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, 
53% of Wisconsin voters are undecided regarding the Supreme Court race, a Marquette Law School poll said. The spring election is two weeks away, however only 12% of registered voters say they’ve heard a lot about the race. This statistic is surprising, as last year, the judicial race held national attention. The court judge candidates are Chris Taylor, backed by liberals, and Maria Lazar, backed by conservatives. The difference from last year to this one is that majority party control is not on the line. Liberal candidates have won four of the past five state Supreme Court elections. If Lazar wins, liberals will retain a 4-3 majority. And if Taylor wins, liberals would have a 5-2 advantage over conservatives. Supreme Court justices serve 10-year terms. Neither candidate is spending as much money on their campaigns as last year’s spending record. However, Taylor has raised more than Lazar. Following Taylor’s hospitalization, the debate set for Tuesday evening has been rescheduled to Thursday, April 2, at 7:00 p.m.

IN NATIONAL NEWS,
Senators are debating the ‘last and final’ offer to end the DHS shutdown on Thursday. The rush for this offer is due to the slowing of airport traffic from a lack of TSA workers. The DHS is on its 41st day of the shut down. Workers have quit jobs and not shown up to work in huge numbers, leading to longer lines. Republicans are trying to meet Democrats demands as Democrats have refused to resume funding until a deal on ICE can be made. Senator Majority Leader, John Thune, has not shared details of the new offer, but hopes for an end to this debate soon. He said the negotiation and following conversation picked up where it had previously left off. Trump has stayed out of this debate. Trump threatened to send the National Guard to airports on top of the deployed ICE agents. The agents are currently checking travelers IDs, which is raising concerns for the public and their safety during a busy travel season. Congress is set to leave town at the end of this week for their spring break, so a decision must be made soon. Airports are experiencing a 40% callout rate of TSA workers, with nearly 500 of the 50,000 TSA workers having quit since the shutdown began. 

ALSO IN NATIONAL NEWS,
The Trump administration opens investigations into race being considered in admissions at three medical schools on Wednesday. The Justice Department is looking into discrimination cases for Stanford University, Ohio State and the University of California, San Diego. Trump is targeting undergraduate admissions at colleges to gain their admissions information. He is seeing if they are following the 2023 supreme court decision, which forbade affirmative action in college admissions. Trump wants to see documents regarding the use or lack of use of race in applicants' admission evaluations. The government is also looking for standardized test scores, information collected on inferred race or ethnicity, and admissions decisions. These documents are dating back to 2019. Earlier this month, 17 Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against this policy. It is not clear why these schools were targeted. Each medical school is complying with the administration and sending the government their information.

IN INTERNATIONAL NEWS,
There are possible talks about ending the war between joint U.S.-Israel forces and Iran on Thursday. Trump threatened to forcefully attack Iran unless it accepted a 15-point peace plan they proposed. This plan was possibly through indirect talks with Pakistan, whose top diplomat has confirmed the negotiations. Pakistan is involved due to heightened military attacks targeting the country. Pakistan is stepping in as a mediator and has joined Trump’s Board of Peace as a U.S. partner. Iran denies participating in negotiations and is utilizing the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point on the world economy. Israel also said it will continue attacks. In an online post, Trump described Tehran as “begging” for a deal. War began with combined efforts with Israel on February 28, marking a four-week long war. Trump planned to dominate the Islamic Republic, eliminate its nuclear program, and harm its missile capabilities. Now, his focus shifted to opening the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran gaining full control of the waterway following more strikes. Iran is forcing ships to pay fees in order to move through the strait, vetting all ships and cargo before their travel can be granted.

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