Green Bay News

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Firefighters are used to alarms in the middle of the night, but the smoke doesn’t usually come to their front door.

A group of sleeping Salt Lake City firefighters cracked open the door of their upstairs dorm room early Tuesday to find smoke pouring inside from a fire that erupted at their own station.

They closed the door and jumped on the room’s fire pole to flee the flames, then quickly returned to the building with a firetruck to battle the blaze.

“They wake up, and within a minute, they’re fighting a fire in their second home,” he said.

Two dozen additional firefighters soon joined them. When the fire was extinguished, nine firefighters were taken to a hospital to be evaluated for smoke inhalation and then released several hours later.

“They love their station and needed to react quickly, and they did a good job of that,” he said.

Still, it was an emotional morning, he said. Crews usually have a few minutes to prepare themselves before they start putting out a fire, but that was impossible Tuesday as the blaze spread in a place with special meaning for many of the city’s firefighters.

The station is one of Salt Lake City’s oldest, and most of the department’s 325 firefighters have worked there at some point, Asay said.

“It means a lot to the entire department, especially to the nine firefighters who were there this morning,” he said.

Investigators are trying to determine what caused the accidental blaze, which left the second floor of the building with heavy damage. It started in a utility room with a soda machine where linens and rags are stored and spread to the kitchen and the building’s vent system.

Smoke woke up two captains sleeping on the first floor about 1:30 a.m., and they called to the other seven firefighters upstairs.

All the firefighters based at the damaged building are working out of other stations until their facility gets repaired.

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) – A maid who cleaned the home of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez has testified at his murder trial that she saw him “messing with” the security camera in his basement the day after the killing.

Glaucia Santos said Tuesday that she was cleaning a bathroom when she heard Hernandez enter. She says she saw him touching the camera, which is located on the basement’s family room ceiling.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Michael Fee presented a layout of Hernandez’s basement. He suggested that Santos couldn’t have seen Hernandez or the camera from where she was.

Santos could not say what Hernandez was doing with the camera.

Hernandez is charged with the June 17, 2013, killing of Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee.

NEW YORK (AP) — Daytime television’s most popular personality, “Judge Judy” Sheindlin, has extended her contract for three years and plans to keep her court in session into 2020.

CBS Television Distribution didn’t discuss terms of the deal Monday. TV Guide has reported her current salary at $47 million a year — making her by far the highest-paid personality on television. Sheindlin is 72.

The new deal also gives CBS first look at any projects by Sheindlin’s production company, which makes the new court show “Hot Bench.”

“Judge Judy” is now in its 19th season, and has been the top daytime TV show for the past five years. During the week ending Feb. 15, for example, “Judge Judy” was seen by an average of 10.1 million viewers each episode and the second most-popular show, “Dr. Phil,” had 4.9 million, the Nielsen company said.

“We could not be more excited to continue our longtime relationship with Judy,” said Armando Nunez, president and CEO of CBS Global Distribution Group. “She is a true television icon, who entertains and inspires millions of fans each day.”

Sheindlin was out of the country Monday. In a statement, she talked about being excited about producing new shows like “Hot Bench.”

There’s no word on whether the deal came together in the same manner as her last few contract extensions, as she outlined in her 2014 book, “What Would Judy Say? Be the Hero of Your Own Story.”

She described going out to dinner with executives at her distribution group at a Beverly Hills, California, restaurant. At the beginning of the meal, she handed over a sealed envelope and told them not to open it until after the dinner. Inside was a note card with Sheindlin’s suggested price and contract duration.

She told them it wasn’t a negotiation — she wanted a “yes” or “no” answer.

“I didn’t believe they would turn me down,” Sheindlin wrote of the first such meeting at Grill on the Alley. “I didn’t think they could afford to. But I was also prepared to walk away.”

She hasn’t yet. One year, she said an executive handed back his own sealed envelope. She handed it right back, unopened. “If I open the envelope, it becomes a negotiation,” she told them, “and this isn’t a negotiation.”

“I’m a lucky woman to be able to set my own terms,” the former New York City family court judge wrote.

During 2013, the last full year for which figures were available, Kantar Media reported that “Judge Judy” earned $136.8 million in revenue.

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama will promote educating girls around the world during a mid-March visit to U.S. ally Japan, and to Cambodia, a place where the government’s record on human rights gave her husband pause during a reluctant visit a few years ago.

She will visit Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, from March 18-20 and Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia from March 21-22, the White House said Tuesday.

Cambodia is an interesting choice for the first lady, who is making the trip on her own.

President Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Cambodia in late 2012 after his re-election. White House officials insisted at the time that Obama was only going because Cambodia was the host for two annual regional summits he has made a point of attending. Obama appeared visibly unhappy during the brief visit.

The Cambodian government has been led since 1985 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has a reputation for ruthlessness and a low tolerance for opposition. The southeast Asian nation also has problems with child prostitution and human trafficking.

The Obamas were announcing the “Let Girls Learn” education initiative at a White House event Tuesday.

The president and first lady, the parents of two teenage girls, both say their own success would not have been possible without education, and everywhere they go they encourage young people to finish school. In the U.S., Mrs. Obama also leads a separate initiative encouraging young people to continue their education after high school.

More than 60 million girls around the world, half of them adolescents, do not attend school, said Tina Tchen, chief of staff to the first lady.

Lack of education limits their economic opportunities and makes them more vulnerable to such afflictions as HIV and AIDS, early and forced marriage, and gender-based violence, said Tchen, who also directs the White House Council on Women and Girls. Educated girls and their families, meanwhile, are more likely to have a better quality of life.

The administration is putting under the “Let Girls Learn” umbrella a range of programs currently operating largely across Africa and the Middle East that focus on education, empowerment and leadership, health and nutrition, gender-based violence, and early and forced marriage.

Separately, the Peace Corps and Mrs. Obama’s office will work together to support community-based solutions to these issues.

The Peace Corps has thousands of volunteers working in more than 60 developing countries. Its “Let Girls Learn” program will begin in Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo and Uganda, before it is expanded to other countries.

A third aspect of the initiative is designed to help kids in the U.S. understand why they should care about the issue.

The Peace Corps and the U.S. Agency for International Development are already spending money on these programs. Obama also has asked Congress for $250 million in new and reallocated funding for the initiative, Tchen said. The administration anticipates getting additional support from the private sector, philanthropies, foundations and other donors.

In Japan, Mrs. Obama will highlight the importance the two countries place on international girls’ education. President Obama traveled to the close U.S. ally on a state visit last April, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due to make a reciprocal visit soon.

Cambodia is one of 11 countries included in the first year of the “Let Girls Learn” program to be run by the Peace Corps.

In Cambodia, Mrs. Obama will see how community-driven solutions are helping girls, a focus of the Peace Corps piece of the initiative.

 

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi troops and Shiite militias battled the Islamic State group on Tuesday on the outskirts of militant-held Tikrit, unable to advance further on Saddam Hussein’s hometown as roadside mines and suicide attacks slowed their progress.

Soldiers found some 100 mines and bombs scattered along an 8-kilometer (5-mile) stretch of road on the way to this strategic city on the Tigris River, Salahuddin deputy governor Ammar Hikmat said.

The discovery underlined how the battle likely will pivot on allied Iraqi forces’ ability to counter such weapons, a mainstay of al-Qaida in Iraq, the Islamic State group’s predecessor, as it fought American forces following their 2003 invasion of the country.

The bombs are “the main obstacle in the way of the attacking forces, which have to wait for bomb experts or to go around the area,” Hikmat told The Associated Press. “And this costs time.”

Extremists from the Islamic State group, which holds both a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate, have littered major roadways and routes with mines. Such mines allow the extremists to slow any ground advance and require painstaking clearing operations before troops can safely move through.

Suicide bombings also aid the militants in weakening Iraqi forces and have been used extensively in its failed campaign for the Syrian border town of Kobani. Already, a militant website affiliated with the Islamic State group has said an American jihadi carried out a suicide attack with a truck bomb on the outskirts of the nearby city of Samarra, targeting Iraqi forces and Shiite militiamen. The posting identified him by the nom de guerre of Abu Dawoud al-Amriki, without elaborating.

A suicide bomber also drove a military vehicle Tuesday afternoon into a checkpoint manned by government forces and Shiite fighters south of Tikrit, killing four troops and wounding 12, a police officer and a medical official said.

Tuesday marked the second day of the Iraqi advance on Tikrit, with soldiers supported by Iranian-backed Shiite militias and advisers, along with some Sunni tribal fighters who reject the Islamic State group. Hikmat estimated the Iraqi force besieging Tikrit at some 25,000 people. Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency has reported that Iranian Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, the commander of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, was taking part in the offensive.

Government forces, however, made little headway Tuesday, two local officials said. They said fierce clashes struck mainly outside the town of al-Dour, south of Tikrit, while government troops shelled militant bases inside the city. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said explosive experts had disabled “so many bombs and car bombs.”

“Tikrit has been besieged from three directions, from the north, west and south, but what has remained only from the eastern side,” Ibrahim said. “The explosive experts were able to tackle so many bombs and car bombs.”

Hikmat said the offensive had killed and wounded “dozens” of Islamic State extremists, but that the attacking forces also have been killed. Authorities in Baghdad offered no immediate casualty figures.

Past attempts to retake Tikrit have failed, as Iraq struggles with a military that collapsed last summer during the Islamic State militants’ lightning offensive. The Tikrit operation is seen as a litmus test for the capability of Iraqi troops to dislodge the militants from major cities they conquered in the country’s Sunni heartland.

Retaking Tikrit, the provincial capital of Salahuddin province, some 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Baghdad, would help Iraqi forces secure a major supply link for any future operation to capture Mosul, the country’s second-largest city.

U.S. military officials have said a coordinated military mission to retake Mosul will likely begin in April or May and involve up to 25,000 Iraqi troops. But the Americans have cautioned that if the Iraqis aren’t ready, the offensive could be delayed.

On Monday, Iraqi and U.S. officials said the U.S.-led coalition was not involved in the Tikrit operation and had not been asked to carry out airstrikes. Overall, coalition airstrikes have killed more than 8,500 Islamic State fighters since its campaign began in August, said Army Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander of U.S. Central Command.

“The fact is that (the group) can no longer do what (it) did at the outset, which is to seize and to hold new territory,” Austin said.

As the Tikrit battle rages, Iraq remains bitterly split between minority Sunnis, who were an important base of support for Saddam, and the Shiite majority. Since Saddam was toppled and later executed, the Sunni minority has felt increasingly marginalized by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. In 2006, long-running tensions boiled over into sectarian violence that claimed tens of thousands of lives.

The Islamic State group tapped into that Sunni resentment, though Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a Shiite, has offered an amnesty for insurgents who abandon the extremists. His comments appeared to be targeting former members of Iraq’s outlawed Baath party, loyalists of Saddam.

Later on Tuesday evening, a bomb exploded in a commercial street in southeastern Baghdad, killing three people and wounding nine, police and hospital officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef and Jon Gambrell in Cairo and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

 

WASHINGTON (AP) – A Justice Department investigation will allege sweeping patterns of discrimination within the Ferguson, Missouri, police department and at the municipal jail and court, a law enforcement official familiar with the report said Tuesday.

The report, which could be released as soon as Wednesday, will charge that police disproportionately use excessive force against blacks and that black drivers are stopped and searched far more often than white motorists, even though they’re less likely to be carrying contraband.

The Justice Department also found that blacks were 68 percent less likely than others to have their cases dismissed by a municipal court judge, and that from April to September of last year, 95 percent of people kept at the city jail for more than two days were black, according to the official. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak on the record before the report is made public.

This undated photo provided by the Brown family shows Michael Brown. Michael Brown, 18, was shot and killed in a confrontation with police in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, Mo, on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Brown Family)

The Justice Department began the civil rights investigation following the August shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, by a white police officer. That killing set off weeks of protests.

The official says the report will allege direct evidence of racial bias among police officers and court workers and detail a criminal justice system that prioritizes generating revenue over public safety.

Among the findings of the report was a racially tinged 2008 message in a municipal email account stating that President Barack Obama would not be president for very long because “what black man holds a steady job for four years.”

The department has conducted roughly 20 broad civil rights investigations of police departments during the tenure of Attorney General Eric Holder, including Cleveland, Newark, New Jersey and Albuquerque. Most of those investigations end with the police department agreeing to changes its practices.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is sending President Barack Obama a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the budget year, without overturning the president’s immigration policies.

The House on Tuesday voted 257-167 for the measure that Obama is expected to sign. Without action, funding for the department would have expired Friday at midnight.

The outcome was a victory for Obama and Democrats, and a defeat for the GOP strategy of trying to overturn Obama’s executive actions on immigration by linking them to funding for Homeland.

Republicans were unable to overcome united opposition from Senate Democrats to their strategy. They also suffered embarrassing internal divisions that left the country within hours of a partial agency shutdown last week.

RALEIGH, North Carolina (AP) — David Petraeus, the former CIA director and top Army general whose affair with his biographer brought down what many considered a bright political future, has agreed to plead guilty to mishandling classified materials.

The plea agreement — which carries a possible sentence of up to a year in prison — represents a stunning fall for the retired four-star Army general who led American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and was perhaps the most admired military leader of his generation.

Petraeus, 62, agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of material. The case was filed in federal court in Charlotte, the hometown of Paula Broadwell, the general’s biographer and former mistress.

Under the plea agreement, prosecutors recommended two years of probation and no prison time. But the judge who hears the plea is not bound by that recommendation. No immediate date was set for Petraeus to enter the plea.

Prosecutors said that while Broadwell was writing her book, Petraeus gave her binders of classified material containing, among other information, his daily schedule and notes about his discussions with President Barack Obama.

Those binders, known was “black books,” were seized by the FBI in a search of Petraeus’ home. Petraeus lied to FBI agents about providing them to Broadwell and said he never gave her classified material, according to court documents.

Petraeus’ lawyers, David Kendall and Robert Barnett in Washington, declined to comment. A telephone message left for Broadwell was not immediately returned. Her lawyer, Robert Muse of Washington, said he had no comment.

Petraeus admitted having an affair with Broadwell when he resigned from his position in November 2012. Both have publicly apologized and said their romantic relationship began only after he retired from the military and started at the CIA.

The binders were known as “black books” and were seized by the FBI in a search of Petraeus’ home, according to court documents. He also lied about providing them to Broadwell, according to court documents.

When Petraeus resigned from the CIA, he signed a security exit form indicating he had no classified material in his possession. However, he still had the black books in his home at that time. On April 5, 2013, the FBI searched his home and seized the black books from an unlocked desk drawer in a first-floor study.

When interviewed by the FBI in 2012, Petraeus said he never provided classified information to his biographer. Prosecutors say that was false, and that Petraeus lied to federal investigators.

Petraeus’ lawyers David Kendall and Robert Barnett in Washington declined to comment.

___

Biesecker reported from Raleigh, North Carolina. Tucker reported from Washington.

 

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) – Corrections officials in Georgia have temporarily halted all planned executions to give the state time to analyze a drug that prompted the last-minute postponement of an execution.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner was set to be executed Monday at 7 p.m. Corrections postponed it “out of an abundance of caution” because the pentobarbital meant for the execution appeared cloudy.

The Department of Corrections said in a news release Tuesday that it would postpone the execution of Gissendaner and Brian Keith Terrell, who was set to die next week.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross is asking the Legislature’s budget committee to scale back Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut $300 million from the system.

Cross told the Joint Finance Committee during a hearing on Tuesday that the cut is serious. He thanked committee members who have said they believe the cut is too deep.

He also implored the committee to adopt Walker’s proposal to largely free the system from state oversight. He promised the system would remain public, saying the largest share of system funding would come from the state. But he said more freedom would speed up building projects and supply acquisition.

Five opponents of the cuts and oversight plan stood and marched around the hearing room yelling “no cuts.” Police escorted them out.

BOSTON (AP) — After two months of jury selection, a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was seated Tuesday for the federal death penalty trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The all-white panel consists of eight men and 10 women. Jurors include a self-employed house painter, an air traffic controller, an executive assistant at a law firm and a former emergency room nurse.

Opening statements in the case are scheduled for Wednesday.

Tsarnaev, 21, faces 30 charges in connection with twin bombings at the finish line of the marathon April 15, 2013. Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured. He is also charged in the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer days after the bombings.

If the jury convicts Tsarnaev, the trial will move on to a second phase to determine his punishment. The only two options available for the jury are life in prison or the death penalty.

Judge George O’Toole Jr., prosecutors and Tsarnaev’s lawyers questioned prospective jurors individually.

Many potential jurors were excused when they said they had already formed an opinion on Tsarnaev’s guilt or were morally opposed to the death penalty. Many others were dismissed because of personal connections to the bombings, including people who have friends or family who were near the finish line when the bombs went off or who knew first responders who treated victims.

During the jury selection process, Tsarnaev’s lawyers tried repeatedly to get the trial moved out of Massachusetts, saying he could not find a fair and impartial jury because of the emotional impact the bombings had in the state.

O’Toole rejected three change-of-venue motions, saying the process of carefully questioning jurors to detect bias was successful in finding impartial jurors. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals twice refused to order the trial moved.

DE PERE – Organizers of Celebrate De Pere are excited to announce a new addition to the 25th Anniversary of the Memorial Day weekend event.

The Minnesota Wing of the Commemorative Air Force will proudly fly “Miss Mitchell”, a North American B-25 bomber, over the Memorial Ceremony on Mon. May 25 at Voyager Park.

The original “Miss Mitchell” served in WWII in Corsica, Sicily and Italy. She flew over 135 missions with no serious injuries to her crew.

“We are very excited to have found this piece that we have had trouble getting in the past. We have been trying to get a flyover for many years, without much success, particularly as military budgets continue to be decreased and fewer of them are being flown” said Celebrate spokesperson, Kevin Bauer.  “We found not only an aircraft to do it, but a piece of living history.  I expect it to be nothing less than awe inspiring.”

In addition to the flyover and Memorial service on Monday, Celebrate De Pere will have musical entertainment all weekend long, a car show, carnival rides and a children’s area and fishing tournament.

For more information on the event and tickets, click here.

 

The village of Hobart is suing the federal government, claiming the village’s requests through the Freedom of Information Act have been unfulfilled.

On July 9, the village requested land index reports and other related documents for 39 tracts of land held in trust by the Oneida Tribe.

In October, the Department of Interior said it would be at least 60 days before the request could be processed. But without a response still, the village filed suit Monday in federal court.

• Click here to read the full lawsuit

No court dates have been scheduled.

The village and tribe have sparred over the years about lands placed in trust – and therefore taken off the village’s tax rolls. The suit does not say why the village wanted the information.

MADISON (AP) – A bill that would increase speed limits on some Wisconsin highways and freeways has coasted through another green light at the Capitol.

The state Assembly Transportation Committee voted 12-1 in favor of the measure Tuesday. The full Assembly is expected to vote on it this month.

The bill allows the Department of Transportation to increase speed limits to 70 mph in approved areas, up from the current 65 mph limit.

Committee members rejected an amendment that would have established a lower speed limit for commercial vehicles.

TOWN OF EGG HARBOR – A three-month drug investigation has landed three people behind bars.

Drugs taken during a bust in the town of Egg Harbor, March 3, 2015. (Photo courtesy Door Co. Sheriff’s Office)

The Door/Kewaunee Drug Task Force says agents raided a property in the town of Egg Harbor near Carlsville overnight. They found cocaine, marijuana, packing materials and several thousand dollars in cash.

Cash taken during a bust in the town of Egg Harbor, March 3, 2015. (Photo courtesy Door Co. Sheriff’s Office)

Three people were arrested on possible charges including delivering cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession with intent to deliver marijuana and maintaining a drug trafficking place.

The names of those arrested were not released.

The ice caves in far northwestern Wisconsin opened for the season on Feb. 27, 2015.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a speech that stirred political controversy in two countries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday that negotiations underway between Iran and the United States would “all but guarantee” that Tehran would get nuclear weapons, a step he said the world must avoid at all costs.

“Iran has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted,” no matter what it says about permitting verification of the terms of any accord designed to prevent it from getting such weapons, he said.

“The greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons,” he said in remarks before a packed House chamber.

Netanyahu spoke shortly after Secretary of State John Kerry met for more than two hours in Switzerland with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in hopes of completing an international framework agreement later this month to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The Israeli leader’s appeal also came two weeks before tight elections in which he is seeking a new term — and after the invitation to address Congress extended by House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, triggered a political furor in the United States. More than four dozen House and Senate Democrats said in advance they would not attend the event, a highly unusual move given historically close ties between the two allies.

Many of Netanyahu’s comments were greeted by loud applause from U.S. lawmakers, and not just Republicans. But not everyone was persuaded by his rhetoric.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California conspicuously refrained from applauding on several occasions. And when the Israeli leader called for holding out for a better deal with Iran, she held her hands wide and shook her head in disagreement.

The White House expressed its displeasure with the appearance by word and deed, dispatching Vice President Joe Biden on an overseas trip that meant he did not fill his customary seat behind the House rostrum during the speech. Nor did Netanyahu meet at the White House with Obama on his trip to the United States.

The prime minister was greeted with a roaring welcome as he walked down the same center aisle of the House chamber that presidents tread before their annual State of the Union speeches.

He also sought to smooth over any political unpleasantness, thanking Obama lavishly for the help he has given Israel since he became president. In a grace note, he took a moment to mention Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who is back at work after suffering an eye injury in an accident at home.

At the same time, Netanyahu was unrelenting in his condemnation of the negotiations the administration is conducting with Tehran.

He said that with the concessions the United States was prepared to make Iran would not only gain nuclear weapons, but also eventually would become free of international economic sanctions. As a result, he said, it would be emboldened to finance even more terrorism around the Middle East and the world.

The result for Iran, he said, would be “aggression abroad and prosperity at home.”

Instead, he said that if Iran wants to be “treated like a normal country, it ought to behave like a normal country.”

“We’ve been told that no deal is better than a bad deal. Well this is a bad deal, a very bad deal,” he said to loud applause.

Republicans applauded Netanyahu’s remarks frequently, rising to their feet. Democratic lawmakers were far more restrained, although they cheered the Israeli leader’s praise for Obama.

Despite Democratic stayaways, the chamber and galleries were filled. Netanyahu singled out Holocaust Survivor Elie Wiesel, a world-renowned author.

“I wish I could promise you, Elie, that the lessons of history have been learned,” he said, to cheers.

A few moments later, he added, the applause swelling, “The days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies are over.”

“Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand,” he vowed, although he quickly added that it does not, and “American stands with Israel.”

The Obama administration has complained that congressional Republicans injected destructive partisanship into the U.S.-Israel alliance by inviting Netanyahu to speak. But the White House played down the controversy in the hours before the address.

Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett called it “a bit of a distraction” but told MSNBC the dispute wouldn’t undermine Obama’s commitment to Israel.

“We share a common goal of ensuring that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons,” Jarrett said, and disagree with Netanyahu only over “the tactics of how to get there.”

The U.S. and Iranian sides met for two hours on Tuesday morning in the Swiss resort of Montreux, according to U.S. officials.

“We’re working away, productively,” Kerry told reporters.

MADISON (AP) – Democrat Russ Feingold says he plans to travel Wisconsin “extensively” after leaving his post at the State Department, but he’s not saying yet whether he will try to return to the U.S. Senate.

Feingold said in a Facebook post Tuesday that he wants to listen to Wisconsinites about their concerns as he decides how he can “best further serve my country and the state I love.”

Feingold’s departure this week from his special envoy post is fueling speculation that he’s preparing to announce a challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.

Johnson is up for re-election next year. He defeated Feingold in 2010.

Feingold says he plans to spend part of this year teaching at Stanford University. The rest of the time he will “travel the state extensively.”

Submitted March 3, 2015, by Alana Deprey, who writes:

“Crash on 41 S bound in front of Mid Vallee golf course”

MADISON (AP) – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ leader is defending proposals in Gov. Scott Walker’s budget to shut down the state’s land stewardship program, strip the agency’s board of its power and eliminate science positions in front of the Legislature’s finance committee.

DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, a Walker appointee, told the committee during a hearing Tuesday that the DNR pays $1.6 million per week on land purchase debt and nearly 70 percent of the tax dollars the DNR receives goes toward debt service. She says that’s not sustainable.

She also said Walker’s plan to strip the DNR’s board of its policy-making powers and turn it into an advisory body would eliminate red tape and insisted eliminating 18.4 positions within the DNR’s Science Services Bureau won’t change the agency’s commitment to science.