Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Federal complaints filed against 4 Wisconsin school districts over gender identity policies
Quinn Clark
LGBTQ+ advocacy groups Fair Wisconsin and GSAFE filed a federal civil rights complaint against the Muskego-Norway School District Tuesday, claiming it violated federal law by removing gender identity from its anti-discrimination policy last month.
According to the groups' press release, complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights against Muskego-Norway, as well as the Winneconne Community School District, the School District of Abbotsford, and Hartford Union High School District.
These districts' school boards have fostered a "hostile environment" by eliminating or excluding gender identity from their anti-discrimination policies, which is in violation of the federal civil rights law Title IX, said Abigail Swetz, executive director of Fair Wisconsin.
“That is an unconscionable action for duly elected leaders entrusted with the education and safety of our children to take, and we are here to say it is beyond unacceptable – it is discriminatory," Swetz said in the release.
The new complaints come after GSAFE and Fair Wisconsin filed a similar one against the Kettle Moraine School District in September, also alleging Title IX violations.
The Muskego-Norway School District did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction states that creating a safe environment for LGBTQ+ students is essential for their educational success. Research also suggests that laws targeting transgender people were correlated with increased suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary youth.
Muskego parent Ann Zielke regularly advocates for LGBTQ+ students at school board meetings. She said she was disturbed by the board's vote to eliminate gender identity from its anti-discrimination policy last month.
There was no discussion regarding the decision to alter the policy at the school board meeting, and district officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Zielke wishes the school board would focus on supporting Muskego's dedicated educators.
"Why go down this road?" she said.
Zielke said the school board has unnecessarily focused on "politically motivated culture wars" over the past couple of years.
For example, the board proposed its "pronoun policy" in 2022, which requires written permission from a parent or legal guardian before using a student's preferred name and pronouns.
The policy passed last year despite students and parents' concerns that it would endanger transgender students by outing them to potentially unsupportive homes.
"These brave kids simply asked for our community and our board to see their humanity," Zielke said of the multiple students who spoke out against the pronoun policy.
Zielke is also worried about the legal and fiscal ramifications for the district.
"The truth is that discrimination that denies any students of an opportunity puts the rights of all students at risk," she said.
Based on court rulings, Title IX has protected trans students since 2017
Signed into law in 1972, Title IX bans discrimination against students and staff in federally funded education programs on the basis of sex. The law was updated by the Biden administration this year to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
The self-described parental rights group Moms for Liberty sued over the updated Title IX regulations earlier this year, claiming that including gender identity would unconstitutionally alter the definition of sex. This resulted in a temporary injunction that blocks the U.S. Department of Education from enforcing the new rules in schools that enroll children of Moms for Liberty members.
Regardless, Wisconsin school districts are still required to include transgender students in Title IX protections, according to legal experts.
That's because the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin, has upheld in past rulings that Title IX applies to gender identity, even before the Biden administration's updated rules.
For example, a transgender student sued the Kenosha Unified School District after it banned him from using the boys' restrooms. The court decided in his favor in 2017, ruling that Title IX protects transgender students from discrimination.
While the lawsuit over Biden's new Title IX rules plays out, the U.S. Department of Education is temporarily blocked from enforcing Title IX in certain schools. However, GSAFE and Fair Wisconsin's press release said its complaints are against "school districts, as separate entities."
"The actions by these school boards are fostering hostile environments at the district level," the release said.
The advocacy groups' release said they plan to file more complaints. They're encouraging people to report unsafe learning environments for transgender and nonbinary students by contacting testimony@fairwisconsin.com or 608-441-0143.
Quinn Clark is a Public Investigator reporter. She can be emailed at QClark@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Quinn_A_Clark.
Lawyers say law keeping 12-year-old homicide suspect's case in adult court is 'unconstitutional'
A decision on whether a 12-year-old Milwaukee boy charged with killing his mother two years ago will remain in adult court could come next month.
Milwaukee County Juvenile Court Judge Jane V. Carroll on Tuesday heard from additional witnesses called by the boy's defense lawyers, who have been working months to have his case moved into the juvenile system.
Carroll ended the day without rendering a decision. Another hearing was scheduled for Nov. 18.
Here's what prosecutors say happened
According to court records, the boy told police he was upset at his mother for not buying him something on Amazon and for waking him up early one morning. Prosecutors allege he retrieved his mother’s gun from a lockbox, using his mother’s key, and shot her in November 2022.
The child was 10 at the time. He's charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
What is the law concerning juvenile charged with serious crimes?
Wisconsin law allows for children as young as 10 to be charged as adults for certain serious crimes, at least to start the case. Those crimes include first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide.
Lesser charges, such as attempted first-degree reckless homicide or attempted second-degree intentional homicide, start in juvenile court.
Prosecutors have for months argued the seriousness of the crime warranted adjudicating the matter in adult court. The child's lawyers have pushed for the case to be handled within the juvenile justice system, where he would be better positioned to receive more specialized treatment and age-appropriate services.
At a reverse waiver hearing Tuesday, the child could be seen doodling or drawing on a piece of paper, while seated at the defense table between his lawyers Angela Cunningham and Tanner Kilander.
Defense challenges constitutionality of Wisconsin statute
Cunningham argued on Tuesday that the Wisconsin statute is unconstitutional, disproportionately affects Blacks and lays the foundation for mass incarceration.
Meting out the case in the adult system would deprive the boy of access to services he might need to prepare him for life after his eventual release, Cunningham said. That would potentially leave him at "a huge disadvantage" for recidivism and being victimized, she said.
"(The boy) is accused of doing something when he was 10 years old," Cunningham said. "Children at that age are more immature and impulsive ... and can't appreciate the seriousness of an offense of this nature."
Assistant District Attorney Gil Urfer noted the act for which the child is accused demonstrated some level of intention and planning. Transferring the case to juvenile court, where the case could be disposed of anywhere from a year to when the child turns 25, would "depreciate the seriousness of the offense."
"The way it was perpetrated ... requires that the response be, to some extent, public," Urfer said. "The public needs to know ... when you take action like this, under these circumstances, there's a response from the justice system."
The child is in custody. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is not identifying him because of his age.
Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Here's how to make the most of Wisconsin's stunning fall colors
LUCAS ROBINSON
The landscapes of Wisconsin will soon be awash in the toasted reds, oranges and yellows of autumn.
If you want to make the most of your fall sightseeing but don’t know where to start, there are a few guides out there to help you find the best views.
‘Fall Color Report’
Travel Wisconsin has an interactive map that tracks the state’s changing leaves at travelwisconsin.com.
The award-winning “Fall Color Report” is a location-by-location guide that identifies when each part of Wisconsin will be at peak color. The map also identifies the best spots for getting some picturesque autumn scenery in addition to nearby events and lodging and dining recommendations.
“As autumn advances across Wisconsin, the Fall Color Report ensures you don’t miss a moment of the beautiful but brief season,” said Tourism Secretary Anne Sayers. “The tool is designed as a one-stop shop for everything residents and visitors need to plan a memorable fall getaway.”
Currently, most of southern Wisconsin, including the Madison and Milwaukee areas, are only around 5% color, according to the map. But up north, areas around Minocqua and Rhinelander are already up to 75% color.
If you’re in southern Wisconsin and game for a drive, the 100-foot Mountain Fire Lookout Tower in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is a restored national landmark that’s one of the best places to see color in the northeastern part of the state. The tower is open until Oct. 31.
Other great spots to see color in northern Wisconsin include the Apostle Islands, the Marinette County Waterfalls and Timm’s Hill County Park in Ogema.
Scenic drives
Another resource from Travel Wisconsin is their list of scenic fall drives around the state.
In southern Wisconsin, potential trips include a cruise along Highway 23 between Dodgeville and Spring Green.
There’s no shortage of attractions along that route, from Taliesin and House on the Rock to Governor Dodge State Park.
Another trip would run near the Wisconsin River and Baraboo Hills.
If you start in Lodi, take Highway 113 west and perhaps stop at Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area, Devil’s Lake or different attractions in Baraboo like the Circus World Museum or the International Crane Foundation.
A more ambitious journey is to follow the Upper Mississippi River Valley, a roughly 250-mile path through “charming river towns, antique shops, great cafes and stunning bluff-top views,” according to Travel Wisconsin.
For the route, Highway 35 runs from Prescott down to Potosi and is dotted along the way with observation platforms that make for great views of the river and trees.
Quick day trips
Residents of bigger cities don’t have to travel all the way up north to see the best sights fall has to offer in Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has identified a list of great options both within urban areas and nearby.
In Madison, peak color is forecasted for the first week of November, according to the Fall Color Report.
In Wisconsin’s capital city, the UW Arboretum features 17 miles of trails that traverse a varied terrain of woodland, restored prairies and wetlands.
The horticulture collection within the arboretum offers a global collection of trees and shrubs in addition to the state’s largest woody plant collection.
Don’t forget what a good climb up can accomplish, either.
The observation deck of the state Capitol has a panoramic view of the Isthmus, the lakes and their plush shorelines.
A fairly short drive from Madison will take you to Janesville’s Rotary Botanical Gardens, Rib Mountain State Park just outside of Wausau or even Grandad Bluff in La Crosse.
In Milwaukee, there’s the Forest Home Cemetery and Arboretum, the largest green (and soon, red and gold) space in the city.
Other communities offer materials to assist you in a self-guided tree walking tours. Those include Cedarburg’s Trees of Distinction walk and Hudson’s five Tree Treks.
The National Weather Service will no longer issue wind chill warnings and advisories
Claire Reid
Upcoming winter weather forecasts will be missing a well-known cold weather term: "wind chill."
The National Weather Service announced it will no longer issue public-facing wind chill warnings, watches and advisories, beginning this winter. Wind chill terms have been retired to clear up confusion surrounding weather warnings for the public, said Milwaukee-Sullivan NWS office meteorologist Benjamin Sheppard.
Previously, wind chill advisories and extreme cold advisories were issued separately, with the former based on the "wind chill" calculation ― which essentially considers both the air temperature and how cold it feels to humans and animals due to wind speeds ― and the latter based on air temperatures alone.
Now, NWS will only issue cold weather advisories, extreme cold watches and extreme cold warnings, using wind chill temperatures in-house to help determine these products. These advisories will be issued whether forecasted temperatures meet the wind chill or air temperature threshold for each category:
- Cold Weather Advisory: Wind chill or temperature of -20ºF in the next 12 to 24 hours.
- Extreme Cold Watch: Wind chill or temperature of -30ºF is possible in the next 24 to 72 hours.
- Extreme Cold Warning: Wind chill or temperature of -30ºF is imminent in the next 12 to 36 hours.
Sheppard said the new guidelines are based on research indicating that both wind chill and extreme cold without wind are "equally impactful and equally dangerous" and require similar precautions.
"We came to the conclusion that having the two hazards in separate products just led to confusion in the public," he said.
All NWS offices in the country will cease to issue wind chill advisories, but category thresholds are different depending on the area of the country. The thresholds above are for the Milwaukee-Sullivan office, which covers most of southern and part of east-central Wisconsin.
Cold weather safety tips
NWS offers the following cold weather safety tips for each advisory level:
- Cold Weather Advisory: Be Aware. A Cold Weather Advisory is issued when seasonably cold air temperatures or wind chill values, but not extremely cold values, are expected or occurring. Be sure you and your loved ones dress appropriately and cover exposed skin when venturing outdoors.
- Extreme Cold Watch: Be Prepared. An Extreme Cold Watch is issued when dangerously cold air temperatures or wind chill values are possible. As with a Warning, adjust your plans to avoid being outside during the coldest parts of the day. Make sure your car has at least half a tank of gas, and update your winter survival kit.
- Extreme Cold Warning: Take Action! An Extreme Cold Warning is issued when dangerously cold air temperatures or wind chill values are expected or occurring. If you are in an area with an Extreme Cold Warning, avoid going outside. If you have to go outside, dress in layers, cover exposed skin, and make sure at least one other person knows your whereabouts. Update them when you arrive safely at your destination.
Change proposed to state's disabled deer hunting season
Monday, October 7, 2024
The truth behind Albert the Alley Cat, the cat puppet that did the weather on Milwaukee TV
Chris Foran
For more than a decade, one of Milwaukee's best-loved celebrities was a cat puppet that did the weather on TV.
What, or who, was Albert the Alley Cat? How did a cat puppet become a fixture on Milwaukee television? Why did he leave the air? And what happened to Albert?
As part of the Journal Sentinel's What the Wisconsin? series — where reporters take on questions about our state, our communities and the people in them — we looked at the story behind Albert the Alley Cat, and what happened to the famous TV puppet.
Meet Albert the Alley Cat (and the man who created him)
Albert the Alley Cat was the creation of Jack DuBlon, a broadcaster and puppeteer who joined Milwaukee's WITI-TV (Channel 6) in 1960. He brought with him several puppets and an idea for a kids show, "Cartoon Alley," that he developed at a station in his native Texas.
Among "Cartoon Alley's" characters when it debuted on Channel 6 in April 1961 was Albert the Alley Cat, a wisecracking feline who hung out with DuBlon's other creations, including Rocky the Gorilla and Lucius the Lion, as well as the show's host, Barbara Becker. Becker also did the weather on Channel 6's newscasts; until the early 1970s, most TV stations had a personality do the weather instead of a trained meteorologist.
In 1965, when Becker dropped the weather gig, Channel 6 General Manager Roger LeGrand decided to replace her with staff announcer Ward Allen — and Albert, with DuBlon doing the voice and manning the puppet just like on "Cartoon Alley." While Allen played it straight reading the weather, Albert the Alley Cat provided the comic relief, tossing in corny jokes and mispronouncing weather terminology (example: humidity, from Albert, came out "humidiry").
In a 1982 interview with The Milwaukee Journal, DuBlon — whose roles at Channel 6 also included hosting a horror-movie show, "Shock Theatre," as Dr. Cadaverino — said he was dubious about having Albert join the station's 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
"It was not my idea, and I did not want to do it," DuBlon said. " … I thought Albert was too outlandish for the newscast." Instead, he suggested using another of his "Cartoon's Alley" puppets, Waldo the Bear.
"But Roger (LeGrand) was bent on Albert's personality," DuBlon said. "He thought there was something smart-assed about Albert and Waldo was too loving."
Albert the Alley Cat: America's No. 1 weather cat
Viewers didn't know what to make of a cat puppet on the local news. But it wasn't long before Channel 6 had Milwaukee's most-watched newscasts — and in Albert, a bona fide local celebrity.
Viewers sent hundreds of knit hats and sweaters — Albert's uniform — to the station. The cat puppet was in demand: In 1971, Albert (with DuBlon, of course) performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, narrating a performance of Saint-Saens' "The Carnival of the Animals." The station gave out copies of "Did'ya Hear the One About … Albert's TV6 Joke Book."
It wasn't just Milwaukee TV viewers who rooted for Albert. In 1968, he and Allen were named the nation's No. 1 weather show by the National Association of Television Program Executives.
Albert the Alley Cat causes trouble
As with so many celebrities, Albert sometimes got himself, and his employer, in hot water.
After rival WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) hired a trained meteorologist, Paul Joseph, Channel 6 in 1975 hired Tom Skilling, who also had the seal of approval from the American Meteorological Society. Skilling was to do its 10 p.m. weather forecast, with Allen relegated to the noon and 6 p.m. newscasts. Albert worked with both of them.
The AMS told Skilling he would lose the group's seal of approval if he continued to work with, well, a cat puppet. Station management stood with Albert; Skilling lost the seal.
(Skilling left Channel 6 three years later — not because of Albert or the seal of approval, but in a dispute over how much time weather forecasts received on the station's newscasts. Not long after, Skilling was hired by WGN-TV in Chicago, where he was a weather-forecasting fixture for the next 45 years; he retired this year.)
When word got out that Channel 6 might drop Albert, the station received more than 10,000 letters from viewers backing the weather cat.
The same year Skilling left Channel 6, Albert — actually, DuBlon — got in trouble for meddling in Wisconsin politics.
In 1978, Lee Dreyfus, then chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, was running for governor as a Republican against acting Gov. Martin Schreiber; the symbol of Dreyfus' campaign was the red vest he wore on campus. DuBlon reportedly reached out to the campaign and offered to give Dreyfus a boost — by dressing Albert in a red vest for his stints on camera on Channel 6.
Albert donned the red vest on just two newscasts before Jill Geisler, Channel 6's news director, told DuBlon the vest had to go. DuBlon protested, but, after both he and Albert boycotted one broadcast, they both returned the next day — minus the red vest.
Albert the Alley Cat signs off
In mid-1981, Channel 6 bowed to years of reports from consultants saying a cat puppet doing the weather hurt the station's credibility and shifted Albert to sports, where he bantered with longtime sportscaster Earl Gillespie. But by the end of that year, Albert was off the newscasts for good. He remained on Channel 6's Saturday morning kids show, "Albert and Friends," and continued to do promotional segments and events for the station.
But the viewers didn't forget the cat puppet who did the weather.
To mark Albert's 25th "birthday," in August 1985 the station held a party at the Milwaukee County Zoo, where people stood in line in the rain to wish the cat puppet well. That fall, DuBlon and Albert received the Semi-Sacred Cat Award from the Milwaukee Press Club (the Press Club's mascot is a mummified cat).
DuBlon left Channel 6 at the end of 1985, returning to his hometown of San Angelo, Texas. He died in 1988 of pancreatic and liver cancer; he was 58.
So, where did Albert the Alley Cat go?
In that 1982 interview with The Journal, DuBlon said the then-current Albert the Alley Cat puppet was actually the eighth one. "Throughout the years, I had to get new ones made because the puppet wore out," DuBlon said. "All the other puppets that wore out I usually threw out, but I just couldn't do that to Albert — he's that special. I always thought Albert had nine lives; I guess he is on his last one."
But when DuBlon went back to Texas, he took all of his puppets with him, including Albert, seemingly never to be seen again.
Until 2017, when Channel 6 reporter Brad Hicks set out to "find" the missing Albert. He tracked down one of DuBlon's daughters, Michelle DuBlon, in Prescott, Arizona. She not only had Albert; he was sitting on her couch. Hicks and photojournalist Jeff Frings put together a segment about Albert's "retirement" days, including FaceTime-ing with Ward Allen. (Allen died in 2022 at age 87.)
You can find the segment, along with archival clips of some of Albert's "performances," at fox6now.com.
Sources: Journal Sentinel archives; "Milwaukee Television History: The Analog Years" by Dick Golembiewski (Marquette University Press); fox6now.com.
I loved watching Albert make Tom Skilling uncomfortable on weather forecasts.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
Trump in Juneau Sunday for 4th Wisconsin appearance in 8 days
Donald Trump's fourth scheduled stop in eight days in Wisconsin is a sign of his increased attention as Republicans fret about the former president's ability to match the Democrats' enthusiasm and turnout machine.
“In the political chatter class, they’re worried," said Brandon Scholz, a retired Republican strategist and longtime political observer in Wisconsin who voted for Trump in 2020 but said he is not voting for Trump or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris this year. “I think Republicans are right to be concerned.”
Trump's latest rally was planned for 2 p.m. Central time Sunday in Juneau in Dodge County, which he won in 2020 with 65% of the vote. Jack Yuds, chairman of the county Republican Party, said support for Trump is stronger in his part of the state than it was in 2016 or 2020. “I can’t keep signs in,” Yuds said. “They want everything he’s got. If it says Trump on it, you can sell it.”
Wisconsin is perennially tight in presidential elections but has gone for the Republicans just once in the past 40 years, when Trump won the state in 2016. A win in November could make it impossible for Harris to take the White House.
Trump won in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton by fewer than 23,000 votes and lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes.
On Tuesday, Trump made his first-ever visit to Dane County, home to the liberal capital city of Madison, in an effort to turn out the Republican vote even in the state's Democratic strongholds. Dane is Wisconsin’s second most-populous and fastest-growing county; Biden received more than 75% of the vote four years ago.
“To win statewide you’ve got to have a 72-county strategy,” former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, said at that event.
Trump’s campaign and outside groups supporting his candidacy have outspent Harris and her allies on advertising in Wisconsin, $35 million to $31 million, since she became a candidate on July 23, according to the media-tracking firm AdImpact.
Harris and outside groups supporting her candidacy had more advertising time reserved in Wisconsin from Oct. 1 through Nov. 5, more than $25 million compared with $20 million for Trump and his allies.
The Harris campaign has 50 offices across 43 counties with more than 250 staff in Wisconsin, said her spokesperson Timothy White. The Trump campaign said it has 40 offices in the state and dozens of staff.
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Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign event at Dane Manufacturing, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024, in Waunakee, Wis. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Harris rallied supporters in Madison in September at an even that drew more than 10,000 people. On Thursday, she made an appeal to moderate and disgruntled conservatives by holding an event in Ripon, the birthplace of the Republican Party, along with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, one of Trump’s most prominent Republican antagonists.
Harris and Trump are focusing on Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the “blue wall” states that went for Trump in 2016 and flipped to Biden in the next election.
While Trump’s campaign is bullish on its chances in Pennsylvania as well as Sunbelt states, Wisconsin is seen as more of a challenge.
“Wisconsin, tough state,” said Trump campaign senior adviser Chris LaCivita, who worked on Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s winning reelection campaign in 2022.
“I mean, look, that’s going to be a very tight — very, very tight, all the way to the end. But where we are organizationally now, comparative to where we were organizationally four years ago, I mean, it’s completely different,” LaCivita said.
He also cited Michigan as more of a challenge. “But again, these are states that Biden won and carried and so they’re going to be brawls all the way until the end and we’re not ceding any of that ground.”
The candidates are about even in Wisconsin, based on a series of polls that have shown little movement since Biden dropped out in late July. Those same polls also show high enthusiasm among both parties.
Mark Graul, who ran then-President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign in Wisconsin, said the number of campaign visits speaks to Wisconsin’s decisive election role.
The key for both sides, he said, is persuading infrequent voters to turn out.
“Much more important, in my opinion, than rallies,” Graul said.
Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jill Colvin in Butler, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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