Morning Headlines - Friday, May 17, 2024 | Recent News

U.S. and World Headlines

Aid Starts Flowing Into Gaza Strip Across Pier U.S. Just Finished Building

Trucks carrying badly needed aid for the Gaza Strip rolled across a newly built temporary U.S. floating pier into the besieged enclave for the first time Friday as Israeli restrictions on border crossings and heavy fighting hinder food and other supplies reaching people there.

The shipment is the first in an operation that American military officials anticipate could scale up to 150 truckloads a day entering the Gaza Strip as Israel presses in on the southern city of Rafah and its 7-month offensive against Hamas rages on.

Scottie Scheffler Arrested And Charged With Felony Assault On A Cop Outside PFA Championship

World No 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler was taken to jail on a string of charges - including a felony charge of assaulting a police officer - after being arrested by police outside Valhalla Golf Club on Friday morning.

In remarkable footage, which flooded social media, Scheffler was seen being led into a police car in handcuffs as he tried to enter the club before his second round of the PGA Championship.

'Can you please help me?' a panicked Scheffler could be heard asking a nearby reporter in the stunning clip.

Chaos Erupts In Hearing As Greene, Ocasio-Cortez Clash Over ‘Fake Eyelashes’ Jibe At Crockett

A House Oversight Committee hearing devolved into chaos Thursday night as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) clashed after the firebrand Republican accused Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) of wearing “fake eyelashes.”

The comment — which was made during a markup to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress — prompted nearly an hour of disorder in the committee, with lawmakers screaming over one another and hurling insults left and right, leaving Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) struggling to maintain order.

AI Eats The Web

Google's shift toward AI-generated search results, displacing the familiar list of links, is rewiring the internet — and could accelerate the decline of the 30+-year-old World Wide Web.

A world where Google answers most questions in a single machine voice makes online life more convenient — and duller.

The change also threatens to cut into Google's revenue from search ads, and starve future AIs of the human data they'll need.

The Mirage Casino, Which Ushered In An Era Of Las Vegas Strip Megaresorts In The '90s, Is Closing

The iconic Mirage hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip will shut its doors this summer, the end of an era for a property credited with helping transform Sin City into an ultra-luxury resort destination.

The July 17 closure will clear the way for major renovations and construction on the 80-acre (32-hectare) property, which is to reopen in 2027 as the Hard Rock Las Vegas, featuring a hotel tower in the shape of a guitar soaring nearly 700 feet (about 210 meters) above the heart of the Strip.

Assembly Democratic Leader Says Party Can Win Majority In November

Democrats can win control of the state Assembly this fall with the benefit of new legislative maps and with messages tailored to competitive districts, the party’s minority leader said Thursday.

“The path is there,” said Rep. Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, at a WisPolitics luncheon in Madison. “We all know this.”

Neubauer said if election results this November mirrored President Joe Biden’s performance in the 2020 presidential race, Democrats would win 49 seats under new maps drawn by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and passed by Republican lawmakers.

Republican State Convention Kicks Off Today In Appleton

The Republican state convention in Appleton kicks off today, though the meat of the convention will be tomorrow.

U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., will be the keynote speaker tomorrow with an agenda that also includes an address from U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, and panels featuring members of the state’s House delegation and state legislative leaders.

Madison businessman Eric Hovde was the only candidate who met the party’s criteria to qualify for the endorsement vote in the U.S. Senate race. That includes raising at least $1 million from donors by March 31. Past party endorsement votes have included an option for delegates to decline offering one. But that won’t be an option tomorrow, helping make Hovde’s endorsement a formality.

Officer Involved Death In Beloit, Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) is investigating an officer involved death in the City of Beloit, Wis. that occurred on the afternoon of Thursday, May 16, 2024.

At approximately 3:26 p.m., officers with the Beloit Police Department responded to a 911 call for a reported stabbing near the 2000 block of Frederick Street in the City of Beloit. When they arrived, officers located an adult female, who had been stabbed. Officers then observed a subject who was armed with an edged weapon making violent threats to harm a second individual believed to be in the residence. One officer utilized a less lethal option, but it was ineffective. A second officer discharged their firearm, striking the subject.

Life saving measures were performed but the subject was pronounced deceased at the scene. The female victim was transported to a local hospital then transferred to a trauma center and is in stable condition. It was later determined that no other persons were in the residence. Edged weapons were recovered at the scene.

Grand Jury Indictment Unsealed Against Milwaukee Man Charged With Sex Trafficking A Minor

Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced today the unsealing of an indictment that charges Stelio Kalkounos, 51, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with sex trafficking of a minor and producing child pornography. The indictment was returned by a federal grand jury sitting in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 15, 2024. The indictment was unsealed today following Kalkounos’ arrest.

The indictment alleges that from July 16, 2023, to March 1, 2024, Kalkounos recruited, enticed, and obtained a minor, knowing she would be caused to engage in commercial sex acts. The indictment further alleges that on November 20, 2023, Kalkounos used a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.

BLS Data: Wisconsin's Unemployment Rate Falls Below 3.0%

The Department of Workforce Development today released the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary job totals for April 2024, which showed a decrease in the state's unemployment rate.

Preliminary employment estimates for April 2024 showed Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down to 2.9%, a full percentage point below the national rate. Wisconsin's labor force participation rate for April 2024 remained at 65.6%, 2.9 percentage points above the national labor force participation rate of 62.7%.