Morning Headlines - Monday, Aug. 25, 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

GOP Redistricting Gives Republican Edge, But No Guarantee In House Battle

President Trump’s campaign to redraw House maps in GOP states around the country will make it tougher for Democrats to win back control of the chamber in next year’s midterms, but it won’t knock them out of contention altogether, according to leading election handicappers.

While Trump and his Republican allies are battling to pad their slim House majority through partisan redistricting — a rare, mid-decade project that launched in Texas but could expand to other GOP states — a number of other factors leave Democrats well positioned to seize the chamber, the election experts say.

U.S. Government Takes 10% Stake In Intel, As Trump Expands Control Over Private Sector

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that the U.S. government has taken a 10% stake in embattle chipmaker Intel, the Trump administration’s latest effort to exert control over corporate America.

Intel shares rose about 6% during trading on Friday. They were flat in extended trading.

Intel, the only American company capable of making advanced chips on U.S. soil, said in a press release that the government made an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, purchasing 433.3 million shares at a price of $20.47 per share, giving it a 10% stake in the company. Intel noted that the price the government paid was a discount to the current market price.

Trump Sets Sights On Chicago To Make It 'Safer,' Seeks $2B To 'Beautify' DC

President Donald Trump said he is looking to crack down on crime in other cities in the country and is eyeing Chicago, a Democrat-led city that he has long been a target of the president's criticism.

He has said that Washington, D.C., would be a model, a city where he deployed the National Guard, surged federal law enforcement and took control of the local police force.

Trump made several off-the-cuff comments about the National Guard's deployment in the nation's capital, now in its eighth day, during a news conference in the Oval Office on Friday about World Cup plans.

US Open: Benjamin Bonzi Upsets Daniil Medvedev After Photographer Walks Onto Court, Causing Wild Delay

It was late in the third set, when Bonzi nearly had the win in straight sets, when total chaos broke out on Sunday night. A photographer suddenly walked out onto the court right before Bonzi was about to serve for the match. It's not clear what the photographer was trying to do, but the official immediately started screaming at him to get off the court right before Bonzi was going to serve.

That led to a very long delay with fans constantly booing and throwing thumbs down while the official tried to regain control. Bonzi simply stood at his end of the court, ready to serve for the set point, while Medvedev ate it up at the other end. At one point, Medvedev actually walked up to the chair official and lit him up.

'KPop Demon Hunters' Gives Netflix Its First Box-Office Win

Netflix appears to have its first No. 1 box-office title in the streaming company’s 18-year history thanks to the sensation of “KPop Demon Hunters.”

Rival studios on Sunday estimated “KPop Demon Hunters” led all films over the weekend with $16-18 million in ticket sales. Distribution executives from three studios shared their estimates for the Netflix phenomenon on condition of anonymity because the streaming company has a policy of not reporting ticket sales.

Indian National Indicted For Conspiracy To Commit Money Laundering

Richard G. Frohling, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that on August 19, 2025, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Roshan Shah (age: 21), a citizen of India who was in Canada pursuant to a student visa before entering the United States pursuant to a visitor’s visa. Shah was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h).

According to the indictment and related criminal complaint, Shah traveled to different states and picked up cash and gold from various fraud victims. He then transferred those fraud proceeds to other members of the conspiracy. Shah was arrested after he attempted to pick up gold from fraud victims in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Unknown co-conspirators posing as law enforcement had convinced the victims that they were victims of a massive scheme in the United States and that they needed to transfer their assets to gold, which a courier would pick up and put in a safety deposit box in Washington, D.C., purportedly for safe keeping. The victims had previously given over $500,000 worth of gold to couriers the victims believed to be working with the federal government.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Announces Nearly $4 Million In Grants

The Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin joins the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) in announcing grants provided to combat violent crimes against women and to develop and strengthen victim services in cases involving domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice received $3,030,186 for the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program. It was authorized by the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) of 1994 and reauthorized by subsequent legislation. The STOP Formula Grant Program encourages partnerships between law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and victim services organizations to enhance victim safety and hold offenders accountable in cases of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The goal of the grant program is to develop and strengthen law enforcement, prosecution, and court strategies to combat violent crimes against women and to develop and strengthen victim services, including community based, culturally specific services, in cases involving domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Advocates Urge Gov. Evers To Cut Wisconsin's Prison Population In Half

Advocates gathered at the Wisconsin State Capitol Saturday to call on Gov. Tony Evers and state legislators to advance what they call a “justice reinvestment” agenda aimed at reducing the state’s prison population.

Mark Rice, Wisconsin Transformational Justice Campaign Coordinator with WISDOM Wisconsin, outlined four central demands: halting the construction of new prisons, cutting the prison population in half through decarceration policies, expanding treatment alternatives, and ending reincarceration for technical rule violations.

High Cattle Prices Help Wisconsin Farmers Financially, But Make It Risky To Grow Herds

Brady Zuck operates a cattle farm in Ladysmith with about 220 commercial cows. He said Zuck Cattle Co. raises most of its cattle from birth but also buys some from local producers.

A few years ago, Zuck said he was able to purchase a set of weaned calves from someone in southern Wisconsin for about $1.86 per pound. Today, Zuck said those same calves would sell for more than $4 per pound. He said a day-old beef-on-dairy cross calf could be worth between $1,000 to $1,500.

Zuck said the strong cattle prices have allowed farmers to “earn a profit” on their animals, as they also contend with rising costs for equipment and other inputs.

How Progressives Hijack Democratic Governance (Yet Another Way!)

Over the past 60-odd years, until the election of Donald Trump, the growth of a massively sprawling bureaucratic-progressive deep state transformed America from a functioning democracy into a dysfunctional authoritarian enterprise using an array of weapons designed to hijack power from its constitutional seating.

The explosion of regulations, the rise of independent agencies, the radicalization and monopolization of education, the flow of federal grants to left-wing nonprofits—all these and more have served to collectivize power for a progressive elite. Now, a lawsuit by Wisconsin Dairy Alliance and the Venture Dairy Cooperative has spotlighted yet another tactic progressives use to bypass democratic governance—the use by state attorneys general of special-interest private attorneys to carry out targeted prosecutions of disfavored industries and companies.