Morning Headlines - Friday, Jan. 5, 2024

U.S. and World Headlines

Iowa School Shooter Plotted Massacre After He And His Sister Suffered Horrific Bullying

An Iowa teenager who shot and killed one student and injured five other people on Thursday had been bullied since elementary school, classmates said - and was devastated when his younger sister began to experience the same.

Dylan Butler, 17, who was a senior at Perry High School, opened fire on Thursday morning - shooting dead a sixth grader who attended Perry's Middle School.

He then turned the gun on himself.

Yesenia Roeder and Khamya Hall, both 17, said alongside their mother, Alita, that Butler, their classmate, had been bullied relentlessly since elementary school.

Takeaways From Cnn’s Town Halls With Desantis And Haley

A week and a half from the Iowa caucuses, two 2024 Republican presidential contenders attempted to convince voters that former President Donald Trump isn’t a lock to win the nomination — and prove their own electability.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley warned Iowa Republican voters Thursday night that nominating Trump again could cost their party the White House in November.

The two also made their cases that Trump’s legal battles could hurt the party’s efforts to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.

Here are six takeaways from their CNN town halls:

Oscar Pistorius Released On Parole 11 Years After Killing Reeva Steenkamp

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius has been freed on parole from a South African jail, nearly 11 years after murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Officials confirmed Pistorius was "at home" on Friday morning, having served half of his more than 13-year sentence.

Ms Steenkamp's mother said she accepted the decision to release the former athlete - but added her family was the one "serving a life sentence".

Pistorius, now 37, shot Ms Steenkamp multiple times in 2013 through a door.

The double amputee later claimed he had mistaken her for a burglar.

Pistorius was eventually convicted of murder in 2015 after an appeal court overturned an earlier verdict of culpable homicide.

The Global Supply Chain Is Reeling From The Red Sea Attacks

The price of sending goods around the world is spiking after six weeks of disruptions in the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi militants are attacking commercial shipping vessels.

The disruptions pose a threat to the global economy, nearly four years after COVID woke the world up to the existence — and fragility — of supply chains.

About 30% of global container ship volume moves through the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea with the Mediterranean Sea, says Jonathan Colehower, managing director of the global supply chain practice at UST.

Google Has Started Disabling Third-party Cookies For Chrome Users

Google has just disabled third-party cookies for one percent of Chrome users, years after it first introduced its Privacy Sandbox project. The company announced late last year that it will kick things off by disabling cookies for a random one percent of Chrome users globally on January 4.

Chrome owns more than half of the worldwide browser market share, and according to Gizmodo, that means Google has killed cookies for 30 million users.

Wisconsin Headlines

Evers Said Senate Republicans Making It Difficult To Find New Dnr Secretary, Undecided On Third Term

Gov. Tony Evers said “hell yes” Senate Republicans have made it more difficult to find a new DNR secretary after a series of his appointments have been rejected.

Evers told WisPolitics in an interview this week that he hasn’t yet offered the job to anyone since former Secretary Adam Payne stepped down Nov. 10 after 10 months on the job. He said some candidates who had been considered signaled there was “no way in hell I’m putting myself and my family in that situation.”

“It’ll be somebody that’s very, very capable,” Evers vowed in the interview Wednesday. “But we run into it often that, ‘Why should I? Why should I as a candidate for this position have to put up with the craziness that the Republicans have made?’”

Gov. Evers, Who Called For Marijuana Legalization, Says He'll Back Limited GOP Proposal

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who has pushed for full legalization of recreational marijuana, said Wednesday that he is open to a more limited medical marijuana legalization being promoted by Republicans.

“I would think that getting it all done in one fell swoop would be more thoughtful as far as meeting the needs of Wisconsinites that have asked for it,” Evers said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But if that’s what we can accomplish right now, I’ll be supportive of that.”

Superior's Mayor Wants Utility Regulators To Revisit Their Approval Of A $700m Gas Plant

The mayor of Superior is asking Wisconsin utility regulators to revisit their approval of a roughly $700 million natural gas plant that’s planned to be built in the city.

In a letter filed on Jan. 2, Superior Mayor Jim Paine asked the Public Service Commission, or PSC, to conduct a new review of the proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center.

Several utilities want to build the 625-megawatt plant as part of plans to shift away from coal and invest in renewable energy. They include La Crosse-based Dairyland Power Cooperative, Minnesota Power in Duluth and North Dakota-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative.

Wisconsin Redistricting Consultants Can Recommend Changes To Submitted Maps Or Draft Their Own

Two consultants hired to analyze new legislative boundary lines in Wisconsin after the state’s Supreme Court tossed out current Republican-drawn maps will be paid up to $100,000 each under terms of their contracts made public on Jan. 4.

Each consultant will be paid an hourly rate of $450, up to $100,000 total, but the state director of courts has the authority to exceed the maximum amount if she determines it is necessary, according to the contracts. The costs will be paid by the parties in the case, which include private attorneys and those who are funded by taxpayers.

Darien Man Sentenced To 2 Years For Illegal Gun Possession

Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Arron W. Dupler, 34, Darien, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 2 years in prison for possessing a firearm as a felon. Dupler’s federal sentence will run consecutive to two undischarged state sentences. He pleaded guilty to the federal charge on November 1, 2023.

Law enforcement began investigating Dupler after receiving information that he was posting pictures of guns on Facebook and offering the guns for sale. On March 4, 2022, Dupler sold an undercover police officer a Ruger LCP .380 handgun. Dupler showed the officer pictures of additional guns that he had previously sold and said he could get more. Dupler is prohibited from possessing firearms as a result of two felony convictions from 2007 and 2018.