Saturday, May 17, 2025
Racine police: 11-year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by sibling
Cailey Gleeson
An 11-year-old boy was shot and killed at a home in Racine on May 16.
Officers were informed at 10:33 p.m. that the child was shot and was transported to the hospital by family, according to a Racine Police Department news release. The boy had a single gunshot wound and did not survive.
The department said preliminary information indicates the child was accidentally shot by a sibling inside a residence on the 2600 block of Prospect Street.
Authorities have identified and apprehended a suspect. The investigation is ongoing.
Racine police are asking anyone with information on the shooting to contact the department at 262-635-7756. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 262-636-9330 or use P3 Tips.
Friday, May 16, 2025
LGBT Center of SE Wisconsin closes Friday, citing finances, 'socio-political climate'
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — The LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin shuttered its doors Friday, reportedly giving little notice to staff members.
Shay King, who served on the center's board from 2019 through February 2025, organized a gathering of staff, volunteers and community members outside of the LGBT Center, 1456 Junction Ave., Friday morning to request an audience with the board of directors.
King said staff members were eventually let into the center’s building on Friday to speak with board members, adding that the board declined requests from staff and community members to give public comment on the situation.
A post on the LGBT Center’s Instagram page published shortly after 1 p.m. Friday said the board informed staff Friday of the center’s closing and offered “no clear answers.”
The Instagram page and post have since been deleted.
The LGBT Center posted on Facebook at 4 p.m. Friday about the center’s dissolution, citing financial issues and struggles with the “challenging socio-political climate.”
“This decision has been made after careful consideration,” the post read. “Our past fundraising was not at a level to address the needs of unrestricted spending.”
All groups and events at the center are cancelled, the Facebook post said.
LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin Executive Director Barb Farrar did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
King, who uses they/them pronouns, said they’re worried about LGBTQ+ youth in the community who would attending the center’s Youth Art nights. Some LGBTQ+ adults have also told King they would not be alive without the LGBT Center.
“My goal with gathering everybody today was to hopefully establish that the community will not go anywhere,” King said. “We will look for ways to rehome the services and the programs that the LGBT Center of Southeast Wisconsin was (offering) because these services are life changing.”
43-year-old pleads not guilty to child exploitation charges
Caroline Neal
RACINE — A 43-year-old Racine man who is facing 10 counts of child exploitation pleaded not guilty during a hearing Wednesday.
Cisco Roushia was charged in February after Mount Pleasant Police Department received a cyber tip related to the distribution of child sexual abuse material in October 2024.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, MPPD detectives identified accounts allegedly used to distribute CSAM. They also reportedly found multiple files containing CSAM that were sent from accounts associated with Roushia.
Roushia posted $50,000 cash bond March 10. He is scheduled to appear in court June 16.
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19-year-old pleads not guilty in connection to child porn charges
Caroline Neal
RACINE — A 19-year-old Racine man charged with six counts of possessing child pornography pleaded not guilty during a hearing Wednesday.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, Ernesto Roman was arrested after the Racine County Sheriff’s Office received two cyber tips from the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation.
According to a criminal complaint, both tips contained child pornography and were generated by WhatsApp.
Information obtained through a warrant to WhatsApp reportedly indicated that Roman was the account owner and revealed six videos containing child pornography.
RCSO investigators searched Roman’s home April 14.
Roman also was questioned and allegedly provided information connecting him to the cyber tips and the account.
According to online court records, Roman is scheduled to appear in court June 17.
Thursday, May 15, 2025
53-year-old enters not guilty plea to more than a dozen child porn charges
RACINE — A 53-year-old Racine man who faces 17 counts of possessing child pornography entered a not guilty plea during a hearing Wednesday.
Michael Oswald originally was charged with 11 counts of possessing child pornography, but additional charges were added in an amended criminal complaint filed May 14.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office searched Oswald’s Gilson Street residence March 27 after receiving a cyber tip from the Division of e National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
During the search, investigators reportedly found a cell phone containing child pornography images or videos.
According to online court records, Oswald is scheduled to appear in court June 24.
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Wednesday, May 14, 2025
AmeriCorps cuts hit Racine Zoo
Holly Gilvary
RACINE — Racine County public school districts will continue to receive free educational programs at the Racine Zoo next school year, but they might look a little different, according to the zoo.
The Racine Zoo AmeriCorps Program is one of the several Serve Wisconsin programs being terminated because of federal spending cuts.
AmeriCorps placed most of its staff members on administrative leave with pay in April as President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency cut the program’s funding, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
On April 25, the Trump administration terminated federal grants for all currently operating AmeriCorps programs within Serve Wisconsin, according to a release from Gov. Tony Evers’ office.
Evers announced April 29 that Wisconsin would join several states in suing the Trump administration over the spending cuts.
The Racine Zoo AmeriCorps Program, established in 2019 through Serve Wisconsin, provides educational programs for kindergarteners, third graders, fourth graders, seventh graders and ninth graders in Racine County public school districts.
RZAP members also held pop-up educational programs for all ages and assisted the zoo’s animal caretakers.
The program contracted four AmeriCorps members per year. Those enrolled in the 2024-25 program, which would have normally ended in August, were effectively laid off April 25 upon the Trump administration’s termination of grants for Serve Wisconsin programs.
Racine Zoo Executive Director Beth Heidorn clarified that, while the RZAP program members are no longer with the Zoo, the RZAP-specific programs will probably still continue alongside the zoo’s other educational programs, but the zoo “will be able to do far less.”
“We’re never going to say (that) we’re never going to do (the kindergarten program), Classification Cadets, because we would never do that to the school district,” Heidorn said. “We’re always going to do these programs, it’s just a question of how many we can do, going forward.”
With the AmeriCorps cuts coming at the end of the 2024-25 school year, most RZAP participants won’t feel the effects until the fall, when the 2025-26 AmeriCorps program would have started.
Heidorn said that while she wasn’t “surprised” by the funding cuts to AmeriCorps, it was “just very abrupt.”
“With all the other things that were being impacted from the federal government, no one’s immune,” she said. “I just feel bad for the (AmeriCorps) members … I couldn’t do anything about it. Federal government said the program is done, and we had to honor that.”
In the meantime, Heidorn said, the zoo will “just keep fighting for money.”
Other AmeriCorps programs cut in Southeast Wisconsin include the statewide Wisconsin Math Corps and Reading Corps, and Public Allies Wisconsin, which serves Racine, Kenosha and Milwaukee counties, according to the Serve Wisconsin website.
For more information about the Racine Zoo and its programs, visit www.racinezoo.org.
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Plea offer accepted in child sexual assault case
Caroline Neal
RACINE — A 31-year-old Racine man accused of sexually assaulting a child accepted a plea offer during a May 6 hearing.
In August, Alec Venable pleaded not guilty to one count of second degree sexual assault of a child and one count of child enticement with sexual contact.
With the offer, Venable pleaded guilty to the sexual assault charge, and the child enticement charge was dismissed but read in.
Online court records show Venable is scheduled to appear for a sentencing hearing July 11.
According to previous Journal Times reporting, Racine Police Department officers responded to a call about a “suspicious circumstance” at Pershing Park on May 19, 2023.
A girl, who was then 15, reportedly told RPD that a man in a car approached her the previous night. The girl also reportedly told police she had run away from home and had asked the man to drive her to a shelter.
Previous reporting details that Venable allegedly drove the girl to his home and assaulted her.
The next morning, he reportedly drove her to a skatepark near Pershing Park. Venable allegedly attempted to prevent the girl from leaving but drove away when she walked toward three city workers.
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