Morning Headlines - Friday, Jun. 17, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

Poll: Biden Disapproval Hits New High As More Americans Say They Would Vote For Trump

As inflation keeps rising and recession fears loom, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Joe Biden is currently in the worst shape of his presidency.

The survey of 1,541 U.S. adults, which was conducted from June 10-13, found that if another presidential election were held today, more registered voters say they would cast ballots for Donald Trump (44%) than for Biden (42%) — even though the House Jan. 6 committee has spent the last week linking Trump to what it called a “seditious conspiracy” to overturn the 2020 election and  aying the groundwork for possible criminal prosecution.

Post-Watergate Reforms May Frame DOJ Decision Over Prosecuting Trump

The break-in at the Watergate complex 50 years ago this week led to a sweeping government ethics overhaul that included a push to insulate the Department of Justice (DOJ) from politics.

In a historical twist, this nearly half-century-old corrective may help frame the DOJ’s fraught decision over whether to criminally charge former President Trump for his effort to overturn the 2020 election results.

2 Dead, 1 Injured At Alabama Church Shooting

Two people were shot and killed and one injured Thursday evening at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, The Vestavia Hills Police Department said.

Police were alerted to the incident at 3775 Crosshaven Drive around 6:22 p.m.

Capt. Shane Ware said during a briefing that a lone suspect entered the church meeting and began shooting. Three people were shot and two died. Another person is receiving treatment at a hospital, Ware added.

Republican Senate Gun Negotiator Walks Out Of Talks

The lead Republican negotiator for what would be the US Senate's first gun control bill in a generation has walked out of talks with Democrats.

Texas Senator John Cornyn has played a key role in drafting the framework of a proposed firearms bill following mass shootings in Texas and New York.

Leaving Washington, he said: "I'm through talking."

Politics On Twitter: One-Third Of Tweets From U.S. Adults Are Political

Roughly one-quarter of American adults use Twitter. And when they share their views on the site, quite often they are doing so about politics and political issues. A new Pew Research Center analysis of English-language tweets posted between May 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, by a representative sample of U.S. adult Twitter users finds that fully one-third (33%) of those tweets are political in nature.

Wisconsin Headlines

Juneteenth Is Now A Day Off For 30% Of Private Employers

More companies are giving their employees the day off for Juneteenth, a year after it became the 11th federal holiday.

Amid discussions of racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, 8% of private employers offered Juneteenth as a paid holiday in 2020 compared to 30% this year, according to survey data from the Wisconsin-based International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Judge Fines Gableman, Refers Him To OLR For ‘Unprofessional Behavior’

A Dane County judge is fining Michael Gableman’s office $2,000 a day — the maximum allowed — for a “pattern of intentional disobedience” in defying to fully comply with an open records request.

Judge Frank Remington also referred Gableman to the Office of Lawyer Regulation to review what he referred to as the former justice’s “unprofessional behavior.” Among other things, Remington wrote in yesterday’s order Gableman made misogynistic comments about a fellow attorney.

Office Of School Safety Launches Critical Incident Response Team Program

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) today announced that the Office of School Safety (OSS) has begun training twelve Critical Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) around the state. CIRTs are designed to provide all Wisconsin K-12 public, private, charter and tribal schools with access to a regionally based team to support them if a critical incident ever occurs at their school.

OSS considers a school-related critical incident to be a sudden and unexpected incident or sequence of events which can cause trauma within a school community that may overwhelm the normal coping mechanisms of the school. School crises may be a large-scale incident, or a smaller-scale incident that may be more individualized and affects a small group of people.  Examples of critical incidents in schools include threats or acts of violence, natural disasters, serious injuries to students or staff, suicide, weather-related disasters, community turmoil, intruders, an Amber Alert, and hate crimes.

PKU Patients Around Wisconsin Are Grappling With The Formula Shortage Too

People with metabolic disorders who require formula to ensure adequate nutrition are among those dealing with a months long shortage — the Waisman Center at UW-Madison is seeking to help source alternatives, even as such options can be stressful.

Holstein Sells For $1.9M At Wisconsin Auction

The elite Holstein, S-S-I Doc Have Not 8784-ET EX-94 EX-96-MS drew in the historic bid at the Summer Selections II 2022 sale at Duckett Holsteins in Rudolph, Wisconsin.

The buyers, Mike and Julie Duckett, Kings-Ransom Holsteins of Schuylerville, NY, and another American breeder, AOT Holsteins, also received a package of the cow's pregnancies with their $1,925,000 winning bid.