Wisconsin News and Sports
There was a somber memorial in Chippewa Falls over the weekend. Hundreds gathered at a park on Saturday to support Girl Scout Troop 3055, and families who lost loved ones a year ago.
Three girls and a parent were struck and killed while picking up trash along a highway. Trail is set to begin in January for 22-year-old Cloton Treu. Prosecutors allege he was “huffing” aerosol before he crashed his truck into the Girl Scouts.
A Wausau woman will spend 18 months in jail for social security fraud.
Marjean Seehafer, 54, was collecting disability benefits while working at several jobs in the area. She initially claimed she was a victim of and entity theft, and that someone else was using her social security number. Investigators say several of her employers confirmed her identity.
She entered a guilty plea to making false statements and social security fraud in August 2019 in federal court in Madison.
Seehafer was also ordered to pay $28,000 in restitution and will be on supervised release for thee years when she completes her jail term.
WSAU
A bill that would increase the funding for the state public defender’s office got a hearing at the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee on Thursday.
Attorney Richard Jones from the Public Defender’s office says the disparity in funding between the Defender’s office and District Attorney’s offices makes it hard to recruit. “Prosecutors receive consistent, regular raises, that we’re not always entitled to.”
Jones says recruiting young attorneys to the Defender’s office is tougher when they don’t have the same support from the state that prosecutors do. “And my concern is that they’re in the safe fight as assistant district attorneys, and deserve to be compensated at the same level that we compensate them.”
“There are often times they’re struggling to pay bills, they’re weighed down by student loan debt, some of them attempt to work second jobs in addition to the enormous hours that we work.”
The bill would bring those funding levels in line, to go along with an increase in funding for hiring outside attorneys to handle public cases for indigent defendants.
The Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has approved a settlement from attorney general’s office.
That vote was able to be cast because the two parties in the case, a convenience store chain and the attorney general’s office, both waived confidentiality in the case. Democratic Representative Evan Goyke says that’s not how things should work.
“The lengths to which two parties had to go to bring this settlement through is an example of how broken this new process was.”
Under the lame duck laws, the J F C has final approval of any financial settlements that the state is a party to. Attorney General Josh Kaul says he needs leadership to sign confidentiality agreements to hear those cases, something Republicans have refused to do.
The UW Madison police department is going to be moving one of its officers closer downtown to help provide services to students living off campus.
Police Chief Kristen Roman says they’ll be working closely with Madison Police.
“Regardless of jurisdictional boundaries, we’re not letting those get in our way and we are looking for ways to provide the best services and keep our students safe.”
Roman says collaboration is key in ensuring the safety of Wisconsin students.
“It’s not just up to the city of Madison Police Department or up to the Mayor and the Council or up to the University and Campus. All of us need to work together, including our community members.”
Both Madison and UW-Police have been dealing with campus related issues over the last several months, including fights and assaults near downtown that involve UW students. Madison PD is also planning on cutting a full time position near Langdon street early next year.
It’s not a matter of if your company will face a data breach, it’s when; and state officials say you need to be ready with a plan.
State consumer protection administrator Lara Sutherlin says responsibly handling a data breach requires two main parts.
“Make sure you’re doing everything you can to shut down further information from being released from your business, and that the people that may have been exposed are quickly notified and can act on that information.”
Sutherlin says part of any response to a data breach needs to be disclosure to consumer protection agencies.
“DATCP can always help people who’ve been exposed to a data breach, the FTC can help, regulators can be a partner in trying to figure out what happened.”
Sutherlin says trying to hide a data breach will only work for a short time before someone notices what’s happened, and then not only will you have egg on your face, you could face penalties for concealing a loss of information.
A Braymer, Missouri cattle farmer was charged Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two missing brothers from Wisconsin. Police found human remains on Nelson’s farm Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri and court documents show Nelson reported the bodies, which were inside a 55-gallon barrel.
Caldwell County Sheriff Jerry Galloway announced the murder charges against 25-year-old Garland “Joey” Nelson Wednesday during a news conference.
Brothers Nick and Justin Diemel were reported missing July 21 after renting a truck and traveling from their home in Wisconsin to Nelson’s farm in northwestern Missouri on cattle business. Afterward, Nelson was charged with tampering with the brothers’ vehicle by driving to a commuter parking lot and leaving it there.
Missourinet
Wisconsin is joining a wide scale investigation of Facebook’s business practices.
Attorney General Josh Kaul says the multi-state group wants to find out if Facebook is violating federal and state antitrust laws.
“This is just an investigation, it doesn’t that Facebook has engaged in any wrongful conduct, but we are going to investigate to determine if there is any.”
Critics have accused the company of improperly using private data, inflating ad visibility figures, and of bullying other advertisers out of local markets. Kaul says large tech companies like Facebook need to follow the law when it comes to fair business practices.
“Making sure that there is fair and open competition is important for innovation, it’s also important for our privacy.”
39 states and two territories are taking part in the investigation.
A hefty bond has been ordered for the suspect of the Pine Grove Cemetery shooting in Wausau.
Henry West, 64, of Schofield has been charged with 17 counts for the murder shooting death of Patty Grimm. He is facing 11 counts of attempted homicide, arson, 3 counts of attempted arson, and obstructing an officer. During the initial appearance, the judge raised West’s bond from 1 to 10 million dollars.
According to court documents released today West is accused of rigging the apartments at 117 Fullmer St. for an explosion by damaging the natural gas line and placing containers with gasoline around it. The document estimates there would have been enough natural gas in the apartments that if it had combusted it would have caused an explosion capable of killing several to hundreds of people.
Documents also reveal that the manager of the apartment complex said West told them a week before he was set to be evicted that he was “going to make the news big time.” West had also previously made death threats to cemetery management as he was very upset with his firing in 2012.
The shooting happened on October 3rd as Grimm was shot multiple times and killed inside the doorway of the cemetery office. The other two victims, William Buhse and Rosemelia Short were also shot. Buhse is still in the hospital recovering from a shot to the head. While Short was released after being treated for her injuries.
West will next appear in court for a pre-trial hearing on November 21 at 9:20 a.m
WSAU
Another arrest has been made in connection to a massive THC vape cartridge ring in Kenosha. The Kenosha County sheriff says deputies arrested 22-year-old Jordan Lynam this week. He’s due in court Thursday. Lynam is the fifth person arrested in the investigation, though it’s not entirely clear what role he played in the operation.
Forty-three-year-old Courtney Huffhines and her sons, 23-year-old Jacob Huffhines and 20-year-old Tyler Huffhines, are accused of operating the business from a rented Bristol condo and the mother’s real estate office in Union Grove.
