Morning Headlines - Wednesday, Jun. 22, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

Biden Calls On Congress To Suspend Federal Gas Tax

President Biden will on Wednesday call on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax for three months, ask states to do the same and demand that oil and gas companies boost production and pass on any savings directly to consumers, according to administration officials.

Democrats know that $5 dollar-a-gallon gas is a daily — and politically deadly — reminder that the country's annual inflation rate has soared to 8.6% under Biden's watch.

Afghan Earthquake: 1,000 People Killed And 1,500 Wounded, Official Says

A powerful earthquake has killed one thousand people and left hundreds more injured in Afghanistan, a Taliban official has told the BBC.

Pictures show landslides and ruined mud-built homes in eastern Paktika province, where rescuers have been scrambling to treat the injured.

Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said hundreds of houses were destroyed and the death toll was likely to rise.

It is the deadliest earthquake to strike Afghanistan in two decades.

Dramatic Details And Key Takeaways From Tuesday's Jan. 6 Hearing

The latest House Jan. 6 committee hearing on Tuesday afternoon focused on what it said was then-President Donald Trump's "unprecedented" effort to push key state officials to reject the results of the 2020 election -- including a scheme to create slates of "fake" electors to overturn Joe Biden's victory.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., led the hearing, which featured live witness testimony from Republican officials from Arizona and Georgia to show the pressure campaign related to Trump's "big lie" extended to well before Jan. 6.

Biden Can​​’t Escape Questions On His Age

President Biden can’t escape questions about his age, a fact of life that’s causing uneasy Democrats to assess whether he can realistically run for reelection in 2024, when he will be 81 years old.

Conversations that were once whispered in private are spilling out into the public amid angst over a potential drubbing for the party in this fall’s midterm elections and existential questions about its future two years later.

Brooks Koepka Becomes Latest Star Golfer To Leave PGA Tour For LIV Golf Series

LIV Golf is expected to announce the addition of Koepka in the coming days, sources have confirmed. Koepka, who is ranked 19th in the Official World Golf Ranking, is expected to compete in the first LIV Golf event in the United States, at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon, starting June 30.

LIV Golf has now signed eight of the top 50 players in the world; Bryson DeChambeau (ranked 30th) and Patrick Reed (38th) are expected to compete in the event in Portland as well.

Wisconsin Headlines

Among Wisconsin's Jobless, Black Applicants Half As Likely As Whites To Receive Pandemic Aid

A federal audit has uncovered what researchers into Wisconsin's unemployment insurance system have long suspected: People of color are less likely to receive jobless compensation than their white counterparts.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development previously told Wisconsin Watch that it lacked data to know whether its systems might favor some groups over others, such as producing different outcomes around racial lines.

Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson Under Heat For Fake Elector Revelation

An aide for U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson told former Vice President Mike Pence’s staff that the Republican from Wisconsin wanted to hand-deliver to Pence fake elector votes from his state and neighboring Michigan, text messages revealed at Tuesday's meeting of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection showed.

Johnson spokeswoman Alexa Henning downplayed the texts after they were publicly revealed for the first time during the committee's hearing in Washington, but did not deny that Johnson had wanted to hand-deliver the slate of fake electors to Pence.

DNR Warden Goes Viral For Removing Bear From Home

A DNR warden has become a celebrity bear wrangler after video of him removing a bear from a home in northeast Wisconsin went viral.

The bear got into the vacation home in Crivitz through a kitchen window. Warden Tim Werner says the bear ate some food in the kitchen, then worked its way to the master bathroom.

That's when the guests woke up, closed the door, ran out of the house and called for help.

GOP Lawmakers Poised To End Special Session On Abortion Ban

Republican legislators in Wisconsin were poised Wednesday to meet in a special session Democratic Gov. Tony Evers called to repeal the battleground state’s dormant abortion ban and quickly adjourn without taking any action.

Wisconsin adopted a ban on abortion except to save the mother’s life in 1849, year after the territory became a state. The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that essentially legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 nullified the ban.

Wisconsin Guardians Frustrated Over Rollout Of Covid-19 Vaccines For Kids Under 5

Eliza Wills called 10 different pharmacies in the Madison area before finding a COVID-19 vaccine appointment for her 4-year-old son, Deklen, at Fitchburg Family Pharmacy.

On Thursday, Deklen will join the nearly 385,000 children in Wisconsin under age 17 that have been vaccinated against the disease so far.

Wills said the hoops she had to jump through to schedule an appointment were beyond frustrating.