Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne announced Monday that he is asking that a special prosecutor be named to review a report prepared by the Dane County Sheriff’s Office into a June 13 altercation between state Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley.
Category: Justice & Safety
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Fatal blast at Wisconsin ‘model workplace’ raises questions about OSHA program
American Packaging Corp. in Columbus is supposed to be one of the safest places to work. In 2009, the company was recognized as a model of safety when it joined other Wisconsin workplaces, now totaling 49, in a voluntary compliance program run by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But accidents happen, even in the safest places.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety, Money & Politics
Two probes launched over court altercation
The Wisconsin Judicial Commission and the Dane County’s Sheriff’s Office announced Monday that they are conducting separate ethical and criminal investigations into an alleged physical altercation between two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety, Money & Politics
Supreme Court spat got physical
Several sources told Wisconsin Public Radio and the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism that an argument before the court’s release of a decision upholding a bill to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public employees culminated in a physical altercation in the presence of other justices.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email
An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered an email to Gov. Scott Walker in which he suggested a fake attack on the governor to discredit union protesters.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Email to Walker suggested faking violence (original story)
After praise for Walker, the email — sent Feb. 19, during union demonstrations against Walker’s budget repair bill — then took a darker turn. It suggested that the situation in Wisconsin presented “a good opportunity for what’s called a ‘false flag’ operation.” [This is the original version of the story which prompted Carlos Lam to resign.]
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety
Records: At least 45 sex offenders in state’s nursing homes
Donald Henriksen is one of at least 45 registered sex offenders living among other nursing home residents, according to a Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism review of addresses for the state’s nearly 20,000 registered sex offenders and 399 licensed nursing homes.
Posted inGovernment, Justice & Safety, WisWatch Blog
Aviation database reveals frequent safety problems at airports
A six-month examination of more than 150,000 reports filed by pilots and others in the aviation industry over the past 20 years reveals surprising and sometimes shocking safety breaches and close calls at local, regional and major airports throughout the country.
Posted inEnvironment, Justice & Safety
Deer, coyotes and turkeys, oh my!
Just as Doug Drost was landing at the Shell Lake airport, his wife, Karen Drost, saw something hurtling out of the darkness toward their Cessna 210. Something big. “Deer, deer, deer!” she screamed. That hit on the northwestern Wisconsin runway — which caused $12,000 in damage — is a story that plays out over and over in this increasingly deer-ridden country.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety
16 die, but boating safety stalls in Legislature
Despite the continued concern over preventable boating accidents and fatalities, Wisconsin lawmakers tried but failed in the last session to pass new laws mandating life jackets for children and cracking down on intoxicated boating.
Posted inHealth & Welfare, Justice & Safety
Suffering in silence: Campus sexual assaults vastly underreported
At University of Wisconsin campuses, most victims do not report crimes. The statistics are inconsistent. And most rapists go free.
Posted inJustice & Safety
Traffic deaths: Wisconsin’s rural roads are significantly more dangerous
Douglas Meyers, who died on a rural road in October, was one of 18 traffic fatalities in Marinette County in 2009 as the county traffic death toll tied an all-time record.