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Senator Johnson claims leftists, anarchists are to blame for attack on US Capitol

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At Tuesday’s Senate Homeland Security hearing on the January 6th riots at the US Capitol, Senator Ron Johnson claimed that the attack was carried out not by Trump supporters but by leftists and anarchists.

Johnson said that the people who attended President Trump’s rally that day were peaceful.

“Many of the marchers were families with small children, many were elderly, overweight or just plain tired or frail. Traits not typically attributed to the riot prone. Many wore pro-police shirts or carried pro police black and blue flags. Plainclothes militants, agents provocateurs, fake Trump protesters, and then disciplined uniformed column of attackers. I think these are the people that probably planned this.”

Criminal charges against those who have been arrested paint different pictures, with many of those arrested being longtime Trump supporters, and members of radical groups like the Proud Boys or other white nationalist organizations. 

Johnson also read an excerpt from an article that claimed that lack of action by the Capitol Police was to blame for the severity of the attacks. 

“‘When we crossed 1st Street Northwest and entered the Capitol grounds where the Capitol Police have jurisdiction I noticed no police at all. Several marchers expressed surprise. The openness seemed like a courtesy gesture from Congress, which controls security.'”

Testimony from the hearing painted a different picture, where miscommunication between federal agencies led to a lack of preparedness by the police force.

UW-Madison expert says simply increasing public defender pay is not enough to fix criminal justice issues

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Last week in Milwaukee, President Biden said he’d like to increase the funding available to public defenders across the country.

John Patrick Gross with the UW-Madison Public Defender Project says it will take more than just more money to help balance criminal justice in the country.

“People like to sort of tongue-in-cheek say that ‘Freedom isn’t free.’ Well, neither is justice but we treat it as if we can always skimp on Justice.”

Gross says throwing more money at the issue won’t stop the root cause of not having enough attorneys to represent people. “We should be taking a hard look at the policies, the practices, the funding discrepancies that have gotten us to the point where we leave the world in per capita incarceration.”

Gross says that most people who enter the justice system don’t have the money to hire attorneys as it is, so having public defenders needs to be treated like an integral part of the system.

DNR sturgeon chief accused of taking part in illegal caviar scheme

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The man in charge of the state’s sturgeon fishery is being accused of obstructing an investigation into DNR staffers illegally selling eggs to caviar processors.

The DNR and staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service say that staff in the fisheries department have been providing sturgeon eggs that had been collected from spearers as ‘research samples’ to processors in exchange for gifts and cash.

Wardens say that sturgeon fisheries chief Ryan Koenigs confessed to taking part in the scheme, after allegedly lying to investigators during the process. A former fisheries supervisor says the scheme has been going on for years.

Judge decides not to impose punishments on Rittenhouse over bond violation

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A judge will not be punishing accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse for an apparent bond violation.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder on Thursday denied requests from prosecutors to either issue an arrest warrant or raise the bond of 18-year-old Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse’s attorneys gave the court a false address when he originally filed the 2 million dollar cash bond by which he’s been released. That address has been updated, but won’t be entered into the public record because Rittenhouse’s family says doing so would put him in danger. 

Supreme Court denies appeal in Slenderman stabbing case

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The State Supreme Court has denied an appeal from one of the girls convicted in the Slenderman stabbings.

Attorneys for Morgan Geyser argued that the original judges in the case made a mistake by allowing Geyser and Anissa Weier to be brought immediately into adult court when they were charged in the case, and that police did not advise Morgan of her Miranda rights before she made statements to them following her arrest.

Judges in the Second District said that overwhelming evidence outside of her statements would have led to Geyser’s conviction anyways, and that the crime of attempted murder was serious enough to be brought to adult court. The Supreme Court did not comment in their denial.

Geyser will remain committed to a mental institute for 40 years.

Judge increases restrictions on bond of accused Kenosha shooter

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A judge has increased restrictions on the bond of accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse.

Photos posted to social media earlier this month showed Rittenhouse drinking at a bar in Kenosha and flashing white supremacist signs.

Rittenhouse is now barred from drinking alcohol or from associating with anyone from known hate groups. He is also forbidden from possessing any weapons.

Rittenhouse’s attorney did not contest the change in bond. He remains free on a 2 million dollar bond.

Beware of scammers offering to get you a COVID-19 vaccine for cash, says DATCP

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The state’s consumer protection division has been getting reports of scammers trying to trick people into paying to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Administrator Lara Sutherlin says those scams have come in various forms, from spam emails to robocalls to text messages.

Sutherlin says these claims fall squarely into the realm of ‘too good to be true’.

“What’s clear is you cannot pay someone to get on a list to get it faster and that’s what the scammers are often telling folks.”

“So if you’re getting unsolicited emails or texts or phone calls from people and entities telling you we can get you the vaccine and we can get it faster, you should ignore those emails.”

If you’re worried about getting a vaccine, contact your doctor or insurance company, and never ever pay someone who calls you out of the blue asking for gift cards, prepaid debit cards or money orders.

Gallagher blames President Trump and Republicans for violence at US Capitol

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Congressman Mike Gallagher says that Wednesday’s riots and violence at the US Capitol was an unavoidable outcome of the rhetoric from far right Republicans and President Donald Trump.

The Green Bay Republican said Republicans in the House and Senate and the President are the root cause of the violence. 

“This is the cost of this effort. This is the cost of countenancing an effort by Congress to overturn the election and telling thousands of people that there was a legitimate shot of overturning the election today.”

Gallagher called on the President to call off the protestors in order to protect the integrity of the United States. 

“We have got to stop this. Mr. President you have got to stop this. You are the only person who can call this off.”

Gallagher, who represents the 8th Congressional District in northeast Wisconsin, says that efforts by Republicans, who knew that their challenges to the Electoral College were bound to fail, emboldened the protestors and led to the evacuation of the Capitol and the delay of the certification.

Kenosha Co. D.A. won’t file charges in Jacob Blake shooting

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Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey will face no criminal charges for the August shooting of Jacob Blake.

“It is my decision now, that I announce here before you, that no Kenosha police officer will be charged with any offense, based on the facts and the laws,” Kenosha County District Attorney Michael Gravely said Tuesday.

Gravely also said Blake will not be charged in connection with allegations of resisting and officer. Sheskey shot Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed.

Graveley, in deciding not to charge Sheskey or two other officers at the scene, said he  would have to “disprove the clear expression of these officers that they had to fire a weapon to defend themselves.” He said he did not believe he “would be able to prove that the privilege of self-defense is not available.” He said it was shown that Blake had a knife in his possession.

Benjamin Crump, and attorney for the Blake family said in statement “We will continue to press forward with our own investigation and fight for systemic change in policing and transparency at all levels.”

A federal civil rights investigation is ongoing, according to a statement Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Rittenhouse pleads not guilty to charges in Kenosha murder case

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Accused Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to all charges in a short hearing on Tuesday.

Rittenhouse is accused of shooting and killing two protesters and wounding a third during protests and unrest in the wake of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

He’ll be back in court in March for a pretrial conference. Rittenhouse remains free on a $2 million cash bond.