Morning Headlines - Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

Poll: Desantis Surges To 5-Point Lead Over Weakened Trump In 2024 Primary Matchup

A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll finds that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis now leads former President Donald Trump by 5 percentage points in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Trump previously led DeSantis by double-digit margins among registered voters who describe themselves as Republicans or Republican-leaning independents.

Meanwhile, DeSantis is ahead by even more — a whopping 11 points — among Americans who say they voted in a 2016 Republican primary or caucus in their state.

Frustration Swirls In House GOP Over McCarthy Speakership Opposition

Frustration and anxiety are bubbling up among House Republicans over opposition to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for Speaker from a small group of hardline conservative GOP members that threatens to keep him from the gavel.

McCarthy allies lined up at the mics to voice support for him at an internal House GOP Conference meeting on Tuesday. And they are starting to trade barbs with the McCarthy opponents: “We’re not gonna be held hostage,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.).

Both the Republican Governance Group, a caucus of more center-leaning members formerly known as the Tuesday Group, and the Main Street Caucus, a group of pragmatic governance-minded Republicans, have released letters in recent days urging their House Republican colleagues to support McCarthy. The former group urged Republicans to “put posturing aside.”

Here's What We Know Of The Group Accused Of Plotting To Overthrow Germany's Government

The news Wednesday that a far-right group had plotted to overthrow the German government in a coup surprised many around the world who thought the country had largely done away with its extremist right wing.

But experts in Germany and elsewhere who had been tracking groups inspired by paranoid conspiracy theories and emboldened by the wider movement against pandemic measures said it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

So what is known about the group that was the subject of one of the biggest counterterror operations in German’s history, featuring more than 3,000 police officers and special forces?

AI Bot That Can Do Schoolwork Could 'Blow Up' Us Education System, With Youngest At Most Risk: Former Teacher

The emergence of artificial intelligence chatbots that can complete students’ assignments will lead to a crisis in learning, forcing educators to rethink schooling entirely, a former teacher said.

"The introduction of new artificial intelligence technologies into schools that enables students to auto-generate essays has the capacity to blow up our entire writing education curriculum," Peter Laffin, founder of Crush the College Essay and writing coach, told Fox News. "It may make us have to rethink it from the ground up, and that might ultimately be a good thing."

Last week, tech company OpenAI unveiled an AI chatbot, ChatGPT, which has stunned users with its advanced functions. The language model can automatically generate school essays for any grade level, answer open-ended analytical questions, draft marketing pitches, write jokes, poems and even computer code.

Harry And Meghan Renew Clash With British Royals And Media In Much-Anticipated Netflix Series

Meghan and Harry today took a series of new swipes at the Royal Family and Britain in their new and incendiary Netflix series being described as a transatlantic 'TV bomb' aimed at The Firm.

Episode one begins with a thinly-veiled attack on Buckingham Palace's decision not to co-operate with their six-part documentary charting their courtship, marriage and Megxit.

As part of their $ 100 million deal with Netflix, the privacy-conscious couple have handed over a trove of pictures and video from their relationship including the moment Harry proposed in 2017 and filming himself in the VIP lounge at Heathrow as he emigrated in March 2020.

The first three episodes contain a series of barbs that will upset his father King Charles III, including Harry's claim that he was 'literally brought up' by a 'second family' in Africa where he chose to spend three-month stints in his late teens and twenties as he came to terms with his mother's death.

Wisconsin Headlines

Judge Dorow Allows Suspect 2 Days To Go To Jail; Instead Man Attacks Family, Police Say

An Oak Creek man accused of stabbing his in-laws in Illinois had been sentenced to jail the day before in Wisconsin. However, a Waukesha Judge running for State Supreme Court allowed him two days to report, the I-Team discovered.

Michael Liu, 36, was supposed to report to jail by Dec. 2 to serve four months for a domestic violence incident over the summer. Judge Jennifer Dorow sentenced Liu on Nov. 30 and allowed Liu two days to report.

According to a Will County Sheriff's Department Facebook post, during those two days, Liu traveled from Oak Creek to Crete, Ill. to exact revenge on his soon-to-be ex-wife’s parents. According to the Will County Sheriff’s Department, on Dec. 1 Liu fired shots into the home of his ex-wife’s parents and broke into the home, stabbing the 66-year-old woman. The 68-year-old man intervened and was stabbed as well. The man defended his wife, stabbing Liu an estimated 17 times, according to law enforcement. All three are expected to survive.

Nearly 2 Years After It Was Slated To Close, Staffing Shortages Continue To Plague Wisconsin Youth Prison

Children at the Lincoln Hills and Copper Lake youth prisons are no longer allowed to be locked in their rooms as punishment under the terms of a class-action settlement approved in 2018.

But kids at the northern Wisconsin facilities are still being confined to their rooms, simply because there aren't enough staff members to supervise them, according to the latest report submitted by a court-appointed monitor.

Prison officials say they use so-called "operational confinement" to ensure the safety of the children and staff on days when not enough employees report to work to keep the facilities running as usual.

American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin attorney Karyn Rotker says the youth confined to their rooms — sometimes for up to 20 hours a day — are left struggling with isolation. She says that's especially difficult for those struggling with preexisting mental health issues and past trauma.

Wisconsin's Assembly Maps Are More Skewed Than Ever — What Happens In 2023?

It's Election Day 2022 in Sheboygan, and voters in this majority blue city once again have no chance of electing a Democrat to legislative office.

That wasn't always the case. New Deal Democrats, running in the wake of a bitter Kohler Co. strike, held the local Senate seat in the 1930s and again from 1983 until 2003. They also held an Assembly seat concentrated on the city in all but four years between 1959 and 2011.

But during the 2011 decennial redistricting process, Republicans split Sheboygan between two Assembly seats, each with more voters from majority red Sheboygan and Manitowoc counties. It's one of many examples of how Republicans carved Wisconsin's district boundaries to secure an invincible majority in a politically evenly divided state.

Tomah Man Sentenced To 78 Months For Methamphetamine Trafficking

Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Stephen Thompson, 57, Tomah, Wisconsin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 78 months in federal prison for possessing with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine. Thompson pleaded guilty to this charge on August 31, 2022.

The government’s investigation revealed that Thompson received a total of nine packages containing methamphetamine in the mail from Arizona at various addresses in the Tomah area.  On November 15, 2021, U.S. Postal Inspectors executed a search warrant on a parcel sent from Arizona and addressed to “Stephen Thompson” at an address in Sparta, Wisconsin. The parcel contained approximately one pound of methamphetamine. On March 17, 2022, Postal Inspectors executed a search warrant on a parcel sent to Thompson’s associate in Tomah. Inspectors found approximately 220 grams of methamphetamine in the parcel. Thompson was arrested that same day after taking possession of the parcel.

Thompson’s criminal history dates back to 1992 and includes six drug-related felonies as well as prior felony convictions for burglary and theft. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Conley concluded that a substantial sentence was warranted because Thompson received a significant amount of methamphetamine from Arizona and distributed it in the Tomah area.

California Man Charged With Eleven Financial Crimes Related To Former Wisconsin Law Firm

United States Attorney Gregory J. Haanstad announced that on December 6, 2022, Matthew Browndorf (age: 52) was charged with eleven financial crimes associated with the Wisconsin law firm formerly known as BP Peterman.

According to the indictment, Browndorf owned and operated a holding company named Plutos Sama, LLC (“Plutos Sama”). Through Plutos Sama, Browndorf owned subsidiary law firms across the United States, including BP Peterman, which was based in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Browndorf, as Plutos Sama’s CEO, was responsible for ensuring that Plutos Sama and BP Peterman appropriately collected and remitted payroll taxes, filed the appropriate payroll tax forms with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), remitted funds associated with their employee pension benefit plan, and remitted funds associated with their health care benefit program. The indictment alleges that Browndorf unlawfully failed to fulfill these obligations.