Green Bay News

NEW YORK (AP) – Those days of calling your bank to let them know that, yes, you really are in Thailand, and yes, you really did use your credit card to buy $200 in sarongs, may be coming to an end.

The payment processing company Visa will roll out a new feature this spring that will allow its cardholders to inform their banks where they are automatically, using the location function found in nearly every smartphone.

Having your bank and Visa know where you are at all times may sound a little like “Big Brother.” But privacy experts are actually applauding the feature, saying that, if used correctly, it could protect cardholders and cut down on credit card fraud.

Credit and debit card fraud costs consumers and banks billions of dollars each year, and that figure has been growing as data breaches have become more common. The banking industry had $1.57 billion in debit card fraud in 2013 and $4 billion in credit card fraud in 2012, the latest years for which data are available, according to the Federal Reserve.

Facing these high costs, banks and the payment processors have been stepping up their efforts to cut down on fraud, and Visa’s announcement is just one small piece of this drive. JPMorgan Chase’s CEO Jamie Dimon has said repeatedly that his bank spends $250 million overall on cybersecurity every year, and plans to double that spending.

Here’s how it works: starting in April, banks will update their smartphone apps to include Visa’s new location-tracking software. If the consumer opts in, the Visa software will, over a period of time, establish a customer’s home territory of roughly a 50-mile radius. If the person uses his or her Visa card at stores in that area, those transactions will be considered low risk for fraud.

When that person travels outside their home area, the phone will notify Visa that they’ve entered a new city or country, using either the phone’s cellular data plan or the next time the phone connects to a Wi-Fi network. When that person uses their Visa card for a transaction in that location, Visa will already know he or she is there and will be less likely to flag the card for a fraud alert.

“We will be able to compare the merchant’s location to the most recent cellphone location to show it’s a less risky transaction,” Visa executive Mark Nelsen said.

The feature is optional and can be deactivated at any time. Visa also says none of the location tracking will be used for marketing purposes.

One type of fraud Visa’s feature will directly address is counterfeit credit cards. Criminals can take stolen credit card information and code it onto a new card using equipment that can be readily purchased online. Counterfeit cards look like any other credit card, but have someone else’s information on the magnetic stripe.

Nelsen said Visa hopes the new security feature will prevent “a good portion” of fraud perpetrated with counterfeit cards, because those cards are often used in a location other than where the actual card owner lives.

Visa’s new anti-fraud measure, which the company announced on Thursday, won’t address every potential fraud situation. If a card user has both their phone and credit cards stolen, for example, Visa wouldn’t necessarily know that the card was at risk of fraudulent use until the cardholder contacted the company.

The current version of Visa’s anti-fraud software doesn’t address the possibility of stolen credit card data being used to make online purchases, but a future version will, Nelsen said.

Visa is just one of dozens of financial companies trying to figure out the best way to use new technologies to combat fraud. MasterCard said Friday it is rolling out a pilot program later this year that will integrate biometric data, such as face, voice or fingerprints, into its payment system to help authenticate transactions.

Many travelers have had the experience of having their credit cards declined when using them for the first time in a foreign city or country because the bank assumed the charge was fraudulent. The only solution in those situations was for the cardholders to call the banks or credit card issuer every time they travel to let them know where they will be.

The process is cumbersome and time-consuming for cardholders and also for banks, which incur large expenses to staff call centers to deal with these types of calls from customers. Some banks use systems like text message alerts, but that usually requires customers to reply or call a number before the transaction will go through.

“The goal is to let more of those good transactions go through so we can focus on the real fraud,” Nelsen said.

Privacy experts were generally warm to the idea, as long as banks are clear on how a customer’s smartphone location will be used.

“When a trusted party – and I think people think of their bank as a trusted party – is looking out for you using what technology they have, I think people will welcome that,” said Jules Polenesky, with the Future of Privacy Forum. Polenesky said Visa approached him six months ago to get feedback on this idea and to address any privacy concerns.

Justin Bookman, director of consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, also supported the feature as long as banks are clear it’s optional and how the data is being used.

“We effectively share our location with our banks every day when we swipe our credit cards,” Bookman said. “As long as it remains optional, I believe it’s a worthwhile idea.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – Islamic State fighters led a suicide attack on an air base where U.S. and coalition troops are training Iraqi forces after taking a nearby town, the first territorial gain by the militant group in months, the Pentagon said Friday.

Most of the Islamic State fighters died in the attack, killed either by Iraqi government forces or by detonating their suicide vests, said Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman.

Kirby said an estimated 20-25 Islamic State militants were involved in the attack on al-Asad air base in Iraq’s Anbar province. He said the attack was led by “at least several” suicide bombers, some of whom managed to detonate their bombs and others were killed by Iraqi troops.

“Early indications are that yes, some of them did detonate their vests, detonate themselves,” he said. “And then they were followed by roughly something on the order of 15 or so other fighters.”

It appeared that most, if not all, of the militants were wearing Iraqi uniforms, Kirby said.

No Iraqi or U.S. troops were killed or wounded, Kirby said, and no US troops were involved in the gunfight.

Kirby said Islamic State fighters had taken control of al-Baghdadi, a town near the al-Asad air base. He said this represented “the first (time) in at least a couple of months, if not more, where they have had any success in taking any new ground.”

It was not clear whether the attackers at al-Asad managed to penetrate the perimeter of the base, which is a sprawling series of compounds. “Information is still coming in,” he said, that may clarify some details.

There are about 400 U.S. troops at the base. Another Pentagon spokesman, Col. Steven Warren, said the U.S. troops were about two miles away, in a different section of the base.

U.S. unmanned surveillance aircraft and Army Apache attack helicopters were sent to the scene from Baghdad, but the attack was over before they arrived, so they did not engage in fighting, Warren said.

There are currently nearly 2,600 U.S. forces in Iraq. Of those, about 450 are training Iraqi troops at three bases across the country, including al-Asad. Forces from other coalition countries conduct the training at the fourth site, in the northern city of Irbil.

Long-time Abbot Pennings High School and St. Norbert College football and basketball coach Don LaViolette died Thursday. He was 83.

La Violette, a 1954 St. Norbert graduate, coached St. Norbert football from 1983-93, posting a 59-43-1 record. The Green Knights, who joined the Midwest Conference for football in 1984, won league championships in 1985, 1987, 1988 and 1989. St. Norbert also made their first NCAA Division III Playoffs appearance in 1989. The three straight championships from 1987-89 marked the last time a team won three consecutive titles when the Midwest Conference featured a championship game against the North and South division winners. St. Norbert also posted a win over NCAA Division II Michigan Tech University in 1989.

La Violette did double duty as the men’s basketball coach for three seasons from 1987-89, totaling a 36-30 record. When he began both roles he was one of only two college coaches in the country to simultaneously serve his institution as head football and basketball coach. He also coached men’s tennis for one year.

“Coach La Violette was truly one of the nicest people I’ve ever known,” said Russ Schmelzer, who worked closely with La Violette as St. Norbert’s athletics trainer since 1981. “Whenever you came in contact with him you’d always walk away with a smile on your face. And as much as football and sports in general meant to him, they were always put in the proper perspective with regard to the bigger picture of life. He taught thousands of men he coached every day in the St. Norbert tradition – by word and example.”

La Violette arrived at St. Norbert after spending 24 years across Reid Street from the college at Abbot Pennings High School. La Violette, who coached briefly at Fond du Lac Springs and Beloit Catholic high schools before arriving at Abbot Pennings, coached both football and basketball. He led the Squires to a 140-89-6 record, six Fox River Christian Conference championships and the 1971 Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletics Association state championship. La Violette led the Squires to 324 wins on the hardwood with eight WISAA state tournament appearances. He was named FRCC Coach of the Year seven times in basketball and five times in football. Including two seasons at Beloit Catholic, his prep basketball coaching record was 370-245.

La Violette was inducted into the St. Norbert College Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in 1997 and the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1995.

In retirement, La Violette returned to the high school ranks in 1999 at the age of 68 as the head coach of St. Andrew’s High School in Boca Raton, Fla. He coached the Scots, who just prior to his arrival nearly scrapped their football program due to low numbers, for five seasons until retiring a second time in 2003.

La Violette, a U.S. Army veteran, was a Green Bay native and a graduate of Catholic Central High School (a forerunner to Premontre and Notre Dame Academy). He is survived by his wife, Anne, whom he married in 1955, and four children.

Arrangements are pending at Newcomer Funeral Home in Green Bay.

NEW YORK (AP) — An autopsy has ruled the death of “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon to be an accident.

The New York City medical examiner says Friday that Simon died from blunt-force injuries to his head, torso and extremities and had fractures.

Police say Simon was not wearing a seatbelt Wednesday night when the car he was riding in collided with another vehicle on the West Side Highway in Manhattan. The law does not require livery car passengers to wear seatbelts.

Authorities tell CBS that Simon was thrown from the back seat to the front of the car.

His driver suffered leg and arm injuries. The other driver was uninjured.

Simon was among a handful of elite journalists to cover most major overseas conflicts and news stories since the late 1960s.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has made his first comments about the three young Muslims who were shot to death in North Carolina — saying no one in America should ever be targeted “because of who they are, what they look like or how they worship.”

Obama says in a statement that the FBI will determine whether federal laws were violated in what he calls “the brutal and outrageous murders.”

Police say the three were killed Tuesday — allegedly by their neighbor — in a long-running dispute over parking spaces. But some have questioned whether the violence was connected to their Muslim faith.

The FBI inquiry is running parallel to the local police homicide investigation.

The victims’ families are demanding a hate-crime investigation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House voted Friday to make permanent an expired tax break designed to help small businesses invest in equipment and property, defying a veto threat by the White House.

President Barack Obama objects to the bill because it would add $79 billion to the budget deficit over the next decade.

The bill is part of a package of more than 50 temporary tax breaks that Congress routinely extends every year or two. The entire package expired at the start of the year. Now, House Republicans are moving to make selected tax breaks permanent.

On Thursday, the House passed a $14.3 billion package of tax breaks designed to encourage charitable giving. Also, the House Ways and Means Committee advanced several other bills that would benefit businesses and individuals.

The House passed the small business bill on Friday by a vote of 272-142. Thirty-three Democrats joined nearly every Republican in voting for the bill. However, the margin would not be enough to override a presidential veto.

The bill would allow small businesses to immediately write off capital expenses of up to $500,000, rather than taking the deductions over several years. Another provision would make it easier for small business owners to deduct charitable contributions.

Congress has temporarily extended the expiring provision 12 times since 2003, making it difficult for businesses to do long-term planning, said Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, who sponsored the bill.

“We can do this, give our small business owners and farmers the type of certainty they need that will help our economy grow, that will help their businesses grow, rather than do what we’ve done for 12 years now,” Tiberi said. “We need long-term certainty.”

The bill is endorsed by numerous business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the National Federation of Independent Business.

The White House said that Obama supports making the tax break permanent, but wants to pay for it by eliminating other business tax breaks.

In its veto message, the White House said the president’s proposed budget for next year would allow small businesses to immediately write off up to $1 million in investments, “while also proposing other measures to simplify and cut taxes for small businesses.”

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The executive director of the N.C. Education Lottery has some advice for the person who won a share of the $564 million Powerball jackpot.

Alice Garland says the person holding the winning ticket should sign the back of the ticket, put it in a safe place and get some sound professional advice before heading to lottery headquarters Raleigh to pick up the check.

A statement from the state lottery said a Scotchman convenience store in the town of Shallotte in Brunswick County sold the ticket. The store is eligible for a $50,000 retailer incentive award for selling a winning jackpot ticket.

The winner has 180 days from Wednesday’s drawing to claim the prize. The win marks the fourth time that a North Carolina ticket has claimed a Powerball jackpot.

NEW YORK (AP) — The next phishing email you get could be from your boss.

With high-profile security breaches on the rise, from Sony Pictures to Anthem, companies are on the defensive. And they want to make sure their employees are not a hack waiting to happen.

Data show phishing emails are more and more common as entry points for hackers. Unwittingly clicking on a link in a scam email could unleash malware into a network or provide other access to cyberthieves.

So a growing number of companies, including Twitter Inc., are giving their workers a pop quiz, testing security savvy by sending spoof phishing emails to see who bites.

“New employees fall for it all the time,” said Josh Aberant, postmaster at Twitter, during a data privacy town hall meeting recently in New York City.

Falling for the fake scam offers a teachable moment that businesses hope will ensure employees won’t succumb to a real threat. It’s even a niche industry: companies like Wombat Security and PhishMe offer the service for a fee.

Phishing is very effective, according to Verizon’s 2014 data breach investigations report, one of the most comprehensive in the industry. Eighteen percent of users will visit a link in a phishing email which could compromise their data, the report found.

Not only is phishing on the rise, the phish are getting smarter. Criminals are “getting clever about social engineering,” said Patrick Peterson, CEO of email security company Agari. As more people wise up to age-old PayPal and bank scams, for example, phishing emails are evolving. You might see a Walgreens gift card offer or a notice about President Barack Obama warning you about Ebola.

The phishing tests recognize that many security breaches are the result of human error. A recent study by the nonprofit Online Trust Alliance found that of more than 1,000 breaches in the first half of 2014, 90 percent were preventable and more than 1 in 4 were caused by employees, many by accident.

Fake phishing emails are indistinguishable from the real ones. That’s the point. In one sent out by Wombat, the subject reads “Email Account Security Report – Unusual Activity.” The email informs the recipient that his or her account will be locked for unusual activity such as sending a large number of undeliverable messages. At the bottom there’s a link that, were this a real phishing email, would infect the recipient’s computer with malicious software or steal password and login information.

If you click?

Up pops a web page: “Oops! The email you just responded to was a fake phishing email. Don’t worry! It was sent to you to help you learn how to avoid real attacks. Please do not share your experience with colleagues, so they can learn too.” It also offers tips on recognizing suspicious messages.

In the 14 years since PhishMe CEO and co-founder Rohyt Belani has been in information security, he says the industry has changed from something a “geek in the back room” was supposed to take care of to something companies now handle at the highest level of management. The nature of the intruder also has changed, from pranksters to criminal organizations and nation-states.

As the security industry developed, he said, so did the idea of the user as “stupid” and the “weakest link,” destined to continue to fall for phishing attempts and other scams. Belani disagrees with that, faulting the security industry for not better training workers.

“We posted posters in hallways, gave out squishy balls, (made) screen savers,” he said. “When was the last time you changed your password because of a squishy ball?”

While phishing training emails are a “good cautionary measure,” they aren’t “actually going to strike at the core of the issue,” believes Agari’s Peterson. He, along with large Internet companies such as Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., support establishing a standard that makes it impossible for scammers to impersonate your bank, social network or other business in an email. Think of it as a verification system for emails. For now, though, this seems a long way off.

So, at Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tennessee, employees will continue to receive fake phishing emails, about one a quarter. The results are reported to the company’s audit committee and board of directors, said Chief Information officer Randy Withrow. Since the 800-employee company started the Wombat program Withrow said it has seen a 25 percent drop in successful phishing attempts.

Workers “take it very personally” when they fall for it, he said. “They become apologetic and wonder, ‘how did I miss it?'”

Luckily for Pinnacle, it was only a test.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Responding to unprecedented data breaches and cyberattacks, President Barack Obama is trying to spark alliances between policymakers who want to regulate the online world and tech innovators who traditionally shun Beltway bureaucracies.

In California’s Silicon Valley on Friday, Obama was participating in a White House summit on cybersecurity and consumer protection, joining hundreds of administration officials, tech and other CEOs, law enforcement officials and consumer and privacy advocates. The focus is on encouraging every player to do better at sharing information that can help the private sector prevent and respond to costly and potentially crippling threats to the security of their online networks.

Obama was delivering the keynote address at the daylong event, as well as leading a round-table discussion with a group of business leaders.

J.J. Thompson, CEO and managing director of Rook Security, a consulting firm founded in San Jose, California, said the symbolic significance of the gathering could not be overstated, despite its “dog and pony show” aspects. The summit is being held at Stanford University, a hub of tech innovation.

“Cybersecurity is at the forefront of everyone in America right now, from the Beltway to California,” Thompson said in an interview.

Jeff Zients, a top economic adviser to Obama, said a goal of the summit is to drive home the message that strong cybersecurity can provide companies with a competitive edge.

“Cybersecurity is not a problem for just one or two sectors of the economy,” he told reporters. “All industry sectors and types of businesses face cybersecurity risks.”

Numerous companies, ranging from mass retailers like Target and Home Depot to Sony Pictures Entertainment to health insurer Anthem, have suffered costly and embarrassing data breaches in recent months. The Twitter feed of U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the volatile Middle East, was hacked recently, while the White House reported detecting “activity of concern” last October on the unclassified computer network used by White House staffers.

While a growing cadre of information security experts have for years grappled with cybersecurity as online communications boomed, their concerns have largely been downplayed.

But with record public and private sector data breaches last year — the Identity Theft Resource Center found that 85 million records were exposed last year — the discussion has moved from the tech geeks to policy wonks.

And the federal government itself is struggling: cyberattackers trumped terrorists as the No. 1 threat to national security, according to an annual review by intelligence officials last year.

The Obama administration wants Congress to supersede an existing patchwork of state laws by setting a national standard for when companies must notify consumers that their personal information has been compromised. Obama was signing an executive order Friday to encourage members of the private sector to share information about threats to cybersecurity with each other and with the federal government, but he also wants Congress to pass legislation.

“What we as an industry, spanning across public and private sector security teams, need to improve on is breaking down the silos of ‘how’ and ‘to whom’ threat data and threat intelligence is being shared,” said Barmak Meftah, president of the San Mateo, California, cybersecurity startup AlienVault.

Stanford is in the heart of the Silicon Valley, home to Google, Apple, Facebook, Intel and most other tech leaders. The valley is also a national hub of innovation, with the most patents, venture capital investment and startups per capita in the U.S. The university launched a $15 million initiative in November to research the technical and governance issues involved in maintaining security online.

A sore point for the private sector is that while most states require them to report breaches, the federal government isn’t required to publicize its own data losses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It wasn’t supposed to be like this for Republicans. A month into their control of both chambers of Congress, they are confronting the very real possibility of a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department later this month.

Instead of advancing a conservative agenda and showing voters they can govern, the GOP has been unable to overcome Senate Democrats’ stalling tactics in a dispute over immigration.

“I suppose elections have consequences except in the United States Senate,” complained GOP Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, summing up the frustration for many House Republicans. “Tell me how it would be different if Harry Reid were still running the place,” he added, naming the Senate Democratic leader who was booted into the minority in November’s midterm elections.

Although their party is now setting the floor schedule and calling hearings, Republicans are finding to their chagrin that important things haven’t changed from when they were in the Senate minority.

Republicans are six votes short of the 60 needed to advance most legislation, and Senate rules grant numerous rights to the minority party. That means if Democrats remain united, they have the ability to block GOP bills just as they did while in the majority.

Democrats have been united against House-passed legislation funding the Homeland Security Department through September, the end of the budget year, while also rolling back President Barack Obama’s executive policies on immigration.

As a result Congress appears to be at a stalemate on the issue, leaving Republicans with only a few options: pass a short-term extension of current funding levels, fold and strip the immigration language opposed by Democrats from the bill, or let the Homeland Security Department run out of money when current funding expires Feb. 27.

They’re all bad options from the GOP perspective. A short-term extension just pushes the problem to a later date. Removing the immigration language would amount to a bitter admission of defeat after Republicans have spent months accusing Obama of an unconstitutional power grab for limiting deportations for millions in the U.S. illegally. That’s left Republicans staring down the third possibility: a shutdown of the Homeland Security Department.

It’s something most say they want to avoid, but on Thursday House Speaker John Boehner refused to rule the possibility out, insisting instead that Senate Democrats should get the blame if it happens.

“If funding for Homeland Security lapses, Washington Democrats are gonna bear the responsibility,” the Ohio Republican said. “Senate Democrats should stop blocking debate on the House-passed bill.”

Some House conservatives go farther, arguing that a shutdown would hardly be calamitous because the large majority of department personnel would be deemed essential and report to work, though most would not get paid until after the shutdown ends.

“Look at the last shutdown — 85 to 90 percent of the personnel from DHS all came to work and they all got paid” eventually, said Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz. “As much as both sides don’t want that to happen it is always a possibility.”

Another lesson from the last shutdown, which happened in the fall of 2013 in a failed attempt to unwind Obama’s health care law: Republicans get blamed. Even while insisting Senate Democrats are the ones courting a shutdown, many Republicans acknowledge they may have a hard time selling that idea to the public given that they control both chambers of Congress.

The predicament is so frustrating to House Republicans that some conservatives have begun advocating changing Senate rules to limit the use of the filibuster, an idea several Senate Republicans have already dismissed. For many, the fear is that their deadlock over the Homeland Security bill is merely a taste of things to come for the next two years.

Although Republicans were successful in clearing a bill authorizing the Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up an Obama veto, many say that was a relatively easy lift that could stand as the exception rather than the rule in the months of divided government to come.

“Now we have the Senate and so our constituents think ‘now you can stop Obama’. Well we don’t have 60,” said Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Fla. “Honestly it’s going to continue to frustrate not only our side but the people who elected us that nothing is going to change until we get a new president.”

MADISON (AP) – The prosecutor leading a secret probe into whether Gov. Scott Walker’s recall campaign illegally coordinated with conservative groups wants at least one state Supreme Court justice to step out of considering lawsuits challenging the investigation.

A brief note in online court records show Francis Schmitz filed a motion with the court Thursday asking at least one justice and possibly more to recuse themselves.

Schmitz cites court rules that require justices to avoid the appearance of impropriety and to decide cases impartially. The note doesn’t offer any further details. The motion and an accompanying affidavit were sealed.

The investigation has been on hold as the high court ponders two legal challenges to the investigation’s validity and prosecutors’ request to reinstate quashed subpoenas. Oral arguments are set for April.

BOSTON (AP) — Exasperated New Englanders still digging out from three major storms that left 6 feet or more of snow in many areas are bracing for what’s expected to be another punishing blast of winter this weekend.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard watch from Cape Cod to coastal Maine ahead of a storm expected to intensify Saturday night and last into Sunday, bringing bone-chilling cold behind it.

Wind gusts could howl at 70 mph and north-facing coastal areas could suffer moderate flooding and beach erosion from the “monster storm,” said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts.

“Snow amounts will not be as much as the previous big storms, but still, when you have 8 to 14 inches of snow, wind driven-snow, the cold air and the snow that is already there it’s probably going to be very difficult for a lot of people,” he said.

If there was a silver lining, Simpson said, the track of the storm was likely to stay far enough off shore to avoid crippling impacts and reduce the amount of snowfall inland. It will also hit over a holiday weekend, which could minimize travel effects, though it could disrupt some Valentine’s Day plans.

The northern New England coast could see greater snowfall totals — with up 2 two feet in Down East Maine. Officials warned that hurricane-force wind gusts could lead to power outages.

The Coast Guard had an airplane flying in the Gulf of Maine broadcasting a warning to mariners about the impending storm, said Lt. Scott McCann.

The forecast added to the urgency Friday of crews working to remove massive snow piles that have clogged streets and triggered numerous roof collapses.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called up hundreds of National Guard troops to assist with snow removal, and the Hanscom Air Force base outside Boston became a staging area for heavy equipment pouring in from other states to help in the effort.

Patricia Vinchesi, town administrator in Scituate, said a state of emergency would go into effect at midnight in the coastal community were portions of the seawall were breached during a late January storm.

“We’ve sort of been in reaction and recovery mode and before we can get any appreciable degree of recovery we are in reaction mode again,” Vinchesi said of the coming storm.

The National Guard helped dig out 700 fire hydrants in recent days and workers from the New York Department of Transportation were lending a hand to the snow removal effort on Friday, she said. The state gave Scituate permission to dump snow into the ocean because there was nowhere else to put it.

Boston Mayor Martin Walsh said two machines capable of melting 135 tons of snow per hour arrived from New York City on Thursday, along with backhoes, dump trucks and front-end loaders from neighboring states.

The spate of storms have caused major disruptions for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, as snow and freezing temperatures overwhelmed aging equipment on the nation’s oldest public transit system.

Walsh on Thursday suggested the MBTA shut down for the weekend but reversed course on Friday and said closing the system would “pose an incredible hardship to workers and people living throughout Boston.”

A spokesman for the MBTA said the system would operate Saturday but he could make no assurances for the rest of the weekend.

If the snow wasn’t enough, New Englanders also had bitter cold to look forward to in the coming days, with lows of minus 10 degrees forecast in some parts of the region Sunday night.

School superintendents in Massachusetts were spared the decision of whether to order more snow days, as school vacation was already scheduled for next week. Some families planning getaways to warmer destinations moved up their flights from Boston’s Logan International Airport Friday to avoid being grounded by the approaching storm.

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Associated Press writers Mark Pratt in Boston and David Sharp, ib Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.

STEPHENVILLE, Texas (AP) – Authorities searching the home of the man suspected of killing “American Sniper” author Chris Kyle found marijuana, a nearly empty bottle of whiskey and a drug commonly used to treat schizophrenia.

A Texas Ranger testified Friday at Eddie Ray Routh’s murder trial that authorities found the items in the hours after the bodies of Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield were found at a rural shooting range.

Routh’s attorneys have been pursuing an insanity defense, saying the ex-Marine was suffering from mental illness. The prosecution says Routh was numbed by marijuana and whiskey at the time of the shootings and should be held accountable.

The case has drawn intense interest, largely because of the Oscar-nominated film based on Kyle’s memoir that details his four tours in Iraq.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A New Hampshire police department’s groundhog hunt for Punxsutawney Phil is getting a frosty reception from Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

In a Facebook posting, Wolf called on the Merrimack Police Department to drop its cold-hearted search for the renowned rodent. Last week, the groundhog, according to his handlers, predicted six more weeks of winter.

Merrimack police Chief Mark Doyle says the tongue-in-cheek campaign to get Phil was an attempt to lighten the mood after a series of snowstorms that have buried New England.

Wolf says he’s asked New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan to intervene. He says Phil is no average rodent, but rather “an America legend and Pennsylvania hero.”

The governor says the state will “do what is necessary to protect our beloved weather-predicting groundhog.

Menominee tribal members began a 150-mile march to Madison Feb. 13, 2015, to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s decision to deny the tribe’s request to build a casino in Kenosha.

SEATTLE (AP) — After making additions throughout the offseason, the Seattle Mariners had one more move before the start of spring training.

Former All-Star Rickie Weeks and the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a $2 million, one-year contract, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday on condition of anonymity because the deal is pending a physical. Weeks can earn another $2 million in performance bonuses plus additional award bonuses.

ESPN first reported the agreement.

Weeks gives the Mariners additional versatility in the infield. In 121 games last season with Milwaukee, he hit .274 with eight home runs and 29 RBIs. He became a free agent after the Brewers voided his $11.5 million salary for 2015, a right the team had because Weeks failed to have at least 1,200 plate appearances in 2013-14, including 600 or more last year.

The addition of Weeks gives Seattle another potential right-handed bat for the lineup. But where he plays in the field, and how often, will be the question. Throughout his career with Milwaukee, Weeks has only played second base in the field and been a designated hitter a handful of time.

Weeks’ skill as an infielder should make him a potential option as a backup at second base, shortstop and third base. Seattle is already set with its starters having All-Stars Robinson Cano at second base and Kyle Seager at third base. The shortstop job is expected to be settled between Chris Taylor and Brad Miller.

Weeks could also be an option to backup Logan Morrison at first base and potentially work in the outfield. The other utility player currently on Seattle’s roster, Willie Bloomquist, is coming back from major knee surgery last season. Bloomquist is expected to be ready for spring training.

Weeks was an All-Star in 2011 with the Brewers, but his best season came in 2010 when he hit a career-high 29 home runs and drove in 83 runs. Where Weeks could be a boost is adding another right-handed bat to a lineup that was lefty heavy last season. The Mariners signed Nelson Cruz and traded for Justin Ruggiano in the offseason to add more balance to the batting order and Weeks is another option for manager Lloyd McClendon.

Seattle also agreed to a minor league contract with former Cleveland reliever Rafael Perez, who will report to big league spring training. Perez last pitched in the majors in 2012 with the Indians and made 338 relief appearances from 2006-12. Perez could fill Seattle’s need for another left-hander in the bullpen, a role that Joe Beimel held last season. Beimel is a free agent.

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AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

CHICAGO (AP) — Two Wrigley Field rooftop businesses want a temporary restraining order to prevent the Chicago Cubs from putting up a video scoreboard and advertising signs that they say would block their views into Wrigley.

The owners asked for the restraining order in a court filing Thursday, saying a federal lawsuit they filed against the Cubs last month would take too long to go to trial before renovations are complete.

Ongoing work at Wrigley would add two video scoreboards and four advertising signs behind new outfield bleachers. Court papers obtained by the Chicago Tribune say a revenue-sharing agreement between the Cubs and rooftop owners forbids the team from blocking rooftop views through 2023.

A spokesman for the Cubs said in an email Friday that the team has no further comment on the restraining order request at this time.

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MARINETTE – The two people charged with child neglect in assocation with injuries suffered by a 4-month-old boy made their first court appearances Friday.

Katrina Blasing, the infant’s mother, was ordered held on a $20,000 cash bail, according to online court records.

Ryan Lenz, who was caring for the child for a period of time when the injuries were discovered, was ordered held on a $5,000 cash bond.

Both return to court Monday for the balance of their initial appearances.

A request by Jane Smith, Blasing’s attorney, for a “gag order” preventing public officials from discussing the case was approved by Judge James Morrison, according to online court records.

OSHKOSH – Sturgeon spearers are being asked to take their fish to registration stations as quickly as possible with bitter cold weather in the forecast for opening weekend.

Ryan Koenigs, the DNR’s Winnebago System sturgeon biologist, says the registration process will be easier and fish will be less damaged if they aren’t completely frozen. To determine the sex and reproductive stage of the fish, Koenigs says it takes a bigger incision if the fish is frozen. It’s also easier to get better data on unfrozen fish.

FOX 11 meteorologists say temperatures on Saturday, the first day of the season, will be in the low single digits and falling into the afternoon. Wind chills are expected to be about -20 to -25 degrees.

There are 11 sturgeon registration stations around the Lake Winnebago system.

• Click here for the full sturgeon spearing regulations