Morning Headlines - Monday, May 8, 2023

U.S. and World Headlines

China Races Ahead Of U.S. On AI Regulation

While American leaders fret that China might eventually overtake the U.S. in developing artificial intelligence, Beijing is already way ahead of Washington in enacting rules for the new technology.

Chinese officials will close consultation Wednesday on a second round of generative AI regulation, building on a set of rules governing deepfakes agreed in 2022.

The Biden administration is behind both allies and adversaries on AI guardrails. While officials in Washington talk about delivering user rights and urge CEOs to mitigate risks, Beijing and Brussels are actually delivering rights and mitigating risks.

If China can be first on AI governance, it can project those standards and regulations globally, shaping lucrative and pliable markets.

New York Democrats Lost The Crime Debate. They Want A Redo

Less than 12 hours after New York lawmakers approved a month-late state budget, Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday was promoting her biggest victory: legislation toughening the state’s bail laws.

She blitzed the New York City morning shows. She promoted the policy with prosecutors and Mayor Eric Adams, a former cop. And she immediately linked the issue to 2024 — a preemptive strike on the GOP.

“Individuals running next year for Congress on down can talk about how Democrats take public safety very seriously,” the Democratic governor told reporters. “This is not a Republican-owned issue. It’s something that we’re the ones leading on. We’re the ones solving the problems and not just standing on the sidelines taking potshots.”

The move marks an early attempt to gain the high ground after Republicans last year seized on the state’s bail laws as evidence Democrats are weak on crime, fueling embarrassing losses for House Democrats in New York.

Texas Mall Shooting: Officials Probe Gunman's Possible Far-Right Links

Federal authorities are investigating whether the gunman who killed eight people including children at a Dallas shopping mall had far-right links.

The attacker, who was shot dead at the scene by a police officer, has been named as Mauricio Garcia, aged 33.

Investigators are reviewing social media to look into his ideology, the BBC's US partner CBS news reports.

During the attack he wore a clothing patch with the letters RWDS which stands for "Right Wing Death Squad".

This is a phrase popular among right-wing extremists and white supremacy groups.

Iran Hangs 2 In Rare Blasphemy Case As Executions Surge

Iran hanged two men Monday convicted of blasphemy, authorities said, carrying out rare death sentences for the crime as executions surge across the Islamic Republic following months of unrest.

Iran remains one of the world's top executioners, having put to death at least 203 prisoners since the start of this year alone, according to the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights. But carrying out executions for blasphemy remains rare, as previous cases saw the sentences reduced by authorities.

The two men executed, Yousef Mehrad and Sadrollah Fazeli Zare, died at Arak Prison in central Iran. They had been arrested in May 2020, accused of being involved in a channel on the Telegram message app called “Critique of Superstition and Religion,” according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Both men faced months of solitary confinement and could not contact their families, the commission said.

Drone Video Shows Huge Line Of Hundreds Of Migrants Who Illegally Crossed The Border Into Texas, Days Before The End Of Title 42

A huge line of consisting of hundreds of migrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally from Mexico into Brownsville, Texas was caught on camera on Sunday evening.

The line could best be seen from the air as footage from a drone tea, attempted to capture the enormity of the as it snaked off into the distance.

The great majority of the migrants looked to be single adults. Many of those waiting in line did not appear to have baggage of any kind with most simply holding a plastic bag containing important documents.

Although it is not clear exactly where the migrants had arrived from, over the last two weeks there has been a surge of Venezuelan migrants through South Texas, particularly in and around Brownsville. The reasons for the surge are unclear.

On Friday U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted that Mexico has agreed week to continue taking back Venezuelans who enter the U.S. illegally even after asylum restrictions end Thursday, along with Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.

Wisconsin Headlines

Florida Gov. Ron Desantis Hints At Presidential Run In Central Wisconsin Appearance

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis touted his conservative victories and hinted at a presidential run in a visit to one of Wisconsin's political strongholds for former President Donald Trump.

DeSantis spoke Saturday at the Lincoln Day Dinner put on by the Republican Party of Marathon County. The central Wisconsin county gave 58 percent of its vote to Trump in 2020. It's also part of the sprawling, northern Wisconsin 7th Congressional District — a mostly rural district that includes some of the state's most heavily Republican areas.

DeSantis, who won reelection as Florida governor in a landslide in November, is widely expected to announce a campaign for president this month. He did not explicitly address those plans, but teased them in his closing remarks.

"We are proud of all that we've accomplished in the state of Florida," DeSantis told the room of about 560 attendees for the $75-per-plate dinner at the Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center. "But I can tell you this: I have only begun to fight."

GOP Prosecutor Urges Judge To Toss Wisconsin Abortion Suit

Attorneys for a Republican prosecutor urged a judge Thursday to toss out a lawsuit seeking to repeal Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban, arguing that a newer state law permitting pre-viability abortions complements the ban rather than supersedes it, as Democrats maintain.

Wisconsin lawmakers passed a law in 1849 that outlaws abortion except to save the mother’s life. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 that legalized abortion statewide effectively voided the ban. It was held in abeyance for nearly five decades until the high court struck down Roe vs. Wade last year. The decision reactivated the ban.

Wisconsin Broadcasters Pick Top Stations Of 2023

Over the weekend, the top radio stations in Wisconsin were crowned at the 2023 Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Awards Gala. The event was attended by more than 400 people at the Madison Marriott West in Middleton, and there were 1,502 award entries with 113 participating stations. The entries were judged by professional broadcasters outside Wisconsin.

Here are the 2023 stations of the year...

Wisconsin Fishermen Have Asked For Years That The Price Of A Trout Stamp Be Increased. That Might Finally Happen

As activity heated up last week on the 2023-25 Wisconsin budget, Republicans who control the Legislature's budget-writing committee stripped 545 items from Gov. Tony Evers' two-year state spending plan.

In the conservation realm, the cuts included proposals to bolster the deer carcass disposal program and create a lead-free ammunition outreach campaign.

However two fee increases proposed by Evers – to the inland trout stamp and non-resident deer hunting license – were not placed on the exclusion list and therefore could be added by the Joint Finance Committee as it builds a budget in the coming weeks.

Badgers Earn No. 5 Seed In Big Ten Tournament

The Big Ten conference announced the complete bracket for the 2023 Big Ten Softball Tournament that will be hosted by the University of Illinois from May 10-13 at Eichelberger Field. After a series sweep over Iowa, the Badgers earned the No. 5 overall seed and will take on the Fighting Illini on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT.

The Badgers closed out the regular season with a series sweep over the Iowa Hawkeyes and improved to 29-17, 12-10. When the Badgers and Fighting Illini met at the beginning of the season, Wisconsin took the series, 2-1.

All 11 games from the Big Ten Tournament will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.