Morning Headlines - Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

'This Is My Fault Alone': Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Takes Blame For Not Fending Off 'Government Control'

In a blog post published Tuesday, Dorsey owned up to allowing the company to stray from preserving free of speech, but added that he only allowed that to happen when he 'no longer had hope' maintaining it after an unnamed investment group bought up stock in the company in 2020.

Dorsey did not specify which company that was, but he was likely pointing to the Elliot Management, which that year bought a majority share in Twitter for $387million under the direction of managing partner Jesse Cohn, who then set about trying to oust Dorsey.

The former Twitter CEO's comments come as the new chief twit Elon Musk started releasing internal Twitter files from before his take over, which showed that the company actively tried to suppress the tweets of many conservative account-holders.

FBI May Have Violated First Amendment With Twitter Moderation Requests, Experts Warn

The FBI may have may have violated the First Amendment by asking Twitter to moderate certain speech, as revealed in a recent "Twitter Files" release, constitutional experts tell Fox News Digital.

A Twitter Files installment released by Substack journalist Matt Taibbi last week revealed Twitter’s former head of safety, Yoel Roth, apparently attended weekly meetings with the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence about moderating misinformation ahead of the 2020 election.

In October 2020, just weeks before the election, the FBI prompted Twitter to take action after it flagged two tweets related to alleged voter fraud, according to a screenshot of internal communications posted by Taibbi. Twitter responded by slapping a label that said "Learn how voting is safe and secure" on one of the tweets from a GOP Indiana politician, according to the screenshot.

It's Time To Wear A Mask Again, Health Experts Say

Masks are back, and, this time, they’re not just for COVID-19. A “tripledemic” of the coronavirus, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, known as RSV, sweeping through the United States has prompted several cities and counties, including New York City and Los Angeles County, to encourage people to wear a mask in indoor public spaces once again.

Nationwide, COVID-19 case rates and hospitalizations have spiked by 56% and 24%, respectively, over the past two weeks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that there have already been 13 million illnesses and 7,300 deaths from flu this season, and those numbers are expected to rise in the coming months. (Over the past decade, annual flu deaths have ranged from 12,000 to 52,000 people, with the peak in January and February.) And while RSV finally appears to be on the decline, infection rates are still high across much of the country.

Biden Signs Respect For Marriage Act, Recognizing Marriage Equality In Federal Law

President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday at a triumphant White House ceremony, enshrining federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages into federal law for the first time.

Vice President Kamala Harris, Democratic and Republican lawmakers and more than 5,000 guests marked the occasion on a frigid White House South Lawn. The signing comes a decade after Mr. Biden as vice president put former President Barack Obama in an awkward position by getting ahead of the then-president and endorsing same-sex marriage on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"Today, I sign the Respect for Marriage Act into law," Mr. Biden said Tuesday. "Deciding whether to marry, who to marry, is one of the most profound decisions a person can make. And as I've said before and some of you might remember, on a certain TV show 10 years ago, I got in trouble. Marriage, I mean this with all of my heart, marriage is a simple proposition: Who do you love and will you be loyal to that person you love? It's not more complicated than that."

Oregon Governor Commutes All 17 Of State's Death Sentences

Oregon Democratic Governor Kate Brown will commute the sentences of all the state's 17 death row prisoners to life in prison without chance of parole.

With less than a month left in office, she said she was using her executive power because she believed capital punishment was wrong.

Oregon is one of 27 states that allows the death penalty, but it has not executed a prisoner since 1997.

Republicans in the western US state condemned Ms Brown's order.

It will take effect on Wednesday.

In a statement, she said she was not acting because these prisoners had been rehabilitated, but because the death penalty is "immoral".

Wisconsin Headlines

Report: School Taxes To Increase $78.7M This Year

Property owners will pay $78.7 million more in school taxes this year, even though the state budget signed last summer aimed to drive down the annual bills.

The Wisconsin Policy Forum cited the hundreds of school referendum that have passed since the 2021-23 budget was signed as one reason for the 1.5 percent increase in property taxes statewide to $5.48 billion

The group noted the increase is relatively modest when considering several factors, including the rate of inflation.

Still, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau in a June 2021 memo projected that school levies would fall by 2.6 percent on the bills sent out a year ago and 1.9 percent this year.

Instead, they went up 0.3 percent last year and 1.5 percent this year.

In all, 219 districts will see their levies go up on this December’s bills, 186 will see decreases and 16 will see them remain the same.

La Crosse Man Sentenced To 6 Years For Receiving Child Pornography

Kristopher L. Halverson, 32, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to six years in prison for receiving child pornography. This term of imprisonment will be followed by 20 years of supervised release. Halverson pleaded guilty to this charge on August 10, 2022.

In January 2021, the Grand Ledge Police Department in Grand Ledge, Michigan responded to a report of inappropriate communication between a 12-year-old female and a male, later identified as Kristopher Halverson.  Based on this complaint, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Halverson’s home in La Crosse County, Wisconsin, and searched a car where Halverson was found. During the search of the car, officers found an iPhone on the passenger floorboard. The iPhone had an active Google Duo phone call running with a different girl’s contact name.

After further analysis of the phone, agents were able to identify the Google Duo contact as a 15-year-old girl from Texas. The girl was interviewed and disclosed that she met Halverson while gaming and he began sending her gifts. The defendant repeatedly asked the girl to send explicit images to him and she ultimately did so.

Wisconsin Man Sentenced For Postal Theft

Steven Rosa, 29, Madison, Wisconsin was sentenced by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to 2 years of probation for theft of mail matter by a postal employee. Judge Conley also imposed a $2,000 fine as part of Rosa’s sentence.

Rosa’s theft was uncovered after a service technician for a portable toilet company found opened U.S. First Class mail in a portable toilet in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, on December 28, 2020. On January 4, 2021, additional pieces of opened mail were found in the same location, as well as in a second portable toilet. The U.S. Postal Service determined this mail was assigned for delivery to Rosa, who was a mail carrier with the Postal Service at the time.

Rosa ultimately admitted to stealing mail from his route for a period of two weeks, and that he was looking for cash and Amazon gift cards. In total, the Postal Service determined the defendant stole pieces of mail from 39 separate individuals, and approximately $245 in cash and gift cards. This mail included several holiday greeting cards.

More Than 100 Animals Removed From Wisconsin Home

More than a hundred animals in Milwaukee are looking for a permanent home after they were removed from a house with unsafe living conditions.

The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission was called to take in 112 animals from a single home over the weekend.

Now, workers are focused on getting many of them to the right organization where they can thrive.

“There was just animals everywhere,” Karen Sparapani, the executive director of the Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission. “And it was very unusual in the aspect that it was so many different kinds of animals.”

Bald Eagle Found Shot In Wisconsin Dies During Surgery

A bald eagle shot in Wisconsin has died during surgery to treat its injuries, the Wisconsin Humane Society said Tuesday.

Authorities were seeking tips on who may have shot the adult male bird that was found injured Dec. 7 on private property about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of Milwaukee. The eagle survived its initial surgery on Thursday, but went into cardiac arrest on Monday night during what the Humane Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Milwaukee called “a complex and specialized surgery to stabilize his fracture and further treat his injuries.”

The eagle was found with a broken beak, fractured humerus bone and a substantial wound to muscle and other soft tissues in its wing.