Friday, October 11, 2024
A top Department of Justice official decides to retire two weeks after being put on leave
Daniel Bice
A top Department of Justice official has decided to retire two weeks after she was removed from her position and put on administrative leave by the agency.
Tina Virgil, administrator for the Division of Criminal Investigation, announced she had decided to retire after 32 years in state government. She has served under five attorneys general, who oversees the 800-employee Department of Justice.
"As the first African-American woman to serve in an upper management role at DOJ in the history of the State, she is proud of all that she accomplished in her career with the State and wishes all at the DOJ the best," said Tamara Packard, a Madison attorney representing Virgil.
In a letter to Department of Justice staff, Virgil said her retirement will take effect Oct. 24.
Just two weeks ago, Virgil was removed as head of the criminal investigation division, the investigative arm for the department, and put on administrative leave, said a spokeswoman for the agency. Earlier, human resources officials had conducted interviews with her staff.
Neither agency officials nor Virgil provided details on the internal personnel review. Packard said Virgil retired in good standing.
Jake Jansky, director of the agency's Human Trafficking Bureau, has been named interim administrator of the Division of Criminal Investigation.
In 2021 Virgil filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission saying she was appointed chief of DOJ's Division of Law Enforcement Services at a salary below her predecessor, a white male. Her complaint also said she had more experience than any other administrator in the Department of Justice but was paid less than all but one, based on 2019 data.
All the other administrators were white at the time.
In addition, Virgil argued that she was underpaid and harassed at work because she’s a Black woman.
Attorney General Josh Kaul disputed the allegations, saying Virgil was the sixth highest paid of 10 administrators at the time she filed the complaint and that she was paid less than her predecessor because the job's responsibilities had changed.
Kaul also asked two University of Wisconsin System attorneys to look into allegations Virgil raised against three top administrators. The report did find some problems in the agency but concluded the three officials did not contribute to a hostile workplace environment.
While the complaint was pending, Kaul promoted Virgil, naming her the agency's new administrator of the Division of Criminal Investigation in December. As a result, Virgil's pay jumped from $116,022 annually to $132,870 per year. Her final salary with the department was $150,924 annually.
The agency eventually agreed to pay $46,276 in tax dollars to settle the complaint.
Under the settlement, the state paid her Madison firm, Pines Bach LLC, $23,500. Virgil received a check for $13,000 and a payroll check for $9,776.20 for a total of $22,776.20. The settlement letter said the payroll check reflected "deductions for the usual employee withholdings."
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.
Executive Committee considers ordinances connected to alder boycott
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — The Racine Executive Committee on Thursday considered three ordinances connected to the ongoing alder boycott, approving two and rejecting one.
The three ordinances were previously approved by the Committee of the Whole on Aug. 8.
Mayor Cory Mason and alders Terry McCarthy, Sam Peete, Mollie Jones, Maurice Horton and Mary Land make up the Executive Committee.
The committee approved an ordinance changing the procedure for communications brought to the council and an ordinance requiring the Common Council to establish a budget calendar in June of each year.
An ordinance prohibiting city employees from being appointed to or serving on any city authority, board or commission failed.
At the meeting, Mason said city employees can bring expertise to certain city authorities, boards and commissions that may be lost if they are prohibited from joining.
"I think if (alders) want to oppose an appointee to a board, committee or commission, they have the ability to vote it down," Mason said. "But I think this is a backdoor way to try to get at some appointees that some of the alders don't like."
Alder Melissa Kaprelian, who attended the meeting as an audience member, said city employees serving on boards, commissions and authorities is a conflict of interest because they work under the city's executive branch and because the mayor appoints people to boards, commissions and authorities.
All three ordinances will move forward to the next Common Council meeting for consideration, regardless of if they were approved by the Executive Committee.
The next Common Council meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15 in Room 205 of City Hall, 730 Washington Ave.
As Wisconsin prisons crack down on drug smuggling, not even paper is safe
ANNA HANSEN Wisconsin State Journal
Smuggling contraband into prisons doesn’t look like it used to, and Wisconsin officials are trying to keep up.
Department of Corrections employees have found narcotics sprayed onto crayon drawings, calendars and photographs, hidden in cracked book spines, slipped between Bible pages and into manila envelopes masquerading as legal mail. Against the department’s best efforts, the smugglers are becoming increasingly innovative.
On Saturday, a Waupun Correctional Institution employee was hospitalized and treated with Narcan after trying to intercept a drug-laden piece of paper being passed between two inmates, according to DOC spokesperson Beth Hardtke.
In September, substance exposure sent two DOC employees to hospitals, one of whom touched an item that tested positive for cocaine and fentanyl. The other fell ill after treating an inmate who was showing signs of intoxication, Hardtke said.
Between Jan. 1, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2023, 20 Wisconsin inmates died of overdoses, Hardtke said.
“This stuff is really dangerous,” she said. “Over the last several years, DOC has had to take additional, important steps to ensure the safety of our institutions, including addressing drugs entering our facilities via paper from personal letters, legal mail and books, among other materials.”
The DOC has been tracking an increase in drug-related incidents among inmates, and they’re getting harder to track due to the ubiquity of K2 and other synthetic cannabinoids, which are odorless and difficult to detect. Sometimes, it’s not even drugs: There have been instances of people smuggling wasp spray or embalming fluid into institutions on paper, Hardtke said.
Paper and envelopes can be sprayed or soaked in the substances before they’re mailed off to inmates. The highs these drugs produce can cause violent behavior as well as serious medical distress. From Jan. 1, 2019, to Sept. 18, the DOC reported 881 drug-related contraband incidents. Nearly a quarter of those incidents involved drugs on paper.
Among the DOC’s preventative steps are stricter mail room protocols. In 2021, the DOC implemented mail scanning after a successful pilot program at Fox Lake Correctional Institution. Personal mail is photocopied by an outside mail management service, which then sends the photocopies to each institution for delivery.
Official mail, such as that from attorneys, is handled differently: Rather than being photocopied by the outside mail management service, it’s photocopied in house. That saves time, as court documents and business information can come with tight deadlines. It also allows inmates a sense of security: They can see their documents being scanned in real time, eliminating suspicion that their legal mail has been tampered with.
The department also has tightened limits on books its facilities accept from organizations such as Wisconsin Books to Prisoners. The DOC has long prohibited used book donations, but an exception had been made for Wisconsin Books to Prisoners. However, the prevalence of bad actors masquerading as WBTP led to tighter restrictions and in January, when the DOC announced that it would no longer accept used books from any entity. This policy now is being implemented not only in books sent personally to inmates but in library donations as well, as each prison has its own library.
Scaffolding rescue at Milwaukee County Courthouse
Mark Hoffman
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Foxconn says it's doing a large factory expansion in Mexico for a key client, Nvidia
Foxconn says it's building the largest Nvidia GB200 production facility in the world.
As reported by Reuters from Taiwan, Foxconn is building a manufacturing facility in Mexico for Nvidia’s GB200 superchips, a key component of the firm’s next-generation Blackwell computing platform.
“We’re building the largest GB200 production facility on the planet,” Benjamin Ting, Foxconn senior vice president for the cloud enterprise solutions business group, told Reuters on Tuesday.
A Mexican government source said the plant would be in the city of Guadalajara, according to Reuters.
Foxconn could not immediately be reached by the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday.
However its expansion in Mexico would be expected.
The world's largest electronics manufacturer has 30,000 employees spread over seven campuses in Mexico, with major production centers in Juarez, Tijuana, Guadalajara and Chihuahua City, making desktop computers, servers, components for electric vehicles and other products.
The company was a cornerstone of Mexican electronics manufacturing long before it announced plans, with much fanfare, to create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin but has since produced only around 1,000 positions
Earlier, Foxconn said it anticipated continued growth of its Mexican operations, which have included a $500 million investment in the state of Chihuahua alone.
Nvidia, largely focused on artificial intelligence computing, has around 30,000 employees and in 2023 had nearly $27 billion in revenue.
The company has ties to Milwaukee through Dwight Diercks, its senior vice president of software engineering. The group he oversees has around 9,000 employees and a $2.3 billion budget.
In September, Milwaukee School of Engineering celebrated the fifth anniversary of Diercks Hall, the home of Wisconsin’s only computer science program focused on AI, according to MSOE.
The four-story, 64,000 square foot building was made possible by a $34 million donation from Dwight Diercks, an MSOE regent and alumnus, and his wife, Dian. The building’s full name is the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall.
Dwight Diercks was the 22nd employee hired at Nvidia, founded in Sunnyvale, California, in 1993 as a technology company that developed graphics accelerator chips for PCs and video games.
Is Foxconn lying again?
Racine Executive Committee set to consider ordinances connected to alder boycott
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — The Racine Executive Committee will meet Thursday to discuss multiple ordinances connected to six alders’ recent boycott of Common Council meetings.
This comes after the Oct. 1 council meeting failed to reach a two-thirds quorum as a result of six alders boycotting and two excused absences.
Items on the Executive Committee’s agenda include:
- An ordinance changing the procedure for communications brought to the council so that all communications would first go to the Common Council, which would then refer it to appropriate standing committees.
- An ordinance prohibiting city employees from being appointed to or serving on any city authority, board or commission.
- An ordinance requiring the Common Council to establish a calendar in June of each year for the proposal, consideration and passage of a budget for the ensuing year.
The ordinances were initially approved by the Committee of the Whole on Aug. 8.
Alders who boycotted the Oct. 1 Common Council meeting said the city’s failure to put these ordinances on the subsequent Common Council agenda for consideration was part of their reason for protesting.
Alders involved in the boycott include Melissa Kaprelian, Sandy Weidner, Renee Kelly, Henry Perez, Jeff Coe and Olivia Turquoise Davis.
In an interview with The Journal Times on Sept. 30, Committee of the Whole Chair Alder Terry McCarthy, who is not a member of the boycott, said communications approved by the Committee of the Whole usually go to the Common Council for final approval.
“The mayor has indicated this needs to go to a standing committee before it goes to (Common Council) … which has not been our practice in the past,” McCarthy said.
Kaprelian and Weidner said in a news release Wednesday that it is unusual that the ordinances are on the Executive Committee’s agenda.
The statement said that by protocol, the ordinances on Thursday’s Executive Committee agenda should be on the next Common Council agenda on Oct. 15.
They encouraged members of the public to attend both Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting and the Oct. 15 Common Council meeting.
“Your presence and engagement are vital in maintaining transparency and accountability in our local government,” the release said.
Mayor Cory Mason’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Mason and alders McCarthy, Sam Peete, Mollie Jones, Maurice Horton and Mary Land make up the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday in Room 303 of City Hall, 730 Washington Ave. The meeting does not allow public comment but is open for the public to attend.
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.
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