Morning Headlines - Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 | 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 at the end for a little humor to go with your news!

U.S. and World Headlines

House Adopts GOP Budget Resolution To Implement Trump Agenda

The House adopted a budget proposal on Tuesday that paves the way for implementing President Trump's legislative agenda, handing a major victory to House Speaker Mike Johnson who had been trying to sway a small number of holdouts in the final hours before the vote.

Republicans narrowly adopted the resolution in a 217-215 vote with no Democratic support and only one GOP defection — Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky. With one Democrat absent, Johnson could afford to lose just one GOP vote. Reps. Warren Davidson of Ohio, Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Tim Burchett of Tennessee, who had said they would not vote for the resolution, ultimately caved.

Trump Seeks To Run Government Like A Business, For Better And Worse

Part of the appeal to President Trump’s supporters is that he is an experienced businessman, and many voters thought he would run the government like a business.

One month into his second term, Trump is trying to deliver on that premise, with the help of top adviser Elon Musk.

The two have moved rapidly to fire workers, cut spending on projects that do not align with their views, restructure or eliminate agencies and issue corporate-like mandates for workers to return to the office and provide their managers with progress reports.

Trump White House Seeks Tighter Grip On Message With New Limits On Press

In the White House briefing room Tuesday, the Trump administration announced its latest steps to tighten its grip on the message it sends out and the news coverage it receives.

No longer would the White House Correspondents' Association, made up of news outlets that cover the White House, determine how they will share coverage of President Trump at major events where space is limited.

Target Strikes Deal With Sportswear Brand Champion, As It Tries To Rev Up Apparel Sales

Target has struck a deal with Champion to carry an exclusive line of sportswear, including baseball caps, sweatshirts, skorts and duffel bags.

The cheap chic retailer has long used brand collaborations to draw shoppers to its stores and website.

The discounter is looking for ways to drive higher sales, especially in more profitable categories like apparel.

Decline Of Christianity In The U.S. Has Slowed, May Have Leveled Off

After many years of steady decline, the share of Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of leveling off – at least temporarily – at slightly above six-in-ten, according to a massive new Pew Research Center survey of 36,908 U.S. adults.

The Religious Landscape Study (RLS) is the largest single survey the Center conducts, aiming to provide authoritative figures on the size of U.S. religious groups because the U.S. census does not collect that information.

AG Kaul Facing Ethics Complaint And Lawsuit For Corruption

Accusations of corruption by Wisconsin’s Attorney General Josh Kaul have led to both an ethics complaint and a lawsuit in the past couple of weeks.

Kaul was exposed as accepting a quid pro quo from Democrat billionaire Micheal Bloomberg by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dan Bice in May. Bice discovered that Kaul had hired a new special assistant attorney general to specially to fight climate change. The position was completely funded by the State Energy Impact Center (SEIC) at New York University, which is funded by Micheal Bloomberg.

The State of Wisconsin got the lawyer for free. In exchange, SEIC got to use the authority of Wisconsin’s Attorney General to fight climate change. A quid pro quo.

Dittrich Reintroduces Transgender Sports Ban Bills

State Rep. Barbara Dittrich, R-Oconomowoc, reintroduced legislation to ban transgender women and girls from playing the team or sport that matches their gender identity.

The introduction yesterday comes after the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association changed its transgender athlete policy last week to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order barring transgender women and girls from playing women’s and girls sports. The National Collegiate Athletic Association has also updated its policies to reflect the president’s executive order.

Evers Budget Seeks To Remove State Senate Power To Block His Political Appointees

Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed state budget seeks to strip the state Senate of some of its power to block his political appointees from serving on state boards and in state agencies.

A Republican senator says the change would remove the chamber’s ability to vet Evers’ picks, as more than 180 appointees await confirmation.

The change in Evers’ voluminous state budget proposal would repeal a lame-duck law passed by Republicans after Evers defeated former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2018. One of those changes was a new power blocking governors from renominating political appointees who are rejected by the Senate. The law also explicitly prevented those appointees from serving in provisional roles after they’re rejected.

Crawford Decries Musk's Involvement In The 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

The Democratic-backed candidate in a race that will determine whether liberals maintain their majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court decried Elon Musk’s involvement, saying Feb. 25 that the world’s wealthiest man was “trying to buy a seat on our Supreme Court.”

A political action committee created by Musk, a close adviser to President Donald Trump, has spent $1 million on the Wisconsin Supreme Court contest so far. A conservative nonprofit that Musk has contributed to in the past, Building America’s Future, has spent $1.6 million on television ads attacking the liberal candidate.

Packers Push For Tush Push Ban, Eagle’s Sirianni Responds

Philadelphia Eagles coach Nick Sirianni pushed back against the Green Bay Packers’ proposal to ban the tush push.

“I’ve seen some of the stuff that it’s an automatic play,” Sirianni said Tuesday at the NFL’s scouting combine. “I almost feel a little insulted because we work so hard at that play. The amount of things that we’ve looked into, how to coach that play, the fundamentals. ... I can’t tell you how many times we practice the snap. We practice the play because it’s not a play that was easy to practice in different ways. We figured out how to practice it.