Morning Headlines - Tuesday, May 30, 2023

U.S. and World Headlines

McCarthy’s Debt Limit Deal Faces First Critical GOP Test

Congressional GOP leaders are pressing ahead with plans for a House vote Wednesday on the debt ceiling deal, in the face of opposition from conservatives who say the deal does not cut spending enough to justify extending the government’s borrowing limit.

A key early test will come Tuesday afternoon, when the House Rules Committee is set to vote on the rule governing debate over the measure.

Such rules are generally party-line efforts, but two Republicans on the House Rules panel — Reps. Chip Roy (Texas) and Ralph Norman (S.C.) — have emerged as harsh critics of the deal negotiated by President Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's Impeachment Trial To Begin No Later Than August 28

A historic impeachment trial in Texas to determine whether Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton should be permanently removed from office will begin no later than August in the state Senate, where the jury that would determine his future could include his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton.

Setting the date was one of the last orders of business lawmakers took Monday during a sluggish end to this year's legislative session in Texas, where the impeachment laid bare fractures in America's biggest red state beyond whether Republicans will oust one of the GOP's conservative legal stars.

Biden’s Student Debt Plan Hangs In Balance As Major Supreme Court Rulings Loom

For months, the Biden administration’s ambitious plan to discharge billions of dollars of student loan debt has been on ice, blocked by lower courts, its fate left in the hands of skeptical conservative justices on the Supreme Court.

Decision day is fast approaching.

The stakes are high, with 43 million people eligible for up to $20,000 in debt relief.

The total cost if the program ever goes into effect has been calculated at more than $400 billion, with the administration estimating that 20 million people would have all of their remaining student loan debt canceled.

LGBTQ+ Activists Call For New Strategies To Promote Equality After Target Backlash

Following Target’s announcement last week that it removed products and relocated Pride displays to the back of certain stores in the South, activists in the LGBTQ+ community are calling for new campaigns to convince corporate leaders not to cave to anti-LGBTQ+ groups.

“We need a strategy on how to deal with corporations that are experiencing enormous pressure to throw LGBTQ people under the bus,” said California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, a member of the LGBTQ legislative caucus.

“We need to send a clear message to corporate America that if you’re our ally — if you are truly our ally — you need to be our ally, not just when it’s easy but also when it’s hard,” he said.

Heat Stomp Celtics In Game 7, Carry Dream Run Into NBA Finals

Jimmy Butler called his shot.

A year to the day after Butler vowed to get the Miami Heat over the hump following a hard-fought Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the 2022 Eastern Conference finals, he made good on his promise.

Miami joined the 1999 New York Knicks as the second No. 8 seed to make the NBA Finals after a dominant 103-84 victory over Boston in Game 7 of the conference finals on Monday night.

"Figure out a way to be consistent," Butler had said after that Game 7 defeat in 2022 -- one that ended with him missing a 3-pointer that would have potentially won Miami the game. "I think we had enough, I think we do have enough ... next year, we will have enough and we're going to be right back in this same situation and we're going to get it done."

Wisconsin Headlines

‘Numbers Nobody Has Ever Seen’: How The GOP Lost Wisconsin

For Timothy Bachleitner, a Republican Party leader in this small Wisconsin city, his party’s collapse in a spring election for state Supreme Court was demoralizing enough. But what really hurt was when a Mack truck rolled through Ripon not long after, wrenched up a building revered as the sentimental birthplace of the GOP, and plunked it down on a commercial corridor a little more than a mile away.

The Little White Schoolhouse, where a group of Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats met to form a new, anti-slavery party in 1854, had been moved several times before, and the building’s owner, the Ripon Chamber of Commerce, said the new location would make it easier to accommodate visitors when Republicans hold their national convention in Milwaukee next year. But the National Register of Historic Places was not impressed, telling officials the schoolhouse would be delisted. The episode sparked a minor controversy in Republican Party circles around the state.

Master Lock Leaving Milwaukee After 100 Years Despite Being Key Area For Wisconsin Manufacturing

A manufacturer with a 100-year history in Milwaukee will exit the city, leaving over 400 workers out of a job.

The departure comes as a new report shows the manufacturing industry’s workforce in Milwaukee and its suburbs shrank slightly over the last decade — while the area remains vital to the state's manufacturing sector.

Master Lock will shutter its Milwaukee plant by next March and move production elsewhere in North America, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"This decision is not a reflection of the skills, performance or commitment of the Milwaukee workforce, and it was not made lightly," the company said in a statement to WTMJ-TV. "Rather, this is an opportunity to continue to enhance our supply chain resilience, maximize potential growth of the business and maintain our competitiveness into the future."

But the decision has drawn criticism from the United Auto Workers union and city leaders alike.

Authorities Confirm Identity Of The Body Found Floating In River On Wisconsin/minnesota Border

The body recovered on the St. Croix River was identified as that of a teenager who went missing back in April.

According to the Chisago County Sheriff’s Office, the body recovered on the St. Croix River near Taylors Falls was identified as D’Andrea Sanvig. Authorities say that Sanvig fell into the river back on April 11.

As Wisconsin Continues To Lose Dairy Farms, A National Dairy Group Hopes To Make Milk More Profitable

Wisconsin has seen a steady decline in dairy farms over the last decade. In 2003, the state was home to more than 16,000 dairy farms, but a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that number is now less than 6,000.

One of the reasons farmers are exiting the industry is because it's become harder to make a profit from milk. A national trade association of dairy cooperatives hopes to change that by updating the system for pricing and selling milk across the county.

The National Milk Producers Federation has proposed five changes to the federal milk marketing order system. In a letter to the head of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, the group asked for a federal hearing to consider their proposal and begin the process for making changes to the system.

Packers CEO Says He’s Hopeful State Will Help With Costs For 2025 NFL Draft

Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy says he’s had initial conversations with some state lawmakers about the proposal to use $2 million in state money to help pay for costs associated with Green Bay hosting the 2025 NFL Draft.

“It would obviously be very helpful, and we’re hopeful we’ll be able to get that funding,” Murphy said on WISN’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “It’s economic development. It’s going to benefit the state, and it’s good for everybody.”

Rep. David Steffen, a Green Bay-area Republican lawmaker, said the motion will go before the Joint Finance Committee to be included in the state budget.

“I have to tell you, I think this is going to be one of the easiest pieces of legislation I’ve worked on in nine years,” Steffen said.