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 NATHAN JAHN.

IN THE NEWS TODAY,

IN LOCAL NEWS,
Janesville City Council approves a letter of intent with developers to explore building a data center. Colorado-based Viridian Acquisitions is looking to acquire the abandoned General Motors site. Janesville, Madison and Port Washington residents spoke out against approving the letter during public comment. Erik Zitek, the director of development for Viridian, says the project would create 1,200 construction jobs and 600 full time positions. The letter of intent is non-binding and gives the city 120 days to negotiate terms with the developer. For WSUM News, I’m Madison Moris

SNAP benefits remain in a state of uncertainty as the legal fight has been escalated to the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule Tuesday. Last Friday, full foodshare benefits for November were distributed to Wisconsin residents, according to Tony Evers’ administration. However, food pantries within Dane County are already experiencing increased visits and strained resources that will likely grow if the government shutdown persists into December. If you’re looking for food resources or hoping to donate and support our community, several organizations including Luke House and Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center in downtown Madison, OutReach Community Center on the east side, River Food Pantry in the north, and St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in south Madison are offering resources for anyone in need. For WSUM News, I’m Soleil Rumpit.

IN STATE NEWS,
Governor Evers says that the Trump Administration must release funding to 20 Wisconsin school districts. Evers says that ImpactAid payments have not been released to the state, not allowing some schools to get their usual funding. These payments are for financially burdened schools due to the presence of tax-exempt federal property. Over 21,000 students in Wisconsin are impacted by this funding. Over 20 million dollars of funding was paid out to the Wisconsin school districts in the fiscal year 2025. Most but not all of these schools are operated by recognized tribal nations. The administration has not said anything about a delay in funding leading to confusion. Evers wrote a letter to US Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon saying, Refusal to fulfill your legal and statutory obligations by providing these payments to schools that support core operations is unacceptable and requires your urgent attention. Evers also stressed that this is among a large amount of things the Trump Administration has done to hurt rural Wisconsin.

IN NATIONAL NEWS,
Fannie May watchdogs questioned how Pulte obtained mortgage records of key democrats. Fannie’s ethics and investigations group received internal complaints claiming senior officials had improperly directed staff to access the documents, which included New York Attorney General Letitia James. Fannie investigators were probing to find who made the orders which released documents of many, with Trump’s appointee, Bill Pulte, having the authority to seek them with or without proper procedure. The claims were brought to the senior Office of Inspector General for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie May which Pulte leads. The acting inspector general passed the report to the U.S. attorney’s office in eastern Virginia. That office has brought a criminal case alleging mortgage fraud against James. James has called these charges baseless and vengeful, pleading not guilty last month during a court proceeding in Norfolk, Virginia. Due to this probing, investigations inside Fannie called for a dozen members of the ethics and internal investigations unit to be fired, including the FHFA’s acting inspector general, Joe Allen, who sent in the original investigation.
For WSUM News, I’m Talula Hayes.

IN INTERNATIONAL NEWS,
At least 12 killed in Islamabad suicide attack. The bombing, killing 12 people and injuring 20, was the most deadly assault on the Pakistani capital since 2008. Jamaat-ulAhrar, a faction of the militant Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement seen by CNN, and has been responsible for the deadliest attacks in Pakistan in the last decade. However, the TTP distanced itself from the attack. Islamabad requires high security to enter and exit the capitol, and the attack itself occurred in the parking lot of the city’s busy judicial complex surrounded by governmental buildings. The suspect was seen on CCTV attempting to enter the building before loitering outside until a police car approached, which triggered the violent attack. The Pakistani prime minister made a claim with no basis, blaming Indian terrorist proxies on Tuesday. That same day, Delhi rejected this statement as a false narrative against India. The last major attack was in 2008 with a suicide attack by a militant Islamist group at the city’s Mariott hotel which killed 54 people. Violence has been more common since 2021 and the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul.
For WSUM News, I’m Talula Hayes.

IN ECONOMIC NEWS,
Major U.S. seasonal employers are holding off on announcing their holiday hiring plans as they continue to face macroeconomic uncertainty. UPS, Target, and Macy’s are among the companies that have yet to announce the number of seasonal positions they plan to fill. According to the job placement firm Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, planned holiday job openings are down by nearly 300,000 positions compared to 2024. One reason for the drop: U.S. consumers may not buy as much this year. The University of Michigan’s gold standard index of consumer sentiment dropped to near-record lows last week, and only 11 percent of consumers thought their incomes would outpace inflation.

In Washington this week, the Trump administration announced some of its most punitive tariffs yet — on Italian pasta. The Commerce Department levied a 92 percent duty on noodle products from 13 major manufacturers. That’s on top of the 15 percent base rate on imports from the European Union. American pasta makers have regularly filed antidumping complaints against their Italian competitors since the mid-1990s, accusing them of flooding the market with goods priced below the market rate. But the new penalties are far more severe. The White House emphasized that the 92 percent tariff was just the first step of a review process and not yet final. Italian officials said they believed political considerations were behind the decision and argued that the Commerce Department’s analysts did not understand Italian accounting practices. For WSUM News, I’m Daniel Stein.

TURNING OVER TO SPORTS, HERE’S WITH AN UPDATE
Badgers Football looks to take momentum into the matchup against number 2 Indiana. The Badgers will travel to Bloomington to take on the Hoosiers at 11:00AM Saturday. The Badgers last matchup was against Number 23 Washington at home. They snapped a 6 game losing streak beating the Huskies 13 to 10. In the battle of the UWs the Badgers were led by their defense. Mason Posa led the team with 2 and a half sacks and Cooper Catalano led the team with 19 tackles. Punter Sean West led the team in passing yards with 24. Demond Williams Jr led Washington with 134 yards and one touchdown. The Badgers moved to 1 and 5 in the Big Ten. Indiana is led by quarterback Fernando Mendazo with 2300 yards and 16 touchdowns. ESPN Analytics gives the Badgers a 3% chance to win this game.

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