Morning Headlines - Monday, June 23, 2025

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

Iran Vows To Kill 50,000 US Soldiers

An Iranian television mouthpiece has warned up to 50,000 American soldiers will be returned to Washington in 'coffins' after Donald Trump raised the possibility of regime change in Tehran.

State TV anchor Mehdi Khanalizadeh accused Trump of choosing to 'spill the blood of your soldiers', before adding: 'The US president in the Oval Office chose to take delivery of the coffins of up to 50,000 US soldiers in Washington.'

It comes as Iran warns the United States should expect 'heavy consequences' for striking its nuclear sites, issuing a threat that its entry into the conflict with Israel will 'expand the scope of legitimate targets'.

Strait Of Hormuz: What Happens If Iran Shuts Global Oil Corridor?

There is considerable speculation that Iran might retaliate for the US's strikes on its nuclear facilities by closing the world's busiest oil shipping channel, the Strait of Hormuz.

About 20% of global oil and gas flows through this narrow shipping lane in the Gulf. Blocking it would have profound consequences for the global economy, disrupting international trade and ratcheting up oil prices.

It could also inflate the cost of goods and services worldwide, and hit some of the world's biggest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the top importers of crude oil passing through the strait.

Congress Returns To Divisions Over Iran Strike Amid Budget Battles

Congress is returning to Washington this week amid deep divisions over the U.S.’s strike on Iranian nuclear facilities and the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill,” setting the stage for a high-stakes stretch on both the foreign and domestic policy fronts.

On Iran, lawmakers are at odds over whether the attack on the three nuclear facilities was the correct decision, and if President Trump was within his constitutional right to execute the effort without approval from Congress. Republicans have largely backed the move while most Democrats are criticizing it, though there are outliers on both sides of the aisle.

All senators are scheduled to receive a briefing on Iran on Tuesday afternoon, a source familiar with the matter told The Hill.

Major U.S. Health Insurers Say They Will Streamline Controversial Process For Approving Care

Health plans under major U.S. insurers said they have voluntarily agreed to speed up and reduce prior authorizations – a process that is often a major pain point for patients and providers for getting and providing care.

Prior authorization makes providers obtain approval from a patient’s insurance company before administering specific services or treatments.

Insurers such as CVS Health, UnitedHealthcare and Cigna will implement the changes across commercial plans and certain Medicare and Medicaid plans, benefiting 257 million Americans.

Americans’ Views On Abortion Differ By State

Nearly three years have passed since a 2022 Supreme Court decision overturned the constitutional right to an abortion. The ruling gave states new discretion to restrict or ban abortion.

Today, public opinion on whether abortion should be legal or illegal varies considerably from state to state, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey. That survey, the 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, was large enough to break out results in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, although the margins of error for the state-level estimates are much larger than for the survey’s national estimates.

Wisconsin Headlines

Wisconsinites React To U.S. Airstrikes On Iran

Following U.S. airstrikes on Iran authorized by President Donald Trump, local reactions in Wisconsin are mixed, with residents and experts weighing in on the potential consequences and justification behind the military action.

The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a preemptive effort to deter Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

However, University of Wisconsin–Madison political science expert Jim Davis says the justification depends heavily on intelligence the public has not seen.

“If Iran is, in fact, close to a nuclear weapon,” Davis said, “that provides additional justification for the kind of military strike that we saw yesterday,” Davis said.

Wisconsin Student Loan Borrowers Could Now Face Debt Collection

As the federal government resumes its collections for student loan debts, the head of a Wisconsin student debt help group says there are ways to manage repayments.

In May, President Donald Trump’s administration resumed collections on defaulted student loans for the first time since 2020. Meanwhile, a TransUnion analysis found that roughly one-fifth of all federal student loan borrowers are seriously delinquent.

The Trump administration first paused loan repayments in March 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Delayed Federal Funding Will Halt Work In Wisconsin On New Wildfire Detection Tool

A delay in federal funding will force work to halt at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on a new tool used to quickly detect wildfires.

The experimental Next Generation Fire System was developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and its Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at UW-Madison. The tool detects and tracks wildfires in almost real-time using artificial intelligence to scan satellite images, helping firefighters nationwide to prioritize and quickly respond to blazes.

But delays with the institute’s five-year renewal and its fiscal year 2025 funding mean that work to develop, maintain and improve the system will pause, according to the institute’s director Tristan L’Ecuyer.

Wisconsin Lawmaker Renews Push For Task Force On Missing And Murdered Black Women

A Wisconsin lawmaker is renewing her push to create a state task force on missing and murdered Black women after the high-profile murder of a Milwaukee woman last year.

Democratic state Rep. Shelia Stubbs, a Black lawmaker from Madison, first introduced a bill to create the task force three years ago. She introduced the bill again last year, but it failed to get a vote in the Senate. She’s now trying for a third time after the death of 19-year-old Sade Robinson, who was killed by a man she met for a first date.

“Three years is three years too long,” Stubbs said. “How many victims have we lost waiting on time?”

JFC Democrats Question Politics Of Republican Budget Opposition

Democrats on Wisconsin’s budget-writing committee are questioning whether the Republican split on the new state budget is more political than philosophical.

Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, on Thursday accused Senate Republicans of caving to their “extremist” members who have suggested not voting for a budget at all.

“The dysfunction that we’re seeing here in Wisconsin is mirrored by the chaos and dysfunction that we're seeing out of Washington, where the Republican party is really struggling to govern, even though they have generous majorities, they're not able to agree amongst themselves,” Roys told reporters at the Capitol. “I think Republicans here know that they're going to actually have to run under more competitive maps [in 2026]. They've got a very difficult election cycle coming up.”