(CNN)Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and another man were struck and killed in a suspected drunken driving accident early Sunday morning.
Indiana State Police say the man they believe hit them is an undocumented immigrant who has been deported twice.
[…]
Police identified the driver of the F-150 as Manuel Orrego-Savala. Police said he gave them an alias at the scene — Alex Cabrera Gonsales — and attempted to flee on foot. He was taken to the Marion County Jail, accused of driving without a license and on suspicion of intoxicated driving.
Democratic governor contender Chris Kennedy abruptly left a candidate forum Monday, criticizing Republican candidate Jeanne Ives for what he called “ignorance and stupidity” after she said Chicago’s gun violence could be solved if more fathers stayed in the home.
The controversy came when Ives, a three-term conservative lawmaker from Wheaton who is challenging Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, responded to a question on curbing gun crimes.
“The problem is the gun violence in this city of Chicago, predominantly. And you know how you’re going to solve it? Fathers in the home,” she said. As the audience booed and shouted, she repeated, “Fathers in the home.”
Kennedy later got his turn to respond.
“Well, I wish I could agree with you. I didn’t have a father in my life. Somebody shot him,” Kennedy, the son of the assassinated former U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, said to Ives before he left the forum amid applause and a standing ovation from hundreds of attendees.
[…]
As expected, Ives was frequently at odds with the Democratic candidates, and she occasionally drew the scorn of the audience as she repeatedly suggested city and county residents share in the blame for such issues as crime, high taxes and a lack of quality public education because they re-elect Democrats.
“That is your problem. Your taxes are too high and opportunity’s not here,” she said. “We need jobs and opportunity, and we’re not going to get that if you keep electing these same people as before.”
[…]
“You know, some stuff hits a raw nerve and, um, I think that should be a debate about great ideas, a clash, and not one of emotions,” Kennedy said as he exited about an hour into the 90-minute forum.
Oh, the irony that Kennedy decries a clash of emotions as he makes a direct emotional appeal without offering a single idea of his own. Meanwhile, Ives is correctly identifying some of the societal causes of violence. And the folks of Chicago wonder why so much of the city has become a s***hole.
Canadian police say an alleged scissor attack on an 11-year-old girl’s hijab never happened.
The girl made headlines last week after she said a man came up to her and tried to cut her hijab off.
Toronto police now say the incident, which they were treating as a hate crime, “did not happen”.
The investigation sparked a national outcry, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who expressed his concern on Twitter.
“After a detailed investigation, police have determined that the events described in the original news release did not happen,” the police said in a brief press release on Monday morning. “The investigation is concluded.”
A student convicted of sexually exploiting a 13-year-old could return to campus after a judge delayed his sentence so he could finish college.
More than 40,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, to expel Connor Neurauter, 21.
The junior hockey player pleaded guilty in 2017 to sexual interference of a 13-year-old girl when he was 18.
He faces 89 days in jail to begin in May once the academic term ends.
[…]
During his sentencing, the court heard how he had solicited nude photos from the girl after the two began a brief sexual relationship that did not involve intercourse.
The girl said that at one point, he choked her before giving her a bra as a present.
He then threatened to release the nude photos to her family if she did not keep their relationship a secret.
It looks like a good plan. It still needs form debate and deliberation, but there’s no reason that can’t be moved along at something faster than government speed.
Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to move youthful offenders from prisons in northern Wisconsin to new regional facilities wouldn’t kick in until at least 2019.
But with some Dems complaining the transition of offenders wouldn’t be fast enough, Walker’s office signaled late this afternoon he was ready to work with lawmakers to speed up the process.
“Governor Walker’s plan significantly reforms our juvenile corrections system and we want to work with all parties to implement it in a thoughtful and purposeful way,” said Walker spokesman Tom Evenson. “If the Legislature wants to advance the plan sooner we would be supportive of those efforts.”
In announcing the plan, Walker’s office highlighted support from some Dems, including Rep. Evan Goyke, of Milwaukee, and Milwaukee County Exec Chris Abele.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — The attorney for University of Wisconsin System executive Jessica Tormey says Tormey plans to plead guilty to first-offense drunken driving from an incident in Menomonie in October.
Tormey is the chief of staff to UW System President Ray Cross. The Journal Sentinel reports that Tormey was stopped by police on the night of Oct. 5 in Menomonie, where she was attending a two-day Board of Regents meeting.
A police citation filed in Dunn County Circuit Court says Tormey’s blood-alcohol content was 0.13 percent, above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
The FBI has been quietly investigating the Clinton Foundation for months, according to people familiar with the inquiry, US media report.
The investigation is reportedly being led by FBI agents from Little Rock, Arkansas, where the foundation was founded.
They have interviewed at least one witness in the last month, reports the Hill, a Washington DC political news outlet.
Agents are said to be looking into whether policy favours were traded for unspecified donations to the foundation while Mrs Clinton was secretary of state.
Why? Because it is possible that a person at the highest reaches of our federal government with access to almost every national secret was selling influence for cash. We should find out for sure, no?
(CNN)In a seismic shift, Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce Thursday that he is rescinding a trio of memos from the Obama administration that adopted a policy of non-interference with marijuana-friendly state laws, according to a source with knowledge of the decision.
While many states have decriminalized or legalized marijuana use, the drug is still illegal under federal law, creating a conflict between federal and state law.
The main Justice Department memo addressing the issue, known as the “Cole memo” for then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Cole in 2013, set forth new priorities for federal prosecutors operating in states where the drug had been legalized for medical or other adult use. It represented a major shift from strict enforcement to a more hands-off approach, so long as they didn’t threaten other federal priorities, such as preventing the distribution of the drug to minors and cartels.
The memo will be rescinded but it’s not immediately clear whether Sessions will issue new guidance in its place or simply revert back to older policies that left states with legal uncertainty about enforcement of federal law.
On the action itself, it is completely correct and appropriate. Whether the DOJ likes it or not, marijuana is illegal and they are tasked with enforcing the law whether they like it or not. They should be enforcing the law.
If the Congress wants to change the law, however, that is certainly something worth considering. I would start with asking whether this should even be a federal issue or not? While we can certainly debate the merits and demerits of decriminalization, I think it is more appropriately a discussion to have at the state level. Except for the case of border enforcement, this is an issue that is better handled in the states.
Nearly a year ago, Elijah Rowland was involved in an incident resulting in a loss of nearly $2,000 from the KFC in West Bend. He was initially charged with armed robbery, facing decades prison.
During a Wednesday hearing, the charge of armed robbery was amended to receiving stolen property. The hearing was initially scheduled as the second part of a motion hearing to suppress an admission.
[…]
The charge of possessing a firearm as a felon was dismissed and read in as was a charge from Milwaukee, which was related to the matter.
[…]
Ultimately, the defendant was sentence to a year and six months in prison, followed by an additional two years under supervision. A part of his supervision requires that he not have contact with any KFC in Washington County.
Rowland has already served 324 days in the Washington County Jail and that time will be applied to his prison sentence.
The story doesn’t reveal the details, but this is the reason that the ADA gave:
The ADA and Judge James Muehlbauer both notedseveral times that though armed robbery is serious, this case was different and potential legal problems surrounding the collection of the admission allowed for the amended charge.
I take from that that there was something wrong with his confession and the ADA is worried about losing on appeal. OK, fine. Let’s remember a bit more about this case.
Police have arrested a 25-year-old Milwaukee man for allegedly robbing a West Bend Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant at gunpoint last week. Elijah Rowland approached an employee who was closing the business Thursday, February 9th. He showed a handgun and demanded money. He was arrested Tuesday. Rowland was previously convicted of a felony outside of Wisconsin. He is being held in the Washington County Jail and is due back in court next Wednesday.
So Rowland is a repeat felon who committed an armed robbery. Clearly, there was enough evidence at the scene (video? witnesses?) to identify him and arrest him. Yet, because the ADA is worried about his confession, they slap him on the wrist? Why not actually prosecute the case? At the very least, why not also prosecute him on being a felon in possession of a firearm? If they prosecuted the case, he would spend about the same amount of time in jail – maybe more – than he will now EVEN IF HE IS ACQUITTED!
Instead, we have a violent repeat felon who will be back on the streets in 6 months. Instead of going to prison for many years, he will be out and able to prey on the public by summer.
It’s a little late for my RightWisconsin predictions, but I’ll throw this one in: Elijah Rowland will commit another violent crime. There will be more victims of this predator. Let’s hope that next time he doesn’t injure or kill someone.
A surge of homicides in the starkly divided city resulted in 343 killings in 2017, bringing the annual homicide rate to its highest ever – roughly 56 killings per 100,000 people. Baltimore, which has shrunk over decades, currently has about 615,000 inhabitants.
[…]
Others blame police, accusing them of taking a hands-off approach to fighting crime since six officers were charged in connection with the 2015 death of Freddie Gray, a black man whose fatal spinal cord injury in police custody triggered massive protests that year and the city’s worst riots in decades.
“The conventional wisdom, or widely agreed upon speculation, suggests that the great increase in murders is happening partly because the police have withdrawn from aggressively addressing crime in the city’s many poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods,” said Donald Norris, professor emeritus of public policy at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Maya M. Patrykus, 21, at approximately 2:10 a.m. on Dec. 24, 2017 after an officer saw a female walking in the 100 block of N. Main Street, carrying a baby Jesus figurine.
On Sunday, West Bend Police released the following:
An officer attempted to stop and speak to the female. Police said the woman then dropped the figurine and ran. After a short foot pursuit the officer stopped the female.
The baby Jesus figurine she was carrying was from the Nativity at Old Settlers Park in downtown West Bend.
There’s something screwed up in a person who would steal a baby Jesus from a nativity on Christmas Eve. In any case, it appears that she is getting an earful at home. This is how you do a “statement from the family:”
The family of Maya Patrykus has issued a statement to WashingtonCountyInsider.com.
Our daughter, and our family, join in the condemnation of her behavior involving the nativity scene. It is, in a word, reprehensible.
Maya is a junior in the UW system. She has no criminal record.
That she was intoxicated at the time is no excuse. All we can do now as a family is beg the forgiveness of our community, focus on getting Maya the help she needs, and move forward.
Maya’s statement:
“I sincerely apologize to the community, and specifically to those who put their time and effort into building the nativity scene. I am truly sorry.”
Barack Obama‘s administration has been accused of sabotaging an operation to stop Hezbollah smuggling drugs into the US so that a nuclear deal with Iran could proceed.
In a stunning exposé by Politico, the former US President’s officials are said to have opened the door for trafficking and money laundering operations.
The Drug Enforcement Administration led a complex venture called Project Cassandra to tackle the criminality of the Lebanese militant group.
But it is claimed Obama’s people threw down a number of roadblocks, effectively paving the way for Hezbollah’s illegal activities.
DEA agents claim the Obama administration stopped them arresting key figures linked to Hezbollah as an agreement on the Iran nuclear deal approached – and scrapped Project Cassandra entirely once the terms were agreed.
Officers told Fox San Antonia that 19-year-old Andrews Herrera was killed after he approached Carlos Molina, 32, just before 9 p.m. Wednesday. Molina was eating at the fried chicken chain with his family when Herrera demanded that he hand over his property and threatened his children with a gun, police say.
According to the news site, Molina told Herrera that he had no money and asked whether his family could leave. Most of the family left the restaurant, but Herrera then pointed the gun at two of Molina’s children as they walked out of a restroom. In response, Molina drew his licensed handgun and shot Herrera several times, fatally wounding him, police said.
Dec. 4, 2017 – Germantown, WI On Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017 at approximately 6 p.m. the Germantown Police Department took a report of a theft in progress at Walmart, W190 N9855 Appleton Ave.
Germantown Police Officers located the suspect vehicle on County Line Road and gave pursuit.
The suspect vehicle fled southbound on I41 reaching speeds of approximately 110 mph. The suspect vehicle crashed at STH145 and 91st. The two occupants fled on foot and GPD officers continued their pursuit on foot.
Both suspects were taken into custody. The suspect driver is a 36-year-old male from Milwaukee and the suspect passenger is a 39-year-old female from Milwaukee.
Both the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Dept. and Milwaukee Police Dept. assisted GPD Officers during the foot pursuit.
The male suspect had five outstanding warrants for his arrest and the female had four outstanding warrants for her arrest.
A request for charges was sent to the Washington County District Attorney on the female for retail theft, possession of heroin, drug paraphernalia, illegally obtained prescription medication and resisting/obstructing.
Charges requested on the male for felony eluding, retrial theft and resisting/obstructing.
I strongly urge the Washington County D.A. and judge (whoever gets it) nail both of these folks to the wall. As Milwaukee crooks keep slipping into neighboring counties to commit their crimes, we need to make it clear that while the Milwaukee judicial system may give them pass after pass after pass, this kind of behavior will be met with a harsh response in other counties.
(CNN)When Sarah Sims’ daughter complained she was being bullied in elementary school, the Virginia mother grew concerned.
Sims reached out to administrators at Ocean View Elementary School in Norfolk, Virginia, where her daughter is in fourth grade, but she said she got no response. In September, Sims decided to investigate on her own.
She sent her daughter to school with a digital audio recorder in her backpack, hoping to capture audio from the classroom. School officials found out and confiscated the device, which had been in her daughter’s desk recording the school day.
Now, Sims, who is herself a student at Virginia’s Norfolk State University, is in trouble with law.
Virginia is a one-party consent state, meaning it is legal for someone to record others when the person recording is involved in the conversation or when one of the parties in the conversation has given prior consent.
The Norfolk commonwealth’s attorney’s office, which would prosecute the charges, said it just received the case report and hasn’t begun investigating, according to spokeswoman Amanda Howie.
Let’s hope the DA has some common sense. But even if they drop the charges, which they should, the school’s reaction here is completely out of line. Clearly they have far more interest in concealing their behavior and protecting bullies than in serving the kids or the parents.
My column for the Washington County Daily News is online. Actually, it was online yesterday, but I was busy. Here you go:
Technology has always pushed the boundaries of culture and it often takes time for the law to catch up. As body cameras become more common for police, the management of that footage has largely been left to individual law enforcement agencies. The Wisconsin State Assembly has passed a good bill to govern the public’s access to law enforcement body cam footage that the state Senate and governor should quickly enact into law.
The use of body cams by law enforcement has been expanding mainly due to the public’s pressure to do so. Americans grant a lot of power in our police and extend a lot of trust that they will use that power appropriately on our behalf. But that trust is not absolute and in the wake of a series of high profile incidents where a law enforcement officer killed a citizen under questionable circumstances, many members of the general public pushed for police to wear body cams to help discern the truth in such incidents.
On the other side of the coin, many law enforcement officers asked to use body cams under the belief that while a body cam video might indict a cop doing something illegally, it might also exonerate a cop who is wrongly being accused of committing a crime. Now that many law enforcement agencies are using body cams, the results are predictably varied. What we are finding is that the body cam footage of controversial incidents rarely conclusively show the “truth,” and a jolting video rarely quells the controversy.
While the use of body cam footage may not be the antidote to controversy that many had hoped, body cams have become a useful tool in the routine business of law enforcement. The question remains: now that we have thousands of law enforcement officers going about their work while recording themselves and all of the people around them, who is allowed to see those recordings?
In general, the video recorded by law enforcement’s body cams are public records. That means that upon request, the law enforcement agency must give that video to anyone who asks unless there is a compelling government interest not to do so. Our common law has always set a fairly high bar for withholding public documents, so the end result is that 95 percent of requests for police body cam video are granted.
The presents a problem in balancing the public’s right to know with the individual’s right to privacy and protection under the Fourth Amendment. While policies for when law enforcement officers activate their body cams vary, most of them are recording whenever they are engaging a member of the public for any reason. This means that even when an officer is engaging a citizen who has not committed a crime, which is the vast majority of the time, that engagement may be recorded and released on the internet for everyone to see.
For example, if an officer responds to an elderly person’s fall in his or her home, that could be recorded and released. If an officer responds to a woman who was raped, that encounter could be recorded and released. If an officer helps a person who slid into a ditch, that could be recorded and released. While some of these incidents are benign, releasing the video of the encounter could be embarrassing for the citizen, or worse, used by someone to harass or further traumatize a victim of a crime.
Rep. Jesse Kremer’s (R-Kewaskum) bill seeks to set some reasonable standards for when law enforcement body cams must be released and when they should be kept confidential. Under the bill, footage would be considered an open record and available to the public if it was taken in a public place and involved a death, assault, arrest or search. If one of those actions occurred in a place where a person had a reasonable expectation of privacy, then the footage could only be released if all of the people involved agree.
Under Kremer’s bill, police body cam footage would still be available for any legal action, civil or criminal, but only footage of actual or suspected criminal behavior could be released to the public. This strikes a reasonable balance that allows the public to continue to have general oversight of police in the most serious encounters, but protects the public from malcontents using police videos for harassment, bullying, preying, or just feeding their creepy voyeurism.
This bill was passed on a bipartisan voice vote in the Assembly and now sits in the Senate awaiting action. The Senate should pick up Kremer’s torch and carry it to Gov. Walker’s desk.
It was a carbon monoxide alarm that brought the Canadian authorities to the house in Liatris Drive, a quiet residential street lined with manicured gardens. As firefighters checked over the house to ensure its inhabitants were safe, something else caught their eye: kilograms of a mysterious powder sitting in the basement.
Soon afterwards, the police arrived at the house in Pickering, near Toronto, with a search warrant. They seized 33 identical handguns – and 53kg of the unidentified white and yellow powder.
Lab tests eventually revealed 42kg of the substance to be carfentanil – a drug the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has described as “crazy dangerous” and which authorities in the US have flagged as as potential chemical weapon. The local police force had unwittingly stumbled across what is believed to be the largest volume of the opioid ever seized in North America.
Developed in the 1970s as a tranquilizer for large animals such as elephants and bears, the synthetic opioid has also been studied as a potential chemical weapon by countries including the US, China and Israel. It is thought to have been deployed with disastrous effects when Russian special forces attempted to rescue hundreds of hostages from a Moscow theatre in 2002.
But it only burst into public view last year after officials across North America began to warn that it was being cut with heroin and other illicit drugs, leaving a rash of overdoses and deaths in its wake.
