Perhaps that’s why U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, has attacked Republican businessman Eric Hovde — who’s running to unseat her in November — over his statements about it, both old and new.
As Election Day nears and their race heats up, Baldwin’s campaign on Oct. 7, 2024 released an ad claiming Hovde “just proposed cutting Social Security by 28%.” The next day, speaking at a luncheon co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club and Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Hovde hit back, saying he has “never” said he wants to cut Social Security benefits and that he does not “want to take older people’s Social Security away.”
So, did Hovde really just propose cutting Social Security by 28%?
PolitiFact Wisconsin dug in, and found that while the claim from Baldwin’s campaign stretches the facts, Hovde’s position on what he wants to do with it isn’t entirely clear, either.
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Let’s take a look.
Baldwin’s math
We’ll get the easy part out of the way first: Hovde didn’t literally propose cutting Social Security 28%. So how did Baldwin’s team come up with the figure?
When asked for evidence to back up the claim, campaign spokesperson Andrew Mamo pointed primarily to an Oct. 3, 2024 WUWM interview in which Hovde says he’d pull “all government programs” back to what was spent on them in 2019.
Using a Congressional Budget Office projection that baseline spending will increase on average 4.8% annually over the next decade, Baldwin’s campaign did the math to estimate Social Security retirement spending will increase to $1.24 trillion this year — meaning a return to $893 billion, or what was spent in 2019, would be a 28% cut.
Hovde’s comments
Now, let’s look at what Hovde has said on the matter.
The Baldwin ad features an April 24, 2012 appearance by Hovde, then in his first run for U.S. Senate, at the Milwaukee Press Club, where he was asked if he favors “either raising the retirement age and/or cutting benefits for those who are considered wealthy.” Hovde answered, “I favor both.”
In a July 19, 2012 interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board, Hovde laid out his position during that race: For people 50 or older, their Social Security benefits would stay the same. People under 50 would add two years to their retirement age, people under 40 would add two more, and so on. And, he said, “somebody like me may not receive much Social Security payment,” referring to the idea of cutting benefits for wealthier individuals.
That was in 2012 — a dozen years ago. What about during his current campaign?
Hovde has several times suggested pulling back federal spending to 2019 levels, responding to a question at the Oct. 8, 2024 luncheon of whether “across the board, all government would scaled back,” by saying, “All you have to do is go to the budget that was in 2019 and pull those levels right back again, pre-COVID levels.”
He’s resisted the implication that that means cutting Social Security benefits.
Hovde mentioned Baldwin’s ad at the Oct. 8, 2024 luncheon, saying he supports raising the retirement age for younger people because life expectancy has increased from when the Social Security system was first implemented.
“Instead, we’ve got an ad saying I want to take older people’s Social Security away. Of course I don’t want to take older people’s Social Security away,” he said.
He also put out a statement about the ad, writing, “I do not, and will not, touch the benefits of anyone who is currently receiving Social Security or is nearing retirement.”
“To keep Social Security solvent for future generations, we will have to make changes,” he writes later in the statement, “but let me emphasize again, these changes would only apply to younger generations, specifically those under 40.”
So here’s the rub: Hovde has said he’d like to pull government spending back to 2019 levels, which would presumably have an effect on Social Security — at the least, on the agency that manages it. But he’s also stated multiple times that he does not want to cut current Social Security benefits — which chips away at the accuracy of the claim in the Baldwin ad.
Hovde campaign spokesperson Zachary Bannon did not respond to an email seeking to clarify whether returning federal spending to 2019 levels would include Social Security benefit spending.
Our ruling
The Baldwin ad claimed that Hovde “just proposed cutting Social Security by 28%.”
While Hovde has called more than once to pull government spending back to 2019 levels, which could have implications on Social Security funding in general, he has not specifically proposed cutting retirement benefits by that amount.
In this campaign, in fact, he’s said he would not seek to cut Social Security retirement benefits, pushing instead to raise the retirement age for younger people.
Our definition of Mostly False is a statement that contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.
Five men wrongfully convicted of assaulting and raping a woman in New York’s Central Park in 1989 have sued former President Donald Trump for defamation over comments he made in a debate against Vice President Kamala Harris last month.
What You Need To Know
The five men known as the “Central Park Five” have sued former President Donald Trump for defamation over comments he made in a debate last month
They were wrongfully convicted of assaulting and raping a woman in New York’s Central Park in 1989; their convictions were vacated more than a decade later after someone else confessed to the crime
At last month’s debate, Vice President Kamala Harris hammered Trump for taking out a full-page ad in all four of New York’s major newspapers in the aftermath of the attack calling for the return of the death penalty
Trump fired back by saying that Harris and other opponents had “to stretch back years” to come up with lines of attack against him, before falsely saying that the five men pleaded guilty and killed someone
Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise, initially known as the “Central Park Five” and, later, the “Exonerated Five,” accused Trump in a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania of making “false, misleading and defamatory” statements about their case at the debate.
The five men were convicted of the attack and sentenced to multiple years in prison. Their convictions were vacated in 2002, more than a decade later, after a serial rapist confessed to the attack, and DNA evidence confirmed he was involved. They sued the city the next year, accusing the city of false arrest, a racially motivated conspiracy to deprive them of their civil rights and a malicious prosecution, and they settled the case in 2014.
At one point during last month’s debate, Harris condemned Trump for taking out a full-page ad in all four of the city’s major newspapers in the aftermath of the attack calling for the return of the death penalty. Trump fired back by saying that Harris and other opponents had “to stretch back years” to come up with lines of attack against him, before falsely saying that the five men pleaded guilty and killed someone.
“[T]hey come up with things like what she just said, going back many, many years, when a lot of people including [former New York] Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five,” Trump said. “They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty, they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty.”
The five men did not plead guilty in the case, nor was the victim of the attack killed — as the lawsuit points out, while also pointing out that Ed Koch, not Bloomberg, was mayor at the time of the attack.
“These statements are demonstrably false,” the complaint says, calling Trump’s rhetoric “extreme and outrageous” and charging that he “intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs.”
The Trump campaign has not responded to a request for comment from Spectrum News. A spokesperson for the former president’s campaign called the lawsuit “frivolous” in a statement to NBC News.
According to the lawsuit, Salaam — now a New York City Council member — attempted to engage with Trump after the debate in the spin room. People asked Trump if he would “apologize to the Exonerated Five,” and after he didn’t respond, Salaam introduced himself to the former president.
“Ah, so you’re on my side them,” Trump said, per the lawsuit.
“No no no, I’m not on your side,” Salaam replied to Trump, who smiled, waved and walked away, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also makes note of other statements Trump has made about the case, including posts on his Twitter account from 2013 and a New York Daily News op-ed from 2014 calling the city’s settlement with the men a “disgrace.”
The defendants are asking for “compensatory damages, for punitive damages and for costs, in an as yet unliquidated sum in excess of $75,000,” and asked for a jury trial to determine that figure.
Ahead of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ trip to Michigan on Monday, the daughter of the state’s only U.S. president has endorsed the Vice President.
Susan Ford Bales, the only daughter of former President Gerald Ford and former first lady Betty Ford, acknowledged that she and Harris would “likely disagree on some policy matters” — after all, she, like her father, is a Republican.
However, she continued, Harris’ “integrity and commitment to those same principles that guided Dad have led me to conclude” that she should be the next president.
“She recognizes the good and the greatness in our country,” Ford Bales said. “I know she will defend the rule of law and our Constitution. And I know she will work to bring all Americans together to move us beyond partisanship. That is what America deserves from our President.”
Former President Ford, who was born in Nebraska but raised Grand Rapids, Michigan, led Republicans in the House of Representatives before he was nominated to be Richard Nixon’s vice president in 1973. Ford became the president following Nixon’s resignation the next year, pardoning him for any crimes he may have committed as president and eventually narrowly losing the 1976 election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
“When my father, Gerald Ford, was sworn-in as America’s 38th President, the nation was in need of a serious, compassionate and honorable leader who had the courage to do what was right and always to defend our Constitution,” Ford Bales said in a statement. “His dedication to those values helped bring our country through a turbulent time and restored Americans’ trust in our democracy.
“We face a similar dynamic today,” she continues. “America cannot regress back to a divisive paradigm of loathing toward one another and disdain for our Constitution. We witnessed on January 6 the horrors of what that looks like, and we can never allow a repeat of that tragedy. The forces that incited it must be held accountable. They can never be in a position to ever do it again.”
Ford Bales, the only daughter of the former president, helped launch National Breast Cancer Awareness Month with her mother in the 1980s and succeeded her mom as chair of the Betty Ford Center, the nonprofit addiction treatment center named for the former first lady. She is also the sponsor of the USS Gerald R. Ford, named for her father, which is currently the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the biggest warship ever built.
Earlier this year, Ford Bales joined first lady Jill Biden and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy at the White House to unveil a postage stamp bearing the portrait of Betty Ford.
Harris is heading to Michigan on Monday, in addition to fellow “blue wall” battleground states Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, for a series of moderated conversations with former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, the vice president’s latest effort to appeal to moderate Republicans who may be disenchanted with former President Donald Trump.
Ford Bales joins Cheney and a handful of other Republican officials who have endorsed Harris over Trump.
On a clear day in early fall, around sunrise, you might notice hot air balloons flying across the sky, but why do they navigate the skies so early in the day and how does weather play a role in their flight path?
What You Need To Know
Hot air balloons fly early in the day or late in the day
The fire observed from a balloon is propane igniting to keep the air inside the balloon envelope warmer than the air surounding it
A hot air balloon pilot uses wind to steer and navigate their balloon
Ideal weather for flight
Mike Wadley, a second-generation Hot Air Balloon Pilot out of St. Charles County, Mo, explains the weather’s role in this high-flying activity.
The weather conditions matter, and it’s not solely for capturing the best pictures from the treetops. There are many days the team will leave the balloon in the trailer and cancel the day’s flight.
“If there’s any chance for rain, we don’t fly.”
He says winds must be light as well and that includes winds higher in the sky. “We love to have weather about 5 mph of wind on the surface and 10 to 12 mph all the way up to about 2500 feet.” And that’s because they use the wind to steer the balloon.
Winds are light early in the morning, around sunrise, and then again around sunset. Wind is created by the uneven heating of the Earth’s surface by the sun. Without sunlight, the air is less mixed and there is less wind.
“Since we can’t steer the balloon, we find wind directions and different speeds at different altitudes. And then we have to fly very level and be precise and that will carry us off to where we want to go.” But faster winds don’t mean better flying conditions.
Science experiment
“Hot air balloons and the way they operate is a big science experiment.” It follows the laws of physics. For the balloon to fly, the air inside the balloon must be warmer than the surrounding air.
Hot air balloon pilots and workers test the propane on their balloon. Spectrum News/Stacy Lynn
To achieve this, there’s a burner system connected to the basket and the balloon. Fueled by propane gas, the pilot uses a blast valve to adjust the rate of flow, keeping the balloon warmer than the air surrounding it.
They may also give intermittent blasts during the flight to ensure the air inside the balloon remains at this temperature.
Weather while flying
“So we are constantly paying attention to the weather, and we are paying attention not only before as we are doing our flight planning but also while we are actually flying.”
They have instruments on board that tell them the direction and altitude they are flying. And it’s these parameters that assist them in landing. “We use the different wind speeds and directions at different altitudes to help us find the right target to land.”
He will fly any day of the year that weather allows, but says May through September are the most popular and reminds us it’s colder higher in the atmosphere. “We’ll fly any time of the year, doesn’t matter how cold it is out. I’ve flown when it was zero degrees out. It’s uncomfortable.”
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
As Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris makes reproductive rights a centerpiece of her campaign, the Biden-Harris administration on Monday proposed a dramatic expansion of contraception coverage.
The proposed rule would require that insurers cover the cost of over-the-counter birth control and other measures designed to increase access to contraceptives.
What You Need To Know
The Biden-Harris administration on Monday proposed a dramatic expansion of contraception coverage
The proposed rule would require that insurers cover the cost of over-the-counter birth control, including condoms and the nonprescription birth control pill Opill
About 65 million women are of reproductive age in the United States
The move comes more than two years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the national right to an abortion
“Every woman in every state must have reproductive freedom and access to the healthcare they need,” Harris said in a statement released by the White House.
Calling it the largest expansion of contraception coverage in more than a decade, she said the “new proposed rule will build on our Administration’s work to protect reproductive freedom by providing millions of women with more options for the affordable contraception they need and deserve.”
About 65 million women are of reproductive age in the United States, according to the World Health Organization.
Provided through the Affordable Care Act, the new rule would apply to condoms, spermicides and the nonprescription birth control pill Opill, as well as emergency contraception to prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex.
The ACA currently covers the cost of prescription birth control. The new rule would expand to apply to the over-the-counter version the Food and Drug Administration approved last year.
The move comes more than two years after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the national right to an abortion. Twenty-one states currently ban abortion or make access to the procedure more restrictive than what was allowed under Roe v. Wade.
In a concurring opinion to the Dobbs ruling, conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said that the high court should “reconsider” a number of high-profile rulings, including the 1965 Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court ruling that guaranteed married couples’ right to contraception.
Harris on the campaign trail has warned that Griswold could be at risk under a future Trump administration.
At least 13 states and Washington, D.C., currently have regulations that protect a woman’s right to contraception, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In 2022, the House of Representatives passed the Right to Contraception Act to codify Americans’ right to contraception, but it failed to pass in the Senate.
A 2022 poll conducted by FiveThirtyEight found widespread support for contraceptives, with about 90% of Americans saying they support condoms and birth control pills and 80% supporting intrauterine devices, or IUDs. Another 70% said they support emergency contraception including Plan B, and almost 60% said they support medical abortion or abortion pills.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading again to the Middle East, making his 11th trip to the region since the Gaza war erupted last year and as Israel steps up attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
What You Need To Know
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading to the Middle East monday for his 11th trip to the region since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted last year
The State Department says Blinken will depart on Monday for a weeklong trip to Israel and a number of Arab countries, on a visit that also comes as Israel weighs retaliation against Iran for ballistic missile attacks earlier this month
The trip had been expected after President Joe Biden said he would dispatch Blinken to the region following Israel’s killing of Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar last week
Blinken will also raise the importance the administration places on reaching a diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah
The State Department said Blinken will depart on Monday for a weeklong trip to Israel and a number of Arab countries, on a visit that also comes as Israel weighs retaliation against Iran for ballistic missile attacks earlier this month.
The trip had been expected after President Joe Biden said last week he would dispatch Blinken to the region following Israel’s killing of Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar, a move that some believe could open a window for new talks on a cease-fire proposal that has been languishing for months.
“Throughout the region, Secretary Blinken will discuss the importance of bringing the war in Gaza to an end, securing the release of all hostages, and alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people. He will continue discussions on post-conflict period planning and emphasize the need to chart a new path forward that enables Palestinians to rebuild their lives and realize their aspirations free from Hamas’ tyranny,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
He said Blinken would also underscore the need for a dramatic increase in the amount of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza, something that Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made clear in a letter to Israeli officials last week. That letter reminded Israel that the Biden administration could be forced by U.S. law to curtail some forms of military aid should the delivery of humanitarian assistance continue to be hindered.
In addition to the conflict in Gaza, Blinken will also raise the importance the administration places on reaching a diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and elsewhere.
“He will reaffirm the U.S. commitment to work with partners across the region to de-escalate tensions and provide lasting stability,” Miller said in the statement.
Since the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 and the Israeli response, Blinken has traveled to the Middle East 10 times seeking an end to the crisis. His previous trips have yielded little in the way of ending hostilities but he has managed to increase aid deliveries to Gaza in the past.
Door County, Wisconsin voted for Bush, Obama, Trump and Biden. Here’s what voters are thinking in the battleground-state swing county ahead of the presidential election.
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In the quest for 270 electoral votes, this year’s presidential candidates have made countless overtures to Wisconsin’s voters. Even though the battleground state offers only 10 electoral votes, pollsters and political pundits believe those votes could be enough to tip the scales in either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris’s favor.
Exactly who Wisconsin might vote for is much harder to pin down.
To get a sense, 60 Minutes traveled to the Badger State, where the margins have been razor-thin for years. Wisconsin was the only state where the margin was less than 1% both times Trump has been on the ballot, and, in fact, the difference between victory and defeat was a fraction of a percent in four of the last six presidential elections.
A purple state with purple people
As its presidential voting history might suggest, Wisconsin is politically purple. Its senators are split by party: Republican Ron Johnson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin represent the state. But one thing that might set Wisconsin apart from other battleground states is that the voters themselves are something of a shade of plum. Many split the ticket on election day and say they vote for a person, rather than a party, ping-ponging between Republicans and Democrats over the years.
“I don’t vote Republican or Democrat or anything,” a Wisconsin voter named Joe Conlon told 60 Minutes. “I vote for who I like the best. And that’s how it ends up.”
Conlon went on to explain that he voted for George W. Bush twice, then Barack Obama twice, then Donald Trump twice. He intends to vote for Trump again this year.
For Brian Schimming, Wisconsin’s Republican Party chair, this kind of cross-party voting history is not surprising.
“There’s a pretty good independent streak here in Wisconsin,” Schimming said. “That has been shown over and over and over again.”
Schimming told 60 Minutes the Democratic and Republican Parties each have a reliable base of voters, but independents frequently vote on the issues of the moment and the concerns they feel when they go to the ballot box.
“I always tell candidates who run statewide here, ‘Don’t make a lot of assumptions about what the voters are going to do,’” he said.
As the candidates vie for these toss-up supporters, geography may matter. While Wisconsin often ends up being a state where the elections are decided by fewer than 25,000 votes, the individual counties themselves are not as evenly split. In 2020, more than 80% of Wisconsin’s 72 counties had a double-digit margin for either Trump or President Joe Biden.
In Kewaunee County, where Barack Obama won by 11 percentage points in 2008, Trump defeated Biden by almost 33 percentage points — an almost 44-point swing in 12 years.
According to Charles Franklin, the director of the Marquette Law School poll, this shift does not come down to the makeup of the county’s residents.
“It’s not demographics that are changing,” Franklin told 60 Minutes. “It’s how we think about our candidates, how we think about the parties. It’s Trump’s appeal to working class, to lower education voters, those who didn’t go beyond high school or at least not beyond junior college. And his appeal there is a change for the Republican party compared to where we were 20 years ago.”
Dane County tells another story. The fastest growing county in Wisconsin, Dane County is home to the capital city of Madison, the University of Wisconsin, and high-tech companies that have moved in and brought jobs. Just one of these companies, Epic Systems, employs more than 12,000 people in Wisconsin alone.
Here, the Democrats are running up the score. Biden won 50,000 more votes in 2020 than Barack Obama did in 2012.
Wisconsin’s political history
A look through Wisconsin’s history books shows how the political pendulum has swung in the state for decades.
A one-room schoolhouse in Ripon boasts the birthplace of the Republican Party itself, a group organized in 1854 as an anti-slavery party. Shortly thereafter, the state’s supreme court made Wisconsin the first state to declare the Fugitive Slave Act unconstitutional. A faction of Wisconsin’s Republicans created the Progressive movement, a group of reformers who pushed, among other things, for safer workplaces and cleaner cities.
In 1919, Wisconsin became the first state to ratify the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote, and two years later, Wisconsin passed the country’s first equal rights legislation, providing women with full legal equality to men.
On the political flip side, Wisconsin was home to Sen. Joseph McCarthy, a Republican whose attempts to root out communists led to the nation’s “Red Scare” during the early Cold War. Also headquartered in Wisconsin is the John Birch Society, a conservative advocacy group that promotes a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and has been criticized for its extremist views and conspiracy theories.
Political pollster Charles Franklin said this rich political history has played out in the state’s government.
“Whereas many states have been lopsided and had all Democratic governments or all Republican governments, our history is very much a mixture of divided government,” Franklin said. He also went on to explain that, after the Tea Party hit the national scene in 2010, Wisconsin began to get more and more polarized. The 2016 election magnified it.
“Trump added to that polarization,” Franklin said. “And now it’s a more nationalized polarization as opposed to one based mostly in state politics as it was for us early.”
The sprint to the finish
In the last two presidential elections, Donald Trump’s support has been underestimated in Wisconsin. One complicating factor in predicting voter’s opinions is that the state has same-day registration, meaning residents can register to vote on Election Day, thereby eliminating them from any preliminary estimation of registered voters. In 2020, more than 219,000 did just that — and a majority of those same-day voters swung toward Donald Trump.
For Ben Wikler, Wisconsin’s state Democratic party chair, this is an anxiety-inducing proposition.
“I absolutely lose sleep at night thinking about folks who are in nobody’s polls, in nobody’s models who show up and cast ballots for Trump,” Wikler said. “I need to find the same kinds of voters to make sure that they vote for Kamala Harris.”
From Green Bay to Eau Claire to Milwaukee, the Trump and Harris campaigns have been barnstorming Wisconsin in a last-minute sprint to Election Day. As they try to make their case to voters, one thing is certain: No one knows the way this race will go in the Badger State.
“It’s very, very close,” Republican chair Schimming said. “And I think both sides would say that.”
To watch Jon Wertheim’s 60 Minutes report on Door County, Wisconsin, click here.
The video above was produced by Brit McCandless Farmer. It was edited by Scott Rosann.
Brit McCandless Farmer is a digital producer for 60 Minutes, where her work has been recognized by the Webby, Gracie, and Telly Awards. Previously, Brit worked at the CBS Weekend Evening News, CBS This Morning, CNN, and ABC News.
For all the polarization in American politics, everyone can agree that seven states hold the key to next month’s election. These swing states contain a total of 513 counties, and among them only one has voted for the winning candidate in every presidential election this century. Door County, Wisconsin, offers a distinct shade of purple. Unencumbered by tribal loyalties, the citizenry has whipsawed from George W. Bush twice to Barack Obama twice; to Donald Trump and then to Joe Biden… consider Door a window into this critical election. Feverishly, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have been campaigning in swing states, especially Wisconsin. But neither has visited America’s swingiest county. So, we decided to.
The Wisconsin tourism board could do worse than to anchor its next marketing campaign in Door County, the peninsula wedged between Lake Michigan and Green Bay– the water not the home of the Packers…. nicknamed “the Cape Cod of the Midwest,” Door County and its coastline come embroidered with limestone cliffs, trees that blaze to life in the fall and enduring traditions like the fish boil.
The population: 30,000….and no one knows more of the locals than 84-year-old Niles Weborg, long-time fire chief…
Jon Wertheim:: Tell me about Door County…
Niles Weborg: How far do you want to go back? My relatives landed here, in 1851, from Norway…
Weborg has a handy way of placing Door County on Wisconsin’s map…
Niles Weborg: And, uh, this is where we’re at. Door County is up the thumb of Wisconsin. And Nor, Green Bay is down here. Milwaukee is down here. And we’re right about here on the Peninsula.
Jon Wertheim: So we got, we got a bay side. And we got a Lake Michigan side.
Niles Weborg: There you go.
Jon Wertheim: Tell me, politically, what are people like.
Niles Weborg: Well, politically, we were strictly Republicans.
But then the transplants came and now Door County is the ultimate political weathervane…. in 2020, Joe Biden carried Door County by 292 votes…the tightest margin in any Wisconsin county.
Joel Kitchens: And it’s not just the presidential elections. It’s virtually every state-wide election, we seem to pick the winner. It’s, it’s kind of weird.
Joel Kitchens
60 Minutes
Republican Joel Kitchens represents Door County in the State Assembly.
Jon Wertheim: What do you attribute that to?
Joel Kitchens: I think a lot of it is that we are such a cross section of the state that we have a lot of people that came from the cities and from the suburbs and retired. We have a strong agricultural community. We have heavy manufacturing, and as you can see when you drive along the lake shore and the bay shore, there’s a lotta money here. But there are also a lot of people that are really struggling as well.
On our road trip through Door County last week, we saw this first hand. The county is 92% White, but politically diverse. In the rural south: abundant signs for Donald Trump and towering silos….
25-year-old Austin Vandertie is a sixth-generation dairy farmer.
Jon Wertheim: When you go into that voting booth, first Tuesday in November, what is the one issue that’s most going to impact how you vote?
Austin Vandertie: Inflation. You know, inflation affects the cost of my feed, my fuel, my seed, my fertilizer, everything that it takes for me to grow a crop and feed it to my cows to get a good product.
Like many of his neighbors, Vandertie is voting for Trump. But as we headed north, cows and deer blinds gave way to artists and rainbow flags…
Near the top of the thumb in Door County, in the tourist town of Sister Bay—where red gives ground to blue—we met Emma Cox, who runs Kindgoods, a new-age boutique.
Emma Cox speaks with Jon Wertheim
60 Minutes
Jon Wertheim: For this election, what is gonna be the issue that you’re most concerned about?
Emma Cox: I think the issue that has been driving the– work of activism that I’ve been doing for the last two years has been reproductive rights.
Charming as her little pocket of America might be, she understands: Door County may be the leading indicator in this most contentious election.
Emma Cox: Well, it feels like all eyes are on us. All eyes are on Wisconsin, all eyes have been on Door County. And it feels like there’s pressure for us to deliver. (laugh)
Inasmuch as you can have a bellwether town within a bellwether county, Sturgeon Bay is Door’s gravitational and political center. Shipbuilding is the big industry here. Sensibilities vary from one yard to the next…
Even the animals get into the act
Jon Wertheim: Tell me who we have here?
John Vincent: This is Ziva. She’s our dog for democracy.
We met Ziva, as well as her owners, John and Annette Vincent, who organized a pop-up rally, flanking both sides of the main drag in Sturgeon Bay, drumming up support for the Democratic ticket…. and this is where shabby stereotypes come to die….
Annette and John Vincent with their dog Ziva
60 Minutes
Jon Wertheim: I saw a truck with a gun rack honk and I saw a Prius–
John Vincent: Yes.
Jon Wertheim: –go by and give you a thumbs down–
John Vincent: Isn’t that interesting–
Annette Vincent: Isn’t that interesting–
John Vincent: It’s more than just coincidental. We’re s– we’re so (truck honking) on the edge that we’re–
Annette Vincent: I mean, here comes a truck.
John Vincent: Whoa–
Jon Wertheim: On cue.
Annette Vincent: We– we have–
John Vincent: We’re purple.
Jon Wertheim: On cue–
John Vincent: We’re purple–
Annette Vincent: We– we are very purple. That is our impression from moving up here, is that we are very, very purple.
Now retired, they relocated from Chicago. They come three days a week not just to rally, but to gauge the political winds swirling off the bay….
Jon Wertheim: What’s a positive response look like?
John Vincent: Well, positive response can be anything from just a nod of the head to an enthusiastic wave, a horn honk– a solid horn honk– thumbs up
Jon Wertheim: You have data on raised thumbs versus raised middle fingers?
John Vincent: Well, that happens, too–
Annette Vincent: Oh, we get those too.
John Vincent: But I would say on– keep– you know, I have a pretty good sample size, and we run well over 80% positive to the negative.
Charles Franklin
60 Minutes
For a more scientific assessment of the entire state of Wisconsin, we turned to the director of the Marquette Law School poll, Charles Franklin. His poll, widely considered Wisconsin’s best, currently has Kamala Harris up four—but, not so fast….
Jon Wertheim: What is it like being a pollster these days?
Charles Franklin: It’s challenging, because we’ve seen polling errors in 2016 and 2020. And those were major issues.
Memorably, in 2016 and 2020, most polls—CBS included— fell short when accounting for the Trump vote.
Jon Wertheim: There’s something specific, particular to Trump that makes his support hard to capture.
Charles Franklin: In these four most recent elections, the two big errors have both come when Trump’s on the ballot. And the two elections without him on the ballot, we’ve been as good or better than our long term average.
Jon Wertheim: Say more about why you think that is.
Charles Franklin: The people that Trump mobilizes to vote really do turn out for him. But they seem to drop out of the electorate in the midterm.
Brian Schimming: My suspicion is it keeps the Kamala Harris campaign up all night long.
Brian Schimming
60 Minutes
Jon Wertheim: That there’s this cohort that hasn’t been capturable.
Brian Schimming: Correct.
Brian Schimming, Wisconsin’s Republican Party chair, is shaking the trees to identify those hidden Trump voters… and, crucially, get them to the polls.
Jon Wertheim: How many potential Trump supporters are there in Wisconsin who have never voted before?
Brian Schimming: Well, I spoke at President Trump’s rally the other day, and I said to the folks there, “Look, there are hundreds of thousands of people in this state who think like us, they act like us, they live like us, they believe like us, but they don’t vote.” And I truly believe that.
Jon Wertheim: Is it risky to rely on this sector, these low-propensity voters who have been so unreliable in the past?
Brian Schimming: It’s risky not to.
For the Democrats the strategy entails running up the numbers in Milwaukee…. and booming Dane County – home to Madison, the state capitol and the University of Wisconsin – where Biden won more than 75% of the vote in 2020…. meanwhile, they’ll try to stanch the bleeding in rural swaths that have swung heavily towards Trump….
Ben Wikler – state Democratic Party chair – thinks it’s a complete jump ball right now for Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes.
Ben Wikler: So on Election Night, expect to stay up very late. And when you find out who won Wisconsin, which might happen at 4:00 in the morning, you probably know who won the presidential election.
Jon Wertheim: It’s that pivotal?
Ben Wikler: Wisconsin was the state that tipped the Electoral College for Donald Trump in 2016. There is every possibility that Wisconsin could tip the presidential election again in 2024.
Ben Wikler
60 Minutes
Wisconsin was decided by less than 1% in the last two elections. But get this: around 80% of the state’s counties were decided by a double digit margin… which only magnifies Door County’s uncanny distinction.
Ben Wikler: I think in Door County this election’s almost perfectly tied as well. I was just looking at the county-by-county data before I joined you today. Whoever wins Door County on Election Day probably wins the state of Wisconsin yet again.
Jon Wertheim: You say whoever wins Door County likely wins Wisconsin. You also just said whoever wins Wisconsin likely wins the national election.
Ben Wikler: Yes–
Jon Wertheim: Not an exaggeration.
Ben Wikler: But–
Jon Wertheim: Door County, Wisconsin–
Ben Wikler: –historically the case. Whoever wins in Door County is probably the next president of the United States.
It got us thinking, is there one person in Door County who’s actually picked the winning candidate in each of the last six presidential elections?…..The county did collectively; but did any single voter? If so, finding this mystery figure might provide a heck of a clue into how this presidential election will go…. So we went on a search….
We started with an APB at the local radio station…
TIM KOWOLS: If you or someone you know in Door County has voted for the presidential winner of every election going back to the year 2000, please reach out to 920…
But no response…. from the airwaves to the rooftops, Al Johnson’s swedish restaurant is best known for the goats that graze on the grass roof…
Inside, we found the locals who beat the sunrise and the tourists, let themselves in through the back door and pour their own coffee…
Jon Wertheim: Do you know anyone that’s voted for presidents six straight years now and gotten it right?
Male Voice (unidentified): No. No–
Female Voice (unidentified): No. (laughter)
We were told to go to another table and ask the guy in the hat…
Jon Wertheim: We got a hot tip it was…
Male Voice (unidentified): No, I had some of them. George H. W. was– was my vote. But– not his son.
Next stop in our pursuit, the local watering hole.
Jon Wertheim: Do you know that person?
Female Voice: I’m out.
Female Voice: I did not.
Female Voice: You have your work cut out for you. (laughter)
Then suddenly: a promising lead…
Female Voice: I hear you found your voter. (laughter)
Jon Wertheim: Seriously?
Female Voice: Right over there. He’s down there–
Jon Wertheim: Seriously?
There at the end of the bar…sitting before something called a Badger Melt and a tall glass of milk—trucker, Joe Conlon.
Jon Wertheim: Bush, Bush, Obama, Obama, Trump, Biden.
Joe Conlon: I came close. Five out of six.
Jon Wertheim and Joe Conlon
60 Minutes
Jon Wertheim: Five out of six?
Joe Conlon: Yeah. Yeah, I didn’t vote for Biden.
Jon Wertheim: Can I ask you how you’re–gonna be votin’ this year?
Joe Conlon:: I think I’m gonna be voting for Trump again.
Jon Wertheim: Three times in a row?
Joe Conlon:: Yes.
We had come agonizingly close…
Our last stop: the Rotary Club of Sturgeon Bay.
Jon Wertheim: I’m curious: does anyone know someone, a voter, who actually voted for the winning candidate all six years? Anyone?
Female Voice: I think I did. (laughter) Now that you ask the question, yes, I think I did.
Behold! our Door County unicorn….
Female Voice: No, no, now– no, I didn’t, now that I’m thinking about it. (laughter)
Jon Wertheim: We thought you had all six?
Female Voice: I thought I did. But, no, now I’m thinking back, I didn’t.
After scouring Door County, we came up empty… which shows the improbability of it all…
But in our quest, maybe we stumbled across something even more rare, we found a place in America where family and community outrank party loyalty. In this divisive election season, we came to America’s ultimate battleground….except there was no battle … as they say here with pride, we live above the tension line.
Jon Wertheim: What’s your sense of how the tone in Door County compares to the tone nationally?
Emma Cox: You don’t wanna alienate your neighbors. You don’t wanna alienate your fellow business owners. You all come together.
Jon Wertheim: Do you have family members that are gonna vote differently from you?
Austin Vandertie
60 Minutes
Austin Vandertie: Oh, absolutely.
Jon Wertheim: Everyone invited to Thanksgiving, regardless?
Austin Vandertie: Absolutely. Politics is, you know, if we can’t talk about it that means it’s gone way too far in the wrong direction.
Jon Wertheim: You recognize that’s not necessarily the, the vibe in the country at large?
Austin Vandertie: Hey. We’re a little different in Wisconsin, I guess. We got that Midwest nice going on.
In keeping with the undulations of Highway 42, in Door County, Wisconsin, you swing back and forth and continue on down the road.
Produced by Draggan Mihailovich. Associate producer, Emily Cameron. Broadcast associate, Elizabeth Germino. Edited by Peter M. Berman.
After quickly becoming a tropical storm Saturday, Oscar is now a hurricane close to the eastern tip of Cuba. It’s the 15th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
What You Need To Know
Oscar is a small hurricane
It will bring heavy rain and strong winds to the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba
It won’t affect the U.S.
Hurricane Oscar has max winds of 80 mph and is moving to the west southwest at 7 mph. Hurricane and tropical storm conditions are likely in the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba over the next couple of days.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
MADISON, Wis. — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz will quickly return to the Badger State next Tuesday, Oct. 22 after visiting the state this last Monday, according to the Harris Campaign.
He’ll be joined by former President Barack Obama for a rally in Madison at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday. In the evening, Walz will also travel by himself to Racine and deliver remarks at a rally around 6:45 p.m.
The visit coincides with the start of early voting in Wisconsin. The purpose of the visit will be to encourage voters to cast their ballot early for Vice President Kamala Harris and Walz, as well as other Democrats, according to the campaign.
It will be Walz’s sixth visit to Wisconsin.
Obama is the only presidential candidate in the past six elections who has won Wisconsin by more than a percentage point.
On the day before the 2012 election, Obama held a rally in Madison that attracted about 18,000 people. Another Obama rally in October of that year drew about 30,000 people.
Officials did not share any further details on the visit.
OAK BROOK, Ill. — Hundreds of frozen waffle products sold in leading retailers including Publix, Walmart and Target are being recalled because of possible contamination by the listeria bacteria, according to the manufacturer.
What You Need To Know
Hundreds of frozen waffle products sold at Publix, Walmart, Target and other retailers have been recalled due to possible listeria contamination
TreeHouse Foods said that it issued a voluntary recall after discovering possible contamination during routing testing at its plant
The illness is most dangerous to pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65 and people with weakened immune systems
TreeHouse Foods said Friday that it issued a voluntary recall after discovering possible contamination during routing testing at its plant. It said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Canadian food regulators are aware of the recall.
Listeria infections can cause mild illness including fever and diarrhea or more serious problems. The illness is most dangerous to pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65 and people with weakened immune systems, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC estimates that 1,600 people are infected with listeria each year in the United States and 260 die.
The recalled waffles are sold under a variety of names including Walmart’s Great Value, Target’s Good & Gather and private label brands sold by Food Lion, Kroger and Schnucks. TreeHouse published a complete list.
TreeHouse said there have been no confirmed reports of illness related to the waffles.
The company said consumers holding any of the products should dispose of them or return them to the store for credit.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican challenger Eric Hovde repeatedly accused each other of lying over the course of their closely watched Senate race during an often-testy and confrontational debate Friday.
The debate was held in Madison and hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association. In their back-and-forth, each candidate accused the other of playing fast and loose with the truth, both on the campaign trail and during the debate itself.
“The one thing you’ve perfected in Washington is your ability to lie,” Hovde said during an exchange about Social Security.
His comment came after Baldwin pointed out that Hovde supports returning the federal budget to 2019 levels, which she said will result in massive cuts to popular programs like Social Security.
“He supports spending, just not for you,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin noted that more than a dozen independent fact-checkers found that Hovde made false statements during the campaign.
Hovde responded by alleging that “Every single one of her ads has been false.” He offered no evidence to back that up.
Hovde repeatedly called on Baldwin to disclose more information about the investments and business dealings of her partner, Maria Brisbane, ranked by Forbes as one of the nation’s top female wealth advisers. There is no requirement for Baldwin to release that information.
“They don’t disclose those investments and how much they’re profiting from it,” Hovde said, calling it a conflict of interest for Baldwin. “That’s fundamentally wrong.”
“Eric Hovde should stay out of my personal life,” Baldwin shot back. “And I think I speak for most Wisconsin women that he should stay out of all of our personal lives.”
If elected, Hovde would be one of the richest members of the Senate based on his campaign finance report, which showed he has assets worth between about $195 million and more than $564 million. Baldwin listed assets between $601,000 and nearly $1.3 million.
Baldwin voiced her support for passing a federal law that would make abortion legal nationwide, as it was before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Women are dying because of the current situation,” she said. “Harrowing things are happening to women in this state.”
Hovde previously said he supported the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but now says he would not vote for a federal ban on abortion. Instead, he says, states should decide. That is a change of position from 2012, when Hovde last ran for Senate as someone “totally opposed” to abortion.
“I’m not for a national abortion ban,” Hovde said during the debate. “I never have been.”
Former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Hovde, has suggested that he would support a federal ban.
Baldwin and her supporters have tried to paint Hovde as more California than Wisconsin because he owns a $7 million estate in the Pacific seaside city of Laguna Beach and owns Sunwest Bank, which operates on the West Coast.
Hovde was born and raised in Wisconsin.
“I’m supposedly a jerk from California,” he said before pulling from his pocket a document that he said was a utility bill for his Madison. He challenged Baldwin to produce 10 years of utility bills to prove where she lives.
Baldwin voiced strong support for the national health care law, while Hovde called for changes.
“We need to build upon the Affordable Care Act,” Baldwin said.
Hovde said the law has not slowed health care cost increases, improved access or allowed people to keep their doctors.
“I’m a believer in results, and if you look at the results, every one of those promises has failed,” he said.
“We have to create confidence in our voting system,” Hovde said. “It is causing too much tension in our country. And let me tell you, it doesn’t help when our state Supreme Court brings back drop boxes, when those were only used for a pandemic. So why are they being brought back?”
Drop boxes have been used for years in Wisconsin, but they became more prevalent in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 500 boxes were used in 2020, but this year the Wisconsin Elections Commission said it is aware of only 78 in use. There could be more since communities don’t have to report them.
There was only one passing reference to Trump and not a single mention of Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris during the hourlong debate. Hovde backs Trump and has appeared at his rallies. Baldwin supports Harris and has spoken at her events in the state.
Democrats must hold onto the Wisconsin seat if they hope to maintain their slim majority in the Senate. Democrats are defending 23 seats, while Republicans have just 11 up for grabs this election.
Republicans see an opportunity in swing-state Wisconsin, and both sides have poured money into the campaign, making it one of the five most expensive Senate races this year.
At the bottom of the ballot is a statewide referendum authored by Republican legislators asking for permission to amend the state constitution to clearly prohibit non-U.S. citizens from voting in any election held in the state.
Part of a GOP push across the country, the move was spurred by municipalities in a handful of states letting noncitizens vote in local elections. North Dakota, Alabama, Florida, Colorado, Ohio and Louisiana have all adopted the measure in recent years and it’s on the ballot in eight others, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri.
Republicans argue they’re trying to protect election integrity as immigrants pour over the southern border. Democrats and other opponents say the amendment has no practical effect — no Wisconsin municipalities allow noncitizens to vote — and is instead designed to draw conservatives to the polls and stoke anger against foreigners in the United States.
“There is no problem with noncitizens voting,” said Jeff Mandell, an attorney with Law Forward, a nonprofit organization that advocates for voter rights. “It is the very definition of a solution in search of a problem.”
According to the Pew Research Center, over 25 million people living in the U.S. in 2020 were not U.S. citizens. This included approximately 12 million permanent residents, as well as 2 million temporary residents visiting the U.S. as students, tourists, foreign workers and foreign officials. Pew’s figure also included approximately 11 million migrants living in the U.S. illegally.
A 1996 federal law already makes it illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.
No state constitutions explicitly allow noncitizens to vote and many states have laws prohibiting them from voting in statewide races. State data also indicates voting by noncitizens is rare, although Republicans have highlighted voter registration reviews that turned up potential noncitizens.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in August that over 6,500 potential noncitizens had been removed from the state’s voter rolls since 2021. Ohio Secretary of State Frank La Rose also said in August that he referred 138 apparent noncitizens found to have voted in a recent election for prosecution. And Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen has said that 3,251 people previously identified as noncitizens by the federal government have been deactivated on the state’s voter registration rolls.
Multiple municipalities in California, Maryland and Vermont as well as the District of Columbia allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections such as school board and city council races. Republicans fear more jurisdictions could follow.
Wisconsin’s constitution currently states that every U.S. citizen is a valid elector. The amendment would revise that language to say that only U.S. citizens can vote.
State Rep. Tyler August, the amendment’s chief Assembly sponsor, said Wisconsin Republicans want to make “crystal clear” that foreign nationals can’t vote in the state.
“While (the state constitution) says every U.S. citizen can vote, we want to make sure that can’t be interpreted to mean every U.S. citizen plus all these other folks,” August said. He acknowledged that noncitizens voting in other states drove the amendment.
But August rejected arguments that the amendment discriminates against foreign nationals and is designed to draw conservatives to the polls — predicting that Republicans will still turn out “in droves” for former President Donald Trump.
“It’s very clear,” August said. “If someone comes here legally and goes through the process and they’re granted U.S. citizenship, they’ll be able to vote. It’s got nothing to do with race or immigration.”
An aide for Republican state Sen. Julian Bradley of New Berlin, the amendment’s chief sponsor, referred questions about it to August.
Wisconsin constitutional amendments must pass two consecutive legislative sessions and a statewide referendum before they can take effect. Republican lawmakers passed the measure in 2022 and again last year without a single Democratic vote either time. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has no role in approving constitutional amendments.
Wisconsin Ethics Commission records show the only organization to register in favor of the amendment this session is Wisconsin Family Action, a conservative group that says it works to defend marriage, the family and religious liberty. Multiple organizations have registered in opposition, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the League of Women Voters.
More than 30 organizations have also signaled opposition, including Law Forward, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities and immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera. The groups in a September news release called the amendment a power grab that fosters discrimination and could lead to more anti-immigrant measures.
“Not only is this statewide ballot question intentionally confusing, but it will create real harm,” the coalition said. “The proposed change in voter eligibility from ‘every’ citizen to ‘only’ citizens diminishes all of our voting rights. We urge Wisconsinites to vote no to preserve the constitutional guarantee that protects our freedom to vote from further infringement.”
After quickly becoming a tropical storm Saturday, Oscar has now become a hurricane in the western Atlantic. It’s the 15th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
What You Need To Know
Oscar is a small hurricane
It will bring rain and wind to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba
It won’t affect the U.S.
Hurricane Oscar has max winds of 80 mph and is moving westward at 12 mph. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba over the weekend.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
After quickly becoming a tropical storm Saturday, Oscar has now become a hurricane in the western Atlantic. It’s the 15th named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
What You Need To Know
Oscar is a small hurricane
It will bring rain and wind to the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba
It won’t affect the U.S.
Hurricane Oscar has max winds of 80 mph and is moving westward at 12 mph. Tropical storm conditions are expected in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the southeastern Bahamas and eastern Cuba over the weekend.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.
DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s road safety agency is again investigating Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system, this time after getting reports of crashes in low visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
What You Need To Know
The National Highway Safety Administration says in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes after Teslas entered areas of low visibility including sun glare, fog and airborne dust
Investigators will look into the ability of “Full Self-Driving” to “detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions, and if so, the contributing circumstances for these crashes”
The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years
A message was left early Friday seeking comment from Tesla, which has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times
The National Highway Safety Administration says in documents that it opened the probe on Thursday after the company reported four crashes after Teslas entered areas of low visibility including sun glare, fog and airborne dust.
In addition to the pedestrian’s death, another crash involved an injury, the agency said.
Investigators will look into the ability of “Full Self-Driving” to “detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions, and if so, the contributing circumstances for these crashes.”
The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.
A message was left early Friday seeking comment from Tesla, which has repeatedly said the system cannot drive itself and human drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
Last week Tesla held an event at a Hollywood studio to unveil a fully autonomous robotaxi without a steering wheel or pedals. CEO Elon Musk, who has promised autonomous vehicles before, said the company plans to have autonomous Models Y and 3 running without human drivers next year. Robotaxis without steering wheels would be available in 2026 starting in California and Texas, he said.
The investigation’s impact on Tesla’s self-driving ambitions isn’t clear. NHTSA would have to approve any robotaxi without pedals or a steering wheel, and it’s unlikely that would happen while the investigation is in progress. But if the company tries to deploy autonomous vehicles in its existing models, that likely would fall to state regulations. There are no federal regulations specifically focused on autonomous vehicles, although they must meet broader safety rules.
NHTSA also said it would look into whether any other similar crashes involving “Full Self-Driving” have happened in low visibility conditions, and it will seek information from the company on whether any updates affected the system’s performance in those conditions.
“In particular, this review will assess the timing, purpose and capabilities of any such updates, as well as Telsa’s assessment of their safety impact,” the documents said.
Tesla reported the four crashes to NHTSA under an order from the agency covering all automakers. An agency database says the pedestrian was killed in Rimrock, Arizona, in November 2023 after being hit by a 2021 Tesla Model Y. Rimrock is about 100 miles north of Phoenix. Messages were left seeking information on the crash from local and state agencies.
Tesla has twice recalled “Full Self-Driving” under pressure from NHTSA, which in July sought information from law enforcement and the company after a Tesla using the system struck and killed a motorcyclist near Seattle.
The recalls were issued because the system was programmed to run stop signs at slow speeds and because the system disobeyed other traffic laws. Both problems were to be fixed with online software updates.
Critics have said that Tesla’s system, which uses only cameras to spot hazards, doesn’t have proper sensors to be fully self-driving. Nearly all other companies working on autonomous vehicles use radar and laser sensors in addition to cameras to see better in the dark or poor visibility conditions.
The “Full Self-Driving” recalls arrived after a three-year investigation into Tesla’s less-sophisticated Autopilot system crashing into emergency and other vehicles parked on highways, many with warning lights flashing.
That investigation was closed last April after the agency pressured Tesla into recalling its vehicles to bolster a weak system that made sure drivers are paying attention. A few weeks after the recall, NHTSA began investigating whether the recall was working.
The investigation that was opened Thursday enters new territory for NHTSA, which previously had viewed Tesla’s systems as assisting drivers rather than driving themselves. With the new probe, the agency is focusing on the capabilities of “Full Self-Driving” rather than simply making sure drivers are paying attention.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety, said the previous investigation of Autopilot didn’t look at why the Teslas weren’t seeing and stopping for emergency vehicles.
“Before they were kind of putting the onus on the driver rather than the car,” he said. “Here they’re saying these systems are not capable of appropriately detecting safety hazards whether the drivers are paying attention or not.”
CHIPPEWA COUNTY, Wis. — A young boy injured in a tractor accident during a field trip to a fall festival in Chippewa County last month got to meet the heroes who saved him.
“You always think that it’s not going to be as big of a deal as it was coming through on the radio, through dispatch. But we got there and it was everything, you know, and more than they said it was,” firefighter/EMT Haley Hanson said.
“Not knowing the extent of his injuries or if they were life-threatening was horribly scary,” Agnie Mier, Gabe Mier’s mom, said. “We knew we didn’t have the ability to take care of him and what he needed and having somebody that was competent and was willing to take charge and help us really helped with the stress levels of the situation.”
Now, Gabe Mier is back with those who helped him, picking out pumpkins and exploring in a reunion first responders do not get often.
“Seeing a little boy being a little boy, things could have been a lot worse than that,” Fire Captain Erik Hennlich said. “All the calls don’t work out like that. And sometimes you have traumatic calls that don’t end well. And the ones that do end well, you really have to focus on and realize that’s why you’re doing the job.”
Gabe Mier was in the hospital for days, treated for skull fractures, a concussion and other injuries. He’s continuing to recover and going to school part-time.
“I just think he’s a superhero because — I mean — he was so strong,” Hanson said.
TWO RIVERS, Wis. — Authorities in Wisconsin have announced new charges Thursday against the mother of 3-year-old Elijah Vue in the boy’s death, along with more charges against the mother’s boyfriend.
Skeletal remains found by a hunter in October were confirmed to be the toddler’s, who had been missing since February.
Manitowoc County District Attorney Jacalyn LaBre said at a news conference that Vue’s mother, Katrina Baur, faces charges of chronic neglect of a child, as well as obstructing an officer. Her boyfriend, Jesse Vang faces charges of physical abuse of a child, repeated acts toward causing death, hiding a corpse and obstructing an officer. Both faced prior charges of child neglect.
“This is an incredibly tragic situation that has shaken our community. My thoughts and deepest condolences go out to Elijah’s family, who are enduring unimaginable pain,” LaBre said.
Vue went missing on Feb. 20. In March, his blanket was found about 3.7 miles from where he was last seen. Law officers, private teams and other search and rescue operations had searched the area several times, but nothing turned up throughout different seasons and in different conditions, up until last month’s discovery.
The remains — confirmed to be a skull and bones — were taken to the Wisconsin Crime Lab for DNA testing, Meinnert said. As soon as they were identified, Elijah’s family was notified, Meinnert earlier said.
CBS affiliate WDJT-TV in Milwaukee reported that local authorities said that Baur handed Elijah over to Vang for “discipline.” The Vue family told the station that they don’t know how Baur knew Vang, who served six years in prison for the distribution of methamphetamine. It was Vang’s apartment from which Elijah disappeared, police said, and Vang who reported him missing.
A bail hearing has been scheduled for Friday afternoon.
