boxing judges in Wisconsin will not change over the next two years.

The Legislature’s budget committee on Wednesday voted to keep the licensing and regulation fee schedule the same over the next two years for more than 150 professions.

Democrats proposed lowering the renewal fees for audiologists and speech-language pathologists. Rep. Chris Taylor, of Madison, argued that they are paying more than necessary for their fees.

This year the state is expected to collect about $6 million more in fees than it costs to regulate the industries.

Republicans rejected the proposal. Committee chairman Rep. John Nygren says a case can be made that those fees are too high, but a broader examination is needed and he didn’t want to pick winners and losers.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Facebook is trying to mold its Messenger app into a more versatile communications hub as smartphones create new ways for people to connect with friends and businesses beyond the walls of the company’s ubiquitous social network.

To pull it off, Facebook Inc. is opening Messenger so outside programmers can build features tailored for the service. By the end of April, Messenger will also be adding the ability to display store receipts and shipping information to help consumers keep track of their interactions with merchants and other businesses.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted the Messenger expansion Wednesday to about 2,000 app developers at the opening of a two-day conference in San Francisco.

“We have been building Messenger into a service to express beyond text,” Zuckerberg said. He promised even more tools will be rolling out the months ahead.

Since Messenger’s introduction four years ago, Facebook already has added the ability to attach video, share videos, swap stickers, make phone calls and send money.

The push to plant more features in Messenger underscores the growing importance of apps that enable more intimate and direct conversations than social networks.

Younger people, in particular, are increasingly using a wide range of mobile messaging apps to communicate with different circles of friends, while spending less time broadcasting their activities on Facebook’s more expansive social network. The list of apps pulling people away from Facebook includes Snapchat, KakaoTalk, Kik, Line, Secret, Tango, Viber, and Whisper.

Thanks largely to its Facebook ties, Messenger already has more than 600 million users, Zuckerberg said. Facebook’s social network is more than twice as large with about 1.4 billion users.

The social network remains the foundation for one of the Internet’s most successful businesses. Facebook’s revenue last year surged 58 percent to $12.5 billion, a performance that has enabled the company’s stock price to more than double from its initial public offering price of $38 in 2012. The shares hit a record high of $86.07 earlier this week, though they dropped $2.37 to $82.94 Wednesday amid a broad market downturn.

The growing popularity of mobile messaging, though, could result in less time spent on social networks, a shift that would give Facebook fewer opportunities to learn about its users’ interests and show the digital ads that make most of the company’s money.

That threat is propelling Messenger’s expansion and also prompted Zuckerberg to spend $22 billion last year to buy WhatsApp, another mobile messaging service that has more than 700 million users.

A large segment of WhatsApp’s audience is located in less affluent countries outside the U.S. and western Europe, making it more likely that it won’t be adding as many new tools as Messenger has, said David Marcus, who oversees Facebook’s messaging products. Most Messenger apps are installed on iPhones and top-of-the-line Android phones, which provide the processing power needed to handle a range of multipurpose tools.

Analysts widely expect Facebook to begin showing ads with Messenger as people spend more time in the app to do different things, though the Menlo Park, California, company hasn’t revealed plans to turn the app into a marketing vehicle.

The decision to allow outside applications to operate within Messenger mirrors a pivotal decision that Zuckerberg made eight years ago when he opened Facebook to other programmers. That move transformed Facebook into an even more influential, multipurpose hub for doing everything from playing games to buying gifts.

Marcus, who formerly ran PayPal, is hoping Messenger will follow a similar pattern now that it is operating as an open platform. “We have opened the floodgates,” he said.

Facebook is counting on apps from other developers to enable Messenger users to express their feelings with GIFs, audio clips and other dynamic formats that “will bring a smile to people’s faces,” Marcus said.

In his presentation, Zuckerberg predicted messaging apps eventually will include virtual-reality technology, something that Facebook acquired last year when it bought Oculus for $2 billion. Oculus’ twist on virtual reality will be demonstrated at the conference Thursday.

Watch a live news conference on the death of Wisconsin State Trooper Trevor Casper.

DETROIT (AP) – Prosecutors have charged a Detroit woman with child abuse after the bodies of two of her children were found in a deep freezer in the family’s home.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Wednesday that 35-year-old Mitchelle Blair will be arraigned Thursday.

Blair could be charged with more serious crimes after autopsies are performed on her daughter Stoni Ann Blair and son Stephen Gage Berry. The medical examiner was waiting until the bodies thawed to perform the autopsies and determine how they died.

Prosecutors believe that when they died, the girl was 13 years old and her brother was 9.

Court officers discovered the bodies Tuesday while serving an eviction notice. Two of Worthy’s other children had been living at the home and were placed in protective custody.

Governor Scott Walker approved a $4.5 million dollar project to improve a portion of US 41 in the Fox Valley.

The project will focus on a nearly nine mile stretch between Breezewood Lane/Bell Street in Winnebago County and WIS 15 in Outagamie County.

Construction is scheduled to begin Wednesday, April 1 and should be completed by the beginning of August.

The project will repair roadways and 19 bridges.

Drivers can expect both directions of US 41 to have areas reduced from three to two lanes and some multi-lane closures during night time and off-peak hours.

You can find more information on this project, or any other road construction project in Wisconsin, here.

 

Former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion will no longer be prosecuted for drug possession charges.

Police in Starke, Fla., say they found more than 350 grams of marijuana, more than $190,000 and a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol in the truck of Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Letroy Guion during a Feb. 3, 2015, traffic stop. (Photo courtesy Starke Police Dept.)

Those charges are linked to his arrest during a traffic stop in Florida in February.

Multiple reports are stating that Guion will pay a $5,000 plus court fees, with the charges to be dismissed after.

The plea deal could clear the way for the Packers to re-sign the free agent this off-season. Both sides had expressed interest in a new contract prior to the incident. Guion started all 16 regular season and two postseason games for the Packers last season.

DALLAS (AP) — A foodborne illness that contributed to the deaths of three people has been traced to a second production facility operated by Blue Bell Ice Cream, a company spokesman and health officials said Tuesday.

A 3-ounce cup of ice cream contaminated with listeriosis was traced to a plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, Blue Bell spokesman Gene Grabowski said. He said the cups with pull tab lids are not sold in retail locations and instead are shipped in bulk to “institutional accounts” in 23 states that comprise less than 5 percent of the company’s sales.

Blue Bell expanded a recall that was announced earlier this month to include three flavors that come in the cups: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. The production line in Broken Arrow that makes the flavors has been stopped, but work continues in other parts of that plant.

Ten products recalled earlier this month by the company were from a production line at a plant in Brenham, Texas, where the company is based.

The recall began when five patients at Via Christi St. Francis hospital in Wichita, Kansas, became ill with listeriosis while hospitalized at some point from December 2013 to January 2015. Officials determined at least four drank milkshakes that contained Blue Bell ice cream. Three of the patients later died.

Sara Belfry, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said inspectors discovered the contaminated 3-ounce cups after testing other Blue Bell products at the hospital. Kansas health officials are continuing with testing to determine whether any other cases of infection are associated with the strand of bacteria detected in the Blue Bell products, she said.

Via Christi Health said in an online statement that upon learning of the contamination, the hospital removed Blue Bell ice cream from all of its care locations.

Listeriosis, also known as listeria, is a life-threatening infection caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease primarily affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems.

Stan Stromberg, director of food safety for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, said the freezing temperatures used by Blue Bell to manufacture its products will not kill listeriosis but prevent bacteria from growing and spreading.

“It’s unusual to find listeria in ice cream because it’s pasteurized and immediately packaged and frozen,” Stromberg said. “The pasteurization would have killed the bacteria. It could have been introduced between pasteurization and packaging.”

Grabowski said the recall is the first in the company’s 108-year history and that it’s working to determine how the bacteria were introduced. One theory to consider is whether the bacteria accompanied an ingredient, he said.

“It’s unlikely that the problem lies with any sort of process that’s been ongoing with the plant,” Grabowski said.

In addition to the Broken Arrow plant, the company has two plants in Brenham and one in Sylacauga, Alabama.

 

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A man threatening to commit suicide unleashed a barrage of gunfire on Northern California officers called to check on him, killing a 14-year veteran of the San Jose Police Department.

Scott Dunham, 57, fatally shot Officer Michael Johnson, 38, Tuesday night, launching an hours-long manhunt for the gunman and forcing nearby apartments to be evacuated. The search ended when Dunham was found dead early Wednesday on his apartment balcony, San Jose police spokesman Albert Morales said.

Police had no communication with the suspect between the time Johnson was shot about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday and when Dunham was found dead more than eight hours later, at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday. It was unclear if he killed himself or died when officers returned fire.

Police Chief Larry Esquivel said at a news conference early Wednesday that it was difficult to pinpoint Dunham’s motive or mindset. A neighbor told KRON that Dunham had recently lost his job. A niece also told the television station that her uncle had untreated mental health issues. Police classified him as intoxicated at the time.

“It’s unfortunate that this person had the nerve, the audacity, to shoot at our officers that were responding to a call for service, for assistance,” Esquivel said.

Officers approaching Dunham’s apartment building were met with gunfire. After Johnson was shot, authorities swarmed the area in search of the shooter. Johnson was a field training officer but did not have a trainee with him at the time he was shot.

Officers, armored vehicles and a helicopter came from neighboring law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol. At 1:30 a.m. officers used explosives to breach the apartment then used a robot with a camera to check inside. Dunham was found dead about two hours later.

Police were called to the apartment because Dunham reportedly threatened his wife and said he would kill her if “she didn’t leave,” according to the 911 police tapes. The woman left the apartment and called one of her children, who called police, according to the tapes released by police.

The police recordings show that officers told dispatchers Dunham was thought to be in possession of one or two handguns.

Laurie Richmond lives in the trailer park directly across the street from Dunham’s apartment. Richmond said she knew Dunham, but not well. She would bump into him at the liquor store a half block away every couple of weeks or so and they would exchange pleasantries.

“He seemed normal,” Richmond said. “I never saw anything out of the ordinary.”

Richmond said she was leaving the liquor store with her dog when she heard the gunshots. She didn’t see the shooting but was concerned enough to seek cover in the store. She said after she emerged about 15 minutes later, the area was “flooded with cops.”

Johnson is the 12th officer to be killed in the San Jose Police Department’s 166-year history.

The last San Jose officer killed in the line of duty was Jeffrey Fontana, who was shot during a vehicle stop in 2001. DeShawn Campbell was convicted in the case.

Johnson and Fontana were in the same police academy class.

Mayor Sam Liccardo expressed sympathies to Johnson’s family, telling reporters: “This has been San Jose’s darkest hour.”

Gov. Jerry Brown issued a statement Wednesday saying Capitol flags will be flown at half-staff in his memory.

“Anne and I extend our deepest condolences to Officer Johnson’s family, friends and fellow officers. Officer Johnson will be remembered for his courage and dedicated service and we join the entire San Jose community in mourning this tragic loss.”

He is survived by his wife, Nicole, and parents, Katherine Decker and Daniel Johnson.

Johnson was one of two law officers to die in interactions with suspects Tuesday. In eastern Wisconsin, State Patrol Trooper Trevor Casper, 21, was killed in a shootout with a bank robbery suspect. Casper was just three months out of the academy. The suspect, who is also believed to have killed a motorist, died in the shooting in Fond du Lac.

 

Beyond the fireworks, past the partying is a concern that Capitol Police, say has reached it’s peak.

In a letter to top lawmakers, police say the parties held during and after the holiday concerts are out of control and made security in this “current heightened threat environment” a monumental challenge. As a result, they want lawmakers to tone it down.

One: all those post concert parties on the West Terrace and in Statuary Hall should be moved to the botanic gardens where screening guests would be easier.

Two, in hopes of preventing what could “potentially prove embarrassing”, they want to limit activities inside, only to those who have offices there and their guests– *not* staffers at nearby senate or house buildings.

Senator Al Franken agrees the capitol needs to be easily evacuated during an emergency, but says there should be an openness too, “I’m very happy that Americans feel that they can come and visit. I think that I speak for all the senators and members of congress that we like, that we like our people to come visit us.”

During the concerts police say, it’s guests also breaking the rules. They’re not allowed to bring liquids inside, but capitol employees designate them “staff property” so they can bypass the rules. Another safety issue.

And finally, there are costs.

In 2014, Capitol Police worked a combined 12,174 hours in overtime during setup, rehearsal and the concerts themselves. The total: $735,252

I asked speaker Boehner’s office if they’re considering any of the changes outlined in this letter. They said: “we are working with the police board and other congressional leaders to ensure we celebrate the Fourth of July in a way that is respectful of the institution.”

 

How well do you know college fight songs? Take our trivia quiz.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he’s ready to sign good bipartisan legislation to fix Medicare’s doctor payment problem, without endorsing any specific legislation.

Without a fix, doctors face a 21 percent cut in Medicare fees, the consequence of a 1990s budget law that Congress has repeatedly waived.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on a bill with rare support from both top leaders in the House that would permanently fix the problem. Obama backed the idea of a fix at a White House event marking this week’s five-year anniversary of his signing the Affordable Care Act, while stopping short of backing the House compromise.

“As we speak, Congress is working to fix the Medicare physician payment system. I have my pen ready to sign a good bipartisan bill,” he said.

Asked later if that means Obama would sign the House bill, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration doesn’t have a position on it. But Earnest said the White House puts “a lot of stock” into Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi’s position in support of the legislation.

Republican House Speaker John Boehner also is behind the bill, in an unusual show of bipartisanship on health care amid the battles over President Barack Obama’s overhaul. “If something bipartisan emerges from the House, that would be good news,” Earnest said.

The House bills calls for a period of basically stable reimbursements, followed by gradually shifting a larger share of doctors’ pay so that it’s keyed to quality, rather than quantity, of service. The Medicare fix is packaged with an extension of children’s health insurance, funding for community health centers and dozens of other provisions. The outlook in the Senate is unclear.

The legislation aims for the political center and is being criticized from the right and the left. Conservatives don’t like that most of the cost will be added to the federal deficit. Liberals object to higher premiums for upper-income beneficiaries, when drug companies are not being asked to share the burden through Medicare rebates.

Obama also announced a cost-cutting effort that the White House calls a Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. The White House says more than 2,800 health care providers, patients and consumer groups have agreed to take part.

The goal is to tie more payments for health care services to the quality — not quantity — of services rendered. Earlier this year the administration set a goal to tie 30 percent of Medicare payments to quality and value, but Obama wants to go further.

“A central notion in the Affordable Care Act was we had an inefficient system with a lot of waste that didn’t also deliver the kind of quality that was needed that often put health care providers in a box where they wanted to do better for their patients, but financial incentives were skewed the other way,” Obama said.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel — you’re already figuring out what works to reduce infections in hospitals or help patients with complicated needs,” Obama told health care providers gathered in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the West Wing. “What we have to do is to share these best practices, these good ideas, including new ways to pay for care so that we’re rewarding quality.”