Morning Headlines - Friday, Sept. 6, 2024

U.S. and World Headlines

Georgia High School Shooting Suspect To Make First Court Appearance As Father Faces 2nd-Degree Murder Charges

A school year’s deadly start in a small north Georgia city has left a community “heartbroken” on Friday after a 14-year-old mass shooting suspect and his father were charged in connection with the rampage that left two students and two teachers dead this week, authorities said.

Colt Gray, a student at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, is charged with four counts of felony murder after investigators say he fired an AR-style rifle on campus on Wednesday morning, killing four people, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Nine others were injured, all but two of whom were shot, the GBI said.

Hunter Biden Pleads Guilty To All 9 Charges In Tax Evasion Case Before Trial In Los Angeles

Hunter Biden offered a surprise guilty plea in his tax evasion case on Thursday, capping a whirlwind day in court in Los Angeles, where jury selection in his trial was set to begin.

The president's son entered an open plea — an offer to plead guilty and allow a judge to sentence him — on Thursday afternoon, admitting guilt to all nine charges. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 16. He faces up to 17 years in prison.

7-Eleven Owner Rejects $38 Billion Buyout Offer

The Japanese owner of convenience store chain 7-Eleven has rejected a $38bn (£29.2bn) takeover bid from Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard.

In a letter addressed to the prospective buyer, Seven & i Holdings said the Circle K owner's offer "grossly" undervalued the company and was fraught with regulatory risk.

The 7-Eleven owner added, however, that it remains open to negotiations and ready to consider a better proposal.

The Globe Just Had Its Hottest Summer On Record

The global average surface temperatures from June through August were the hottest on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The period, which comprises summer in the Northern Hemisphere, brought a spate of extreme heat, wildfires and other extreme events.

Salesforce To Acquire Startup Own For $1.9 Billion In Cash

Salesforce announced Thursday that it would pay $1.9 billion in cash for Own Co., a startup specializing in tools for backing up data in cloud-based applications. Salesforce intends to close the deal in the quarter ending in January 2025 if regulators give it their blessing, according to a statement.

The startup, formerly known as OwnBackup, was valued at $3.35 billion in a 2021 funding round. Salesforce Ventures, the cloud software company’s venture arm, invested in that round and earlier ones.

Wisconsin Headlines

Biden Administration Gives $537 Million To Dairyland Power Cooperative

In an effort to spur a faster transition to renewable energy, President Joe Biden visited Westby, Wisconsin to announce a massive investment in rural electricity cooperatives.

In total, the president unveiled $7.3 billion to be distributed to 16 rural cooperatives across the country. The money is from the Empowering Rural America program, which got its funding from the Inflation Reduction Act.

Cooke, Van Orden And Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional In 2024

Nobody is taking Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District for granted in 2024.

“This is a very competitive district,” said UW-La Crosse political science professor Anthony Chergosky.

“The road to the White House runs through Wisconsin 3,” Democratic candidate Rebecca Cooke said.

Mayor Condemns GOP Senate Race Ad Tying Democrat To Wisconsin Christmas Parade Killings

The mayor of Waukesha on Wednesday condemned a campaign ad run by a Republican independent group that links Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin with the killings of six people at a 2021 Christmas parade in that Wisconsin city.

Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly called the ad a “pitiful political tool” that “doesn’t just hurt the families that had members that were killed, or those that were injured or those that even saw it, it hurts the whole entire community.”

Wisconsin Mushroom Foragers Need Certification To Sell Their Haul To Restaurants

On a recent 80-degree day, Jeremy Holmstadt and Brennon Strnad were in the woods anticipating a bustling day of gathering mushrooms.

“September is really peak season for us,” Strnad said as he walked around a wooded area in southern Wisconsin.

The two Dane County residents are active members of the Wisconsin Mycological Society. They frequently go to the woods to find mushrooms. Some mushrooms are edible. Some are used for dying clothes. Some are poisonous, and some are just cool to see, like the puffball mushrooms.

Drone Helps Rescue 3-Year-Old Boy Lost In Dark Wisconsin Corn Field

Thermal drone footage shows the rescue of a 3-year-old who became lost after he had wandered into a 100-acre corn field alone and at night in Alto, Wisconsin.

Fond du Lac County Sheriff's deputies received a call for help from the boy's parents around 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 25 that their son had wandered into the expansive 6-foot-tall corn field behind their home. With the darkness, deputies brought a thermal drone to the scene to help in the search.