Thursday, September 12, 2024
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
DA: Officers justified in use of lethal force during Cliffside Park incident
ANNIE PULLEY
RACINE COUNTY — No criminal charges will be filed against the officers involved in the death of Jesse Patt at Cliffside Park on July 10, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Patt, who was 37, was shot and killed by law enforcement following two hours of negotiations. The use of lethal force followed Patt’s reported attempt to lunge for a handgun he had placed near him.
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Law enforcement officers are seen attempting to negotiate with Jesse Patt in this image taken from Caledonia Police Department body camera footage. |
Based on the DOJ’s investigation, the Racine County District Attorney determined that the three officers who fired at Patt were justified in using lethal force against him.
The chain of events
The incident began on the morning of July 10 when park visitors called the police to report a man was lying face down on a path at Cliffside Park.
Two officers with the Caledonia Police Department and EMS arrived about 9:47 a.m
Patt reportedly produced a handgun and shot a round into the air as the first responders approached.
Additional law enforcement personnel, including members of the Mount Pleasant Police Department, Wisconsin State Patrol and Racine County Sheriff’s Office, responded to the scene.
Body camera footage reportedly showed Patt admitting to shooting and killing his mother, Cheryl Christensen, on July 8 before setting fire to her home with her inside.
Throughout the negotiation process, Patt reportedly made multiple suicidal statements, noting his intention to die either by his own hand or by the police. He also reportedly was drinking clear alcohol and twice appeared to smoke what police believe was crack cocaine.
After repeated requests from Patt, law enforcement tossed him a cigarette and a phone, hoping to lure him away from the handgun.
As Patt approached the items, officers attempted to subdue him with nonlethal rounds.
He reportedly responded to the impacts by appearing to lunge in the direction of the gun. In response, three officers fired their weapons.
An autopsy determined Patt was struck by six bullets.
Cheryl Christensen
Christensen had been charged in connection to the death of her other adult son, Shannon Lloyd, who succumbed to injuries after falling from his bed in October 2020. Her trial was scheduled for August.
According to a police report, officers went to her home on West Crescent Street to conduct a welfare check and found Lloyd’s body on the bathroom floor.
Lloyd had previously suffered a serious brain injury and was under Christensen’s care.
Christensen reportedly told investigators that after Lloyd fell, she gave him sedatives, antidepressants and pain medication, according to the criminal complaint.
She also reportedly told police she wanted Lloyd to “die a peaceful death at home.”
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that Christensen had been shot multiple times prior to the house being set on fire.
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Is this your pig? Franklin police searching for owner of large swine found in the city
Erik S. Hanley
Franklin police are searching for the owner of a large pig found loose in the city Sunday.
It's kind of a pig deal.
The animal was found around West Ryan Road and West Loomis Road, police said.
If anyone recognizes the sizable swine, police are asking they call Franklin dispatch at 414-425-2522.
“We’re attempting to reunite this bundle of joy with its rightful owner,” a Sept. 8 post on the Franklin Police Department Facebook page said.
The post has been shared over 370 times and has nearly 60 comments on the platform.
This isn’t the first time Franklin Police have worked to return a not-so-commonly encountered animal to its rightful owner.
In June 2020, a kangaroo was spotted loose in the city. Kangaroos are legal to own in Wisconsin with no city ordinances mentioning the marsupial and no state law requiring a permit. Wisconsin is one of only three states ― along with South Carolina and West Virginia ― where residents are able to own a kangaroo without a permit.
Then-Chief Rick Oliva of the Franklin Police Department said the kangaroo was reunited with its owner, a Franklin resident.
More:'Oak Creek unicorn': A white deer was spotted in Oak Creek, and residents are naming it
Contact Erik S. Hanley aterik.hanley@jrn.com. Like his Facebook page,The Redheadliner, and follow him on X@Redheadliner.
Racine's city government always welcomes more pigs.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Trump claims he's been more indicted 'more than Al Capone'
Former president Donald Trump will rally in Mosinee Saturday afternoon as part of his presidential campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris.
City to install two new public health vending machines
Holly Gilvary
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The city public health department launched its Narcan vending machine at the Corrine Reid Owens Transit Center in December 2023. |
RACINE — The city’s Public Health Department will install two new vending machines to provide free health supplies.
The Common Council on Tuesday approved the acceptance of a $150,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for the machines.
The city will install one machine at the Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St., and one at the Dr. John Bryant Community Center, 601 Caron Butler Drive, according to Public Health Administrator Dottie-Kay Bowersox.
Bowersox said the vending machines will include Narcan, fentanyl testing strips, condoms, and hygiene products such as toothpaste and toothbrushes.
The city launched a free vending machine providing Narcan and other harm reduction supplies in December 2023 at the Corrine Reid Owens Transit Center, 1409 State St.
Bowersox said the Narcan vending machine has received significant use and is restocked on a regular basis.
“It’s been … a very popular means for individuals to get their Narcan and their fentanyl strips,” she said.
Bowersox said the city just placed the order for the vending machines and doesn’t know when they will be installed, but she expects they will be operational in the coming months.
The health department also provides syringe access, Narcan and fentanyl strips at its office in the lower level of City Hall, 730 Washington Ave., according to Bowersox.
The vending machines, however, can provide a more convenient option for people who need supplies, she said.
“We urge individuals that need these items, that would utilize these items, as well as their family and friends, to engage and make sure that they have these items in case they’re necessary,” Bowersox said.
Group that tried to recall Vos got most of its funding from a single, out-of-state donor
Scott Williams
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Yard signs were part of two efforts to recall Assembly Speaker Robin Vos. |
UNION GROVE — Organizers of recall campaigns targeting Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos spent $1.3 million — almost all of which came a single donor from Arkansas.
The Union Grove-based recall group, operating under the names “Recall Vos” and “Racine Recall Committee,” twice fell short of the number of signatures needed on petitions calling for a midterm election in Vos’ legislative district.
John Bailey, who according to Arkansas Business, a newspaper in Little Rock, is a real estate investor, made 10 donations totaling $1.1 million to the unsuccessful efforts, Wisconsin Ethics Commission finance reports show.
The reports, which were submitted a month past the filing deadline on Aug. 28, show Bailey donated $320,000 to the first recall effort and $785,000 to the second.
According to the reports, less than $1,500 came from Wisconsin donors. In addition to Bailey, donations were made by individuals in California, Arizona, Illinois and Massachusetts.
Vos, who was targeted by fellow Republicans after he refused calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump in Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election, said the reports confirmed his suspicion that the recall was driven largely by out-of-state interests rather than constituents in his district.
“This makes it clear this wasn’t a grassroots, volunteer, local effort,” he said. “It was an out-of-state paid endeavor engineered to pay those who took part in it.”
Recall organizer Matt Snorek defended accepting out-of-state donations, saying that Vos gets such support, too, for his own campaigns.
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Friday, September 6, 2024
Thursday, September 5, 2024
Wednesday, September 4, 2024
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
Monday, September 2, 2024
Donald Trump will rally in Mosinee Saturday, his fourth rally in Wisconsin this year
Hope Karnopp
Former President Donald Trump will return to Wisconsin on Saturday to hold a rally in Mosinee, a city in the central part of the state near Wausau and Stevens Point.
The rally will be held at Central Wisconsin Airport around 1 p.m. on Sept. 7, his campaign announced Sunday. Tickets for the rally are available at this link.
The campaign's announcement indicates Trump's remarks will focus heavily on the economy.
"Voting red will ensure Wisconsinites can experience a thriving economy full of better jobs, higher income, and lower unemployment rates. If Americans want more money in their pockets, the only option is to vote for President Trump," the campaign said in a release.
Trump used the same airport for a rally during his 2020 campaign, and in 2018 when he campaigned for then-Gov. Scott Walker's reelection and U.S. Senate candidate Leah Vukmir.
Mosinee is located within Wisconsin's solidly red 7th Congressional District, which is currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany.
Trump was last in Wisconsin on Thursday, when he held a town hall event in La Crosse. This will be Trump's fourth rally of this campaign cycle in Wisconsin, after holding rallies in Green Bay, Waukesha and Racine.
Both campaigns have been visiting the state frequently with less than ten weeks until Election Day.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will speak at Laborfest in Milwaukee tomorrow. President Joe Biden is also set to visit southwestern Wisconsin on Thursday, his first visit to the state since dropping out of the presidential race.
“The more Wisconsinites hear from Donald Trump and about his Project 2025 agenda to hike our taxes and ban abortion, the more they will be motivated to come together to defeat him this fall," a statement from the Wisconsin Harris-Walz Communications Director Brianna Johnson, read. "Trump is visiting Mosinee just days after he endorsed his home state’s extreme abortion ban and as he’s running on a platform that would rip away reproductive freedom here in Wisconsin. Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda would give him the power to punish women for seeking reproductive care, ban abortion nationwide, and threaten access to IVF and contraception. The only way to stop him is by voting for Vice President Harris and Governor Walz this November.”
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Microsoft buys more Mt. Pleasant tracts for data campus. Latest sites are north of Highway 11
Tom Daykin
Microsoft Corp. is again expanding its Racine County data center campus with another farmland purchase in Mount Pleasant.
The software maker paid $5.73 million for 28.6 acres at 13231 Louis Sorenson Road. The seller was the Nancy Rothering Trust, according to a new deed posted online by the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
That transaction was recorded on Aug. 29.
That follows an Aug. 16 purchase of a 1.4-acre lot and ranch house at 2615 S. U.S. Highway 41, near Louis Sorenson Road. Microsoft paid Barbara and Thomas Rinke $800,000 for that property.
The company has made a series of purchases since May, with several of those transactions recorded this summer.
Including the two latest purchases, they total 306.7 acres − with the company spending $55.1 million.
Those additional tracts will "support data center construction already underway in the area," said Bowen Wallace, Microsoft vice president of datacenters/Americas, in a July statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The company in December bought just over 1,000 acres of nearby farmland that's being developed for data centers. The three transactions totaled nearly $176 million.
The land purchases on Louis Sorenson Road are north of Durand Avenue/Wisconsin Highway 11. Most of Microsoft's development is initially planned for south of that highway.
Microsoft says it will spend $3.3 billion by 2026 to build the initial phase of its data center development. Much of the investment is driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence-related applications.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, X and Facebook.
Friday, August 30, 2024
Car enthusiasts gear up for massive car show and cruise-in in downtown Kenosha
KENOSHA — This Saturday in downtown Kenosha, expect the streets to be filled with hot rods and muscle cars for the Kenosha Classic Cruise-In Car Show.
About 1,500 to 2,000 cars will be on display in the downtown area and car enthusiasts come from as far as Canada to be part of this event.
The car show is put on by the Kenosha Classic Street Machine Car Club and it attracts motorcycles, trucks, older and newer cars. It's an event to celebrate vehicles throughout the decades.
For Mark Martin, the special events coordinator for the club, and Randy Kavalauskas, they both said this car show started small but has grown over the years.
“This is like the Super Bowl for car show people this event is one of the largest in the Midwest and is also the biggest free car show,” said Mark Martin.
“Hoping for a record this year, we’ve got really good weather. Anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000; I’m pushing for 2,000, so I think it should be a very good year,” said Randy Kavalauskas. Member of the Kenosha Classic Street Machine Car Club.
The two said hanging out with friends at car shows brings back memories and a sense of nostlogia.
Watch: Get ready for the Kenosha Classic Cruise-In Car Show.
"My car is a 71 Dodge Demon I've had it for 18 years. It's my time machine takes me back to what times were simpler and I had long hair," said Mark.
"It's really good Time like to say the people that I've met through the years and the cherished friendships wouldn't give it up for anything," said Randy.
The Kenosha Classic Street Machine Club is dedicating this year’s show to Tony Pontillo, who was the car show's main organizer and passed away earlier this year.
Expect to see multiple road closures in downtown beginning at 6 a.m., traffic will be directed one way eastbound on 56th Street, beginning at Third Ave., proceeding counter-clockwise around Calabria Way, and westbound only on 54th Street from Calabria Way to Sixth Ave. Temporary no parking signs will be posted at areas along the route to facilitate the one way traffic flow.
FBI falling short in child sex abuse cases years after Larry Nassar scandal, report finds
Thursday, August 29, 2024
President Joe Biden to visit Wisconsin next Thursday
President Joe Biden plans to return to Wisconsin next week to discuss his administration's record on the economy, the White House announced Wednesday.
Biden
Biden will visit the battleground state on Thursday "to highlight how his Investing in America agenda is benefiting communities across Wisconsin and ensuring Americans have a brighter, more prosperous future," according to the White House.
Additional details, including the location of Biden's visit, were not immediately available.
Biden's visit to Wisconsin is his first since he ended his re-election bid in late July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris following the Democratic president's poor debate performance with former President Donald Trump in June.
Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, are dramatically ramping their presence in Wisconsin — one of a handful of states that many expect to play a pivotal role in determining the winner of the November presidential election.
Vance was scheduled to hold a campaign event in De Pere on Wednesday, while Trump is slated to be in La Crosse on Thursday. Walz and Minnesota's first lady, Gwen Walz, plan to hold a campaign event in Milwaukee on Monday.
Trump and Harris appear locked in a neck-and-neck race in the battleground state, according to a recent Marquette Law School Poll.
If he's incompetent to run for president again, then he's incompetent to be the president now. Enough with the rule of a senile old man. Step down, Sleepy Joe.
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
IEPs aren't just for learning, physical disabilities. Students with behavioral issues benefit too.
Natalie Eilbert
Wisconsin families have options, depending on the child's mental health needs, according to Daniel Parker, assistant director of special education with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
Paying attention to changes in behavior is always important, as is listening to what their children are saying. But if a child is struggling with grades, connecting to others or regulating their emotions and there's no end in sight, it may be time for parents to start looking into whether an individualized education program, or IEP, is appropriate.
Read more of this horseshit here: https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/health/2024/08/28/does-your-child-need-an-iep-for-an-emotional-behavioral-disability/74788863007/
Another sick attempt to cripple our youth with woke assessments and psychobabble. If a kid has a hangnail, the woke jokes want him labeled as disabled and in need of psychiatric care. Well, fuck you. I grew up in an alcoholic household where my parents cared more about their drinking than about their children. Three attempts were made to molest me as a child. I witnessed fights, violence and horror growing up. Yet, I never considered myself a "victim." Victimhood is what the snowflakes want for our children. They are unable to care for their own lives, so they inflict themselves upon innocent children What disgusting swine they are. Pigs looking to make more pigs out of kids just trying to grow up.
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