Saturday, April 12, 2025
Friday, April 11, 2025
Cops Gone Wild: Here's what to know about the former MPD sergeant involved in deportations
Jessica Van Egeren
Charles Cross Jr. was hired by the department in 1993.
In 2012, he drove a car with a blood alcohol limit twice the legal limit into a home. At the time of the crash, he was also under investigation for allegedly claiming overtime he did not earn, according to previous reporting by the Journal Sentinel.
Cross was fired from his position as a Milwaukee Police Sergeant after the crash. He appealed the decision and resigned in the process.
Previously, he was convicted in 2007 of criminal damage to property, according to court records. This misdemeanor conviction came after he kicked in the door of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend and threatened to kill himself, the court records show. He was fined $500 on that count.
Prosecutors offered him a deferred prosecution agreement on a charge of domestic violence-related disorderly conduct, which was dropped after he got treatment for depression and alcohol abuse, according to a Journal Sentinel article.
Nannette Hegerty, police chief at the time, fired Cross, but the civilian Fire and Police Commission gave him his job back after the 2007 incident.
It was after that incident that he was placed on Milwaukee County's Brady list, a compilation of law enforcement officers deemed by prosecutors to have credibility issues.
Cross, 62, is back in the news for his current job with CoreCivic, which runs many of the immigration detention centers for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Cross signed a report that implicated Andry José Hernandez, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela, as affiliated with the notorious Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua, based on his tattoos, according to court filings reviewed by USA TODAY. Cross typed his name over the title “INVESTIGATOR” on the form.
Critics have questioned the legality and effectiveness of having contract workers make such determinations.
Hernandez, 31, has denied any connection to the gang. He sought shelter in the United States after he told authorities he was persecuted as a gay man, one of the protected groups allowed to claim asylum.
Last month, Hernandez was flown with 238 men, all accused of being gang members by the Trump Administration, to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, a mega-prison also known as CECOT. A 60 Minutes investigation found that 179 of the men, or 75% of the names on the list, had no known criminal record in the U.S. or abroad.
The operation has been challenged by civil rights attorneys, who argue it was carried out without due process.
Reached by phone by a USA TODAY reporter, Cross deferred all questions to CoreCivic headquarters. CoreCivic said in a statement that the decision to deport or release any person rests with ICE.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern contributed to this report.
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Miller High Life releasing vinyl record featuring dive bar sounds. And it’s infused with beer
Hannah Kirby
Miller High Life is releasing "Dive Bar Sounds," a limited-edition beer-infused vinyl record — yes, it's made with The Champagne of Beers inside — with seven original tracks featuring dive bar sounds, according to a news release.
Here's a sampling of the vinyl's tracks and their descriptions:
- "Welcome to the Dive": An upbeat rhythm built from the percussive sounds of pool balls, with subtle notes of the classic High Life jingle woven throughout, capturing the energy of game night at your favorite bar.
- "Regular's Remix": A laid-back track where the familiar murmur of regulars and clinking High Life bottles create the soundtrack to a perfect night at the bar.
- "Champagne Nights": An ambient sound led by the signature hiss of The Champagne of Beers being opened and the effervescent dance of bubbles rising to the top.
- "Last Call Symphony": A low-fi melody featuring the hum of High Life neon signs and a closing time bell that feels like your final waltz out of the dive bar.
The announcement comes just in time for Record Store Day on Saturday.
The vinyl is serving as the kickoff to "The Soundtrack to the High Life," a new, yearlong music platform that will feature a range of music experiences, including the sponsorship of Teddy Swims' 2025 North American tour, the release said.
More info and upcoming "Soundtrack to the High Life" announcements will be shared on millerhighlife.com/soundtrack and Miller High Life's Instagram, @millerhighlife.
How to buy Miller High Life's new 'Dive Bar Sounds' beer-infused vinyl record
A limited quantity of "Dive Bar Sounds" will be available at millerhighlife.com/divebarsounds for pre-order over multiple days: Thursday, Friday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The vinyl costs $18 and buyers have to be at least 21, the release said
Two of We Energies' longest-returning falcons have died of bird flu
Maia Pandey
The falcons, Brinn and Beasley, both nested at the Port Washington Generating Station. Brinn's body was recently found in the nest box, while Beasley stopped returning to the nest within a few days of Brinn's death, leading the company's falcon manager to believe Beasley has also died.
Brinn had nested there since 2014, and Beasley arrived in 2017. Together, they produced 22 chicks.
"While we are heartbroken over their loss, we know their legacy lives on in the dozens of chicks they brought into this world and the awareness they helped to bring to peregrine falcon recovery efforts across the state," Truoy said in an email.
We Energies has maintained peregrine falcon nest boxes on several of its power plants since the early 1990s, according to its website. Since then, more than 450 falcons have hatched at these nests — amounting to 20% of all peregrine falcons born in Wisconsin.
"There is a small silver lining," Truoy added. "We have had two new peregrine falcons take up residence at the nest box since Brinn and Beasley’s deaths, and we are hopeful that we will see the first eggs in the coming days or weeks."
Since late 2024, bird flu, or highly pathogenic avian influenza, has killed more than a dozen wild birds and thousands of poultry across Wisconsin. The current nationwide outbreak has been the largest, deadliest and most costly in history, according to federal officials.
Here's what to know about bird flu in Wisconsin, including what to do if you encounter a dead or sick bird.
What's the latest on bird flu in Wisconsin?
Since the outbreak's onset in early 2022, bird flu has killed or forced the culling of more than 160 million birds nationwide, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in March.
In Wisconsin, officials have detected avian influenza in commercial poultry flocks in Burnett and Barron counties and backyard flocks in Kenosha and Sheboygan counties. The Sheboygan outbreak was reported April 10 in a flock of nearly 40,000 birds.
And, while tracking deaths among wild birds is more difficult, hundreds of birds likely infected with the virus have washed up dead on the shores of Lake Michigan in recent months.
While Wisconsin is along among 13 states to report human cases of the H5N1 virus, there is no imminent threat of the virus to Wisconsinites, according to the state Department of Health Services. The state identified its first and only human case of the H5N1 virus so far in a worker at a Barron County turkey farm in December 2024. The farmworker had relatively mild symptoms and was on a road to full recovery with antiviral medications, officials said later that month.
How to prevent bird flu in Wisconsin
Here are a few tips to minimize your risk of the virus, according to Wisconsin DNR:
- Do not handle sick or dead wild birds.
- Wash hands thoroughly with soap and water after contact with a wild bird or contaminated surfaces, including bird baths and feeders. Wear disposable gloves when cleaning bird feeders and baths. Use common disinfectants, such as detergents, 10% bleach solution and alcohol, to inactivate the virus.
- Cook all meat, including wild birds and poultry, thoroughly to 165° F to kill organisms and parasites. Find more information about food safety tips here.
- Hunters should sanitize all tools and surfaces when handling, cleaning and preparing wild birds.
How to report a sick or dead bird
If you see five or more sick or dead birds in one area, you can report it to the DNR by emailing DNRWildlifeSwitchboard@wisconsin.gov or calling 608-267-0866. Be ready to note the number of animals; the species, such as Canada goose; if they were sick or dead; the specific location where you saw them and the county; and your contact information.
You can find prevention information for farmworkers or those who've had contact with birds, dairy cattle and other animals on the CDC website.
Paul Smith contributed to this report.
Cops Gone Wild: Wisconsin DOJ reverses decision to release cop names after pushback from police groups
But the department received pushback from law enforcement groups, and the records were not released.
This new information came to light in documents recently obtained by The Badger Project in its lawsuit against the state DOJ, which is seeking the names and work histories of most law enforcement officers in Wisconsin. The Badger Project’s co-plaintiff in the suit is the Invisible Institute, the journalism nonprofit that made the 2020 request.
Other news organizations, including the Washington Post, had seen similar requests rejected by the Wisconsin DOJ in preceding years.
In 2024, after the state DOJ denied another request for police names and work histories, this time from both the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project, the organizations sued for access.
In March, as part of the regular evidence exchange in the case, called discovery, the state DOJ released hundreds of documents to the two journalism nonprofits.
Among the documents was a letter sent by Assistant Attorney General Paul Ferguson, who heads the state DOJ’s Office of Open Government, to every police chief in the state. The letter indicated that the state DOJ intended to fulfill the request and release a list of all law enforcement officers in the state, but asked the individual agencies to identify any undercover officers who should not be included in that list.
The Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association responded with a letter to Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul the next day and urged the department to reverse itself, according to the documents obtained by The Badger Project.
Kenneth Pilegge, the association’s vice president, wrote that he had “significant concerns” in the letter.
“We have had contacts with members within our membership that have very serious concerns with this release and adamantly oppose this release without a court review,” he continued.
Neither the state DOJ nor the Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association gave a comment for this story when offered the opportunity to do so.
Kaul assumed the position of attorney general, the head of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, in 2019. The department previously rejected the request for a full list of law enforcement officers’ names and work histories several times before he became AG, according to the released documents.
Dozens of states — including Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa — have released a full list of their law enforcement officers to a nationwide reporting project, which includes the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project.
The Wisconsin DOJ has, in response to repeated requests, released a list of “flagged officers,” those who lost their jobs due to termination, resignation in lieu of termination, or resignation prior to completion of an internal investigation.
This list, however, does not include officers who were fired or forced out of law enforcement jobs in a different state before taking a position in Wisconsin.
In previous denials, Ferguson has cited concerns that a complete list could “endanger” undercover officers and pose a general risk to officers and their families in a “volatile environment.”
The state DOJ says it isn’t able to identify undercover officers and redact their names.
Wandering officers
In Wisconsin, police and jailers who were fired or forced out of a previous job in law enforcement only to get hired at another one, called wandering officers, increased by 50% from 2021 to 2024.
The total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin is sitting near record lows, according to investigations by The Badger Project. So the pressure to hire previously fired or forced out officers can be high, experts say. Chiefs and sheriffs need to fill positions, and officers fired or forced out from previous jobs already have their certification, which costs law enforcement agencies and new recruits time and money to obtain. Wandering officers are more likely to again commit misconduct on the job, studies have suggested.
A full list of names of law enforcement officers, which would include those separated from jobs outside of Wisconsin who now hold positions in the state, would alleviate a considerable information gap, the Invisible Institute and The Badger Project argue in their lawsuit.
The records requested would not include home addresses or family information.
The lawsuit
The Badger Project’s lawsuit is being funded by The National Freedom of Information Coalition, through grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Society of Professional Journalists’ Legal Defense Fund.
The Wisconsin Transparency Project, a law firm dedicated to enforcement of the state’s Open Records laws, along with the University of Illinois First Amendment Clinic, filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs.
The parties are submitting written arguments, called briefs, to the Dane County Circuit Court, and then the judge will likely rule on the case, said Tom Kamenick, lead attorney for the Wisconsin Transparency Project.
The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.
Lionel Railroad Club of Southeast Wisconsin hosting open house
Liz Snyder
RACINE — The Lionel Railroad Club of Southeast Wisconsin will host an open house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 12.
The public is invited to come and see Lionel Railroad Club members operate a variety of “O” and “S” gauge trains.
Admission is free, and everyone is welcome.
The club, founded in 1997, is located above American Coin & Jewelry, 4625 Washington Ave. The club entrance is on Ohio Street, on the west side of the building. Visitors are asked to park in the south lot.
The club features five model train layouts:
- The 10-by-14-foot layout features a Plasticville city and a carnival scene with operating rides.
- The second layout is 17-by-27 feet and features three loops of track with wide sweeping curves and numerous sidings.
- An “O” gauge layout is pre-World War II.
- A Thomas the Tank Engine track is set at a height for children to enjoy.
- A newly created “S” gauge American Flyer track is 5-by-8 feet.
“The layouts will appeal to people of all ages,” said Tim Deadrick, the club’s president.
For more information, contact the club via email at Lionelrrsewi@gmail.com.
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Tuesday, April 8, 2025
City residents sought to serve on boards, commissions, committees
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — City of Racine residents can apply to serve on one of the city's boards, commissions or committees through April 11.
While the deadline is for the current round of appointments, residents may apply at any time because applications are kept on file and reviewed as vacancies arise.
Boards, commissions and committees play a direct role in shaping policies, guiding public programs and supporting the work of the Common Council and the mayor, according to the city.
Applications are reviewed by the Mayor's Office and appointments are made in consultation with the Common Council. Some positions may require specific qualifications, which are listed on the city's website.
To apply, visit www.cityofracine.org/Boards-and-Commissions.
For questions or assistance with an application, contact the Mayor's Office at mayor@cityofracine.org or 262-636-9111.
Posts
