INTRO GOOD (DAY) EVENING MADISON! YOU’RE LISTENING TO THE 5/6 O’CLOCK NEWS UPDATE ON WSUM 91.7 FM MADISON STUDENT RADIO. I’M TALULA HAYES.

IN THE NEWS TODAY, 

IN STATE NEWS, 
Democratic-backed candidate, Chris Taylor, wins the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Liberals now have a guaranteed majority in the court until 2030, with the new majority being 5-2. Taylor beat out her opponent, Republican-backed Maria Lazar, in the fourth straight victory for liberal candidates in the state since 2020. The court overviews cases of congressional redistricting, union rights, and other controversial topics. Taylor primarily ran on abortion rights and prioritized the people as the stronghold of the government. Lazar was supported by anti-abortion groups. Both parties viewed the other as pushing partisanship in their agendas for office. Taylor, however, held a larger fundraising advantage and was able to push her message out more. This is coming months before the November election where Democrats are hoping to keep the governor's office. They want to flip the state Legislature majority towards Democrats, though Republicans have held this majority since 2011. In the past two Supreme Court elections, the swing state held national spending records over majority control. In 2023, liberals won out to gain control of the Supreme Court, which ended 15 years of conservative majority. Next year, another conservative judge is set to retire, which opens up the possibility for liberals to gain a 6-1 vote and overwhelmingly majority control.

IN NATIONAL NEWS,
ICE has arrested over 800 people using tips given by federal airport security officials. This began in February, and was previously perceived by the public to be a much lower number. TSA gave ICE records of over 31,000 travelers for possible immigration enforcement. The data is from TSA’s Secure Flight Program, founded in 2007 to review passenger information for the government’s watchlists. It was built for counter-terrorism data and sweeps. This internal ICE data was reviewed by Reuters, though they could not determine the number of arrests which took place inside the airports. ICE and TSA are both part of the Department of Homeland Security. They have been known to share information regarding national security threats, but have begun sharing this information under Trump’s deportation regime.

ALSO IN NATIONAL NEWS,
Recently ousted Pam Bondi will not appear for House deposition in the Epstein investigation next week. The DOJ claimed Bondi, the former Attorney General, will not be part of the investigations into Epstein on April 14 after her ouster from the Cabinet April 2. President Trump ousted her himself, and the committee will contact Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps of the interview. The Republican-led committee subpoenaed her in a bipartisan vote last month due to her handling of the Epstein case files. She failed to release all required documents for the Epstein investigation on time and those released contained many errors. The Deputy Attorney General, Todde Blanche, is currently handling the department’s duties. Some Democrats and Republicans in the Cabinet are still insisting on having her appear before the committee, claiming her responsibilities do not end on this matter, even with her lack of a title.

IN INTERNATIONAL NEWS,
President Trump changed his plans of "annihilation" toward a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday. He claims the Islamic Republic has offered him a “workable” plan to end the nearly six-week long war. Pakistan officials urged that further escalation of the conflict was unwise, and intermediaries were able to sway Trump’s decision. The ceasefire came around 90 minutes before his plans to wipe out their civilization would have occurred. Trump’s driving force for the "annihilation" was from wanting the Strait of Hormuz to be opened up once again and resume trade. Following the ceasefire, tensions are still high through Wednesday. The U.S., Iran and Israel have all offered conflicting statements regarding the deal. Iran claimed an end to the Israeli war in Lebanon was in the agreement. However, Netanyahu and Trump both countered that the truce did not cover this topic. Trump is demanding that Iran must open the strait following its closing. It was originally closed due to Israel’s stronger attacks against the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, and was closed by the Islamic Republic. Trump met with NATO about his plan to re-open the strait, even while he has been frustrated with NATO members ignoring his request to join the conflict. Trump wants the strait re-opened as it holds around 20% of the world’s oil flow. Vance, though, will be the one leading U.S. negotiation talks with Iran in hopes of ending the war.

OUTRO: THANK YOU FOR TUNING IN! FROM THE WSUM NEWS BOOTH, I’M TALULA HAYES. HAVE A GREAT EVENING MADISON!