Morning Headlines - Wednesday, June 19, 2024

U.S. and World Headlines

Trump’s Bid To Oust Good Ends In Nailbiter: 5 Takeaways From Tuesday’s Primaries

A stunningly tight race in Virginia was among the highlights of Tuesday night’s races, which also included contests in Georgia and Oklahoma.

Observers had been closely monitoring the GOP primary for Rep. Bob Good’s seat in Virginia’s 5th Congressional District. The contest had boiled over into one of the most tumultuous primaries of the cycle so far, as Donald Trump and Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) sought to make Good the first incumbent to lose to an outside challenger. But as of Tuesday night, the race was still too close to call, with Good and his rival separated by hundreds of votes.

Meanwhile, Democrats grappled with their own fraught primary in Virginia, while Rep. Tom Cole (R) fended off several primary challengers for the GOP nod in Oklahoma.

Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night’s primaries:

Baseball Icon Willie Mays, One Of The Game’s Most Electrifying And Complete Players, Has Died At 93

Willie Mays, the dynamic baseball Hall of Famer who shined in all facets of the game and made a dramatic catch in the 1954 World Series, died Tuesday at the age of 93, the San Francisco Giants announced.

Mays passed away “peacefully and among loved ones,” his son, Michael Mays, said in a release from the Giants, the Major League Baseball franchise with which Mays was most associated.

Mapped: From The Emancipation Proclamation To Juneteenth

Juneteenth commemorates the day when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they were free 2½ years after the passing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

At the end of the Civil War, Texas' enslaved Black people had yet to obtain freedom.

By the start of the Civil War in 1861, most of the Union had abolished slavery.

Kim Jong Un Gives Putin Lavish Welcome To North Korea And Vows ‘Full Support’ For Ukraine War

The streets of the North Korean capital were lined Wednesday with cheering crowds, mounted soldiers and grand portraits — not for Kim Jong Un, but for his guest and growing ally, Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president is meeting with the North Korean leader in a rare visit to the reclusive state, as he seeks ammunition for his war in Ukraine and vows to back the nuclear-armed regime against the United States.

GOP Senator Blocks Democratic Bill To Ban Bump Stocks After Supreme Court Ruling

A Republican senator blocked a Democratic-led attempt to pass legislation Tuesday that would have restored a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, an accessory that enables semi-automatic weapons to shoot at a very rapid pace, after last week's Supreme Court decision striking down the ban.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a New Mexico Democrat, requested that his bill banning bump stocks be brought up for a vote under unanimous consent, a procedure in which a measure passes so long as no lawmaker objects. Sen. Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, blocked the measure by objecting.

Wisconsin Headlines

Body Located In Pokegema River

The body of a missing Duluth man was located in the Pokegema River in the Village of Superior Monday afternoon June 17, 2024.

Ryan Lahti, 43, was reported missing on or about June 14th to the Duluth Police Department by family members who hadn't heard from him in several days.  Lahti was last seen fleeing into the woods from a traffic stop conducted by Douglas County Sheriff's Deputies on June 8, 2024 at about 8pm on Cemetery Rd. south of STH 105. An extensive search using multiple K9's, aerial drones and thermal imaging were unsuccessful in locating Lahti at the time of that incident.

Douglas County Sheriff's Detectives, working with friends and family of Lahti, located his body partially submerged in the Pokegema River in an area west of Oakes Ave. and east of Cemetery Rd. at about 4:50pm.

Trump Voices 'Love' For Milwaukee After Referring To The RNC Host City As 'Horrible'

Former President Donald Trump on June 18 repeatedly praised Milwaukee just weeks before it hosts the Republican National Convention, playing cleanup after he reportedly used the word “horrible” in talking about swing-state Wisconsin’s largest city.

“I love Milwaukee,” Trump told the crowd in nearby Racine, Wisconsin. He was reported to have used the word in a closed-door meeting with Republicans in the U.S. House. Several of his allies who were in the meeting later suggested he was talking about crime and voter fraud.

Attorney General Kaul Visits Law Enforcement Agencies Awarded Grants From State Opioid Settlement Funds

Today Attorney General Josh Kaul kicked off a series of visits to law enforcement agencies around the state that received grants from state opioid settlement funds that the Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) helped secure. Twelve Tribal nations, county, and municipal law enforcement agencies received grants for projects to prevent and reduce the dangers of opioid use.

This grant program is part of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ (DHS) plan to use the state's share of the National Prescription Opiate Litigation settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers.

Thru-Hiking The Ice Age Trail: Why Some Hikers Become ‘Thousand-Milers’ In Wisconsin

When a hiker decides to go on a thru-hike on one of the Triple Crown trails — the Appalachian, Pacific Crest, or Continental Divide Trail — it’s a big undertaking. They have to pack everything they need in a backpack for the five to seven months it typically takes to hike thousands of miles across North America.

But what about a smaller trek? Wisconsin’s own 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail was recently designated a National Scenic Trail.

Since the 2010s, thru-hiking the Ice Age Trail has exploded in popularity. From 2012 to 2018, more than 100 people thru-hiked the trail — compared to 76 thru-hikers total in the first four decades of the trail’s existence.

Juneteenth Flag Raised Over State Capitol

On Tuesday, the Juneteenth flag was raised over the Wisconsin state capitol for the fifth year in a row. 

Governor Tony Evers ordered the flag to be flown in Wisconsin for the first time back in 2020. Juneteenth is formally recognized and celebrated in all 50 states, with Wisconsin being the 32nd state to recognize the day back in 2009.