Morning Headlines - Thursday, Mar. 17, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

House Leaders Want To Take Up Daylight Saving Time Bill — Later

A proposal to make daylight saving time permanent is finding bipartisan support in the House after its passage in the Senate.

Word of the proposal passing in the upper chamber Tuesday quickly rocketed across both traditional and social media, one of the few pieces of news to break through almost wall-to-wall coverage of the crisis in Ukraine and gas prices at home. House members on both sides of the aisle almost immediately voiced their support for the push, despite appearing caught off-guard by its swift path through the Senate.

Oil Prices Rise On Supply Concerns

Oil futures rose Thursday morning, adding to gains. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said a decline in oil demand due to higher prices would not offset a shut-in of Russian oil supplies, according to Reuters.

Lone Star Tick, Linked To Heartland Virus, Now Found In 6 States

Ticks carrying a mysterious and rare virus that can sicken or even kill older adults or people with underlying conditions have been found in at least six states, a new study reported Wednesday.

Not much is yet known about the Heartland virus, which when transmitted to a person by a tick bite can cause fever, fatigue, decreased appetite, headache, nausea, diarrhea, and muscle or joint pain. It's unclear if other ticks can also spread the virus or if people can be infected in other ways, the CDC said.

Streamers Crack Down On Password Sharing As Cancellations Rise

Streaming companies are cracking down on password sharing, as the number of quarterly subscription cancellations in the U.S. grows.

Netflix on Wednesday said it will start testing ways to enable subscribers who share passwords outside of their households to do so "while also paying a bit more."

NASA's Big, New Moon Rocket Set To Debut In Florida

NASA's next-generation moon rocket was due on Thursday to make a highly anticipated, slow-motion journey from an assembly plant to its launch pad in Florida for a final round of tests in the coming weeks that will determine how soon the spacecraft can fly.

Rollout of the towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with its Orion crew capsule perched on top marks a key milestone in US plans for renewed lunar exploration after years of setbacks, and the public's first glimpse of a space vehicle more than a decade in development.

Wisconsin Headlines

Wisconsin GOP Leader Rejects Election Decertification Call

Wisconsin's Republican speaker of the Assembly again rejected calls to decertify President Joe Biden's win in the battleground state after meeting privately Wednesday with advocates for making that move that attorneys across the political spectrum have said can't be done.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who called the meeting, emerged to say he believed there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election but the focus should not be on relitigating that but instead on electing Republicans as governor and attorney general this fall.

Wisconsin Congressional Delegation Reacts To Ukraine President Zelenskyy’s Address To Congress

Wisconsin’s Congressional delegation is responding after a heartfelt plea from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday. Democrat Congressman Mark Pocan says that despite a request, he’s unlikely to back a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

“Well, it sounds good on the surface, it also has to be enforced. And that would likely fall on us, which would put us directly in the conflict. And I think that has been something that the President and I think many in Congress in both parties have not wanted to directly do.”

Wisconsin Hospital Association: 'The Nursing Shortage Has Arrived'

Wisconsin hospitals are bracing for a "rapid pace" of nurses retiring following successive surges of COVID-19 over the course of two years, joining those who haven’t already retired or moved on to other jobs.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association, or WHA, compiles an annual workforce report which was released March 16. While it doesn’t estimate how many nurses or other hospital staff will leave in 2022, it says staff burnout and violence against health care workers is contributing to workforce woes experienced by hospitals.

A recent survey done by the medical staffing agency, Incredible Health in California, shows a third of nurses will leave their position by the end of 2022.

Frozen Road Declaration Ends Friday For Northern Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is ending the frozen road declaration for northern Wisconsin Zone 1 as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 18 and enacting Class II road restrictions. Declarations for other zones in Wisconsin were lifted earlier this month based on frost tube readings.​

DATCP Reminds Farmers To Check Runoff Risk Prior To Spreading Manure

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) is reminding farmers and manure applicators to check the runoff risk advisory forecast before spreading manure on fields. The tool helps determine the potential for manure runoff from a field depending on weather conditions and soil temperature.

The runoff risk advisory forecas​t includes maps showing short-term runoff risk for daily field application planning. The maps account for soil saturation and temperature, weather forecast, snow and crop cover, and slope. The National Weather Service updates the forecast three times daily.