Morning Headlines - Thursday, May 21, 2026

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

Ebola Outbreak Tops 130 Deaths; American Doctor Transferred

The head of the World Health Organization said Wednesday the risk of global spread of the Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda is high at national and regional levels but low at the global level despite more than 130 deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that so far, 51 cases have been confirmed in Congo’s northern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, “although we know the scale of the epidemic is much larger.”

UAE Says New Pipeline That Will Bypass Strait Of Hormuz Is Nearly 50% Complete

The UAE has already completed nearly 50% of a second pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, said the CEO of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co,, or ADNOC.

The new pipeline will double ADNOC’s export capacity through Fujairah, a port that sits on the Gulf of Oman just beyond Hormuz.

US Aircraft Carrier Arrives In Caribbean Amid Tensions With Cuba

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group arrived in the Caribbean this week amid U.S. tensions with Cuba and as President Trump has threatened to invade the island.

The Nimitz-class battleship its air wing made up of F/A-18E Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers and C-2A Greyhounds; along with USS Gridley, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and USNS Patuxent, a Henry J. Kaiser-class underway replenishment oiler, are in the Caribbean Sea, the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom), which oversees U.S. military action in the Caribbean and Latin America, announced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors Seek 50-Year Sentence For Nonprofit Leader At Center Of Sprawling Minnesota Fraud Case

The former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted for her role at the center of a staggering $250 million fraud case that helped ignite a federal immigration crackdown should spend 50 years in prison, prosecutors argued in a court filing.

Aimee Bock, who ran the organization Feeding our Future, which claimed it helped provide millions of meals to children in need during the pandemic, is set to be sentenced Thursday in federal court in Minneapolis.

Sports Illustrated Editor Defends Company Following AI Plagiarism Controversy

Last week, Sports Illustrated removed an article and the author’s entire profile after claims that the author had plagiarized their work using AI. On Wednesday, SI editor-in-chief Steve Cannella offered an explanation for what happened and what the outlet is doing about it.

As part of their prediction market vertical, Parker Loverich wrote, “Who is really winning on Kalshi parlays according to the data,” which, as reported by Futurism, essentially regurgitated the same information and analysis as a Sportico article written days earlier but failed to offer any attribution.

Wisconsin Headlines

Half Of Deer Ticks Tested By Wisconsin Researchers Had Lyme-Causing Bacteria

A project studying ticks collected from across the state found that just over half of the tested deer ticks had the bacteria causing Lyme disease.

Over the last two years, people have mailed in nearly 12,500 ticks from Wisconsin and the surrounding region to Marshfield Clinic Research Institute’s Tick Inventory via Citizen Science project.

A new paper, which is awaiting peer-review, shows that just over a quarter of submissions in 2024 were deer ticks, the species known for transmitting Lyme and other diseases to humans.

Wisconsin Students Await New ACT Scores After Scoring Error

Wisconsin high school students are awaiting new ACT scores after a scoring error was made by the testing company.

The issue is impacting students who took the nationwide test online during school in the spring.

ACT reached out to testers last week about the miscalculations.

“The root of the issue is that part of the process for making certain that all scores are comparable regardless of when and how students test did not work for these particular students,” said Juan Elizondo, director of strategic communications for ACT. “We caught that it didn’t work. We corrected it and we are rescoring those scores.”

Legal Wrangling In One Challenge To Congressional Map Could Bar Appeal In Second Suit

Those who challenged the state’s congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander have filed notice they plan to appeal the ruling to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, the parties in a challenge of the congressional map as an anti-competitive gerrymander are wrangling over the proper way to appeal a three-judge panel’s rejection of that lawsuit.

It’s the first time parties have used a 2011 GOP-authored law to challenge congressional districts. How the court decides that issue in the anti-competitive gerrymandering case could prevent the planned appeal over the partisan gerrymandering claims from moving forward.

Evers Announces More Internet Money, Even As Past Spending Remains Cloudy

Wisconsin is spending millions of more dollars on high speed internet, despite on-going questions about the millions the state has already spent.

Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday announced the state will be spending $60 million "to expand access to high-speed internet in unserved communities."

“I’m jazzed that we’re working to get this funding out the door so we can move forward with our state’s efforts to close the digital divide and ensure folks and families have the reliable, affordable high-speed internet they need and deserve," the governor said.

EPA Announces $94M For Wisconsin To Find And Replace Lead Pipes

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it’s awarding nearly $2.9 billion through a state revolving loan fund to help states find and replace lead pipes, including $94.3 million for Wisconsin.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump has proposed a 90 percent cut for state revolving loan funds under the agency’s 2027 budget. The money awarded through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund comes from $15 billion set aside under the bipartisan infrastructure law to speed up replacement of lead service lines.