A northern Wisconsin sawmill has agreed to pay nearly $191,000 and stop hiring children under 16 to settle a federal lawsuit labor regulators filed after a teenager was killed on the job this summer and other child employees were hurt in a string of accidents.
Category: Justice & Safety
Posted inJustice & Safety
Milwaukee native fights to restore housing protections for tenants with drug distribution records
Milwaukee native Yusuf Dahl is working to overturn the Thurmond Amendment, which creates a lifetime exemption from federal fair housing protections for individuals convicted of any drug distribution crime.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Milwaukee police are making fewer drug arrests, even as opioid deaths soar
Police now see drugs through a public health lens while shifting resources to violent crime. Some residents want more help in responding to drug dangers.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Inside Waupun Correctional Institution’s ‘nightmare’ lockdown
Prisoners describe unsanitary conditions and a dearth of medical care. Experts say staffing shortages are contributing to lockdowns across the country.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Oshkosh police cite ‘Marsy’s Law’ to withhold names of officers who shot suspects
Some police agencies across the country have used the voter-approved constitutional amendment that broadens victim privacy to shield officers who use force.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Hot pursuit: Milwaukee police chases now top 1,000 per year. Some prove deadly.
Milwaukee sees a surge in police pursuits in years since loosening policy to target reckless drivers. Critics say the trend makes streets more dangerous.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
JusticePoint offers incarceration alternatives in Milwaukee. Two judges tried to cancel its contract.
This story is part of a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch, Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service and The Appeal. Four decades ago, a newspaper investigation described Milwaukee’s municipal legal system as “cash register justice.” Thousands of impoverished residents with mental health or substance use issues languished in county jails due to unpaid civil violation fines, costing taxpayers […]
Posted inJustice & Safety
Misinformation, Disinformation: A guide to sorting fiction from reality
Social media and deceptive actors are allowing falsehood to spread even faster than the truth, but there are ways to inoculate yourself from information disorder.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Following the death of an 8-year-old on a Wisconsin dairy farm, officials look to bridge law enforcement language gap
After ProPublica found that a police investigation into a child’s death was mishandled due to language barriers, officials hope to improve how police interact with non-English speakers. Meanwhile, the boy’s family has settled a suit against the farm.
Posted inJustice & Safety, News & Announcements
Scent like marijuana enough to warrant police search, Wisconsin Supreme Court rules
A car smelling like marijuana is enough for police in Wisconsin to justify searching a person in the vehicle, even though substances legal in the state can smell the same, the state Supreme Court said on Tuesday. The court’s conservative majority ruled 4-3 that Marshfield police had grounds to search the driver of a vehicle […]
Posted inJustice & Safety
Wisconsin law still refers to husband and wife, a reminder to LGBTQ+ families that their rights are at risk
The courts and Evers administration have stepped in, but bipartisan efforts to make state law neutral to reflect status of same-sex couples have stalled
Posted inJustice & Safety
A black teen who had tried to shoplift died from asphyxia. Why was no one ever charged?
Customers at a Wisconsin corner store subdued 16-year-old Corey Stingley, who died after allegedly being placed in a chokehold. A decade later, the youth’s father still fights for justice and awaits the findings from an unusual new inquiry.