National briefs

Man pleads not guilty in Capitol plot

CINCINNATI -- An Ohio man has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of plotting to kill officials and workers at the U.S. Capitol. Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, entered the pleas Thursday during a brief arraignment in federal court. He will continue to be held without bond. Cornell was indicted Wednesday on charges that carry possible sentences of up to 20 years each. They allege attempted murder of U.S. officials and employees and solicitation to commit a crime of violence.

Obama will not meet with Netanyahu

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will not meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he travels to Washington in March, the White House said Thursday, one day after being caught off-guard by Republicans' invitation for the Israeli leader to address a joint session of Congress. Spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in keeping with "long-standing practice and principle," the president does not meet with heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections. Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to Congress on March 3 and will push for additional sanctions on Iran. He initially was scheduled to address lawmakers in February, but the date was changed so it could coincide with Netanyahu's trip to Washington to address an annual conference held by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby group, in early March.

Police car runs into rampaging pit bulls

SAN MATEO, Calif. -- A police officer in California resorted to hitting two pit bulls with his patrol car to stop a neighborhood rampage in which the dogs attacked several people, including a city sanitation worker, and charged a woman pushing two children in a stroller. One pit bull was killed and the other captured when the San Mateo officer rammed the dogs with his vehicle Wednesday. Police had tried unsuccessfully to corral the pit bulls after they bit one woman and attacked a landscaper in a backyard, who fended them off with a leaf blower. The dogs, between 55 and 70 pounds, then clawed at the driver's side of a patrol car, ran toward a nearby high school and charged at the woman with a stroller, who was unharmed, police said. It was at that point the officer rammed the dogs. The surviving dog retreated to its home, about a quarter-mile away, and animal control officers captured it with help from its owner.

Yellowstone ships bison for slaughter

BILLINGS, Mont. -- Yellowstone National Park has begun shipping wild bison for slaughter as part of a plan to reduce the park's population by as many as 900 animals this winter. On Wednesday and Thursday, more than 150 bison captured near the park's northern border with Montana were removed from holding, loaded onto trailers and shipped off, according to the Buffalo Field Campaign, a wildlife advocacy group. There were 4,900 bison in the park last summer. Officials long have tried to curb the animals' winter migration into Montana to guard against potential disease transmission to livestock. The bison taken were turned over to American Indian tribes. Their meat will be distributed to tribal members.

-- From wire reports