“Our first obligation should be to rescue our own citizens, not Gazans" - U.S. Sen....

(The Center Square) – A Northwoods’ congressman says he has the science on his side in the debate over what to do about the gray wolf.

Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany got his plan to take the gray wolf off the endangered species list through the House. It was a close vote, just 209 to 205, and the plan faces a dim future in the U.S. Senate.

Still, Tiffany said there’s more than enough evidence that the gray wolf population is large enough to remove it from the protected list.

“The science is clear; the gray wolf has met and exceeded recovery goals,” Tiffany said in a statement. “[This vote] represents an important first step towards restoring local control over the skyrocketing gray wolf population in Wisconsin.”

Tiffany said there have been plenty of attacks on dogs, deer and cattle in Wisconsin that prove his point.

Keith Mark, founder and CEO of Hunter Nation, said the proposal to de-list the gray wolf should get a vote in the Senate.

“Wildlife should not be a partisan issue. Unmanaged wolf populations are causing significant problems in states that have both Republican and Democrat Senators,” Mark told The Center Square.

Hunter Nation has been one of the loudest voices in the debate over how to handle wolves in Wisconsin.

Mark said Tiffany’s plan is not only based in science, it is based in the government’s own data and suggestions.

“What message does it send when we place an animal on the list, set population goals and establish strict management criteria for de-listing, and when the animal achieves the pre-set population goals, it is not taken off of the endangered list? By every metric set from the onset, wolves have far exceeded every population goal established. Gray wolves are no longer endangered. They need to be managed at the state level like all other wildlife,” Mark added.

But even if that did happen, the future of wolves in Wisconsin is likely sealed.

The Wisconsin DNR is moving ahead with its own wolf management plan that essentially forbids wolf hunting and trapping.

Hunter Nation is opposed to that, as is Tiffany and many of Wisconsin’s other Republican congressmen.

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President Joe Biden is reportedly considering bringing Palestinian refugees into the U.S., but news of that potential decision sparked a wave of criticism for Biden.

A group of Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate sent a letter to the president condemning the alleged plan, which was reported by CBS News earlier this week.

“U.S. and allied officials have very little access to Gazans living in the area, making it nearly impossible to conduct thorough vetting before admitting them into our country,” the letter said. “We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States – no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006. Without thorough vetting, your administration may inadvertently accept terrorists posing as refugees into the interior.

"This is especially the case as Hamas terrorists have a long track record of co-mingling with civilian populations in Gaza," the letter added.

Biden has been trying to navigate the difficult issue of the Israel-Hamas war, which reignited last fall when the terrorist group Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis, many of them civilians, and carried out rapes and other atrocities.

“With more than a third of Gazans supporting the Hamas militants, we are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” the letter said. “We are further worried that accepting Gazan refugees might cause a crisis at the Egypt-Gaza border, leading to chaos that would only empower Iran-backed Hamas.

Israel has responded with a sustained bombing campaign targeting Hamas members and leaders.

The humanitarian fallout of the war, though, has led many far-left advocates in the U.S. to occupy college campuses and more to push for an end to the bombing.

Hundreds of migrants with known or suspected terrorist ties have been caught trying to enter the U.S. in recent years through both the northern and southern border. With millions of migrants who have entered the U.S. undetected in recent years, it is unknown just how many are terrorists or have terrorist ties.

“Border officials have arrested 169 people on the FBI terror watch lists in Fiscal Year 2023, a record-setting number that exceeds the total of the last six fiscal years combined,” the letter said. “Apprehended terrorists include a Hezbollah fighter who intended ‘to make a bomb’ and was headed for New York.”

The lawmakers also questioned Biden’s efforts to rescue American hostages from the hands of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.

“We are also frustrated that your administration is pushing ahead with a plan to evacuate Gazans from the Strip when there are still American citizens held hostage by Hamas,” the letter said. “We demand that your administration cease planning for accepting Gazan refugees until you adequately answer our concerns and focus your attention instead on securing the release of U.S. hostages held by Hamas.”

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Pro-Palestinian protesters broke windows, barricaded doors and occupied a building at New York's Columbia University overnight after school officials said they would not cede to demands from demonstrators to divest assets from the Israeli government.

The breach of Columbia's Hamilton Hall began around 12:30 a.m. on Tuesday by students and others who have refused to leave the so-called Gaza Solidarity Encampment on the campus grounds, according to published news reports. Hundreds of students created a human chain in front of the building to block campus police. Columbia faculty members were also involved in blocking security.

Video footage showed the demonstrators, many of whom covered their faces with masks, smashing windows and unfurling a Palestinian flag from a window as they chanted "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" and "Palestine will live forever." The protesters hung a hand-written sign reading "Hind's Hall" after a six-year-old Palestinian child who was allegedly killed by the Israeli military.

The escalation in the protests came after university officials suspended students who had refused to leave a pro-Palestinian encampment set up about two weeks ago. Columbia President Minouche Shafik has also declined to divest the university's financial holdings from Israel, a key demand of the protesters.

The NYPD, which must get permission from the university to enter the campus, hadn't intervened in the fracas but news reports showed a heavy police presence outside the university's gates.

University officials distributed flyers to students on Monday notifying them that they would not face suspension if they exited the encampment by 2 p.m. on Tuesday, according to published reports. It's not clear what will happen after that deadline. The university has closed school grounds to students who do not live on campus.

The demonstrations are part of a wave of anti-Israel protests that have swept U.S. college campuses over the past week in response to Israel's war in Gaza, which was prompted by the Oct. 7 attack by the terrorist group Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and injured many others. Hamas also took hostages, many of whom are still in captivity.

Dozens of arrests have been made at Harvard, Yale and other elite schools as campus police and law enforcement have been called in to take down the make-shift encampments, which violate school policies. Hundreds of people have been arrested.

At Columbia, Jewish students have said they feel unsafe with pro-Palestinian protesters chanting antisemitic slogans and holding signs, which has prompted New York lawmakers to call on the university to clear protesters that some have called "terrorist sympathizers."

“Columbia has surrendered to the radical pro-Hamas antisemitic mob instead of securing campus and protecting Columbia’s Jewish students," U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said in a statement. "There can be no more extensions or delays. There can be no negotiations with self-proclaimed Hamas terrorists and their sympathizers."

In response to the Columbia protests, Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y. and Richie Torres, D-N.Y., have filed legislation requiring the U.S. Department of Education to establish a third-party "antisemitism monitor" on any U.S. college or university receiving federal funding.

The monitor would have the authority to recommend that universities be stripped of federal funding for not doing enough to crack down on anti-Semitic demonstrations.

"Rising antisemitism on our college campuses is a major concern and we must act to ensure the safety of students," Lawler said. "If colleges will not step up to protect their students, Congress must act."

Four lawmen on the U.S. Marshals Task Force died Monday while serving an arrest warrant in North Carolina.

A marshal and two officers from the Department of Adult Correction were confirmed killed early Monday evening in Charlotte. A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer, one of five others injured in the standoff and shooting, died later in the evening at a hospital.

The graphic scene unfolded as officers attempted to serve the warrant for a felony firearm arrest. A helicopter pilot recording for television decided against filing certain elements of the video footage for broadcast.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings said Joshua Eyer, the officer who died later at the hospital, “certainly gave his life and dedicated his life to protecting our citizens.” Eyer earlier in April was named officer of the month.

Sam Poloche and Alden Elliott, each with more than a decade of service, were identified as the members of the state Department of Adult Correction who were killed.

At time of publication, the name of the slain marshal had not been made public.

The last marshal killed in the line of duty was Chase White, in Tucson, Ariz., in November 2018.

In a statement posted to its Facebook page, the Police Department called the actions of those involved “heroic” and “a testament to the dangers law enforcement officers face daily.”

“Today, some of our fellow colleagues made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of our community,” the statement read. “We are grateful for the bravery shown by all officers and outpouring of responses from our neighboring agencies.”

U.S. Marshals have 56 local task forces. Funding is granted, the agency’s website says, often “through initiatives such as the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Forces, and Project Safe Neighborhoods task forces.”

“Today we lost some heroes, that are out simply trying to keep our community safe,” Jennings said. “They knew what they were going into, and still held their own in attempting to apprehend this suspect.”

At least three people were in the home when lawmen arrived with the warrant. One is dead, two others – a woman and a 17-year-old boy – were being questioned.

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(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s pro-life groups are unified in telling the Wisconsin Supreme Court it is not the court’s job to create a right to abortion.

Wisconsin Right to Life, Wisconsin Family Action and Pro-Life Wisconsin all filed a joint brief with the court that argues there is no right to abortion and add that if there is to be one, that decision is up to lawmakers.

“The Supreme Court is not the proper venue to create health and safety law nor the proper mechanism to add a constitutional amendment. The legislature is the proper body to weigh the policy considerations and create law, not the court,” Wisconsin Family Action president Christine File said.

“Finding a right to abortion in our state constitution, where there clearly is none, would be the most extreme form of legislating from the bench,” Dan Miller, state director at Pro-Life Wisconsin, said. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled in Dobbs that there is no federal constitutional right to abortion. Nothing in Wisconsin’s constitution or the history of our state would remotely suggest such a right. We implore the Wisconsin Supreme Court to reject Planned Parenthood’s radical and self-serving plans.”

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin in February asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to decide if there is a right to abortion in the state.

The Supreme Court has accepted the case, and the filing from Wisconsin’s pro-life groups is in response to that case.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty also filed a brief in the case.

“There is no right to an abortion in Wisconsin’s Constitution. No judge, justice, or lawyer should be creating policy for Wisconsinites out of thin air. Reversing Roe v. Wade through the Dobbs decision rightfully placed the abortion issue back where it should have been all along – in the halls of state legislatures,” WILL Deputy Counsel Luke Berg said. “That’s where the debate and conversation must remain.”

The court is expecting responses from everyone involved in the case by today. The court has not said when it expects to hear oral arguments.

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Federal prosecutors on Monday began laying out what they say is election fraud in 2016 by former President Donald Trump.

Trump, 77, is the first former U.S. president to be charged with a felony. Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented their opening statements to the jury of five women and seven men.

Prosecutors said Trump corrupted the 2016 election, The Hill reported on Monday.

"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up," Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said. "The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election, then covered it up."

Trump will spend four days a week in court in New York for the next six to eight weeks on state charges that he disguised hush money payments to two women as legal expenses during the 2016 election. Judge Juan Merchan has not scheduled trial days on Wednesdays.

On Monday, his defense attorneys said he had done nothing wrong.

"President Trump is innocent," Trump attorney Todd Blanche told the jury. "He did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan district attorney's office should never have brought this case."

Trump pleaded not guilty in April 2023 to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

Merchan's gag order remains in place, ordered last month before the trial began. Trump, the nation's 45th president, is prohibited from making or directing others to make public statements about witnesses concerning their potential participation or about counsel in the case or about court staff, district attorney staff or family members of staff.

Prosecutors said Trump's $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels was falsely covered up as a business expense, that the money was to help keep her quiet. Prosecutors say they had a sexual encounter.

Prosecutors also said Trump paid Karen McDougal, a Playboy magazine "Playmate," and reimbursed then attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to cover it up.

"This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior," Colangelo said. "It was election fraud, pure and simple."

Reuters reported that Blanche countered that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should have never brought the case to trial.

"There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election" Blanche said. "It's called democracy. They put something sinister on this idea, as if it's a crime."

Prosecutors say Trump falsified internal records kept by his company, hiding the true nature of payments that involve Daniels ($130,000), McDougal ($150,000), and Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen ($420,000). Prosecutors say the money was logged as legal expenses, not reimbursements. In a reversal of past close relationships now pivotal to the prosecution against him, both Cohen and Daniels are expected to testify.

Under New York state law, falsifying business records in the first degree is a Class E felony that carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.

Even if convicted and sentenced to jail, Trump could continue his campaign to return to the White House. He's facing the Democratic incumbent who ousted him in 2020, 81-year-old President Joe Biden.

Trump faces 88 felony charges spread across four cases in Florida, Georgia, New York and Washington.Trump has said the criminal and civil trials he faces are designed to keep him from winning the 2024 rematch versus Biden.

(The Center Square) – Another local prosecutor declined to bring charges against a Republican state lawmaker in a campaign funding raising case.

Waukesha County’s District Attorney Sue Opper said she would not file charges against state Rep. Janel Brandtjen. But Opper said she is not clearing Brandtjen in the case.

“I am simply concluding that I cannot prove charges against her. While the intercepted communications, such as audio recordings may be compelling in the court of public opinion, they are not in a court of law,” Opper said.

Wisconsin’s Ethics Commission suggested charges against Brandtjen and a handful of others in a case that investigators say saw them move money around to allegedly skirt Wisconsin’s limits on campaign donations.

Opper said the Ethics Commission investigation was based on “reasonable suspicion and then probable cause.” But she added that those “burdens are substantially lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt which is necessary for a criminal conviction.”

Opper said the Ethic Commission could pursue a civil case against Brandtjen and the others. She also opened the door to other investigations.

“This decision does not clear Rep. Brandtjen of any wrongdoing, there is just not enough evidence to move forward to let a factfinder decide,” Opper said.

She’s the fourth local prosecutor in the state to decide against filing charges.

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