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WSUM News Team compiles recent news in under 5 minutes every Monday through Thursday. Originally aired on the 91.7 FM stream, each newscast is re-posted in audio form.
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 NATHAN JAHN.
IN THE NEWS TODAY,
IN STATE NEWS,
Former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes joins the race for Wisconsin Governor. Barnes became the 8th Democratic candidate who announced their candidacy for the 2026 election. Barnes represented the 11th district from 2013 to 2017 and served as Lieutenant Governor under Tony Evers from 2019 to 2023. He left that seat to run against Scott Walker for US Senate but lost by just one point. In a video announcing his campaign, Barnes highlighted standing up to President Donald Trump for an increase in prices and tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. Video Quote… Barnes quickly received a flurry of endorsements from multiple Madison area bureaucrats. Barnes faced a similarly crowded primary for the senate, but all three dropped out right before election day handing him a primary victory. The Republican primary is much less crowded with congressman Tom Tiffany being widely considered the frontrunner. The primaries will be next August and the general election will be in November.
IN NATIONAL NEWS,
President Trump pardons ex-president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernandez. Trump previously vowed to pardon the ex-president who was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world according to authorities. Last week, Hernandez sent President Trump a letter, saying that he was a victim of political persecution of the Biden-Harris administration. He also compared his fate to that of President Trump’s. Trump discussed the planned pardon with reporters saying that the people of Honduras thought that he was set up and it was really terrible. Trump said, Quote “He was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country” End-Quote. He also clarified that he looked at the facts of the case and agreed with what Hernandez was saying. The pardon was a surprising move, given President Trump’s hard crackdown on narcotics and the serious narcotic crimes that Hernandez was convicted of. Hernandez’s lawyer confirmed that he was released from a federal prison in West Virginia on Tuesday.
IN ECONOMIC NEWS,
US gas prices drop below $3 a gallon for the first time since May 2021. Previously, 4% inflation was high when gasoline prices were this low. The national average was down to $2.99 and 8/10 a gallon compared to just over 3 dollars a gallon on Monday. Gas prices are cheaper overall than that of last year, with the national average being $3.05 per gallon. Last month, prices were more expensive on a year-over-year basis. Prices dropped even lower around the country, with the average price being $2.75 a gallon in 18 states, namely midwest and Wisconsin. In 2022, when Russia had invaded Ukraine causing a drastic range in energy prices, prices hit over $5 a gallon for the first time. This caused former President Joe Biden’s administration to release emergency oil stockpiles. In the current Donald Trump administration, lowering the price of energy has been a main goal for his second term in office by pushing for the deregulation and support of fossil fuels. The largest cause for the drop in gas prices is due to the fact that oil is currently cheaper than previous years. Oil prices in December of 2022 were $81 a barrel, which is starkly different from the $59 barrels today.
For WSUM News, I am Talula Hayes.
IN ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS,
On Monday, the Trump administration declared that it was revoking the reinstatement of 14 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency who have been on administrative leave. The employees have been on administrative leave since August, after the cohort wrote a letter titled “the Katrina Doctrine"which criticized Trump’s plan to downsize FEMA and violated legislation. The letter accused the Trump administration of violating the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act which requires FEMA administrators to have a quote “demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management,” end-quote, however both new administrators put in place by Trump lack experience in emergency management. The decision to not reinstate employees is an abrupt change since just last Wednesday the 14 workers received notices that they would be reinstated only to be put back on leave this Monday.
From WSUM news, I’m Liana Lima
OUTRO: THANK YOU FOR TUNING IN! FROM THE WSUM NEWS BOOTH, I’M NATHAN JAHN. HAVE A GREAT EVENING MADISON!