State and Local News That Matters
Two Wisconsin state lawmakers are proposing changes to the state constitution regarding bail guidelines. Republicans Representative Cindi Duchow (R-Delafield) and Senator Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) are “drafting a resolution to allow court commissioners, who make decisions on bail amounts and conditions, to consider additional factors.”
A Racine Sheriff called for the removal of a supervisor over posting bail for an alleged gun thief. Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling says that a county supervisor needs to be removed from his position after he posted bail for a man who is accused of stealing three sheriff’s SWAT team guns.
GoFundMe’s about-face on facilitating donations to legal funds for Kyle Rittenhouse after his acquittal Friday is prompting questions about comparable fundraisers it left up for anti-police rioters and left-wing activists accused of violence.
The massive crowdfunding platform, whose biggest fundraisers include several left-wing causes, explained that its “long-standing policy” prohibits raising money for individuals charged with a violent crime.
Senator Ron Johnson (R) criticized ‘Catch and Release’ policies in a Fox News interview, saying that’s how situations like the one in Waukesha develop. Johnson said that those policies need to be reworked both for border security and within the United States justice system.
There are a lot of questions about how the suspect in Waukesha’s parade tragedy was out of jail.
State Sen. Melissa Agard, D-Madison, on Monday said the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office must provide more answers about how Darrell Brooks was released on bail just days before police say he drove through the parade crowd in Waukesha.
The driver in the Waukesha mass murder event Sunday has a long criminal history spanning nearly two decades. Darrell Edward Brooks, the man taken into custody after he drove through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killed 5 and wounded 48 others in the mass killing.
Five are dead and dozens more injured after a Black Lives Matter activist and two others allegedly plowed through a crowd of Christmas paraders in Waukesha Sunday evening.
Some say it’s “karma” for the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse, who walked after a jury decided last week that he acted in self-defense in the killing of two rioters, and the injuring of a third.
The flag at the Wisconsin Capitol – as well as flags across the rest of the state – will be lowered to remember the people killed in the tragedy at Waukesha’s Christmas Parade.
Gov. Tony Evers issued an order to lower the flags after five people were killed and dozens more were hurt Sunday afternoon. The official count is 40-plus injured, including 12 children.
The governor on Sunday said his thoughts and prayers are with everyone impacted.
The City of Madison on Wednesday announced that all individuals who serve as poll workers will be mandated to receive the coronavirus vaccine.
Earlier this year, city officials detailed the vaccine requirement or testing for all city employees. A recent memo certified that the requirements would be extended to poll workers.
The parents of one of the two men shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during three nights of rioting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year vowed to continue their fight for justice for their slain son.
A jury found Rittenhouse not guilty Friday of all five charges in the case including first degree intentional homicide in the death of Anthony Huber.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) released a statement following the verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, saying that “We must move forward.” Rittenhouse was declared not guilty on all five counts against him.
The fight over Wisconsin’s next political map took its next step toward a courtroom Thursday.
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the new maps drawn by Republican lawmakers.
“What’s sitting in front of me here are gerrymandered maps modeled after the same gerrymandered maps we’ve had for a decade,” Evers said in a video message. “They were sent to my desk over the objections of a decade’s worth of people in this state demanding better, demanding more, and demanding a fair, nonpartisan process for preparing our maps for the next 10 years.”
Representative Thomas Tiffany (R-WI-07) is demanding answers from United States Attorney General Merrick Garland following a leaked Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) memo that outlines how parents would be given “threat tags” for outbursts at school board meetings. Garland had come under fire for comments equating domestic terrorism with concerned parents at school board meetings.
Friday, a jury in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on all charges.
The jury deliberated on five charges against Rittenhouse, all related to Rittenhouse’s activity in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020. He killed two and wounded a third during riots over the death of Jacob Blake at the hands of police.
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday praised an effort by State Representative Timothy Ramthun (R-Campbellsport) to “decertify” Wisconsin’s 2020 election results.
Ramthun and Trump contest that a report from the Legislative Audit Bureau and allegations made by the Racine County Sheriff’s Department raise too many questions.
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Wisconsin’s assembly speaker has some questions for the chancellor at UW-Madison over what he calls a mandatory class on white privilege.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday sent a letter to UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. Vos is demanding an explanation for the Graduate and Professional Students Preventing and Responding to Sexual and Relationship Violence course.
The city of Kenosha is on edge as the jury verdict nears in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Reports have been coming in sharing videos of rising tensions on the courthouse steps and accusations are flying of more individuals attempting to doxx jurors.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) spoke out condemning the threats that have been made against the judge and jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. Johnson said, “Threats to a judge and jury are antithetical to the American justice system.”
A Wisconsin school district allegedly concealed information regarding children’s gender identity from parents, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday.
A 12-year-old girl was pulled from public school after the district began a ”social transition,” which the complaint says involves “presenting to others as the opposite sex, primarily by adopting a new name and pronouns,” against the parents’ express wishes, according to the lawsuit against the Kettle Moraine School District filed Nov. 17 by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) on behalf of two sets of parents.
Madison Metropolitan School District will continue their coronavirus protocols into the spring semester, according to a release from the district’s superintendent.
The measures, which require students and faculty to continue to wear a mask at all times, have remained in place since the beginning of the school year.
Wisconsin Representative Thomas Tiffany (R-WI-07) joined the effort to nullify the Biden Administration COVID vaccine mandate. Tiffany said, “Overreaching federal vaccine mandates will affect 80 million Americans.”
Despite the fact that jurors have been deliberating for two days in the trial of accused killer Kyle Rittenhouse, Wednesday was still a contentious day inside the Kenosha County Courthouse.
Twelve jurors, chosen at random by Rittenhouse himself, will continue to deliberate Thursday, their third day of working to decide the 18-year-old’s fate.
Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) reacted as the Rittenhouse jury nears a verdict during the second day of deliberations. Steil condemned the unlawful actions in Kenosha in August of 2020 and expressed that people need to act in a “lawful manner” as the verdict is released.
The Madison city clerk responded to a subpoena in the election investigation, saying that allowing auditors to physically handle the election records could potentially be breaking federal law. Maribeth Witzel-Behl is one of several city clerks and election officials served a subpoena in an ongoing election investigation by Michael Gableman, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice.
The subpoena is signed by Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg), Senate President Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield), and committee chair Senator Kathleen Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls). The data request asks that the city of Madison provide all “physical absentee ballot certificates for the November 2020 General Election and the results of tests on electronic voting machines used for the election.”
Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) announced on Twitter that YouTube has removed his video of an expert panel discussing the impact of the COVID vaccine and mandates. Johnson said this is the fifth time YouTube has removed one of his uploads. Johnson’s YouTube account is now temporarily suspended from uploading content for seven days.
Johnson said that YouTube’s censorship has only gotten worse, “This time they don’t want you to hear 3.5 hours of stories from doctors, scientists and the vaccine injured.” His video featuring stories of those who have been injured by the COVID vaccine as well as expert opinions can still be found on Rumble.
In the high-profile trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, accused of intentional homicide after killing two and wounding one during an August 25, 2020 riot in Kenosha, Judge Bruce Schroeder began Monday by dismissing a weapons charge against the 18-year-old defendant.
Count six of the complaint, possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor, was dropped before closing arguments began. That was a lesser charge in the complaint – a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months in prison.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) released a statement Friday boasting how there he has now granted a total of 307 pardons. Evers announced 29 new pardons saying that it is a “powerful message.”
Alan Dershowitz, the famed Harvard law professor emeritus, said Kyle Rittenhouse “should be acquitted” of injuring a man and killing two others in Kenosha, Wis., and sue media outlets that are claiming he’s guilty of vigilante justice.
“If I were a juror, I would vote that there was reasonable doubt [and] that he did act in self-defense,” Dershowitz told Newsmax on Saturday.
The University of Wisconsin (UW) Health is now requiring that candidates for transplants must be vaccinated against COVID. Wisc News reported that the rule “requires patients on the transplant waiting list to get a first dose of vaccine by Dec. 15 and a second dose, if needed, by Jan. 14.”
The next step for Wisconsin’s new political map is a veto from Gov. Tony Evers.
The State Assembly, as expected, on Thursday approved the Republican-drawn maps on two party line votes.