Morning Headlines - Thursday, Sept. 21, 2023 | Recent News

U.S. and World Headlines

Texas Governor Greg Abbott Deploys National Guard To Re-Install Razor Wire In Eagle Pass To Deter Migrants

The Texas Governor launched a blistering attack on Joe Biden on Wednesday
He slammed him for 'cutting the wire' and assured Texans he was having it fixed
It comes as Eagle Pass is overwhelmed by migrants flooding across the border
There were 4,000 on Wednesday, 14,000 since last week and 270,000 this year
Meanwhile Joe Biden granted temporary work permits to 472,000 Venezuelans

Ron DeSantis' Descent Continues, Unabated By The Debate And Time On The Trail

Ron DeSantis' long slide continues.

The Florida governor, once seen as the top rival to former President Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, sits in fifth place in New Hampshire, according to a CNN poll released Wednesday. He hasn't visited the state, which holds the nation's second contest, in more than a month.

A Washington Post/Monmouth Survey of South Carolina voters earlier this month found him in only slightly better stead — fourth place — trailing Trump and a pair of home-state candidates, former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott.

Senate GOP Predicts McCarthy Will Go To Democrats For Votes

Senate Republicans are predicting that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) will need to reach out to House Democrats to get the votes to prevent a government shutdown at the end of next week.

GOP senators don’t think McCarthy will be able to unify his entire GOP conference behind any measure to prevent an Oct. 1 shutdown and will have to rely on Democrats to keep federal departments and agencies open.

But they predict the Speaker won’t reach out across the aisle until the last possible moment to avoid a backlash from House conservatives, who are threatening to offer a motion to essentially dump him as Speaker if he does not hew to their demands for major spending cuts.

UAW Strike Plays Out Like Slow-Motion Car Wreck For Detroit Automakers

There's zero chance that the automakers will reach a labor deal with the UAW before Friday at noon, sources close to the bargaining tell Axios. That's the time at which the union says it plans to kick off strikes at additional factories.

With both sides dug in, a prolonged strike is looking more likely. The question is how much pain UAW President Shawn Fain is prepared to exert on the companies — and how swiftly.

The union could continue the selective strike strategy that began Sept. 15, by ordering targeted walkouts at engine or transmission plants, slowly starving other factories of critical components.
Or it could go straight for the jugular, by striking factories that build the companies' most profitable vehicles — full-size pickup trucks.

US Spending In Ukraine Explained In Four Charts

The United States has poured more than a hundred billion dollars into Ukraine's effort to repel Russia's invasion, spending far more than any other nation. But as President Volodymyr Zelensky comes to Washington to ask for more, there is growing Republican scepticism about funding the war effort.

For more than a year and a half, the US president has followed up that tough talk with American dollars. The US Congress has now authorised more than $110bn in aid to Ukraine. That includes:

DPI Moving Forward With School Spending Transparency Website

The Department of Public Instruction is moving forward with a website to disclose details of school spending after the Joint Finance Committee dropped an objection to including information on private schools.

Someone on the committee anonymously objected to the proposal late last month during the 14-day passive review process after a coalition of conservative groups opposed the inclusion of private school information in the DPI dashboard.

The Wisconsin Coalition for Education Freedom in a statement Tuesday said it worked closely with JFC to ensure the proposal met legislative intent and included additional context about revenues related to parental choice, charter, and open enrollment programs and student counts for each of these programs in each district.

In Less Than A Minute, GOP Takes No Action On Gov. Evers' Childcare, Workforce Development Proposals

A special legislative session that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers ordered to consider childcare and paid leave programs wrapped up quickly Wednesday afternoon, with no action taken and the parties at odds about how to address Wisconsin’s ongoing workforce shortage and childcare crisis.

In August, Evers ordered the special session to take up two bills that would reinstate programs that had been nixed from his budget proposal earlier this year. The legislation would extend a pandemic-era childcare subsidy program, establish a statewide paid family and medical leave program, and pour millions of dollars into the University of Wisconsin system and other workforce development programs.

Bipartisan Group Of Wisconsin Lawmakers Propose Ranked-Choice Voting And Top-Five Primaries

A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers on Wednesday revived a push to implement ranked-choice voting and nonpartisan blanket primaries in the battleground state.

Under the new bill, candidates for the U.S. House and Senate would compete in a single statewide primary regardless of their political party, with the top five finishers advancing to the general election. Voters in the general election would then rank candidates in order of preference, a system that ensures winners are chosen by a majority.

WI Lawmakers Hold Hearing To Provide Driver’s Ed Grants For Up To 15,000 Low-Income Students

State-funded driver’s education is one step closer to returning to Wisconsin for the first time in 20 years.

State lawmakers held their first public hearing Wednesday on a bill that’s expected to get the driver’s ed grant program up and running.

For the past two years, high school junior Khalil Stewart has been trying to get into driver’s ed, but one thing keeps getting in the way.

"I saw $650 and I shut that down right there because that's a lot of money,” he said.

Wisconsin Ethics Commission Staff Leakers Face 9 Months Prison, $10,000 Fine

Dan Carlton, administrator for the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, says that if any of his seven staff members leak details from an ongoing investigation he will personally terminate them on the spot and refer them to law enforcement.

“Complaints are confidential. If this was any of my staff, they know they would be terminated and referred to law enforcement,” Carlton told the Wisconsin Law Journal on Wednesday.

According to Carlton, there are certain exceptions to the non-disclosure rule, such as when there is a public settlement or district attorney referral.