Free Republic

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge in Wisconsin on Wednesday ruled that a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of a man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse during a protest in 2020 can proceed against Rittenhouse, police officers and others. The father of Anthony Huber, one of two men shot and killed by Rittenhouse, filed the lawsuit in 2021, accusing officers of allowing for a dangerous situation that violated his son's constitutional rights and resulted in his death. Anthony Huber's father, John Huber, also alleged that Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time of the shootings, conspired...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Skeptical Wisconsin Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether state law allows for voters to give their absentee ballot to someone else to return or whether drop boxes can be placed outside municipal clerk offices. The court’s ruling later this spring or summer is expected to establish rules for the upcoming midterm election where the battleground state’s Democratic governor and Republican U.S. senator are on the ballot. The court in February barred the use of drop boxes outside election clerk offices for the April spring election where local offices such as mayor, city council and school board...

KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — The first man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha was acting “belligerently” that night but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone, a witness testified Friday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial. Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said that Joseph Rosenbaum “asked very bluntly to shoot him” and took a few “false steppings ... to entice someone to do something.” Lackowski got up from the witness stand and...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — From the moment Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people on the streets of Kenosha during protests over the police shooting of a Black man, he’s personified America’s polarization. The 17-year-old from Illinois who carried an AR-style rifle and idolized police was cheered by those who despised the Black Lives Matter movement and the sometimes destructive protests that followed George Floyd’s death. He was championed by pro-gun conservatives who said he was exercising his Second Amendment rights and defending cities from “antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist militants. Others saw him as the most worrisome example yet of...

MADISON, WI - Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, a vocal critic of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, announced plans Friday to hold a news conference bringing together people who claim to have had adverse reactions to the vaccine. His plans drew renewed criticism from doctors who have been accusing Johnson for months of advancing conspiracy theories and putting people's health at risk. Johnson, who has also advocated for alternative and unproven treatments for COVID-19, said the Monday event in Milwaukee will allow people from around the country to tell their stories and express concerns he said have been “repeatedly ignored” by the...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Retired police officers hired by Wisconsin Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos are being paid $3,200 a month to investigate “potential irregularities and/or illegalities" in the 2020 presidential election, contracts obtained by The Associated Press show. The investigators will be paid $9,600 each over three months to conduct the probe, according to the documents provided Thursday to the AP by the Assembly chief clerk's office under the open records law. Vos signed two contracts in recent days and has said he intends to hire a third investigator and an attorney to oversee the probe. Vos last month...

President Donald Trump isn’t giving up on his false accusations of a rigged election now that his administration is making room for President-elect Joe Biden to proceed with the transition of power. Trump on Tuesday spread distortions about voting in Wisconsin and suggested that his administration’s decision Monday to let the transition begin should not be taken to mean he’s giving up on trying to engineer another term in the face of his defeat. In tweets Tuesday: TRUMP: “Remember, the GSA has been terrific, and Emily Murphy has done a great job, but the GSA does not determine who the...

Suburban women recoil as Trump dives into racial politics ROOKFIELD, Wis. (AP) — Carol Evans approves of Donald Trump’s immigration policy. She gives him credit for the strong economy. But the Republican from the affluent Milwaukee suburbs of Waukesha County, a GOP bedrock in the state, just can’t commit to voting for the president next year like she did in 2016. “I just don’t like the way he talks about other people,” Evans, a 79-year-old retired data entry supervisor, said recently as she walked through a shopping mall in Brookfield, Wisconsin, days after Trump fired off a racist tweet at...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, took part in a nationwide criminal scheme to coordinate fundraising with conservative groups, prosecutors said in court documents unsealed Thursday. No charges have been filed against Walker or any member of his staff. The documents were filed in December as part of an investigation into alleged illegal fundraising and campaign coordination by Walker and his campaign, the Wisconsin Club for Growth, the state Chamber of Commerce and other groups.