News 06.28.16
28 June 2016 News
A Lomira woman convicted in connection with a fatal traffic crash in Fond du lac County last summer is going to prison. At a hearing Friday, Fond du lac judge Dale English sentenced 27 year old Heather Cleveland to three years in prison and two years of extended supervision. Cleveland was convicted earlier this year of homicide by negligent operation of a motor vehicle. Investigators say a year ago, Cleveland was texting on her cellphone minutes before her SUV slammed into the back of a pick-up truck that was stopped on Highway 23 waiting to turn left onto Willow Road. The pickup was pushed into the path of an oncoming vehicle driven by 63 year old Linda Trotter of Ripon. Trotter was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Officials with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections are force-feeding three prisoners who are on a hunger strike. Sixty-one-year-old Laron McKinley, 44-year-old Norman Green, and 34-year-old Cesar DeLeon are among a half-dozen inmates who began refusing food about two weeks ago to protest solitary confinement. McKinley, Green and DeLeon have reported being force-fed water and a nutrition drink through a nasal tube. Inmates in Wisconsin can be force-fed if a physical evaluation finds death or severe harm is likely without intervention. Corrections spokesman Tristan Cook said in a statement he can’t comment on a specific inmate’s medical or mental health status. But says the department has been working on reforming restrictive housing policies over the last several years. The majority of the inmate reside in the Waupun Correctional Institution.
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A Green Bay man is arrested following a sexual assault incident at a water park in Oshkosh. Officer Joseph Nichols says a 48 year old man inappropriately touched a girl at the Pollock Community Waterpark Friday afternoon. Pool patrons were able to stop him before he left and contained him until police arrived. Nichols says the female victim is younger than 13. The man was arrested on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault of a child and transported to the Oshkosh jail.
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Wisconsin state employees will face a new world when they show up for work July 1. An overhaul of the state’s 111-year-old civil service system takes effect take that day. It will leave 30,000 state workers and an untold number of job applicants to face new hiring and firing protocols. Mandatory pre-hiring examinations will be a thing of the past. So will bumping rights, which protect senior employees from layoffs. Probation periods will be longer, just cause for disciplinary actions will be clearly defined and layoff decisions will be based on performance rather than seniority. Supporters insist the changes enable state agencies to fill retirees’ positions quickly and impose proper discipline. Democrats and other critics say Republicans are trading a clean, fair employment system for political patronage.
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Wisconsin’s unique nonpartisan elections board is in its final days. The Government Accountability Board officially disbands on Thursday after eight years of operation. In its place will be two commissions with partisan appointees. One will oversee elections while the other handles ethics, campaign finance and lobbying laws. Republicans targeted the GAB for elimination after it approved an investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and conservative groups. The state Supreme Court last year ruled the probe was unconstitutional. The board’s retiring executive director Kevin Kennedy says he’s proud of the GAB’s work and the new commissions should follow its nonpartisan lead. But Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald says the new commissions should be a fresh start following a failed experiment.
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A Milwaukee-area doctor and his former clinic office manager have been indicted on multiple charges for allegedly illegally giving powerful painkillers to patients. Federal documents say Dr. Steven Kotsonis gave out prescriptions without thorough exams, and sometimes without seeing patients. His office manager, Susan Moyer, allegedly called herself the “OxyCzar” and handed out prescriptions to people who paid cash. Prosecutors allege the incidents happened at Compassionate Care Clinic in Wauwatosa in 2012 and 2013. The clinic is closed. Kotsonis’ attorney says his client will plead not guilty. Attorney Patrick Knight says he disagrees with the government about whether the prescriptions were appropriate. Kotsonis is still a doctor. Moyer doesn’t have an attorney listed.
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