News 6.12.17
11 June 2017 News
Vice President Mike Pence promised a group of Wisconsin business leaders the Trump administration will replace former President Barack Obama’s health care law with a system that gives states greater flexibility over coverage for its residents. Pence made the remarks Saturday in Milwaukee at Direct Supply, a company that sells equipment and services for senior living communities. The vice president has been touring the country holding events as the Senate works on its own version of a health care bill passed by the House. The legislation faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Gov. Scot Walker joined Pence in a discussion with a group of business leaders before the vice president spoke. Pence said during his speech that “help is on the way” and that “the Obamacare nightmare is about to end.”
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Madison police say a 25-year-old man died after he was shot in his car. The incident happened around 3:30 a.m. Saturday on the city’s far east side. Witnesses told investigators that a man came out from between two buildings and opened fire. Police say semi-automatic shell casings were found at the scene as well as damage to several vehicles and an apartment door. The shooter fled the scene, but witnesses could not say whether he was on foot or in a vehicle. Authorities say three people nearby took the victim from his vehicle and drove him to a local hospital, where he died from his wounds. This is the fourth homicide in Madison this year.
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The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner says authorities have responded to 12 probable drug overdoses in the last three days. The announcement comes as Milwaukee County officials are preparing for a record number of overdoses in 2017. The Journal Sentinel reports that the number could exceed 400 people. Last year, 343 people died from drug overdoses in Milwaukee County, exceeding the record 2015 total of 255. In April, the examiner’s office discovered at least two overdoses from carfentanil. The drug is used to sedate large animals and is 10,000 times stronger than morphine. There has also been an influx of overdoses in children with seven children dying over the past 19 months in the county.
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Federal and local law enforcement officers in Milwaukee are on the hunt for several suspects after an eight-month investigation into a street gang. The FBI says the investigation resulted in federal indictments against 11 members of the Gangster Disciples. They face drug and weapons charges. Authorities say five people have been arrested. Police were looking for six more defendants. The FBI says the men are responsible for numerous acts of violence and the sale and distribution of controlled substances, including heroin and cocaine. All of the members still at large are considered to be armed and dangerous.
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Wisconsin residents are unhappy about plans to convert local farmland to storage for sand dredged from the Mississippi River. The Army Corps of Engineers is proposing five new locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota to dump sand it dredges from the Mississippi River. The Corps dredges 270,000 cubic yards of sand every year from the Lake Pepin area to keep the navigation channel open. Residents in Buffalo County and Wabasha County in Minnesota are unhappy that the proposal would convert almost 500 acres of farmland to sand storage. Craig Evans is the chief of plan formulation for the St. Paul, Minnesota, district of the Corps. He says the agency doesn’t have many other options because they can’t place material in wetlands.
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