Morning Headlines - Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024

U.S. and World Headlines

Winners And Losers Of The Iowa Caucuses

Voters had their say for the first time in the 2024 presidential campaign cycle Monday — and the result was an emphatic win in the GOP’s Iowa caucuses for former President Trump.

Trump stormed to victory by roughly 30 points.

Much of the tension in the run-up to the caucuses revolved around the fight for second place. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) won the consolation prize, edging out former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

The caucuses winnowed the field, as they often do, with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy suspending his campaign after a lowly fourth-place showing. Ramaswamy endorsed Trump, as expected.

The weather was a major factor in this year’s caucuses as a polar vortex plunged Iowa into temperatures well below zero. Monday appears to have been the coldest caucus day ever.

Somewhere around 112,000 Iowans caucused, well shy of the record of approximately 186,000 set in 2016.

Here are the winners and losers from Monday night.

Tax Chiefs Reach Deal On Child Credit, Business Breaks

The chief tax writers in Congress have reached a long-awaited deal that would temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit, an office involved in the negotiations said.

The roughly $80 billion package set to be unveiled Tuesday would also undo restrictions on a trio of popular business tax breaks, as well as beef up subsidies for affordable housing and disaster assistance.

In a bid to allay colleagues’ concerns about the hit to the government’s budget deficit, the plan would be paid for by cracking down on the troubled Employee Retention Credit created during the pandemic to combat layoffs.

U.S. Says It Found Iran Missile Parts Bound For The Houthis After SEALs Went Overboard

A team of Navy SEALs that lost two sailors overboard while searching a small boat off the coast of Somalia went on to find suspected Iranian missile parts believed bound for Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, three U.S. defense officials told NBC News.

American ships and aircraft are continuing a huge search and rescue mission in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, after the two SEALs disappeared into rough, nighttime seas Thursday.

Tobacco Use Falling Worldwide But Big Tobacco Fighting To Reserve Trend, WHO Says

The number of adult tobacco users has dropped steadily in recent years, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, but it warned Big Tobacco is working hard to reverse that trend.

In 2022, about one-in-five adults around the world were smokers or consumed other tobacco products, compared to one-in-every-three in 2000, the United Nations health agency said.

A fresh report looking at trends in the prevalence of tobacco use between 2000 and 2030 showed that 150 countries were successfully reducing it, the WHO said.

Explosions Reported Near US Consulate In Iraq; Iran Claims Responsibility

Several explosions were reported near the U.S. Consulate in Erbil, Iraq, an Iraqi security source told ABC News.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps quickly took responsibility for the attacks, saying it was targeting the "headquarters of spies" and "anti-Iranian terrorist gatherings in parts of the region" with ballistic missiles.

Four people were killed, and six were injured in the attack, the Kurdistan Regional Security Council said.

Wisconsin Headlines

Republican Dominance Reduced In Most Redistricting Maps Submitted To Wisconsin Supreme Court

Most of the newly ordered maps redrawing Wisconsin’s political boundaries for the state Legislature would keep Republicans in majority control, but their dominance would be reduced, according to an independent analysis of the plans.

Seven sets of new state Senate and Assembly maps were submitted on Jan. 12, the deadline given by the Wisconsin Supreme Court to propose new maps after it ruled in late December 2023 that the current ones drawn by Republicans were unconstitutional.

Seven New Redistricting Maps To Be Considered By The Wisconsin Supreme Court

New legislative maps could bring an end to the long-standing majority Republicans have held in Wisconsin.

"There are plans from the usual suspects," said John Johnson, Marquette University Law School Research Fellow. "The legislative Republicans, the Democratic state senators, Governor Evers, then also petitioners represented by some of the conservative and liberal law firms in the state."

Johnson analyzed all seven sets of the newly proposed state Senate and Assembly maps.

Inflation Is Coming Down, But There’s A Long Way To Go, Fed Tells Wisconsin Banking Officials

Inflation has come down noticeably over the last year, while the economy has continued to add new jobs. But there’s still a way to go before interest rates start to come down, leaving Wisconsin industries uncertain about what the next year will bring.

That was the message from a Federal Reserve official who addressed Wisconsin banking and economic development executives during a virtual Midwest Economic Forecast Forum Thursday.

The same day, the federal government released the final consumer price index, or CPI, report examining 2023. From December 2022 to the same month last year, CPI inflation fell from 6.5 percent to 3.4 percent. The CPI also rose by 0.3 percent from November to December.

Wisconsin Community Remembers Life Of 15-Year-Old Albino Deer Known As "The King"

People around Spooner, Wisconsin are remembering the life of a local legend.

An albino buck known to many as "The King" passed away a couple of weeks ago and locals estimate that he was about 15 years old.

"Around 2009 is the first time we saw him in the area. My dad actually saw him down the road a couple miles when he was a fawn," Brian Danielsen said.

Learning How To Start Games Better Has Sparked Packers’ Turnaround

The Green Bay Packers are finishing this season with a flourish because they’ve figured out how to start games better.

Green Bay has surged into the divisional round of the playoffs by outscoring opponents 80-26 in the first half during its four-game winning streak. That’s a remarkable step forward for a team that failed to score a single first-half touchdown for five straight games earlier this season.