WSUM Daily Newscast

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,
Sturgeon Bay was hit with 33 inches of snow, with power outages occurring across the state due to a blizzard. Sturgeon Bay was one of the cities hit hardest, following a historic storm bringing nearly three feet of snow and snow drifts of eight feet to Door County. Across the state, many roads are closed from strong winds of 50 MPH and layers of snow. These conditions have greatly slowed road cleaning. Visibility is still less than a quarter-mile in some areas. Thousands of residents in Wisconsin are still without power on Monday, with others recovering from mass outages. According to We Energies, 13,000 people were without power after 1 pm in southeastern Wisconsin. Alliant Energy portrayed over 600 people affected early Monday, with the number down to 189 people Monday afternoon. In the Madison area, over 370 people were without power this morning, though most have had power restored. Travel warnings have stayed in place across Wisconsin.

IN NATIONAL NEWS,
TSA agents are quitting following their first weekend without full pay. This marks one month into the partial government shutdown, with many workers choosing to quit or take unscheduled time off. For travelers, this may lead to further delays at airports across the country. On Friday, the Department of Homeland Security said in an X post that more than 300 TSA agents have quit. The callout rates currently have risen from 2% to 6% following a lack of pay. Republicans and Democrats were unable to reach a consensus regarding federal immigration funding, leading to a partial shutdown starting in February. CEOs of major airlines like American, Delta, Southwest and Jetblue sent a letter on Sunday to Congress, urging the restoration of DHS funding. Last year, the longest government shutdown was reversed following many air traffic controllers and TSA screeners not showing up to work. During this time, 1,110 officers left their jobs in October and November. The resources available last fall are not available today, with a lack of access to short-term, no-interest loans to help meet expenses. Wait times at TSA could be delayed up to two hours in this busy travel season.

IN INTERNATIONAL NEWS,
President Trump asks allies to do whatever it takes to secure the Strait of Hormuz. The disagreement is the latest in his series of arguments with NATO allies about many different issues. He said, “If there’s no response or if it’s a negative response, I think it will be very bad for the future of NATO”. Since coming into office, Trump has strong-armed European allies to secure his way. Many countries have been forced to oblige so as to not lose the US support for Ukraine. NATO has clarified that this war is not a NATO war and participation hasn’t even been considered. The only allies who have considered support have done so vaguely. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said they would be open to working with the US. Previously this month, he considered sending military forces and Trump responded by saying don’t bother with a war we already won.
For WSUM News, I’m Nathan Jahn

IN ECONOMIC NEWS,
Iran has continued its own exports of oil through the Strait of Hormuz while all other traffic is halted. At least 16 ships have been struck by drones or weapons during their travel attempts. Exports from nearby Persian Gulf countries carrying crude oil and natural gas have been entirely stopped. However, Iran has been shipping oil at the same volume they had before the war began. This is a huge amount of funding helping them sustain their economy and war efforts. Estimates suggest Iran has been able to transport between 12 and 13 million barrels of oil since February 28 when war began. This means about 1 million barrels a day are being exported, which is quite similar to its previous rate of 1.69 million barrels per day. The U.S. has not made efforts to stop Iran’s shipments and has avoided areas with important oil infrastructure. Most Iranian oil is exported to Kharg Island, which was struck by the U.S. on Friday, though oil supplies were not hit. Trump claimed he would reconsider his decision to not target oil facilities in Kharg if the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed.

PASSING IT OVER TO SPORTS, HERE’S WITH AN UPDATE
Badgers to face High Point University in first round of March Madness. The Badgers were given a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament and High Point is a 12. High Point is led by two players with over 15 points per game, Terry Anderson and Rob Martin. The Panthers went 30 and 4 and won the Big South to clinch their automatic bid. The Badgers earned the 5 seed after making it to the semifinal of the big ten tournament. They are led by a formidable backcourt of Nick Boyd and John Blackwell, who led them to three of the best wins in the country, including 4 wins vs top 10 opponents. The game will be Thursday at 12:50pm on TBS. The winner of that game will take on the winner of Arkansas Razorbacks vs Hawaii Rainbow Warriors. The one and two seeds respectively in their regional are Arizona and Purdue. ESPN gives the Badgers a 75% chance to win the game.
For WSUM News, I’m Nathan Jahn

ALSO IN SPORTS NEWS,
The Green Bay Phoenix Women's Basketball team has made March Madness for the third straight year and is seeking their first tournament win since 2012. This time… they will play the #4 Minnesota Gophers as the No. 13 seed in Minneapolis in the Sacramento section of the bracket. They earned the right to play in the big dance by defeating the Youngstown St. Penguins 57-49 for the horizon league championship title in Indianapolis. 21 Points from Jenna Guyer, the conference player of the year, she was 7-of-11 shooting and 6 of 7 at the free-throw line. Skorupski had five steals and six rebounds. UW-Green Bay was the only women's team from Wisconsin to make the big dance.
For WSUM News, I’m Johnny Raider

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