Morning Headlines - Monday, Mar. 13, 2023 | Recent News

U.S. and World Headlines

U.S. Government Steps In To Shore Up Deposits At Silicon Valley Bank And Another Failed Institution

The U.S. government announced Sunday that it is deploying emergency measures to shore up the banking system and backstop deposits at two banks that failed within a matter of days.

All deposit accounts at both institutions, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in New York, will be guaranteed, according to a joint statement released by the Federal Reserve, the Department of the Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Depositors with SVB "will have access to all of their money starting Monday, March 13. No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer," the statement said.

Let The Bailout Debate Begin

For roughly 77 hours, between noon ET on Friday and 6pm on Sunday, a chorus of Silicon Valley bigwigs and elected leaders called vocally for uninsured depositors of Silicon Valley Bank to be made whole — to be bailed out by the federal government. In the end, they got what they wanted.

The Biden administration is pushing back hard on the idea that this was a bailout. "No losses associated with the resolution of Silicon Valley Bank will be borne by the taxpayer," says the official statement from Treasury, the Fed, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Many won't be convinced.

When a bank fails, depositors are made whole by the FDIC insurance fund. The insurance only covers deposits up to $250,000, although there are plenty of workarounds that allow depositors to effectively buy much more FDIC insurance than that.

U.K. PM Rishi Sunak Says China Is A 'Systemic Challenge' To The World Order

A more assertive China poses a “systemic challenge” to the global order, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told NBC News on Sunday as Britain, the U.S. and Australia planned to unveil the latest steps in a defense partnership to counter Beijing’s growing military might.

“The behavior that we’ve seen in China over recent times is concerning,” Sunak told NBC News’ Lester Holt at the USS Midway Museum shortly after he arrived in San Diego for the three-way summit. China is “acting in a more authoritarian fashion at home” and is “more assertive overseas,” he said.

“China represents the biggest state threat to our economic interests, for sure. And it’s a systemic challenge for the world order,” Sunak said.

Feinstein, Fetterman Absences Leave Democrats With Fragile Majority

Absences in the Senate are becoming an issue for Democrats, leaving them with a fragile majority.

Senate Democrats have been without Sens. John Fetterman (Pa.) and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) in recent weeks, creating a 49-49 split in the chamber that has forced members of the conference to only bring up votes that they know have bipartisan support and caused problems at the committee level.

“It’s the reality. When you’re 51-49, every senator every day is decisive,” Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, told The Hill. “This is the reality of life in the Senate.”

How To Fill Out Your Men's NCAA Tournament Bracket Like A Pro

The opening act of the 2022-23 men’s college basketball season was characterized by the rise of unfamiliar top dogs, the preseason favorite falling flat and the game’s great innovators continuing to ride off into the sunset. But now we’ve finally reached the sport’s perennially entertaining, often perplexing, denouement. On Sunday night, the 68-team NCAA Tournament field was revealed, and millions of fans have already commenced the time-honored tradition of filling out their brackets — an exercise that promises to derail all return-to-office plans this week.

That’s where we can help. With the usual disclaimers — no, we wouldn’t make these wagers in Warren Buffett’s tournament challenge, and no, we don’t have advanced analytics for those of you picking based on mascots and team colors — here are a number of superlatives to consider when filling out your bracket. And be sure to check out FiveThirtyEight’s interactive prediction model while you’re puzzling through all the different permutations that could make — or break — your bracket this March.

Feds Arrest Man At Detroit Metro After Threats Targeting Wisconsin University

Federal agents arrested a former University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate student at Detroit Metropolitan Airport who flew to America from Copenhagen on Friday after threatening students, faculty and staff members at his alma mater and vowing to hide the flesh of their children in hamburger meat, according to federal court records chronicling the latest violent threat posed to a college campus.

Arvin Raj Mathur, 32, of Grass Lake in Jackson County, is in the St. Clair County Jail and awaiting a detention hearing Tuesday in federal court in Detroit after being charged with emailing threats to nine people, including graduate students and professors in the university's anthropology department. Mathur, who is being held temporarily without bond, made a brief appearance in federal court Saturday during which U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Patti asked if he was a U.S. citizen.

A Ferry Line Is A Vital Link To The Mainland For A Lake Superior Island. Now, Its Assets May Be Sold

A ferry service that's a lifeline for residents traveling to and from a Lake Superior island may sell its assets to new owners this year.

Michael Childers, president of the La Pointe Harbor Commission, said negotiations are underway to purchase the Madeline Island Ferry Line's assets from two families who own the private ferry service.

"Recently, those families have decided it's time for them to sell," Childers said. "When the town learned of that, the town board moved very quickly to establish our harbor commission to start to investigate the possibility of purchasing the assets of the ferry line."

The Madeline Island Ferry Line has five boats that make nearly 6,000 crossings each year to bring people to Madeline Island from the mainland in Bayfield. The island is a popular tourist destination that draws thousands of visitors during the summer, boosting La Pointe’s year-round population of 430 residents. Childers couldn’t provide exact figures, but he said more than 100,000 people use the ferry line each year.

Attorney General Kaul, Multistate Coalition Push Back Against Ongoing Effort To End DACA

Attorney General Kaul today joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general, led by California and New York, in an amicus brief pushing back against the ongoing, misguided effort led by Texas to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. In the friend-of-the-court brief filed before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, the coalition reiterates the critical importance of DACA for states across the country and the hundreds of thousands of Dreamers and their families who depend on the program, including the more than 36,380 Wisconsinites who have directly benefitted from DACA.

“DACA has been an enormously successful program—both for Dreamers and for our communities and our economy,” said Attorney General Kaul. “Ending DACA would be a major step backwards, and efforts to end that program should be rejected.”

Badgers Men’s Basketball Makes Nit After Not Being Selected To NCAA Tournament

The Badgers men’s basketball team is heading to the National Invitation Tournament as a No. 2 seed and will face the Bradley Braves Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. CT.

The bid comes after the Badgers were not selected to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018.

Wisconsin’s record (17-14, 9-11 Big Ten) just wasn’t good enough for the NCAA committee, so Bucky will be on the outside looking in this year.

The Badgers season has certainly seen its ups and downs this season, and it really seemed that at any moment UW was ready to get things going in the right direction.

Marquette Men's Basketball Earns No. 2 Seed In NCAA Tournament

Selection Sunday has arrived and Milwaukee's very own Marquette University men's basketball team has earned a #2 seed in the NCAA March Madness tournament!

Marquette was one of 68 teams selected in the tournament and with its seed, they will take on the #15 seed Vermont during the first round of the tournament on Friday in Columbus, Ohio.

The news comes after Marquette became outright Big East Conference Champs for the first time ever, and won the Big East tournament on Saturday. It also comes after head coach Shaka Smart earned Big East Coach of the Year, and junior Tyler Kolek earned Big East Player of the Year.