News 01.25.17
25 January 2017 News
A Fond du Lac judge rejects a motion to dismiss first degree murder charges against an over the road trucker from Kenosha. Judge Robert Wirtz issued his oral ruling Monday regarding a motion filed on behalf of Dennis Brantner who is charged in the 1990 death of Berit Beck in Fond du lac County. District attorney Eric Toney says the state plans to ask for a retrial. Brantner’s attorney Craig Powell says he was disappointed with the judge’s decision. Following the ruling Powell announced that he was stepping down as Brantner’s attorney. A mistrial was declared last summer after jurors told the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict. Wirtz was assigned to the case after Judge Gary Sharpe stepped down after he made comments about the case shortly after declaring mistrial last summer.
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Democratic leaders in northeastern Wisconsin say their county websites have been hacked. Mary Ginnebaugh, chairwoman of the 8th Congressional District and Brown County parties, says the Winnebago County party first noticed a problem with their website in November after the election. A consultant discovered party sites for Winnebago, Marinette, Shawano, Oconto, Kewaunee, Calumet, Brown and the 8th Congressional District all were hacked. She says the intruders caused no damage. She says two new administrator names with suffixes indicating a Russian origin were left behind. Ginnebaugh says she doesn’t know if Russians were involved but the breaches have been reported to the FBI. A spokesman for the FBI’s Milwaukee office didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
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Authorities say a man charged a decade ago in Wisconsin with trying to kill his girlfriend’s unborn child has turned up in New York. Sheriff’s officials say the U.S. Border Patrol stopped a vehicle in Malone, New York Friday because of suspicious criminal activity. Manishkumar Patel was a passenger in the vehicle. Agents took Patel and the driver to the Border Patrol office where they were fingerprinted. Records showed Patel was wanted in Outagamie County and he was arrested. The 43-year-old Patel is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, recklessly endangering safety, stalking and other charges in Wisconsin. Patel is accused of spiking his girlfriend’s drink with an abortion-inducing drug. He was charged in November of 2007. Patel’s attorney did not immediately return a call for comment.
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Wisconsin lawmakers plan to hold hearing this week on a Republican bill that would limit union influence on bids for public projects. The proposal from Sen. Leah Vukmir and Rep. Rob Hutton would prohibit state and local governments from requiring contractors bidding on their projects to use unionized workers or enter into project labor agreements. PLAs are collective bargaining agreements that establish rules controlling work on a project upfront. Few places in Wisconsin require them. Hutton says the legislation would allow a wider range of companies to bid for public projects. Labor unions have argued that projects with PLAs are more likely to be completed on time, within budget and with better working conditions.
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The Milwaukee County coroner says a human skull that contractors discovered during a basement excavation in Wauwatosa is estimated to be decades old. The Medical Examiner’s Office said Monday the skull’s condition and material found with it led to the estimate. The skull is being sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for further analysis. The land where the skull and bone fragments were found Friday has been vacant for three years and the property owner recently got approval from the city to build a new house on the site. Wauwatosa police Lt. Brian Zalewski says investigators are waiting for results from the analysis in Texas to determine how to proceed.
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A group of current and former inmates at Wisconsin’s youth prison have filed a federal lawsuit alleging as much as 20 percent of the population is held in solitary confinement and guards needlessly pepper spray prisoners. The American Civil Liberties Union and the Juvenile Law Center filed the lawsuit in Madison on behalf of four current and former inmates at the prison in Irma. The lawsuit alleges the inmates’ treatment violates the prisoners’ constitutional rights. The lawsuit asks a judge to prohibit prison officials from using solitary confinement and pepper spray except in rare cases. The FBI is currently investigating allegations of prisoner abuse, child neglect and sexual assault at the prison.
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