It's no accident he's leaving a school that regularly plays for national titles at the NCAA's highest level to one that competes at its lowest.

Thorp's done with big-time college sports, and if he had his way, other school presidents would be finished with them, too. Many leaders just don't have the training to handle a major athletics program, he argues.

It's a message that may resonate with administrators at institutions that have lately felt the sting of scandals tied to athletics.

"I feel great compassion for my colleagues that are getting caught up in this," Thorp said. "My main concern in this, and the reason I've been saying what I've been saying, is I'm worried about the people who are my friends. But I'm also worried about the institutions that are having their leadership diverted in this way."

Thorp will resign from his alma mater with its 18,000 undergraduates at the end of June to work at Washington (about 6,000 undergrads) after spending most of the past three years dealing with a withering array of NCAA and athletics-related problems. They dominated his time, despite the fact that at least when he took the job he was a novice in the business of athletics.

He's come to the conclusion that presidents should step aside and let their athletic directors handle the job.

"Either we put the ADs back in charge and hold them accountable if things don't work," Thorp said in April during a campus forum, "... or let's be honest and tell everyone when we select (presidents) to run institutions that run big-time sports that athletics is the most important part of their job."

Sports have certainly created enormous problems for several top college administrators.

Ohio State University president Gordon Gee announced he was retiring Tuesday, after The Associated Press last week published remarks he made mocking Notre Dame, Roman Catholics and the Southeastern Conference during an athletic council meeting in December. Previously, during a 2011 scandal, Gee joked he was worried then-football coach Jim Tressel, who admitted to breaking NCAA rules, would dismiss him.

Rutgers University president Robert Barchi and the school have faced fierce criticism over the hiring of incoming athletic director Julie Hermann, who was accused of being verbally and emotionally abusive by players on the Tennessee volleyball team she coached in the 1990s. That came after the school fired men's basketball coach Mike Rice for throwing balls at his players and berating them in practice. In the aftermath of Rice's ouster, former athletic director Tim Pernetti also resigned.

At the University of Miami, president Donna Shalala has spent nearly two years dealing with an NCAA investigation of allegations that booster Nevin Shapiro provided thousands of dollars in improper benefits to Hurricanes athletes. She's publicly criticized the NCAA's probe, saying the school had been "wronged" and that the programs have "suffered enough" through self-imposed sanctions.

And, at Penn State University, former president Graham Spanier faces charges of perjury and concealing child sex abuse allegations involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in a scandal that ended the long tenure of Joe Paterno and led to unprecedented sanctions from the NCAA.

Murray Sperber, a critic of commercialization in college sports, wonders why presidents don't stumble more often when it comes to overseeing a realm that is often foreign to them. Most come from the academic side and make their way through the administrative ranks that exist as separate worlds from athletics on a college campus, he said.

"If you put me in charge of the Atomic Energy Commission, I would get in trouble," said Sperber, an author and a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley's graduate school of education. "I wouldn't know what to say. It's so inevitable that I'm kind of amazed nobody just stands up and says, 'Look, these presidents don't know anything.'"

The idea of presidential control in athletics took hold with the recommendations of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics in the early 1990s.

The commission was created by the Knight Foundation in 1989, after a string of college sports scandals created a sense that athletic departments had gotten out of control and threatened schools' academic integrity. The commission noted in one report that 57 of the 106 schools then competing at the highest level of sports had been penalized by the NCAA in the 1980s, along with reports of athletes taking courses like "recreational leisure."

Putting the school president at the center of reform efforts was a key part of what the commission advocated.

"The Knight Commission's message remains that presidential responsibility for all elements of university life doesn't stop at the entry of its stadiums, arenas and playing fields." Amy Perko, the current executive director of the Knight Commission said in a statement Tuesday.

"As long as college sports are part of the academic enterprise, it's the president's job to ensure that its sports programs reflect the university values."

While Perko said presidents don't need to manage the daily operations of an athletic department, she said more must be done "to better educate governing boards and new and aspiring presidents about their roles and responsibilities for athletics oversight."

Welch Suggs Jr., a former associate director for the Knight Commission, said the problem is more about determining the role of college athletics than a question of whether the presidential-control model is flawed.

"If it's to be a big-time American spectacle, like the NFL or Major League Baseball, then no way," said Suggs, now an associate professor of journalism at the University of Georgia. "It makes absolutely no sense for academic leaders to be in charge of it. But if you want it to be a part of higher education and a function of the collegiate experience, someone has to make sure people in athletics know they're part of the educational process and not just a commercial business."

Thorp certainly understands the difficulty finding that balance.

In his first two years, he thought athletics "was the least of my worries" after the Tar Heels men's basketball, women's soccer and field hockey teams each won national championships.

Everything changed when the NCAA launched an investigation into improper benefits in the football program in the 2010. That soon expanded to academic misconduct involving a university tutor, then got worse with findings of fraud and no-show classes in an academic department with significant athlete enrollments.

At the height of the scrutiny, Thorp said the problems regularly dominated his time and diverted his focus from running the school.

And, now, after he's probably had enough experience to handle college sports and all its problems, he's eager for to step away from it.

As for the Knight Commission, Thorp said the two sides will agree to disagree.

"We don't have a commission that tells us not to trust the dean of medicine to run the hospital, but we do have a commission that tells us not to trust the ADs to run athletics," he said. "It doesn't make any sense."

___

AP National Writer Nancy Armour in Chicago contributed to this report.

I have two children, ages 7 and 1. Like "Solitary," I also enjoy time to myself, whether reading, writing or going for a hike.

When my son was born, I felt it was important to give him confidence and the ability to be self-sufficient. Therefore, we have him help us with chores like grocery shopping and encourage him to make healthy, responsible choices. When he was 2 and stopped taking naps, we told him he had to have "quiet time" and that reading to himself was one of the options.

As a result, our son is self-motivated, an avid reader and writer, and has an intellectual curiosity most adults don't have. He is teaching himself cursive writing and is interested in learning a foreign language.

We live in the Colorado Rockies, and getting rid of our TV set was one of the best things our family has ever done. Instead of tuning each other out, we enjoy conversation, creating and sharing our days together. I have never been happier as a father or husband.

I am concerned for people who are afraid of silence. I suspect it's a sign of sensory bombardment. The human mind needs moments of clarity brought on by reflection. -- DAD WHO GETS IT

DEAR DAD: Thank you for your letter. I received many thoughtful comments from people who identify strongly with "Solitary's" point of view:

DEAR ABBY: Your advice to "Solitary Woman" was good, but did not start soon enough. She should provide stimulating crib and playpen toys to teach her son at an early age that he can control some aspects of his environment. Having this ability is the key to enjoying solitude.

When my daughter was 7 weeks old, I attached a mobile fashioned from a white wire coat hanger and rainbow-hued origami cranes to her bassinet. I wiggled it and watched her smile at the moving colored birds. When the movement stopped, she became frustrated and began to whimper and kick and flail her arms. The paper birds moved again. She lay still and watched them. When they stopped the second time, she didn't whimper but just moved herself in the bassinet. She had learned she could control her environment.

As a toddler she could leave her playmates and pursue solitary activities in the quiet of her own room. I am convinced that her bassinet experience was the basis for learning to be happy by herself and with herself. -- SMART MAMA IN EL CAJON, CALIF.

DEAR ABBY: According to a journalist and mother who published a book on the topic, when an infant cries, wait a few minutes and listen before reaching out. This gives the baby time to learn how he feels with himself, and to deal with it emotionally. After five minutes or so, if the baby has a real need, then you can reach for him. Doing it too quickly prevents this crucial process of learning to be with oneself. -- ANOTHER SOLITARY CANADIAN

DEAR ABBY: As a teacher (now retired), I was always interested in personality types and how they affect learning and interaction with others. One way of dividing personality types is into introverts and extroverts. Introverts get their energy from quiet time alone; extroverts get energy from being with other people and sensory activities.

This is an inborn trait that cannot really be taught, and there are varying degrees of the introvert/extrovert characteristic along a continuum. Wise parents will learn their child's personality traits and tailor their parenting to help him/her have the best learning situations possible. -- MARY IN TEXAS

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

To order "How to Write Letters for All Occasions," send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. Shipping and handling are included in the price.

The Chihuahua and two terrier-poodle mixes were found at the Ohio house where Castro allegedly kept Amanda Berry, 27, Gina DeJesus, 23, and Michelle Knight, 32,in captivity for more than a decade.

Knight's attorney, Kathryn Joseph, said she appreciates officials' giving the women time and the opportunity to decide whether they want the dogs.

"I think it's really nice that they're hanging on to them because I know they were meaningful, at least to my client," Joseph said today. "I don't know if she's interested, so it's something I have to talk to her about."

Knight is "doing very well" and has not had or needed facial reconstruction surgery, contrary to some reports, Joseph said.

"They're all doing pretty well, amazingly well. You'd be shocked," she said. "They're happy. They're optimistic. They're excited about their futures."

Another member of the legal team whose firm is working primarily with Berry and DeJesus declined to comment.

John Baird, chief animal control officer for Cleveland, said the dogs are at a foster home, pending a decision by the women.

"We're going to try to give them as much time as they need," Baird said.

He said all three dogs have since been sterilized and micro-chipped. Two of them had matted hair and have been groomed. He said they "seem to be great" and did not appear to have been abused or mistreated.

"We think that maybe one of these women, or all of the women, may have bonded with one or more of these dogs and we'd like to make sure they get a chance to get one of them, or whatever dog they bonded with, to maybe make things a little bit easier on them," Baird said.

All three women have kept a low profile since Berry escaped and the other two women were

Their attorneysearlier this week on behalf of their clients, thanking the public for their encouragement, as well as for respecting their requests for privacy.

"The outpouring of public support has been nothing short of remarkable," the letter said.

"To have complete strangers offer loving support in the form of money, goods and services, reaching out to help like a family member, is appreciated in ways that are impossible to put into words. Amanda, Gina and Michelle, who have asked for nothing, are frankly overwhelmed by it all."

Castro, 52, has been charged with kidnapping and rape. He is being help on an $8 million bond and has yet to enter a plea.

OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc invests in dozens of businesses, and a new book tries to explain it all to young readers, from A to Z.

Two Omaha residents, author Nancy Rips and illustrator Tom Kerr, have teamed up on "My First Berkshire ABC" to teach children about one of the world's best-known companies, and a little about the local billionaire behind it.

More than 1,000 copies were sold at Berkshire's annual meeting on Saturday, which draws thousands of people to Omaha, and where Buffett has a say on what gets sold.

"You need something to bring home to your kids and grandkids to explain Berkshire," Rips, who has also written three books about Jewish holidays, said in a joint interview with Kerr.

Most pages show companies that Berkshire owns or invests in.

G, for example, is for "Geico," and features the car insurer's talking gecko. And W is for "Wells Fargo", and features the bank's familiar stagecoach.

The book's theme changed at Buffett's suggestion.

"Our first effort was things like, S is for sharing. Mr. Buffett believes in sharing. K is for being kind,'" Rips said.

"I got an email back from Warren saying, it's too laudatory, they will lampoon him in the news," she continued. "And I wrote a whole new proposal: A is for Acme (Brick), B is for Borsheim's (jewelry), C is for Clayton Homes, D is for Dairy Queen. I got an email back: You're in the show.'"

Kerr has worked at many newspapers and drew McGruff, the Crime Dog for the National Crime Prevention Council.

"Part of what Warren talks about is investing in things that you know," he said. "Virtually everything in here is something that somebody can relate to and touch and understand."

Berkshire Vice Chairman Charlie Munger is shown under "Q," stamping boxes of "quality" merchandise.

Rips and Kerr have not heard from Buffett on whether he likes the book. Buffett's assistant Carrie Sova had no comment on that question.

Kerr depicted Buffett just four times, including on the cover holding his usual Cherry Coke.

"This book is not all about Warren Buffett," Kerr said. "I picked my spots. He's so synonymous with Dairy Queen that I wanted him there, and obviously on the cover with Coca-Cola."

"Cherry Coke," Rips interjected.

"Yep," Kerr said. "She had me change that."

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia will sign agreements with China's ZTE Corp and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd in a "few weeks" to expand its mobile phone infrastructure and double subscribers to 40 million, a senior Ethiopian official said on Thursday.

ZTE Corp, China's second-largest telecoms equipment maker, has already been involved in developing phone and internet services in the Horn of Africa nation for several years.

Africa's rapidly expanding telecoms industry has come to symbolize the continent's economic growth, with subscribers across the continent totalling almost 650 million last year, up from just 25 million in 2001, according to the World Bank.

"We are now poised to start the expansion. We are almost on the final stage on dealing with ... ZTE and Huawei," said Debretsion Gebremichael, Ethiopia's deputy prime minister and minister of communications and technology.

"In a few weeks we will conclude the agreement and we will start the expansion," he told Reuters.

State-owned Ethio Telecom is the only mobile operator in the country of over 80 million people, one of the last remaining nations on the continent to maintain a state monopoly in telecoms.

Debretsion declined to say how much the new deals with the Chinese equipment suppliers are worth, but said the two firms would finance the project.

MOBILE BANKING

Though lacking much of a telecoms industry, the government approved a directive late last year allowing private companies to provide value-added services - essentially all services other than standard voice calls.

Ethiopia's ministry of communications and information technology has received applications from 218 firms to provide such services, Debretsion said, while South Africa's MTN Group - Africa's largest mobile phone company - has already been granted a licence.

Debretsion said preparations are also underway to launch mobile banking services. Ethiopia and Zimbabwe are the only countries on the continent who have yet to provide such a service.

"It's a matter of preparation with application providers because the banking system is within the government and we have to agree and we have to comply as well with the directives we have," he said.

"It has nothing to do with infrastructure now, its about application. Any time we can start."

Mobile banking is expected to grow into a $22 billion industry across Africa by 2015 on the back of the saring use of cell phones and growing demand for financial services, according to consultancy Juniper Research.

An aunt, cousins, a longtime friend and the grandmother who raised Nicole Lynn Mansfield say they are left with differing, incomplete accounts of the life of the 33-year-old mother, who is the only American known to have been killed fighting in Syria. They say some of Mansfield's mysterious activity including a trip to the Middle East aroused the curiosity of the FBI, who contacted them a couple years ago to ask why Mansfield had traveled to Dubai for a few weeks.

"I was stunned, totally stunned, that she went over there and she got herself into what she got into and ended up away from us now," said Mansfield's aunt, Monica Mansfield-Speelman, of her niece's trip to Syria, where more than 70,000 people have been killed during two years of civil war.

Family members said FBI agents visited them Thursday and informed them of Mansfield's death. Simon Shaykhet, an FBI spokesman in Detroit, said he could confirm agents spoke to Mansfield's family, but he declined further comment. A pro-Syrian government news agency said Mansfield and two others were fighters for a group opposed to Syria's government and were killed in a confrontation in the northwestern city of Idlib. The report on the circumstances of the deaths could not immediately be confirmed.

Mansfield first became interested in the Middle East after a boyfriend introduced her to Islam several years ago, her relatives said. She continued with the religion after the relationship ended, going to services at a nearby mosque. She also started wearing a hijab and eventually did so around family despite their reservations.

She later married an Arab immigrant, got divorced and travelled to Dubai, telling her family at the time she wanted to learn more about Arab culture and the politics of the region, relatives said. Though family members asked questions, Mansfield, who has an 18-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, never told them the details of her marriage or trips overseas.

Mansfield-Speelman, who last saw her niece in August, said she and other family members did not approve of her niece's conversion from Christianity to Islam and her short-lived marriage to a man they never met. The aunt said she doesn't know the whereabouts of Mansfield's ex-husband.

Her grandmother, Carole Mansfield, said she remembered warning her granddaughter about the potential dangers of taking the Dubai trip alone.

"I said, 'Nikki, Nikki, Nikki, do you realize you're looking a rattlesnake in the face?'" Carole Mansfield said. "'Oh, Grandma,' I can still hear her say."

It was after that trip to Dubai that family said the FBI contacted them for information about Mansfield. Agents never told relatives why they were interested in her.

A law enforcement officer confirmed that Mansfield had been on the FBI's radar before she left for Syria. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't permitted to speak publicly about the investigation.

One of Mansfield's cousins, Deidra Mansfield, said she was close to her cousin for years growing up but they grew distant as she embraced her new faith and spent more time away from home. Deidra Mansfield said she and others unsuccessfully tried to keep her fully engaged with them.

"If I would call her, she'd act like everything was normal on the phone," she said.

Monte Mansfield, 22, said his sister "would never open up about" Islam with him, but that was just as well he said they got along and he liked to pick on her as a little brother should whenever she was home.

Their father, Gregory Mansfield, said he didn't like her decision to convert. Despite his misgivings, he said he took her in when she needed a place to live for a short time until about a year ago. The elder Mansfield said he did not allow her to wear a hijab in the home, and "she would respect that."

Her brother said the last time they communicated was about two months ago. She was going to Wayne State University in Detroit, and she texted him to say that she wanted to see a movie with him when the winter semester was over. They never got the chance, he said.

One of Nicole Mansfield's close friends, Tasha Williams of Huntington, Ind., said Mansfield called in mid-May to say she would be returning on a flight from Turkey to the U.S. in a few days after traveling to Syria to see a man. She wanted to be picked up at the Cincinnati airport.

"She said she was in a hotel room. She needed to get away from everything. I never heard from her again," Williams said.

Williams said she and Mansfield were certified nursing assistants.

"My boss was holding a position for her in Indiana. This is where she's supposed to be right now," Williams said.

The longtime friend was able to glean some details about Mansfield's other life that family members struggled to find out about. Williams said Mansfield met a man from the Middle East online and they married at the Grand Canyon in 2007 but divorced three years later when Mansfield learned he had another family.

Even if Mansfield got in over her head, Williams said she believed her friend would "absolutely not" take up arms.

"Nicole Mansfield has never been in a fight in her life except with me. We were 13 and became friends the next day. She's the biggest scaredy cat. ... She avoided drama at all costs," Williams said.

Carole Mansfield is less certain as she grieves her granddaughter's death.

"I don't think that we will ever be told the truth," she said.

___

Associated Press reporters Mike Householder in Burton, Mich., Ed White in Detroit and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jeff Karoub on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jeffkaroub

The ITC had said it would make a decision on Friday but delayed it until Tuesday, June 4. It gave no reason for the extension.

An administrative law judge at the ITC had said in a preliminary ruling in September that Apple was innocent of violating the patents. The next step is for the full commission to weigh in.

Apple has waged an international patent war since 2010 as it battles Google Inc's Android mobile-device operating system. The fight has embroiled Samsung, HTC Corp and others that use Android.

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker, while Apple is in third place, according to the research company Gartner. Many experts consider Samsung's Galaxy touchscreen tablets the main rival to the iPad, although they are currently a distant second to Apple's devices.

The case at the International Trade Commission is No. 337-794.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; editing by Matthew Lewis)

DEAR ABBY: My wife revealed on my 60th birthday two days ago that she has $10,000 in cash hidden in our house. She said she secretly took the money from my pay and consulting checks and hid it when we were going through a bad period in our marriage 10 years ago and nearly divorced.

I told her there is no rational reason for keeping that much money in the house. She says she's keeping it for an emergency, and it makes her feel secure. When I said we should invest the money, she got upset.

I can't understand why anyone would want to keep that much cash in the house. What's your view? -- LIVING IN "FORT KNOX"

DEAR LIVING: To understand your wife's motivation, look back 10 years to the time when she may have felt she'd need the money to get a new start. That's the "emergency" the money was salted away for.

I agree that $10,000 is a lot of cash to keep in the house. Most of it should be in the bank, with only a portion in the house so it will be immediately available if needed. Unless your wife feels your marriage is still shaky, I can't see why she wouldn't compromise. Could that be her reason?

DEAR ABBY: I am a 15-year-old girl with a good life. There are bumps in the road, but they happen and I accept that. The thing I worry about is my me-maw. She's getting very old and thinks she will be dying soon.

I try to tell her not to think that way. I really love her and don't know what I would do if she were gone so soon. I go to her house every summer, winter, and anytime we're out of school.

I need to get a job this summer, and I don't know how to tell my me-maw I won't be coming to visit without hurting her feelings. She is one of those people who don't show their emotions like most of my family, so I know when she sometimes says it's OK it really isn't. Please tell me what to say to her. -- CONCERNED GRANDCHILD IN ALABAMA

DEAR CONCERNED GRANDCHILD: You are sweet, thoughtful and sensitive, but you are also growing up. Your grandmother may be talking the way she is because of her age -- or she may be concerned about her health and trying to prepare you.

It's time to ask your parents what is going on with her. If she's really sick, you may want to postpone getting that job until next summer. If she's not, you should explain to Me-maw that you love her and treasure the special times you have been able to spend with her -- but as much as you'd like to, you will not be able to do it this summer because you need to get a job. It's part of becoming an adult and will help you to learn responsibility and independence. As a loving grandparent, she knows how important that is for you.

DEAR ABBY: I am a hairdresser, and one of my clients who considers herself to be my good friend handed me a birthday card. Stuck on the envelope was a sticky note with my name written on it, covering whatever name was underneath. On the card, under "Happy Birthday" was her signature -- again on a sticky note. She said she thought the card was funny and too good not to use again, so I should pass it on, too.

I am hurt and insulted. Am I taking this too seriously? I want my own birthday card! -- SHOCKED IN FLORIDA

DEAR SHOCKED: Your client was trying to be thoughtful, or she wouldn't have remembered it was your birthday. Be grateful for what you got. She didn't mean to insult you -- in a weird way she was trying to do you a favor.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in "What Every Teen Should Know." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

In one of the most electric moments since the IRS controversy erupted nearly two weeks ago, Lois Lerner unwaveringly but briefly defended herself before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. But she would say no more, citing legal advice in the face of a federal investigation.

Members of Congress have angrily complained that Lerner and other high-ranking IRS officials did not inform them that conservative groups were singled out, even though lawmakers repeatedly asked the IRS about it after hearing complaints from local tea party groups.

The Justice Department has launched a criminal probe of the murky events over the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns, saying it is looking into potential civil rights violations. Top IRS officials say Lerner didn't tell them for nearly a year after she learned that agents working under her had improperly singled out conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.

Under unrelenting criticism most forcefully from Republicans but also from Democrats and people outside politics administration officials from President Barack Obama on down have denounced the targeting as inappropriate and inexcusable.

Lerner, who heads the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status and first disclosed the targeting at a legal conference, has said the same. But she also spoke up for herself Wednesday, sitting stern-faced at the committee witness table.

"I have not done anything wrong," she said. "I have not broken any laws, I have not violated any IRS rules or regulations, and I have not provided false information to this or any other congressional committee."

By one lawmaker's count, Lerner was asked 14 times by members of Congress or their staffs without revealing that the groups had been targeted. On Wednesday, lawmakers didn't get a chance to ask Lerner again.

Nine minutes after she began speaking, Lerner was excused, though committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said he might recall her. He and other Republicans say they believe she forfeited her Fifth Amendment privilege not to testify by giving an opening statement in which she proclaimed her innocence, but several law professors were skeptical they could make that stick.

Issa later said he would consult with others including her lawyer and House attorneys before determining whether to summon her again, hopefully deciding by the time Congress returns from an upcoming recess early next month.

"She's a fact witness with a tremendous amount that she could tell us," Issa said.

By leaving early, Lerner missed out on a six-hour grilling that three other witnesses endured.

The hearing was Congress' third on the IRS controversy in the past week. Taken together, testimony by current and former officials indicates that Lerner's actions were consistent with theirs: Once officials learned that conservative groups were being targeted, they say they made sure the practice was stopped, but they were slow to tell superiors, if they did so at all.

They also didn't tell Congress, until Lerner herself made it public at a May 10 legal conference.

"Think about it. For more than a year, the IRS knew that it had inappropriately targeted groups of Americans based on their political beliefs without mentioning it," Issa said. "There seemed to be a culture of insulation that puts higher priority on deniability than addressing blatant wrongdoing."

The hearings have been notable for what they have not shown as well as what they have. No evidence has emerged that anyone outside the IRS, including the White House, directed agents to go after conservative groups. And there has been no evidence that anyone outside the IRS was made aware that the groups were being targeted until a few weeks before the inspector general released his report on the situation last week.

Still, Obama's top spokesman said Wednesday the White House is facing "legitimate criticisms" for its shifting accounts about who knew what, and when they knew it.

Press secretary Jay Carney first said only Obama's top lawyer knew the IRS was being investigated in the weeks before the inspector general's report was released. Later, he said the chief of staff and other top officials also knew.

"There have been some legitimate criticisms about how we're handling this," Carney said. "And I say 'legitimate' because I mean it."

The report said IRS agents in a Cincinnati office started targeting tea party and other conservative groups for additional scrutiny in March or April of 2010. By August 2010, "tea party" became part of a "be on the lookout," or "BOLO" list of terms to flag for additional screening.

Lerner learned in June 2011 that agents in her division were singling out groups with "Tea Party" and "Patriots" in their applications for tax-exempt status, the report said. She ordered agents to scrap the criteria immediately, but later it evolved to include groups that promoted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"After that date, Ms. Lerner had 14 opportunities in direct and distinct interactions with the Ways & Means Committee and with this committee 14 different occasions where she could have set the record straight, and she chose not to do it," said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

Lerner, 62, is an attorney who joined the IRS in 2001. She expressed pride in her 34-year career in federal government, which has included work at the Justice Department and Federal Election Commission, and she said she currently oversees 900 workers and a budget approaching $100 million.

She has faced no discipline for her actions, IRS officials said. A new acting commissioner is conducting a 30-day review of the division.

J. Russell George, the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration, has blamed ineffective management for allowing agents to improperly target conservative groups for more than 18 months.

On Wednesday, he hinted that there may be more revelations to come. He told the oversight committee that his office has since uncovered other questionable criteria used by agents to screen applications for tax-exempt status. But he refused to elaborate.

"As we continue our review of this matter, we have recently identified some other BOLOs that raised concerns about political factors," George said. "I can't get into more detail at this time as to the information that is there because it's still incomplete.

Lerner's supervisors said they, too, were kept in the dark for nearly a year. One of those supervisors was Deputy IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, who later became acting head of the agency. He was forced last week to resign.

Miller said he first learned in May 2012 that conservative groups had been singled out. He promptly told his boss, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.

But for the second straight day, Shulman testified that he didn't tell anyone in the Treasury Department or the White House because he was awaiting the results of an audit by the agency's inspector general. The IRS is part of the Treasury Department.

Shulman stood by that Wednesday, and was pressed once again by lawmakers about why he didn't say anything.

"At the time I learned about this list, I felt I was taking the appropriate actions and that my course was the proper one, and I still feel that way today," Shulman said.

Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, left in November when his five-year term expired. Miller became acting commissioner when Shulman left.

In the spring of 2012, George told a top Treasury official that the inspector general's office was investigating complaints by conservative groups. George, however, did not reveal any details about what he had uncovered, said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin, who also testified Wednesday.

"He told me only of the fact that he had undertaken such an audit, and he did not provide any findings," Wolin testified. "I told him that he should follow the facts wherever they lead. I told him that our job is to stay out of the way and let him do his work."

Wolin said he didn't tell any of his superiors at Treasury or the White House about the investigation.

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AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

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The singer-songwriter, who is famed for changing his name to an unpronounceable symbol in a wrangle over musical rights, will release his own work as well as a slate of new music by other artists that he produces, Kobalt said.

The announcement came just hours after the 54-year-old Prince was given a Billboard Icon Award (lifetime achievement) and rocked the Billboard Music Awards ceremony with a version of his "Let's Go Crazy" dressed in electric green trousers and sporting an Afro hair style.

Kobalt, which is also a global independent music publishing company, launched an artist and label services division in 2012, allowing artists to maintain ownership of their work and control over when, how and where they will release their music.

Traditional labels often take ownership or part-ownership of the artist's material and often dictate how it is used, an increasingly important sticking point in an industry where digital music can be instantly available.

"This new venture gives Prince the flexibility and freedom he's always sought in a label partner," Kobalt President Richard Sanders said in a statement.

The Grammy award-winning singer will also provide artist development and recording services for newly signed artists that Kobalt will market and distribute.

Kobalt was set up in 2000 by Swedish businessman Willard Ahdritz and its publishing roster includes former Beatle Paul McCartney, Icelandic singer Bjork and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; Editing by Michael Roddy)