In Brief: Longtime Wisconsin GOP Rep. Petri to retire

Longtime Wisconsin GOP Rep. Petri to retire

MILWAUKEE -- U.S. Rep. Tom Petri announced Friday that he plans to retire, ending a 35-year career as a moderate Republican from east-central Wisconsin.

Petri, who would have faced re-election in November, will make a formal announcement Monday at a town-hall meeting in his district in Neenah, according to his office.

Petri, 73, has been popular in his district, generally winning elections with at least 60 percent of the vote. But he's a centrist Republican at a time when his party has been moving to the right, and he would have faced a rare primary against at least one conservative state lawmaker.

Obamas pay $98,169 in taxes on $481,098

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama paid $98,169 in taxes on $481,098 income in 2013, tax returns the White House released Friday show. They paid an effective federal income tax rate of 20.4 percent and donated significantly less to charity than they did the year before.

The 42-page document, which included the couple's Illinois state income tax return, shows the Obamas reported donating $59,251 to 32 charities, which helped lower their overall tax bill. The nearly $60,000 in donations represents 12.3 percent of their adjusted gross income.

But their charitable giving was down from 2012, when the president and first lady reported giving away $150,034.

Their largest charitable gift in 2013, $8,751, went to the Fisher House Foundation, which supports military families.

Inmate charged with kidnapping DA's father

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A North Carolina inmate described as a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang faces a federal kidnapping charge after authorities said he used a smuggled mobile phone to help orchestrate the abduction of a prosecutor's father.


Melton is accused in the Saturday kidnapping of Frank Arthur Janssen, of Wake Forest. Janssen was rescued Wednesday by the FBI at an Atlanta apartment. Janssen's daughter prosecuted Melton in 2012.

-- from wire reports