Morning Headlines - Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024 | Recent News

Start your day informed with today’s must-read headlines from around Wisconsin and the world. And don’t forget to check out our Meme of the Day and the end for a little humor to go with your news!

U.S. and World Headlines

Trump Ready To ‘Seal’ Border From Immigrants On Day 1

President-elect Trump is signaling he wants to completely reshape the nation’s immigration laws starting on Jan. 20, the day he officially takes office.

Immigration has always been Trump’s core issue, and he has made clear he plans to follow through on sweeping promises he made on the topic throughout the 2024 campaign.

He’s announced appointments on immigration that reinforce those intentions, and he signaled in a weekend interview he intends to push for mass deportations and an end to birthright citizenship.

Macy’s Ends Delivery Expense Investigation, Saying Employee Hid $151 Million

Macy’s on Wednesday said it has concluded an investigation into an employee who intentionally hid about $151 million of delivery expenses.

In a statement, CEO Tony Spring said the retailer is “strengthening our existing controls and implementing additional changes designed to prevent this from happening again and demonstrate our strong commitment to corporate governance.”

The department store operator slightly raised its full-year forecast, while still projecting a sales decline.

Most Americans Feel Good About Their Job Security but Not Their Pay

Amid low unemployment nationwide, U.S. workers are feeling good about their level of job security, and relatively few expect to look for a new job in the coming months, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

At the same time, only half of workers say they are extremely or very satisfied with their job overall. And a much smaller share are highly satisfied with their pay – 30%, down from 34% last year.

The survey, conducted Oct. 7-13 among 5,273 employed U.S. adults, explores how workers see various aspects of their jobs, including how they assess the importance of certain skills and their own opportunities for further training.

Judge Rejects Bankruptcy Sale Of Alex Jones' Infowars To The Onion

A federal judge on Tuesday night rejected the sale of the conspiracy platform Infowars to The Onion satirical news outlet after Alex Jones claimed that a recent bankruptcy auction was fraught with illegal collusion.

The Onion was named the winning bidder on Nov. 14 over a company affiliated with Jones. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez's decision means Jones can stay at Infowars in Austin, Texas. The Onion had planned to kick Jones out and relaunch Infowars in January as a parody.

Whale Makes Epic Migration, Astonishing Scientists

A humpback whale has made one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, possibly driven by climate change, scientists say.

It was seen in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia in 2017, then popped up several years later near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean - a distance of at least 8,000 miles.

The experts think this epic journey might be down to climate change depleting food stocks or perhaps an odyssey to find a mate.

Wisconsin Man Taken Into Police Custody After Being Accused Of Faking Own Death

A kayaker accused of faking his death and fleeing to Europe was back in Wisconsin and in police custody Tuesday night. According to court records, Ryan Borgwardt, 45, was booked into the Green Lake County Jail late Tuesday afternoon.

Borgwardt went missing on Aug. 12 while kayaking in Green Lake, about 50 miles northeast of Wisconsin Dells. Crews spent 54 days searching the lake — which is more than 200 feet deep at points — expecting to find a body.

No body was ever found, but investigators did find evidence that Borgwardt had moved money into foreign accounts and ended up in Europe.

Costs Continue To Surge At Wisconsin's Troubled Lincoln Hills Youth Prison

Wisconsin budgets nearly $463,000 a year to incarcerate each child at the state’s beleaguered juvenile prison complex in the North Woods, a figure that has ballooned over a decade as enrollment has plummeted.

A new Department of Corrections budget request would nearly double that figure to about $862,000 a year — 58 times what taxpayers spend on the average K-12 public school student.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul Files New Charges In 2020 'Fake Electors' Case

On Tuesday, Democratic Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed ten additional felony charges against three of President-Elect Donald Trump's associates who organized a scheme enlisting a group of Republicans to act as fake electors.

The amended criminal complaint was filed in Dane County Circuit Court against Trump's former Wisconsin campaign attorney and legal advisor, James Troupis, Kenneth Chesebro, lead architect of the scheme, and Michael Roman, a former aide to Trump who allegedly delivered the slate of fake electors to congressional staffers on January 6th.

Health Cooperative Hopes To Reopen Chippewa Falls Hospital Next Year

A regional health cooperative in the Chippewa Valley region is working to reopen one of the hospitals that was abruptly closed by Hospital Sisters Health System this spring.

The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative signed a letter of intent with HSHS to purchase and reopen St. Joseph’s hospital in Chippewa Falls. The nonprofit group announced their plans at a public meeting Monday.

HSHS closed the facility on March 22, two months after the health system announced they were exiting western Wisconsin. The rapid shutdown shocked the community and left hundreds of people scrambling to find new health care providers and new jobs.

DPI Adopts Reading Curriculum Recommendations Without Seeking JFC Approval

The Department of Public Instruction has adopted reading curriculum recommendations without seeking approval from the Joint Finance Committee, according to a letter shared with WisPolitics.

The move comes after the state Supreme Court in a 6-1 decision overturned the process the GOP-controlled Legislature has used to block stewardship purchases through JFC, ruling it violates the separation of powers.

Superintendent Jill Underly on Friday sent a letter to GOP co-chairs Sen. Howard Marklein and Rep. Mark Born informing them of the recommendations, adding: “following the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision in Evers v. Marklein, the DPI will not submit this curricula list to the Joint Committee on Finance for review or approval.”