News 7.12.16
12 July 2016 News
A conservative Wisconsin group that’s filed lawsuits in defense of several of Gov. Scott Walker’s most contentious proposals is expanding its work nationally. The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty announced a new effort Monday designed to combat what it describes as overreach of the federal government. Republican state Sen. Duey Stroebel says he hopes the work leads to a national movement against federal government overreach. Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch also joined WILL leaders to praise the new group. WILL’s Rick Esenberg says the effort is funded with $800,000 from the Bradley Foundation, which had been led by Walker’s former campaign chairman. Scot Ross leads the liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now. He says the new group’s intent is to advance Walker’s agenda.
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The state Fire Marshal’s Office and ATF agents are assisting in the investigation of an explosion outside a Fond du Lac residence late Saturday night. Nobody was injured in the explosion and small fire at 23 Doty Street. Assistant police chief Steve Klein says investigators believe there was human involvement, but the origin of the explosive device is unknown. Samples collected at the scene will be analyzed at the state Crime Lab. Klein says investigators haven’t ruled anything out including the possibility of a large firework, or pipe bomb. Klein says investigators are also trying to determine if this was a random act, or if the home was targeted. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call detective Lee Mikulec at 322-3726.
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The Dodge County Sheriff says three missing teenage boys have been found safe in an abandoned iron mine in southern Wisconsin. Dodge County sheriff’s officials say the boys, ages 15 and 16, were reported missing Sunday. Authorities say the boys’ bikes were found off a road near an entrance to an old abandoned mine near Iron Ridge. Searchers found the boys shortly after 12pm Monday in one of the mine shafts. At least a dozen police and fire departments searched near the Neda Mine, including an area that’s densely wooded. The sheriff’s department identified the teens as Tate Rose and Zachary Heron, both 16, and 15-year-old Samuel Lein. The mine is owned by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee which conducts bat research at the site. UWM says an estimated 100,000 bats live in the mine, which is among the Midwest’s largest winter shelters for hibernating bats.
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Former Democratic Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager has been selected as chair of Wisconsin’s new Ethics Commission. The panel on Monday also voted to offer the job of administrator of the commission to Brian Bell, a budget and policy analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. Lautenschlager was picked as chair after lots were drawn to determine that the first leader of the commission would be a Democrat. Members of the six-member commission are evenly divided between Republican and Democratic appointees. Republican-appointee Katie McCallum was chosen as vice-chair. Lautenschlager served one term as attorney general but lost in the 2006 Democratic primary after pleading guilty in 2004 of drunken driving. Bell was chosen as administrator over assistant Attorney General Timothy Samuelson, the other finalist.
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A Wisconsin legislator is introducing a “Blue Lives Matter” bill to make targeting law enforcement officers a hate crime in the wake of the Dallas shooting that killed five officers last week. Rep. David Steffen, a Green Bay Republican, announced his proposal Monday, adding Wisconsin to a growing list of states discussing similar bills. Louisiana became the first state to enact such legislation in May, allowing prosecutors to seek stronger penalties when police, firefighters and emergency medical crews are intentionally targeted because of their professions. Lawmakers in at least nine other states and at the federal level have floated similar proposals. Activists are criticizing the growing effort, saying professions don’t belong alongside the other characteristics protected under hate crime laws, like a victim’s race, religion or disability.
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The state Department of Corrections is looking into allegations a guard assaulted an inmate while he was force-feeding him. Cesar DeLeon is one of five prisoners at Waupun Correctional Institution who have refused to eat since June 7 as a protest against. long-term solitary confinement. The Industrial Workers of the World, a labor union working with the inmates to promote the strike, issued a news release Monday saying that DeLeon has filed a complaint against a guard alleging he assaulted him while force-feeding him. The union also says prison officials won’t let DeLeon’s mother visit him any longer. DOC spokesman Tristan Cook said the agency has received the allegations and is reviewing them.
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