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News 12.30.169

30 December 2016 News


A Milwaukee man faces charges for allegedly threatening to kill the Fond du lac County District Attorney and blow up the Fond du Lac city-county government building. Michael Shea is charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with making terrorist threats, battery or threat to judge, prosecutor or law enforcement officer and bail jumping. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Shea allegedly made the threats to a social worker in Milwaukee after a Fond du Lac court appearance last week on a burglary charge.

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An inmate from Iowa with a history of violence toward guards and one daring escape is found dead in a Wisconsin cell, one month after he was transferred there. Authorities say 26-year-old Justin Kestner was found unresponsive at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin on Dec. 21. The Iowa Department of Corrections says prison staff initiated lifesaving measures but were unsuccessful. A medical examiner says autopsy results haven’t been completed. Prison officials and the county sheriff say they’re investigating. Kestner made headlines when he escaped from Iowa’s maximum-security prison on July 4, 2015, slithering through tight spaces to the roof before descending. In October, he assaulted an officer at the prison in Anamosa, Iowa with a piece of metal. He was transferred to Wisconsin the next month.

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A criminal warrant is issued for a Green Bay man accused of making threats that caused the evacuation of a shopping mall in eastern Wisconsin. Twenty-eight-year-old Christopher Hawkins was arrested Wednesday in Minnesota. A charge of making a terrorist threat has been filed in Outagamie County where the Fox River Mall in located. Grand Chute police say they received a call Tuesday from a person who said Hawkins was sitting in a car in the mall parking lot with a gun and threatened to start shooting. Police searched the area and evacuated the mall, but couldn’t locate Hawkins. Grand Chute Officer Travis Waas says investigators tracked Hawkins cellphone to western Wisconsin, then to Minnesota. Hawkins was arrested in the parking lot of a business in Hennepin County.

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The state Department of Natural Resources has quietly removed language from its website that says humans and greenhouse gases are the main cause of climate change. The website now says the cause of climate change is debatable. Gone are sentences attributing global warming to human activities and rising carbon dioxide levels. DNR spokesman James Dick says the new wording reflects the agency’s position on the topic and that climate change causes are still being debated and researched. The vast majority of scientists agree burning fossil fuels has increased greenhouse gases and caused warming. A 2014 United Nations report found human influence on climate is clear. Republican Gov. Scott Walker controls the DNR. He has been critical of President Barack Obama’s climate change initiatives.

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Wisconsin health officials say flu cases are on the rise and they are urging people to take precautions like getting a flu shot. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says there have been 161 influenza cases so far this season, and 95 hospitalizations, including eight children and 78 adults age 50 and older. Of those hospitalized with influenza, 63 percent were 65 or older. State Health officer Karen McKeown says getting a flu shot is still one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family and friends from complications of the flu. McKeown says other steps include practicing good hand-washing hygiene, covering your cough and not sharing drinking cups and straws.

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Gov. Scott Walker has traveled to Cuba to visit the naval base at Guantanomo Bay. Walker visted the base Thursday to personally thank Wisconsin National Guard troops. The Milwaukee-based 32nd Military Police Company is providing support for Joint Task Force Guantanomo and the Joint Detention Group. The task force operates detention camps for prisoners captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The detention group is responsible for guarding captives. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson referred questions about whether Walker would come into contact with any prisoners to the state Department of Military Affairs. Officials at that agency didn’t immediately respond to messages. The DMA will transport Walker to Cuba. He plans to return to Wisconsin today.

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