Morning Headlines - Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022

U.S. and World Headlines

Senate Passes Landmark Protections For Same-Sex Marriage

Senators on Tuesday passed legislation cementing federal protections for same-sex marriage, a historic step that follows months of bipartisan negotiations and puts the landmark bill just steps away from becoming law.

The Senate passed the Respect for Marriage Act in a 61-36 vote, with 12 Republicans joining forces with all Democrats present to advance the bill across the Capitol complex. The measure required 60 votes to pass.

The proposal would put into law protections for same-sex marriages that were initially handed down by the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges back in 2015 and that some feared could someday be in jeopardy after the high court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer.

Two Oath Keepers, Including Founder, Convicted Of Seditious Conspiracy In Jan. 6 Case

A federal jury in Washington on Tuesday found Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, another member of the far-right organization, guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a victory for the government in a case that involved a rarely used Civil War era statute.

Three other members of the group who were on trial alongside Rhodes and Meggs — Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell — were found not guilty on the seditious conspiracy charge. All five defendants were found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting for their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

The seditious conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Rhodes' attorneys said they plan to appeal that conviction.

New Data Shows Alzheimer's Drug Can Slow Cognitive Decline

Promising data shows that an Alzheimer's drug can slow cognitive decline.

In a phase III clinical trial, with results published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the drug, Lecanemab -- developed by Eisai and Biogen Inc. -- slowed the rate of cognitive decline by 27% in patients in the early stages of the disease, making it the first drug of its kind to produce such positive trial results, the study showed.

"Lecanemab reduced markers of amyloid in early Alzheimer's disease and resulted in less decline than placebo on all measures of cognition and function at 18 months," said Dr. Christopher Van Dyck, director of the Yale Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, during his presentation of trial efficacy results at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer's Disease meeting, held in San Francisco.

South Korea Scrambles Fighter Jets As Chinese And Russian Warplanes Enter Its Air Defence Zone

South Korea said it used its fighter jets as a tactical measure after two Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered its air defence area on Wednesday.

South Korea’s joint chief of staff (JCS) said the Chinese H-6 bombers repeatedly entered and left the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) off South Korea’s southern and northeast coasts starting around 5.50am, reported Reuters.

At 6.44am, the jets re-entered the zone from an area northeast of South Korea’s southern port city of Pohang and exited the zone at 7.07am, reported Yonhap.

At 12.18pm, six Russian aircraft, including four TU-95 bombers and two SU-35 fighters along with the two Chinese H-6 bombers, flew into the KADIZ from an area 200km northeast of the South’s Ulleung Island and exited the zone at 12.36pm.

The country’s JCS, however, said the aircraft did not violate South Korea’s airspace.

Twitter Is Reinstating 62,000 Banned Accounts Under CEO Elon Musk’s Suspension ‘Amnesty’

Twitter appears to be getting to work on reviving banned accounts as part of new owner Elon Musk's 'amnesty'.

According to a report from Platformer, Twitter is now in the process of reinstating around 62,000 banned accounts that each have more than 10,000 followers.

This total includes one Twitter account that has more than 5 million followers, and 75 accounts that have more than 1 million followers.

The accounts in question have not been identified, although they could belong to previously banned figures such as former White House advisor Steve Bannon and white supremacist David Duke.

Last week, Musk conducted a Twitter poll that asked: 'Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?' The poll received more than three million votes, with 72.4 per cent voting 'yes'.

Debt Owed By Wisconsin's Local Governments Reaches Highest Level On Record

Local governments across Wisconsin are dealing with increasing debt burdens, according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

The report found that total debt owed by the state's cities, counties, villages and towns rose by 5.4 percent to $11.04 billion in 2020 — the highest amount on record.

Cities including Milwaukee, Madison and Kenosha hold the most debt, but Wisconsin towns have seen the fastest growth in borrowing since 2015.

The Policy Forum looked at Wisconsin Department of Revenue data from more than 1,920 local governments from 2000 to 2020. According to the report, on Dec. 31, 2000, local governments owed a total of $5.23 billion — or $7.86 billion in 2020 dollars. Twenty years later, those same local governments owed $11.04 billion — a more than 40.5 percent increase after adjusting for inflation.

Wisconsin Headlines

School Choice Wisconsin Action & Schools Sue Wisconsin Department Of Public Instruction Over Unlawful Regulations

On behalf of School Choice Wisconsin Action, Inc. (SCWA), Catholic Memorial High School of Waukesha, Inc., and Roncalli Catholic Schools, Inc., the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jill Underly.

The suit challenges several of DPI’s rules which were not promulgated in compliance with statutory rulemaking procedures, and which exceed the DPI’s authority as set forth in state law.

The lawsuit alleges that DPI implements and enforces an “application perfection” rule (also known as the perfection rule) for various school choice programs despite never promulgating the rule as required by state law. Instead, DPI uses informal bulletins to enact its chosen policies. This suit is filed in the Waukesha County Circuit Court.

In Wisconsin, Do Evictions Stay On Your Record For 20 Years?

YES. Under Wisconsin Supreme Court rules, records of small claims cases — which include evictions — are kept for 20 years.

Dismissed small claims cases, however, are removed from the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access website after two years.

Legal Action of Wisconsin, a nonprofit law firm representing low-income renters, asked the Supreme Court in March to shorten the time frame for retaining most evictions to one year. It also requested courts apply the 20-year retention standard only to evictions that required a renter to pay money back to a landlord. The law firm notes there are "prolonged and pervasive racial disparities in the rental housing market in Wisconsin."

Waukesha Parade Case Judge Running In 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

The judge who presided over the trial of the man convicted of killing six people during the Waukesha Christmas parade is running for a spot on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, her husband said Nov. 29. The race will determine the ideological balance of the court.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow is the second conservative candidate to enter the race, which also has two liberal judges running. The winner will replace a retiring conservative justice who is part of a 4-3 majority. Liberals are prioritizing the race as a way to flip control of the court heading into the 2024 presidential election in the battleground state.

"It's official," her husband Brian Dorow said Nov. 29. "She's in the race."

Rodgers Says He Plans To Play Sunday When Packers Face Bears

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers says he expects to play Sunday at Chicago after a rib injury knocked him out of a 40-33 loss at Philadelphia.

“I got good news with the scans yesterday, so I plan on playing this week."

Rodgers left in the second half against the Eagles because of the rib injury. He already has been playing with a broken right thumb, an injury he sustained on the final play of a 27-22 loss to the New York Giants on Oct. 9.

“There was an earlier shot in the game that kind of rattled the ribcage,” Rodgers said. “I was trying to stretch some things out at halftime a little bit and realized it probably wasn’t some sort of muscle injury. And I just got hit again in the third quarter and was just having a hard time breathing.”