Green Bay News

WASHINGTON (AP) – They say the only two things that are certain in life are death and taxes. President Barack Obama wants to add one more: voting.

Obama floated the idea of mandatory voting in the U.S. while speaking to a civic group in Cleveland on Wednesday. Asked about the corrosive influence of money in U.S. elections, Obama digressed into the related topic of voting rights and said the U.S. should be making it easier – not harder- for people to vote.

Just ask Australia, where citizens have no choice but to vote, the president said.

“If everybody voted, then it would completely change the political map in this country,” Obama said, calling it potentially transformative. Not only that, Obama said, but universal voting would “counteract money more than anything.”

Disproportionately, Americans who skip the polls on Election Day are younger, lower-income and more likely to be immigrants or minorities, Obama said. “There’s a reason why some folks try to keep them away from the polls,” he said in a veiled reference to efforts in a number of Republican-led states to make it harder for people to vote.

Statistically speaking, Obama is correct. Less than 37 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the 2014 midterms, according to the United States Election Project. And a Pew Research Center study found that those avoiding the polls in 2014 tended to be younger, poorer, less educated and more racially diverse.

At least two dozen countries have some form of compulsory voting, including Belgium, Brazil and Argentina. In many systems, absconders must provide a valid excuse or face a fine, although a few countries have laws on the books that allow for potential imprisonment.

At issue, Obama said, is the outsize influence that those with money can have on U.S. elections, where low overall turnout often gives an advantage to the party best able to turn out its base. Obama has opposed Citizens United and other court rulings that cleared the way for super PACs and unlimited campaign spending, but embraced such groups in his 2012 re-election campaign out of fear he’d be outspent.

Obama said he thought it would be “fun” for the U.S. to consider amending the Constitution to change the role that money plays in the electoral system. But don’t hold your breath.

“Realistically, given the requirements of that process, that would be a long-term proposition,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Darlene Superville in Cleveland and Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report.

GREEN BAY –  Students got the opportunity to shave a teachers head at Aldo Leopold Community School Wednesday.

It was all in an effort to raise money for their new “Sting Cancer” chapter.

Stasch Huntowski grew his hair for more than a year in anticipation of Wednesday.

Since the students went beyond the set goal of $500, some got a chance to give Huntowski a little trim.

Huntowski said this is a great way for children to realize a small contribution can make a huge difference, “There was 500 kids in our building so we figured that $500 was a good goal if each student brought a dollar that way we could reach our goal. And it was just to show kids that they can make a difference in the smallest way and that they are so powerful they don’t even know it.”

The students raised a total of $630 to help fight cancer.

 

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A cat that vanished in South Carolina two years ago is going home after ending up nearly 2,000 miles away in Southern California.

Kevin the orange tabby is leaving Palm Springs on Wednesday after disappearing from Anderson, South Carolina, in 2013.

John Welsh of Riverside County Animal Services says the cat turned up in early March inside a U-Haul trailer a woman had driven across the country.

During a routine inspection, the inspector heard meowing. The driver says she didn’t know Kevin was inside.

The dehydrated cat was taken to a shelter. His microchip helped track down owner Cheryl Walls, who jokes that Kevin has seen more of the country than her.

She says somebody must have cared for Kevin. But who — and how Kevin got into the trailer — are mysteries.

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A quarter of the dogs taken in by one California animal shelter look like Chihuahuas. So how do you make a pet stand out when it’s similar to so many other dogs at the shelter? Check the DNA.

The Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA in Burlingame, a 30-minute drive south of San Francisco, began free DNA tests under the slogan “Who’s Your Daddy?” Scott Delucchi, the shelter’s senior vice president, came up with the idea to speed up adoptions of Chihuahua-centric dogs.

Because pets become part of the family, the $50 tests allow owners to find out the background of their pooches and certain traits they could exhibit. The tests also allow the shelter to get creative by coming up with clever breed names that can boost adoption odds.

In this Friday, March 13, 2015, senior vice president Scott Delucchi looks over a recent DNA dog test result at the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA in Burlingame, Calif. Through DNA testing in the “Who’s Your Daddy?” campaign, dogs are being placed in homes twice as fast since the shelter started the promotion. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

For example, the Chihuahua-Australian shepherd-Jack Russell terrier-collie became a “Kiwi collier”; a Yorkshire terrier and beagle mix became a “Yorkle”; and a golden retriever-miniature pinscher-Chihuahua was proclaimed a “golden Chinscher.”

In February, the shelter tested 12 lookalike dogs. One of the results was inconclusive, but 11 showed mutt combinations that the facility had never seen before. The tested dogs were all placed within two weeks — twice as fast as any 11 untested small, brown dogs in the previous months.

Twelve more dogs were tested, and once the last few in that group are placed, 24 more dogs will find out their breed backgrounds, Delucchi said.

In the two batches of tests, only 10 of 23 dogs had no Chihuahua in them. Chihuahuas took over from the glut of pit bull mixes that dominated the shelter until five or six years ago, Delucchi said.

There are a lot of reasons Chihuahuas became so popular, he said, citing Hollywood stars toting them in purses and the “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” movies.

Seeing one of the tiny dogs at the shelter changed Lynn Mazzola’s mind about what kind of pet she wanted.

Mazzola of San Carlos, California, wanted a big dog, but 2-year-old, 6-pound Lily stole her heart. DNA results showed her that her new dog was part miniature pinscher, part Yorkie terrier and part Chihuahua, which the shelter dubbed a “Chorkie.”

Knowing Lily’s DNA gives you clues to her behavior, Mazzola said. For example, “it explains why she goes after birds and mice and she’s not nervous like a Chihuahua,” she said.

Mazzola’s husband was about to undergo surgery and she wanted the dog to keep him company while he recovered.

After his operation, “he walked in the door, she ran up to him and hasn’t been out of his lap since,” Mazzola said of the dog that had been at the shelter for seven months.

The adoption promotion helped Lily, but it’s going to take more than a gimmick to reduce the “alarming” number of Chihuahua mixes coming in, Delucchi said.

“Another part is making spay-neuter low-cost or free to the community,” he said. “If you have a lot of one breed, you target that breed and those owners and make it easy for them to do the right thing and get them fixed.”

He said facilities also work with states that need small dogs, such as Florida and New York, by flying in as many as they can handle.

Despite the promotion’s tagline, the question that never gets answered is “Who’s Your Daddy?” The DNA tests describe two parents, but they don’t reveal which one is dad.

 

HORTONVILLE – Wednesday marks the 20th annual National Kick Butts Day and one area school is stepping up efforts to urge kids to not pick up the habit of smoking.

Students at Hortonville Middle School took part in a day of activities that included getting creative with $8.11, which is the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in Wisconsin.

Organizers say the goal of today was to show kids not only the health effects, but also the financial impact of smoking.

Bryan Fletcher, Hortonville Middle School says the best way to quit, is to never start, “Studies show time and time again people who start smoking find it very hard to quit people who never begin smoking never have to worry about wanting to quit, they’ve quit already.”

This is the second year for the event in Hortonville.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN won’t agree to delay broadcasts of oral arguments before the Supreme Court in a lawsuit challenging an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign.

Eight unnamed petitioners are trying to halt the so-called John Doe probe. The high court is expected to hear oral arguments April 17 and April 20.

John Doe probes are secret, which will make the arguments awkward. The petitioners’ attorneys want WisconsinEye to delay its live broadcasts in case someone says something that’s secret and the remarks must be edited out.

WisconsinEye’s attorney sent the Supreme Court a memo on Tuesday saying the broadcaster had initially agreed to the conditions but now finds it unworkable due to technical difficulties and concerns the arrangement may set a precedent.

NEW YORK (AP) – Starbucks says it will launch delivery in parts of Seattle and New York City in the second half of this year. Here’s how it will work:

-There will be no minimum purchase required.

-There will be a small flat fee for delivery, but the exact amount hasn’t been determined.

-Delivery workers will accept tips.

-The average delivery time will be about 30 minutes starting with the placement of the order.

-Delivery hours are still to be determined.

-In New York City, the service will be available in office buildings, including the Empire State Building. People will be able to place their orders on websites from existing or newly built shops, the latter of which may have trimmed down menus. Starbucks workers will make the deliveries.

-In Seattle, the service will be available in specific areas, including homes and offices. Starbucks will partner with a company called Postmate to make the deliveries.

MADISON (AP) – The co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee and another Republican member of the panel say they want to lower a proposed cut to the University of Wisconsin System while doing away with Gov. Scott Walker’s plans to grant it more independence.

Joint Finance Committee co-chair Rep. John Nygren and Rep. Dean Knudson said in a statement Wednesday that they do not believe university administrators are ready for the level of independence Walker proposed in his budget.

Nygren had told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the public authority proposal was on “life support” in the Legislature.

Nygren and Knudson say they support continuing a tuition freeze for two years as Walker proposed and they also want UW to spend down surpluses to help deal with a budget cut.

OSHKOSH – Police in Oshkosh are asking for the public’s help in identifying two persons of interest that may be in connection with a stolen credit card.

Police say the incident began Jan. 26, 2015 when an unknown person took a credit card from a purse in the 800 block of Wisconsin Avenue.

The credit card was used at the CVS pharmacy in Oshkosh and later used at the Walmart in Fond du Lac.

The surveillance photo released by police show the two men they are trying to identify at the Fond du Lac Walmart.

If anyone has any information regarding the theft or recognize the men in the photo, please call the Oshkosh Police Department at (920) 236-5700.

If you would like to remain anonymous, you may call the Winnebago County Wide Crime Stoppers at (920) 231-8477 or text IGOTYA and your crime tip to 274637 or go to http://www.winnebagocrimestoppers.org/ and send your tip via web. You could be eligible for up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

A look inside two maple syrup operations in Northeast Wisconsin.

TOWN OF TWO RIVERS – It takes a lot of sap to make maple syrup.

March is typically the time of year when the sap runs and can be collected from maple trees. But that’s only the first step in the process of making the golden liquid that spices up your morning pancakes and waffles.

Zander’s MapleAcres in the town of Two Rivers has been producing syrup for 98 years. And while other producers use more modern methods, the process inside the MapleAcres sugar shack has hardly changed. The 200 trees on the property are still tapped by hand, filling 470 pails.

In the video above, we see Karl Zander keep the fires stoked up to boil sap down to syrup. Regardless of how modern the shack is, Zander likes to say, the sap still boils at 219 degrees Fahrenheit.

MESA, Ariz. (AP) – A gunman killed one person and wounded five others Wednesday in a rampage that included a shooting at a motel, a carjacking and a home invasion at a nearby apartment complex.

The shootings prompted an intense hunt for the suspect as Mesa police searched the trunks of cars, interviewed witnesses and brought in SWAT and canine units from other agencies.

“If we have to go door-to-door, we will,” Detective Esteban Flores said.

The incident started with an argument inside a room at a motel and spilled outside, and three people were wounded there, Flores said. The suspect then shot a person at a nearby restaurant and carjacked a gray Honda Accord. Two more people were wounded at separate apartment complexes, including one during a home invasion.

Police say the suspect is described as being in his early 30s or late 40s with tattoos on his head and face and wearing a black shirt and shorts. However, police said he might have changed his clothing.

Flores said people in the area should remain indoors and call 911 if they see someone suspicious. When asked whether local residents should be worried about the shooter, Flores said, “Absolutely, they should be really concerned.”

Several locations in the area were placed on lockdown amid a heavy law enforcement presence, including police searching car trunks and interviewing witnesses. The Arizona Department of Public Safety sent its SWAT team to Mesa to assist with the effort, DPS spokesman Bart Graves said. Scottsdale police are also sending SWAT and canine units.

The shootings occurred near the East Valley Institute of Technology. Nearby Mesa Community College issued an emergency alert, saying its campus was on lockdown and anyone already there should proceed to the safest location.  The shooting scene is also near a light rail line that travels through the metro Phoenix area.

Vinny Carbone owns an auto body shop near the shootings. He was getting ready to open up when he heard a man yell “help, help.” He later saw a woman outside the motel with what looked like a bullet hole in her side.

“Right now, our hearts and prayers are with the people of Mesa, the individuals affected by this tragedy, and all law enforcement and first responders working to assist the victims,” Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Monopoly is celebrating 80 years of capitalist cunning and dinner-table deals.

The board game based on the real-life streets of Atlantic City was “born” on March 19, 1935, when Parker Brothers acquired the rights to it.

In the decades since, an estimated 1 billion people have weighed the merits of buying up utilities and railroads or trying to hit it big with Boardwalk hotels.

Though Atlantic City itself has seen many changes since 1935 — a shrinking casino industry, rising taxes and new emphasis on non-gambling attractions — the city’s mayor, Don Guardian, says it’s still relevant to the city.

“The concepts of capitalism, money, buying up properties, raising the rent, buying out your competition kind of remain today, too,” he said.

Here’s how the game might look if its “birthday” were March 19, 2015:

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THE NEW RITZ

The most expensive spot on today’s Monopoly board would be The Borgata, Atlantic City’s top casino and a major reason why people come here. Encased in shimmering gold glass that sends dazzling shards of light onto the city streets when the sun hits it just right, the Borgata dwarfs its competitors in the Atlantic City gambling market. It won $687 million from gamblers last year, more than twice as much as its closest competitor and next-door neighbor, Harrah’s, which would make a nice adjacent space on the present-day board’s high-rent district. The Golden Nugget, which has drastically improved its financial performance of late, could also be located nearby, as it is also in the city’s Marina District.

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THE BOARDWALK

The first wooden walkway of its kind in the world, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk remains a tourism icon. It has nine casinos on it — but after a brutal 2014 that saw four of them go out of business, only five are still operating. That knocks Boardwalk down a peg or two on the new board. But it’s still a magical place where you can find everything from cotton candy and funnel cakes to gourmet meals, with the smell of the ocean and the screech of the seagulls surrounding you.

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THE SHOPPING

The Walk, Atlantic City’s outlet shopping and dining district, has succeeded in giving non-gamblers a reason to visit. Clothing stores, shoe shops and eateries stretch for blocks in the city center, and a new Bass Pro Shops outlet is opening soon.

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LOW-RENT DISTRICT

Bader Field used to be an airport (and indeed was the first facility in the world to be called an “airport.”) But it shut down in 2006, and aside from an occasional concert (Metallica took it over for two nights in 2013, and Phish for three nights in 2012), it sits empty, as does a minor league baseball stadium next door that used to host the Atlantic City Surf. Maryland Avenue, which was home to a violent street gang responsible for numerous shootings and large-scale drug dealing until a major police raid, would belong on the lowest-priced end of the board. Stretches of Pacific Avenue are pocked with run-down buildings and streetwalkers, so it would probably be knocked from its spot on the highest-priced quarter of the board.

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COMMUNITY CHEST 2015

Here are some twist-of-fate cards you might get in present-day Atlantic City:

—Carl Icahn buys your casino. Lose your health insurance and pension. (This is currently happening at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, where the billionaire investor is battling the union over costs, trying to force workers into government-sponsored health plans. A bankruptcy court judge gave him approval last week to take over the casino.)

—Your proposed purchase of Revel Casino Hotel falls through. Go back to bankruptcy court and wait for a lower price. (This, too, is happening, with three proposed sales of the failed casino having fallen apart. A bankruptcy judge last week rejected a proposed sale of the $2.4 billion property to a Florida developer at what would have been a 96 percent discount.)

—Take a ride on the Steel Pier observation wheel. (The iconic amusement pier, which once housed the famous Diving Horse, is building one of the largest Ferris wheels in the U.S., with climate-controlled, enclosed cars providing for year-round views of the ocean and city skyline.)

—Caesars Entertainment closes your casino in the name of reducing competition. Lose your job. (They did that twice last year, at The Atlantic Club and the Showboat.)

—Go to Boardwalk Hall, see the new Miss America. (The pageant is back where it began each September, in Atlantic City.)

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GO TO JAIL

Historically, no square on the board was better suited to Atlantic City than this one. Political corruption flourished here from Nucky Johnson, the Prohibition-era political and rackets boss immortalized in the hit HBO series “Boardwalk Empire,” to a series of lower-profile felons. As recently as 2007, four of the city’s last eight mayors had been busted on corruption charges, and a third of the nine-member City Council was in prison or under house arrest. The cast of characters included a mayor who admitted taking a bribe from a federal agent posing as a mob-connected representative of a janitorial supply company, and a City Council president who — while waiting to report to prison on a bribery conviction — orchestrated a sex sting to lure a political rival to a motel tryst with a prostitute, secretly videotaped it and sent copies to the media.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Democrats blocked debate on stalled human trafficking legislation for a second day Wednesday as a Democratic senator’s office belatedly conceded that a staff aide knew weeks ago that the measure included a controversial abortion-related provision.

Democrats have said for more than a week that their side of the aisle was not aware of the provision until a few days ago, nearly two months after the legislation was made public and long after a bipartisan vote in the Judiciary Committee on Feb. 24.

Several Democrats have accused Republicans of sneaking it into the measure without their discovering it.

But Julia Krahe, a spokeswoman for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, said that an aide to the Minnesota Democrat “had seen the language” relating to abortion before the committee voted.

The aide “did not inform the senator.  The senator takes responsibility for the work of her office and missing the provision and she is focused on moving forward to find a way to fix the bill and protect victims of trafficking,” Krahe added. Her disclosure came in an email Tuesday evening in response to an inquiry first made a week ago.

Klobuchar is a leading Democratic advocate for the trafficking bill.

It was not clear if the Democratic aide informed any other staff members or officials in outside groups involved in the measure. Advocates with the National Organization for Women, the National Women’s Law Center and several other women’s groups said at a press conference Wednesday that they had not known of the provision.

Democrats erupted in anger last week, when they said they had belatedly discovered the presence of the provision.

The legislation is designed to help victims of sexual trafficking, establishing a fund to do so that would receive money paid by convicted sexual traffickers as part of their court cases. The measure says none of the money could be used to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or if the life of the woman were in danger.

Current law contains an identical prohibition on the use of federal funds to pay for abortions. But Democratic lawmakers said the move by Republicans to add it to the victims trafficking bill amounted to an expansion of existing restrictions, and vowed to block the legislation in response.

The result has been gridlock for more than a week on the bill, which once seemed primed to pass easily. Democrats blocked the measure’s advance Tuesday and again on Wednesday. The vote Wednesday was 57-41, short of the 60 needed.

Complicating the stand-off, Republicans have tied the confirmation of Attorney General-designate Loretta Lynch to the bill by saying no vote would occur on the appointment until the legislation passes.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., evoking images of the civil rights struggle of a half-century ago, accused Republicans during the day of putting Lynch “in the back of the bus” by delaying her confirmation.

If confirmed, she would become the first black female attorney general, replacing Eric Holder, the first African-American in the job.

Lynch was nominated last fall and Democrats are growing increasingly agitated over the holdup in confirming her, although they were in control of the Senate for part of that time and failed to call for a vote.

“Loretta Lynch, the first African-American woman nominated to be attorney general, is asked to sit in the back of the bus when it comes to the Senate calendar,” Durbin said. “That is unfair. It’s unjust. It is beneath the decorum and dignity of the United States Senate.”

A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell countered that the Lynch nomination was next on the schedule, and blamed Democrats for any delay.

“The only thing holding up that vote is the Democrats’ filibuster of a bill that would help prevent kids from being sold into sex slavery,” said the spokesman, Don Stewart.

“The sooner they allow the Senate to pass that bipartisan bill, the sooner the Senate can move to the Lynch nomination.”

OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Twenty-eight tuberculosis cases have been detected at an eastern Kansas high school after widespread screening, state and county health officials announced Wednesday.

More than 300 Olathe Northwest High School students and staff members were tested after coming into contact with an infected student. The testing revealed 27 new cases of TB that hadn’t progressed to the contagious stage, the Johnson County Health Department said in a news release.

Officials began calling the people who tested positive on Monday, while those with no sign of infection will receive letters, the department said.

“The number of individuals with TB infection does not exceed what we would anticipate in this setting,” health department director Lougene Marsh said in the statement. “Of course, we had hoped we wouldn’t find any additional TB cases, but we knew this was a possibility. That’s why we took such thorough steps to test everyone who might have been in close contact with the first confirmed case of TB disease.”

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease that attacks the lungs and can be fatal if not treated with antibiotics. It is generally spread by coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include a bad cough for three weeks or longer, chest pain, weakness or fatigue, and coughing up blood.

Those exposed to TB during the spring semester will be tested May 5, the department said. It can take up to eight weeks for TB to show up positive in a TB test, the health officials said.

 

MADISON (AP) – The Chi Phi fraternity chapter at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been terminated as a student organization after a university investigation found the organization hazed members.

University spokesman Eric Knueve said in a statement Wednesday that the investigation concluded that the chapter forced underage members to drink excessively, engaged in food deprivation and violated a student organization provision against humiliating, degrading and sexualized conduct.

Knueve says the dean of students received reports of hazing in January and placed the chapter on interim suspension. He says the fraternity is no longer recognized by the Interfraternity Council.

The fraternity can appeal the Committee on Student Organizations’ decision.

BAKERSFIELD, CA (SBG) – Many people aren’t aware just how big of an impact bees really have on us.

Almost every type of food we grow requires bees. Farmers are doing whatever they can to protect their bee hives, but some are just collapsing.

Steve Murray, owner of Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield, California, has been working with bees for 35 years.

“When I was beekeeping, I was paid $24-25 a hive and if you see the hives back here, I’m now paying $175 each for these so my beekeeping bill this year will be close to $60,000,” Murray said.

Murray says beekeepers across the country are getting more money for pollination because there are fewer bees,”Beekeepers are having 30-50% bees dead on arrival when they bring them to California.”

It’s called colony collapse disorder.

Murray says the biggest part of it is the bees now have more diseases than they have had before.

And there are a few reasons why.

“Two varieties of mites are getting into the bees’ blood stream and lungs. So you’ve got bees now that are asthmatic and anemic, coupled with the mites. There are about 21 viruses that bees are contracting. And the viruses are just like us when we have a cold or a flu then that’s viral and it affects the bees as well,” Murray explains.

Finally, Murray says there is a problem with some pesticides that bee growers are using, “They think that the problem is happening in the hive where the baby bees aren’t making it.”

And from there, it just stings the rest of the country.

California needs more than 2 million beehives each year and they have to import close to 1.6 million from out of state.

“A beekeeper in North Dakota looks at his hives and they all look very strong, ship them to California, set them down and then half of them are dead,” Murray said.

Half of the fruits and vegetables grown in the United States are grown just in the 8 counties of the central valley.

“We really are an agricultural power house,” said Murray. “So it’s very significant and bees are apart of the ecology of farming.”

Murray says if this continues, we will see a big collapse in hives.

Murray wants farmers to know that he and other farmers are doing everything they can to preserve the integrity of the hives. And right now research is being conducted at the University of California to protect the collapse of bees.

Murray thinks researchers will find a way to breed stronger bees to withstand these mites and viruses.

 

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party scored a resounding victory in Israel’s election, final results showed Wednesday, a stunning turnaround after a tight race that had put his lengthy rule in jeopardy.

Netanyahu surged ahead after a last-minute lurch to the right in which he opposed Palestinian statehood and vowed continued settlement construction, setting the stage for fresh confrontations with the White House just weeks after criticizing U.S. talks with Iran in a divisive address to Congress.

With nearly all votes counted, Likud appeared to have earned 30 out of parliament’s 120 seats and was in a position to build with relative ease a coalition government with its nationalist, religious and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu visited the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, a remnant of the biblical Jewish Temple and the holiest site where Jews can pray. “I’m touched by the weight of the responsibility that the people of Israel have put on my shoulders. I wish to say that I will do anything in my power to ensure the well-being and security of all the citizens of Israel,” he said.

The election was widely seen as a referendum on Netanyahu, who has governed for the past six years. Recent opinion polls indicated he was in trouble, giving chief rival Isaac Herzog’s center-left Zionist Union a slight lead. Exit polls Tuesday showed the two sides deadlocked but once the actual results came pouring in early Wednesday, the Zionist Union dropped to just 24 seats.

Given the final results, it is all but assured that Israel’s largely ceremonial President Reuven Rivlin will task Netanyahu with forming a new government. Netanyahu says he hopes to do so quickly, within two to three weeks.

“Against all odds, we achieved a great victory for the Likud,” Netanyahu told supporters at his election night headquarters, declaring victory even before final results were known.

Netanyahu focused his campaign primarily on security issues, while his opponents pledged to address the high cost of living and housing crisis while accusing him of being out of touch. Netanyahu will likely look to battle that image now by adding to his government Moshe Kahlon, whose upstart Kulanu party captured 10 seats with a campaign focused almost entirely on bread-and-butter economic issues. Kahlon is expected to be the next finance minister.

A union of four largely Arab-backed factions became Israel’s third largest party — with 14 seats — and gave Israel’s Arab minority significant leverage in parliament for the first time. Ten parties in all made it into parliament.

Herzog conceded defeat, saying he called Netanyahu and offered him congratulations. He signaled that he would not join forces with Netanyahu and would rather head to the opposition.

“I think that at this moment what Israel needs most of all is another voice, a voice that offers an alternative and a voice that tells it the truth,” he said outside his Tel Aviv home. “It must be clear that for the citizens of Israel, the challenges remain the same, the problems are the same. Nothing has changed.”

Netanyahu’s return to power for a fourth term likely spells trouble for Mideast peace efforts and could further escalate tensions with Washington.

Netanyahu, who already has a testy relationship with President Barack Obama, staked out a series of hard-line positions in the final days of the race that will put him on a collision course with much of the international community.

In a dramatic policy reversal, he said he now opposes the creation of a Palestinian state — a key policy goal of the White House and the international community. He also promised to expand construction in Jewish areas of east Jerusalem, the section of the city claimed by the Palestinians as their capital, where violence has increased in recent months.

The Palestinians, fed up after years of deadlock with Netanyahu, are now likely to press ahead with their attempts to bring war crimes charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court.

“Now, more than ever, the international community must act,” said Palestinian official Saeb Erekat.

The world overwhelmingly supports the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, areas captured by Israel in 1967, and opposes settlement construction.

With the race close, Netanyahu reneged on his previous stated support for a Palestinian state in an attempt to shore up his hawkish base. But peace talks last collapsed nearly a year ago, and it’s unclear whether the next government will pursue any drastic policy changes.

Netanyahu also infuriated the White House earlier this month when he delivered a speech to the U.S. Congress criticizing an emerging nuclear deal with Iran. The speech was arranged with Republican leaders and not coordinated with the White House ahead of time in a rare breach of diplomatic protocol.

In Washington, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama was confident strong U.S.-Israeli ties would endure far beyond the election, regardless of the victor.

Throughout the campaign, Netanyahu portrayed himself as the only politician capable of confronting Israel’s numerous security challenges.

Avi Degani, president of the Geocartography polling institute, who had predicted an outright Likud victory, said ultimately Netanyahu’s experience prevailed. “There was a situation where many people wanted to replace him but there was no one whom they wanted to replace him with,” he said.

Rivlin will now meet with all ten parties that entered parliament and hear their recommendation for who should try to form the next government. Rivlin will then task the leading candidate, almost certainly Netanyahu, with putting together a coalition that makes up a majority in parliament. Netanyahu will remain prime minister throughout the process.

Netanyahu appears to have 67 backers who would join a right-wing nationalist government, but he could still surprise and try to reach out to centrist rivals in order to present a more moderate face to the world.

 

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Air Force veteran and former airplane mechanic charged with attempting to join the Islamic State group in Syria pleaded not guilty Wednesday to terrorism charges.

A bearded Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, wearing prison-issued khaki pants and a blue short-sleeved shirt, repeated his full name when asked but said nothing else before Judge Nicholas Garaufis in a New York federal courthouse. His attorney, Michael K. Schneider, entered the plea on his behalf. He declined to address reporters after the brief court appearance.

Pugh, 47, was indicted Tuesday on charges of attempting to provide material support to a terrorist group and obstructing justice.

He was stopped at a Turkish airport in January carrying a laptop containing information on Turkey-Syria border crossing points as well as 180 jihadist propaganda videos, including one featuring an Islamic State prisoner beheading, according to an indictment.

In a letter addressed to a woman who investigators believe is Pugh’s Egyptian wife, Pugh declared: “I will use the talents and skills given to me by Allah to establish and defend the Islamic States,” according to court papers.

“There is only two possible outcomes for me,” said the letter, which was recovered from his computer. “Victory or martyr.”

The computer, as well as thumb drive data-storage devices and other recovered equipment, appeared to have been intentionally destroyed to deny investigators access, the indictment said.

Garaufis scheduled a May 8 status conference to review prosecutors’ evidence and discuss any possible plea negotiations. Schneider said in court he would need time for his own forensic expert to review the data seized by federal authorities and to coordinate interviews with potential witnesses in Turkey, Egypt and elsewhere.

Pugh has been living overseas for the past year and a half, most recently in Egypt, the court papers show.

Pugh served in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 and was trained in installing and maintaining aircraft engines and navigation and weapons systems. The airman first class was first assigned in July 1987 to the Woodbridge Air Base in England and then to the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona in July 1989, the Air Force said. After leaving the air force, he worked as an avionics specialist and mechanic for companies in the Middle East and U.S.

The FBI got a 2001 tip about Pugh from a co-worker at American Airlines who said Pugh expressed sympathy for Osama bin Laden, according to court papers. The airline said he left in early 2000 after a few months at American. In 2002, an associate of Pugh’s again told the FBI that Pugh was interested in traveling to Chechnya to wage war, the indictment said.

Pugh was stopped by Turkish authorities on Jan. 10, and returned to the U.S. five days later by way of Egypt. He told investigators he was in Turkey on vacation and to look for a job and had no intention of crossing into Syria, the indictment said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Premera Blue Cross, a health insurer based in the Pacific Northwest, said Tuesday that it was the victim of a cyberattack that could affect 11 million people.

The company said hackers gained access to its systems on May 5 and that it did not discover the breach until Jan. 29.

The breach could have exposed members’ names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, mailing and email addresses, phone numbers, member ID numbers and bank account information, the Mountlake Terrace, Washington, company said. The information dates as far back as 2002 and affects users of Premera Blue Cross, Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, and Vivacity and Connection Insurance Solutions.

Claims information, including clinical information as well as the personal information of people who did business with Premera, could also have been exposed.

Premera said it has not found evidence that data was removed from its systems or that customer information has been used inappropriately. It will provide two years of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to consumers affected by the breach.

The company is working with the FBI and cybersecurity firm Mandiant to investigate the breach and remove any lingering infection of its systems.

Premera currently has about 1.8 million members. It provides health, life, vision, dental, disability and other types of insurance.

Companies ranging from retailers Target and Home Depot to Sony Pictures Entertainment have disclosed expensive and embarrassing data breaches recently.

In February, Anthem, the second-largest health insurer in the U.S., disclosed a breach that affected about 80 million customers. Cybersecurity experts say that attack was a sign that hackers are shifting their focus away from retailers and looking at targets in health care and other fields because their systems may be more easily breached.