There will not be an “Ask AP” feature this week or next. It returns Jan. 8.

The storms path starting Wednesday lasting through Friday

The wost travel conditions will be Thu. night into Fri. Morning

Heavy snow is possible Thursday night in to early Friday morning.  The initial forecast is for between 4 and 8 inches of snow.  Travel Thursday night and Friday morning could be slow.  During the day Friday we could see light snow mixed with rain or freezing rain.  Saturday we’ll turn cold enough to see another 1-2″ of snow.   Stay tuned to Fox11 news for the latest weather updates

By The Associated Press

Beyond the fame and glory that come to NFL players who star in the postseason or win the Super Bowl, what’s it mean to their wallets?

Curiosity about bonus pay for playoff victories inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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The recent revelation of the online publication of TSA screening protocols referred to identification cards for members of Congress. This implies that members of Congress are exempt from the typical airline screening procedures that average citizens are subjected to.

Has Congress contrived yet another way to insulate itself from the travel hassles inflicted on the rest of us?

KJ Hoffman
Basking Ridge, N.J.

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Members of Congress are not exempt from airport passenger screening, Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman Kristin Lee says. But senators and House members can use their official ID cards in lieu of a driver’s license or passport at screening checkpoints, she says.

The TSA screeners’ manual includes examples not only of congressional IDs but also of other not-often-seen federal IDs that are valid substitutes for driver’s licenses or passports at screening checkpoints. They include those for CIA agents, federal air marshals and federal Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco agents.

Eileen Sullivan
AP Homeland Security Writer
Washington

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How much extra pay do players whose teams advance in the NFL playoffs earn?

Tom Jeffs
Edison, N.J.

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Here’s how the playoff pay breaks down:

- Wild-card round – Division winner: $21,000 ($20,000 in 2008); other: $19,000 ($18,000 in 2008)

- Divisional playoffs – Winners and losers get $21,000 ($20,000 in 2008)

- Conference Championships – Winners and losers get $38,000 ($37,500 in 2008)

- Super Bowl – Winners: $83,000 ($78,000 in 2008); losers: $42,000 ($40,000 in 2008)

- Pro Bowl – Winners: $45,000 (same as 2008); losers: $22,500 (same as 2008).

To sum up: A player on a division winner participating in the wild-card round and winning the Super Bowl would receive a total of $163,000. A player on a wild-card team that wins the Super Bowl would get a total of $161,000. (Division winners with byes make no money in the first round.)

Many players, too, have contracts that reward them with extra money for postseason wins and other accomplishments.

Barry Wilner
AP Football Writer

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It’s been about a year since the terror attacks in Mumbai, India. I was wondering whether the alleged perpetrators of the attacks in Pakistan have been caught and convicted yet. And have the targeted hotels reopened?

Daniel Lippman
Washington

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Nine of the 10 attackers were killed in the siege. Indian police arrested one, who is currently on trial in Mumbai.

Pakistan has put seven alleged militants on trial, charged with either training the assailants or helping organize and fund the attacks. At least two of the men have been named by India as the masterminds. The closed-door trial began in November and is expected to last several months.

The hotels are resuming operations.

The 268-room Tower wing of the Taj Mahal hotel reopened last December, but management says the 287-room Palace wing won’t be completely ready until the end of April. The dome that caught fire was in the Palace wing, which was also where the fiercest gunbattles took place. In the Heritage wing, conference rooms and four restaurants have reopened.

The 550-room Trident hotel reopened completely last December. The Trident’s sister hotel, the 337-room Oberoi – the two are connected by a bridge – is still shut and work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2010.

Erika Kinetz in Mumbai, India
and Chris Brummitt in Islamabad
AP Writers

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

Last year was one of the snowiest season’s on record, but the biggest snowfall event was only 6.5 inches, coming from Winter Storm Carter on December 8^th or 9^th. Oddly enough, a much bigger storm, Blizzard Allison, struck this year during the same dates. Allison became the biggest snowstorm on record in December with 14.7 inches of snow fall during the two day period. It also rose to the 6^th biggest snowstorm in Green Bay’s history.

Light snow started on Tuesday and by Tuesday night, around 2-3 inches of snow had fallen. In fact, I measured the snow by my house and only recorded 2” of snow at 11 PM. But that was only beginning. The intensity of the storm picked up during the overnight with moderate to heavy bands of snow. By Wednesday morning 8-12 inches of snow had fallen across most areas. Snow began to taper off by the late afternoon and by the time all was said and done most locations had received 8-16 inches of snow.

FOX 11 was nearly right on with the forecast. The forecast called for 12 to 14 inches for Door County back through Green Bay and down towards the Fox Cities. However, lake enhancement was anticipated to drop more than 14 inches of snow for areas just west of the lakeshore. Meanwhile, 10 to 12 inches were expected for northwestern portions of the area with 8 to 10 inches near Rhinelander.

Perhaps the only areas off were the lake enhancement areas. Due to persistent winds out of the Northeast, the bay provided extra enhancement for Brown County. Manitowoc also received lower totals due to warm temperatures and warm lake waters.

Here are some additional snowfall reports.

So why did we get so much snow? The low pressure system responsible for the snow rapidly deepened. In fact, the pressure dropped an astounding 42 mb in just 24 hours.

There was also lift and ample moisture from the surface to the upper levels of the atmosphere. This storm was no Alberta clipper by any means. Clipper systems come from the northwest and tend to drop lower amounts of snow. On the contrary this system, began gaining strength across the southern Plains before eventually moving into southern portions of Lake Michigan. Systems with this orientation typically have more moisture fed into them by the Gulf of Mexico and end up dropping more snow. At times Blizzard Allison also went convective, meaning thunder was heard and there were reports of lightning. The clashing of air masses in these situations can result in intense bands of snow.

Not only did significant amounts of snow fall, but the area was faced with intense winds. Blizzard Warnings wouldn’t have even been issued if the winds weren’t so strong. The criteria for a blizzard warning is frequent wind gusts at or greater than 35 mph. The combination of strong winds and snow in these situations will reduce visibilities to a quarter of a mile for 3 hours or longer.

Blizzard Allison certainly lived up to this criteria as winds gusted to 48 mph in Green Bay on Wednesday morning.

Blizzard Allison surely left a significant impact on the entire state. Heavy snow was to blame for downed trees and disruptions in power. Almost all of the schools in the area closed and there were numerous additional cancellations. For a look at how the landscape changed from Allison, take a look at the high resolution satellite images below courtesy of UW-Madison.

Wisconsin Before Blizzard Allison

Wisconsin After Blizzard Allison

Until Next Time,

Meteorologist Andrew Thut

By The Associated Press

Sarah Palin wrapped up her new memoir “Going Rogue” in just four months after the book deal was announced – you betcha she did! – but did she write it alone, or did she have help?

Curiosity about the making of Palin’s best-seller inspired one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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In a recent AP story, Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer said a 3-D version of “Men in Black” is being considered, and he said it isn’t clear what other Sony movies might be reissued in 3-D.

It’s my understanding that a 3-D movie is photographed using two different images, one for each eye.

So has Sony been shooting its films in 3-D for years but just releasing them in 2-D? Or is the company planning to re-shoot those old 2-D titles from their film library in 3-D? Or is it planning to use some sort of fake 3-D simulation process on the original films?

Jon Larimore
Arlington, Va.

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According to the people at Sony Corp., CEO Howard Stringer was referring to an upcoming “Men in Black” movie, which would be the third in the series.
It’s still in development, and the company’s movie studio is considering shooting and releasing it in 3-D, but it hasn’t made a decision yet.

Indeed, 3-D movies require two images. For live-action sequences, that generally requires a special camera set-up that captures left-eye and right-eye images. For animated movies, that can be done on a computer.
Sony has developed its own single-lens 3-D camera, which it showcased in Japan in October.

But the studio says it hasn’t been shooting its 2-D films with 3-D cameras and squirreling away the footage.

It has developed some 3-D titles, including the recent “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” “Open Season” (2006) and “Monster House” (2006). It’s possible those films may be rereleased in 3-D on home video as televisions catch up with the technology in theaters.

There are also ways of converting old 2-D movies into 3-D artificially. Sony says it is monitoring such developments but has not yet announced any plans to remaster 2-D hits from its library into 3-D.

Ryan Nakashima
AP Business Writer
Los Angeles

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Who actually wrote Sarah Palin’s book?

Phil Scott
Vancouver, Wash.

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The former Republican vice presidential candidate is the credited author of her best-selling memoir, “Going Rogue,” with assistance from Lynn Vincent, a writer and features editor for World magazine, a conservative Christian publication. Vincent is a San Diego resident who has written or co-written several books, including “Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime and Corruption in the Democratic Party.”

Palin reportedly spent weeks in San Diego shortly after resigning as Alaska governor and worked on the manuscript with her collaborator. The folksy memoir was completed just four months after the book deal was announced.

In the book’s acknowledgements, Palin thanks Vincent for her “indispensable help in getting the words on paper.”

Rachel D’Oro
Associated Press Writer
Anchorage, Alaska

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We’ve all gotten e-mails asking that you forward them to all your friends to help cure a disease, be given the wish of your choice or become disgustingly wealthy. I’m sure someone is benefiting from jamming the Internet with all these e-mails, but I’m at a loss to figure out what that benefit might be. Can you explain?

Bill Hart
Canton, Ohio

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Even if a spam e-mail isn’t trying to sell you something, the person who sent it is probably trying to defraud you in another way.

One kind of spam tries to sell you things, like Viagra. Some senders of these messages will actually deliver products to their buyers. But such messages often link to sites that try to steal your credit card number or give you a computer virus that can be used to control your computer and carry out online crimes.

Another variety promises some freebie, like pornographic pictures or a fun video or timely news story. This kind of spam rarely delivers anything but headaches. You are told you need to open an attachment to view the images, but the attachment can contain a virus, allowing the sender to can take control of your computer and use it to send out more spam.

Some chain letters are just harmless hocus-pocus – a cute story with a prompt to forward it to 10 friends or risk a year of bad luck. But this type of game can be malicious, too, opening you and your friends up to even more malicious spam as your e-mail addresses get forwarded around the Web.

Criminals pump out spam constantly because it is a dirt-cheap way to do a digital stickup. It’s essentially free to send, which is why about 90 percent of the world’s e-mail is spam.

Jordan Robertson
AP Technology Writer
San Francisco

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.

By The Associated Press

When most people think of nuclear fuel, uranium and plutonium come to mind. Should a different fuel – something called thorium – be used in our nuclear reactors instead?

A reader wondering about the safety of thorium fission submitted one of the questions in this edition of “Ask AP,” a weekly Q&A column where AP journalists respond to readers’ questions about the news.

If you have your own news-related question that you’d like to see answered by an AP reporter or editor, send it to newsquestions@ap.org, with “Ask AP” in the subject line. And please include your full name and hometown so they can be published with your question.

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Until recently, there was a lot reported about malpractice suits and skyrocketing insurance premiums for doctors being among the leading causes of the rapidly rising cost of medical care. Is this issue addressed in the bill that is being prepared in Congress now?

Bob Meyer
Kimbolton, Ohio
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The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says health care costs go up when doctors practice defensive medicine by ordering unneeded tests to protect themselves from being sued. But the insurance premiums that doctors pay for malpractice coverage are not themselves a major contributor to costs.

The budget office says slapping limits on jury awards in malpractice cases would lead to less defensive medicine, reducing the federal deficit by $54 billion over 10 years. That’s not a huge amount in the $2.5-trillion-a-year U.S. health care system, but it is real money.

The Democratic health care bills in Congress don’t deal with medical malpractice. President Barack Obama says he’s opposed to limits on jury awards, but open to looking for alternatives in which patients injured by a doctor or hospital error can get compensation without having to go to court.

Doctors want the health care legislation to address malpractice, but trial lawyers – generous campaign contributors to Democrats – are trying to stave off any major changes.

The outlook for such reforms in the future is uncertain.

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
AP Health Care Writer
Washington

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I have been reading a lot about thorium fission as a possible replacement for uranium and plutonium in the next generation of nuclear reactors. I have read that thorium is more plentiful, avoids altogether the issue of weapons-grade material proliferation, and has less waste that decays more quickly than that from uranium and plutonium.

Seems too good to be true. What is the truth about this? And if it is that good, is there any federal funding to get a pilot reactor up and running?

Mike Collins
La Crosse, Wis.

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Experts say while thorium fuel has some advantages, the benefits are modest at best.

“A lot of the hype one hears about thorium fuel is indeed too good to be true,” said Ed Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Lyman said thorium can be used as a fuel in a fission reactor, where it would play a role similar to uranium-238. But it cannot replace uranium and plutonium. To start a chain reaction, thorium would have to be used together with either enriched uranium, uranium-233 or plutonium.

Thorium is more plentiful, but there is enough readily available uranium to meet projected world demand through 2070, said Felix Killar of the Nuclear Energy Institute. Plutonium is a viable energy source too.

Killar said fission of thorium produces uranium and plutonium that still could be used for nuclear weapons, just in smaller quantities. It also does produce waste, and there still would be the need for long-term disposal.

Lyman said Norway and India, which have vast thorium reserves, are exploring the technology, as is China.

There have been some federally supported projects over the years, but Lyman said he is not aware of any significant effort at this time.

Mark Williams
AP Energy Writer
Columbus, Ohio

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I want to know why the government decided to issue a $6,500 homebuyers’ tax credit only to those who have owned their current homes for more than five years. I feel it is discriminatory not to include second-time homebuyers who haven’t owned homes as long.

Eric Ladwig
Tyler, Texas
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Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a former real estate executive who helped to craft the extended credit with Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., originally wanted all move-up homebuyers to be eligible for the $6,500 tax credit, his press secretary Sheridan Watson said.

But because of cost concerns, the Senate agreed the credit would be limited to those who have lived in their homes for five years or more. Structuring the credit this way – as opposed to, say, saving on costs by reducing the credit amount or tightening restrictions based on the homebuyer’s income – has the greatest impact on the housing market and economy, Watson said.
Watson said the credit as it stands now captures more than half of all homeowners.

The Senate Finance Committee estimates the cost of the $6,500 credit and the extension of the $8,000 credit for first-time homebuyers – defined as those who have not owned a home in the last three years – to be $10.8 billion over 10 years.

About 1.4 million first-time homebuyers qualified for the original credit through August. The National Association of Realtors estimates that 350,000 of them would not have bought their homes without the credit.

To qualify for either credit, buyers must sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010, and close by June 30.

J.W. Elphinstone
AP Real Estate Writer
New York

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Have questions of your own? Send them to newsquestions@ap.org.