Month: August 2020

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee’s former police chief has chosen to retire instead of staying with the department after his demotion to captain. The city’s Fire and Police Commission voted unanimously last week to demote Chief Alfonso Morales. Commissioners criticized how Morales handled multiple incidents involving Black people, including the arrest of Milwaukee Bucks player Sterling Brown.  Morales said he chose to retire because if he returned to the department as […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Environmental regulators have decided to table rules setting new restrictions on firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals. The Wisconsin State Journal reports the Department of Natural Resources' policy board voted unanimously Wednesday to table limits on containment and disposal of the chemicals amid objections from industry groups and Republican lawmakers. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed a bill in February that bans the use of firefighting foam except […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Tony Evers has issued nine more pardons, raising the total he’s made since taking office to 56. Evers resumed granting pardons last year after his predecessor, Gov. Scott Walker, didn’t issue a single one over eight years. A pardon doesn’t erase or seal a conviction, but it does restore a variety of rights. Those include the ability to own a gun, vote, be on a […]

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is offering the help of federal agents in the wake of protests at a home where a suspended police officer was staying in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa. Sensenbrenner wrote in a letter to the city’s mayor Tuesday that federal agents could bring “peace and tranquility back to the community.” Mayor Dennis McBride rejected the congressman’s offer, saying  federal intervention would only […]

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee's new acting police chief has launched an effort to help rebuild trust with the community. Acting Chief Michael Brunson Sr. on Wednesday introduced the “ReWaukee Project.” The new initiative is aimed at improving police-community relations. The project will host numerous “speak out” sessions where everyone is invited to discuss police-community issues in a virtual format. Each group will be limited to fewer than a dozen participants. […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — One of two Wisconsin girls who repeatedly stabbed a classmate because she believed a fictional horror character named Slender Man would attack her family if she didn’t kill the girl has lost an appeal. Morgan Geyser was 12 at the time of the attack in 2014. She argued that the case belonged in juvenile court. But Wisconsin’s 2nd District Court of Appeals disagreed, ruling Wednesday that […]

A Fond du Lac judge has ordered a psychiatric evaluation for a Fond du Lac man charged with a hate crime in connection with what authorities say was an intentional head on fatal collision.   The attorney for 27 year old Daniel Navarro said Navarro was prepared to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity to first degree intentional homicide with a hate crime enhancer at an arraignment hearing Wednesday.   Judge Richard Nuss […]

Former state senator Jessica King won a Democratic primary and will face Republican Glenn Grothman for the Sixth District Congressional seat.   Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald took a big step toward seizing an open seat in Congress, easily defeating a surveying company owner in a Republican primary as the state navigated its second election since the coronavirus pandemic began. Fitzgerald is looking to succeed the retiring Jim Sensenbrenner in southeastern Wisconsin’s 5th District.