Wisconsin News and Sports
Two people are dead following a double homicide at the UW-Madison Arboretum.
UW Police are reporting that a jogger found two people, a man and a woman, lying in a ditch early Tuesday morning.
One person was dead on scene, while the other was transported to a hospital and died a short time later.
Police are still investigating, but say it does not have anything to do with a shooting at UW-Hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Brittany Zimmerman
Criminal charges were filed filed Friday in the murder of UW-Madison student Brittany Zimmermann. Interim Madison Police Chief Vic Wahl said 53-year-old David A. Kahl was charged in Dane County Circuit Court with first-degree intentional homicide.
#BREAKING Arrest in Brittany Zimmerman case 🎥: https://t.co/XWawtQUC5d #MediaRelease: https://t.co/eRDgfq1sDn pic.twitter.com/6qG5JZsQdO
— Madison Police (@madisonpolice) March 20, 2020
Zimmerman’s murder took place on April 2, 2008 in her downtown Madison apartment. The 21-year-old Marshfield native was majoring in Medical Microbiology and Immunology.
Zimmermann’s killing “shook the Madison community and devastated her family, friends and hometown,” police said in a statement sent Friday.
Kahl, currently in prison on an unrelated charge, had been identified years ago as someone going door to door the day of Brittany’s murder, asking for money. A sample of Zimmerman’s clothing also had a DNA hit linked to Kahl.
WIBA
The man who beat a nurse to death in Milwaukee last year will spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital. A judge sentenced Kenneth Freeman Thursday to a life sentence for Carlie Beaudin’s death.
Freeman was originally declared unfit for trial, but a jury eventually found him not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. He brutally beat Beaudin in January of last year and left her body in a parking garage at Milwaukee’s Froedert Hospital. Freeman’s commitment will last the rest of his life.
Stevens Point police chief Martin Skibba (photo courtesy Point/Plover Metrowire)
Stevens Point’s police chief has been on administrative leave for over a week and no one in city government is saying why.
In an editorial posted to the Point-Plover Metrowire, editor in chief Brandi Maskuski says she’s been given the runaround from everyone from the mayor’s office to the police and fire commission.
“Normally you’ll get some kind of comment about ‘no other officers are the target of this investigation’ or ‘the police and fire commission is cooperating with the city attorney on this matter.'” In this instance, we’ve received none of that information.”
Maskuski says she’s trying to find out who other than the police and fire commission had the authority to put Chief Martin Skibba on leave. “Not only are we looking at why the chief has been placed on leave, but right now the bigger story was ‘what was the process taken to place him on leave?'”
So far the only comment from city officials has been that Skibba is under investigation for breaking police department rules. Normally these sorts of actions are taken by the Police and Fire Commission, but that process wasn’t taken ahead of Skibba’s removal.Â
A man convicted of soliciting his wife to kill police has had an appeal in the case tossed out by the State Supreme Court.
Kelly Closs was convicted in 2017 of solicitation of reckless injury for telling his wife to shoot any cops who came to the door. Police had tape of him calling from jail and telling his wife “let them have it,” “blow them away,” “shoot right through the door right into the cop.”
An appeals court previously upheld the convictions after Kloss claimed solicitation of reckless injury was not a crime in Wisconsin.
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last year, but decided on Friday that they would dismiss the appeal. Five of the seven justices agreed that the Supreme Court should not have taken up the case in the first place.Â
The Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court is thanking the rest of the Capitol on the approval of new county level judge seats.
Governor Tony Evers has approved a bill that will increase the number of county judges in Wisconsin by 12.Â
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Pat Roggensack says that’s going to drastically reduce the amount of time it takes to get cases heard in parts of Wisconsin. “If you’re in a county that has one judge, and that judge has a huge calendar, you’re just going to have to stand in line until your matter can be heard.”
Roggensack says the new law is just another piece of the puzzle in reducing the long wait it takes to get justice in parts of Wisconsin. “I think that really the bill and the Governor’s signing evidence the legislature’s and the governor’s concern that the needs for the people of Wisconsin be addressed.” The bill is backed by other measures that increase the number of assistant district attorneys in Wisconsin, and increase the pay rates for public defenders.Â
“I think both those branches of government have been wonderfully cooperative and have understood that the needs of the court are the needs of the people,” says Roggensack.Â
The new seats will be created four at a time over the next three years.
Milwaukee Police have released the names of the victims at Molson Coors in Milwaukee, and of their killer. Police Cheif Alfonso Morales said five men were shot to death Wednesday, Jesus Valle and Trevor Wetselaar of Milwaukee were both 33 years old. Dale Hudson of Waukesha was 50, Dana Walk of Delafield was 57, and Gennady “Gene” Levshetz of Mequon, 61.
“Reasons for this is still under investigation of what transpired, and we don’t have that for you,” Morales said. He asked the public and the media to respect the privacy of the victims’ families. “I’m sure you’ll know their addresses, I’m sure you’ll know where they live, but please give them that respect.”
Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley said the company is morning the loss of the employees. “They were power house operators, they were machinists and they were electricians. But more importantly they were fathers, they were husbands, and they were friends.”
The shooter, 51-year-old Molson Coors electrician Anthony Ferrill of Milwaukee, killed himself. Mayor Tom Barrett was asked about motive. “There’s an investigation going on. I think it’s premature to speculate on anything.”
The Journal Sentinel reports there had been long-running dispute between co-workers before Wednesday’s shootings.
Answers about the shooting at Molson Coors may not come for a few days. Milwaukee Police said they will not release the names of the five people who were killed in the shooting, or the gunman who took his own life, for the next 24 to 48 hours.
Workers at the plant say a co-worker is the one who started shooting. Milwaukee Police searched a few homes on the city’s northwest side last night that may be tied to the shooter.
A coalition of nearly 40 states is investigating electronic cigarette maker JUUL over possible misconduct. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said too many kids are vaping, and attorneys general want to know if JUUL was improperly marketing to them.
“But unfortunately, what we’ve seen recently is a big jump in e-cigarette usage and that can have long term health effects for people using those.”
The investigation will also look at whether or not JUUL was being improperly marketed as a smoking cessation aid.
E-cigarette use has increased dramatically among young people in Wisconsin and nationally, and we must act to reduce it. JUUL has been the driving force behind this increase, and we are working with a bipartisan group of AGs to investigate JUUL’s sales and marketing practices. pic.twitter.com/2cSroLu0zr
— Attorney General Josh Kaul (@WisDOJ) February 25, 2020
“One of the things we want to make sure we’re doing is looking into whether there have been any improper sales or marketing tactics that were used.”
Kaul said that as of 2018, 20 percent of Wisconsin high school students reported using vapes like JUUL.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice is partnering with the Wisconsin Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, in an effort to help spot human traffickers. Attorney General Josh Kaul says employees working in places like gas stations and hotels can often be the first to spot trafficking.
“They can also allow law enforcement to make contact with a survivor of human trafficking and help that person get the services that are needed to help that person escape from trafficking,” Kaul said.
Partnership with @WisDOJ, @wistatepatrol, and @WisDCF to help end Human Trafficking. Our industry employs over 50,000 people at nearly 3,000 convenience stores across the state. We’ll use our resources & partners to be a part of preventing human trafficking. #HumanTrafficking pic.twitter.com/znCZ1qy4VP
— WPMCA (@WPMCA) January 21, 2020
The initiative is not the only effort to address human trafficking in the state. How to spot trafficking is now part of the training truck drivers receive at the state’s technical colleges.