01/08/2026
NEWS/OPINION BRIEFS – Thursday, January 8, 2026
Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F
NEWS
Wisconsin Republicans weigh proposals to expand access to fi****ms
Republicans state lawmakers are considering proposals that would increase access to guns in Wisconsin, including one that would make it easier to carry concealed weapons and another that would further enshrine gun rights in the state constitution.
At a public hearing of the Assembly Committee on State Affairs on Wednesday, lawmakers heard testimony about a bill that would remove the need for people to have a permit to carry concealed weapons. At the hearing, firearm lobbyists argued that permits are a bureaucratic burden on what should be an expansive right. Anti-violence activists countered that the bill would do away with safety measures, like training requirements, that licenses require.
Currently, 29 other states do not require a license to concealed carry, according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, which advocates for such laws.
Elsewhere at the Capitol on Wednesday, the Assembly Judiciary Committee debated a change to the Wisconsin Constitution that would expand how the state defines the purpose of bearing arms. Currently, the state constitution says people “have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.” It states that that right is “fundamental, but it is not absolute.”
The proposed change would redefine that right as “inalienable” and that “any restriction on that right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.” That refers to a high legal standard in which challenges must be motivated by achieving a compelling state interest.
---WI Public Radio
Milwaukee-area flood was FEMA's second-most expensive 2025 disaster
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid residents of Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties more than $195 million as of Jan. 6 for damage caused by August's historic flood, making it the agency's second most costly 2025 disaster.
It's only about $3 million short of what FEMA paid for January's catastrophic wildfires in southern California, which killed 31 people and burned around 40,000 acres, according to a Journal Sentinel analysis of last year's major disaster declarations.
FEMA has approved more than 36,500 applications for individual assistance in the Milwaukee-area for flood damage so far.
---Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Wisconsin man accused of killing parents to fund Trump assassination plot set to enter plea deal
A Wisconsin man accused of killing his parents and stealing their money to fund a plan to assassinate President Donald Trump is set to enter a plea deal resolving the case Thursday.
Nikita Casap, 18, is expected to agree to the deal during a morning hearing in Waukesha County Circuit Court in suburban Milwaukee. He goes into the hearing facing multiple charges, including two homicide counts, two counts of hiding a co**se and theft, with a trial scheduled to begin March 2.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators believe Casap shot his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer, at their home in the village of Waukesha on or around Feb. 11.
He lived with the decomposing bodies for weeks before fleeing across the country in his stepfather’s SUV with $14,000 in cash, jewelry, passports, his stepfather’s gun and the family dog, according to the complaint. He was eventually arrested during a traffic stop in Kansas on Feb. 28.
Federal authorities have accused Casap of planning his parents’ murders, buying a drone and explosives and sharing his plans with others, including a Russian speaker. They said in a federal search warrant that he wrote a manifest calling for Trump’s assassination and was in touch with others about his plan to kill Trump and overthrow the U.S. government.
“The killing of his parents appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary to carrying out his plan,” that warrant said.
---Associated Press
After fatal ICE shooting, DHS and Minnesota officials share contrasting accounts
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed a woman yesterday in Minneapolis, officials said.
The incident sparked a large protest near the scene of the shooting, where demonstrators chanted Renee Nicole Good, the name of the person officials identified as the victim.
Contrasting narratives emerged over what led to the shooting.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Good was shot after people began blocking officers during an immigration-related operation.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said she was engaged in "an act of domestic terrorism."
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pushed back on those claims, saying, "Having seen the video of myself, I want to tell everybody directly that is b---s---."
President Donald Trump defended the ICE agent and said the officer was "viciously" run over.
In a Truth Social post, he wrote: "It is hard to believe he is alive, but is now recovering in the hospital."
---NBC News
NBC Did Something No Other Outlet Will Likely Do Regarding the ICE Shooting in Minneapolis
An ICE agent shot and killed a deranged leftist who tried to ram them in Minneapolis. Now, the liberal media is running amok, peddling the lies from Democrats because you know the drill—this is the Democrat-media complex at work. Yet, one outlet deserves some kudos for showing all angles and a frame-by-frame of the video that captured the incident.
NBC’s Tom Winters explained the shooting in real-time and even showed the angle where you see the ICE agent being hit by a 3,000-lbs vehicle…it shows this was a justified shooting.
You can’t run over cops. In this country, that’ll get you shot.
---Townhall
Former FBI, CBP agents say Minneapolis ICE shooting likely to be ruled justified
Former federal agents say that the Minneapolis ICE shooting that left one woman dead will likely be ruled a justified use of force by investigators.
When officers ordered a woman to exit her vehicle which was blocking the road, video footage shows the woman accelerated, hitting one officer. That officer fired several times into the vehicle, striking the woman, who later died of her injuries.
“In my mind, when I saw this, I immediately said, ‘justified shooting,’” Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI special agent, Navy SEAL, and federal air marshal, told Just the News.
“That's the thing people have to realize, if you aim a vehicle at a human, it's the same as aiming a gun at them, but if you step on the gas, it's no different than pulling the trigger,” Gilliam explained on the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Wednesday. “And when the response is for the officer to shoot you, that's because they're doing the same as if you pulled the trigger of a gun. They're trying to eliminate the threat.”
Art Del Cueto, Border Security Advisor at the Federation for American Immigration Reform and a former border patrol agent with more than 20 years of service, agreed that the shooting would likely be ruled as justified.
He said investigators usually look for three things when determining whether a use of deadly force was justified, “Did [the suspect] have the means? Did they have the intent, and did they have the opportunity” to put officers in harm's way.
“I think all those three things have been met when they were attacking a federal agent,” Del Cueto told Just the News on Wednesday.
---Just the News
What to know about RFK Jr.'s new food pyramid
New U.S. dietary guidelines unveiled yesterday make notable changes to prior guidance about healthy eating, placing a higher emphasis on protein and full-fat dairy while advising against sugar and highly processed foods.
"My message is clear: Eat real food," Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said, adding that he was "ending the war on saturated fats."
Protein, dairy and healthy fats, along with vegetables and fruits, dominate while whole grains are de-emphasized.
However, the American Heart Association warned the recommendations could lead people to consume too much sodium and saturated fats, bringing higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
---NBC News
Quieter streets linked to increase in home prices
How much more money are homeowners willing to pay for a house with less traffic noise?
According to a recent study, a lot.
Researchers analyzed home prices for nearly 600,000 properties in Florida before and after sound barriers were constructed along busy highways. They found that in the five years after noise barriers were built, the price of properties within 100 meters (about 109 yards) of a barrier saw a rise of almost 6.8% compared with homes in a control group.
But in the five years after noise barriers were built, properties closest to the busy highway saw an immediate and largely permanent increase in property values, above and beyond any normal price moves.
The authors estimated that traffic noise reduces property values by about $110 billion nationally. Lower-income homeowners often bear the brunt of this, the researchers say, because their neighborhoods tend to be most affected by things like pollution, crime and traffic noise.
---Wall Street Journal
Hotel experts reveal which room numbers to book for a more peaceful stay
When checking into a hotel, many travelers don’t think twice about the room number assigned to them — but it could be the single factor with the most impact on your stay.
If you’re looking for lodging with as little noise as possible, consider the room number and floor layout.
Experts advise vacationers wanting some quiet time should avoid hotel room numbers that end in -01 or -02, Travel Noire reported.
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These experts claim that rooms ending with those numbers are typically located closest to the elevator, stairs, housekeeping, ice machines and other service areas on each floor.
While this may hold true for some hotels, it’s not always the case. Depending on floor layout, the rooms that end in -01 or -02 might actually be the furthest away option from the areas with heavy foot traffic.
Different room numbers may also mean different amenities and room types, such as type of bed or beds, view, and so on.
Luckily, there are some ways you can ensure that your room number is the one you’ll want for your stay.
Travelers can call the hotel in advance to ask if they can be placed in a room in the quietest section of the floor.
If a guest would prefer to see the room in person and see the rest of the floor’s layout before making a decision, they can politely request a different room number if needed once there.
A room on a higher floor is also less likely to have noise since it’s away from ground-floor lobbies and restaurants.
---NY Post
OPINION
The Democrat party is the world’s largest criminal organization
The Democrat Party is nothing less— or more— than the largest criminal organization in the world.
Care to guess what happened to the $18-billion surplus Minnesota had just a couple of years ago? Or why the North Star State is now $6 billion in debt?
Or why California is a mind-blowing $1.08 trillion in the red if one includes unfunded pension liabilities?
Or why the U.S. has more than $38 trillion less than nothing?
Where did all the moolah go? To pay for certain special interest groups and the future votes of “undocumented immigrants.” And, of course, through graft, money-laundering, and kickbacks, much of it also ultimately ended up in the pockets of “Democratic” politicians. How do you think so many ended up with net worths in the tens of millions of dollars or more in a few short years whilst making $175,000 or so annually? It’s a good — if remarkably evil — gig if you can get it. And keep it.
The Democrat party feeds off the American taxpayer like a wolf gorging on a freshly killed carcass. It could not survive without graft of staggering proportions, with a hefty dose of cheating thrown in. It banks on Americans being too generous, too tolerant, or too ignorant to seriously push back -- all the while libeling and slandering the roughly 50% of Americans who dare to question or disagree with them. (“Racist, bigot, homophobe, misogynist, Islamophobe, fascist, Hitler!”)
Today’s Democrats are skilled at using Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, now called Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA), in that they claim to be helping the allegedly ill, downtrodden, or “marginalized” even as they fabricate— or even deliberately cause — the very problems they profess to be solving.
But wait, there’s more: some Americans appear to be suffering from a form of Stockholm Syndrome, in that Democrats have essentially taken many Americans hostage, via welfare and social programs, one-party rule, or other tactics … and yet a significant percentage of Americans somehow sympathize with them. And vote for them.
Democrat supporters will try to rationalize anything, especially the irrational.
To Walz, attempts by ICE to remove illegal alien criminals off the streets of Minnesota, including rapists and murderers and those who fled their own country to escape justice for committing these heinous crimes, constitute an “attack on Minnesota” and are “endangering” Minnesotans.
It is not possible to utter something further from the truth than that. Walz’s statement is the exact opposite of the truth. ICE is removing criminal aliens to make Minnesota — and Minnesotans — safer and less corrupt. And to prevent future crime, corruption, and fraud — including rampant election fraud.
Fraud, crime, theft, corruption, hypocrisy, gaslighting, projection, power. These are just a few of Democrats’ favorite things. They use them like they use American citizens and illegal aliens. Indiscriminately and in the service of their own power.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please share this article.
---Eric Utter, American Thinker
ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – In 1935, Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi. Musically inspired in a local church, he moved to Memphis with his mother, Gladys, and recorded his first song at age 19 for Sun Records.
He quickly became a chart-topping artist tapping a wide mix of influences across color lines, and the best-selling solo act in the history of recorded music.
