Saturday, November 16, 2024
Mayor Johnson to attend fallen officer's funeral despite family's request not to
Friday, November 15, 2024
Former West Allis day care employee charged with multiple counts of child pornography
Adrienne Davis
A former West Allis day care employee is facing multiple child pornography charges.
Jonathan Burkee, 25, of West Allis, was charged Nov. 13 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of child sexual exploitation and five counts of child pornography, all felonies. If convicted of all charges, Burkee faces up to 165 in prison and fines of up to $600,000.
Burkee was an employee at St. Paul’s Lutheran School in West Allis
According to the criminal complaint:
On Nov. 6, a West Allis police detective was contacted by an FBI agent regarding a cybercrime discovered on Nov. 5 in an online chatroom. The agent told the detective that the victim was an 11-year-old girl who was a student at St. Paul's Lutheran School in West Allis.
Investigators discovered that several inappropriate photos of a juvenile female were located in the chatroom. The photos appeared to be taken in a school environment while in the presence of other children.
The girl in the photos was identified as a current student at the school. Investigators then contacted the victim's mother, who told them she believed the principal's son (Burkee) was the person who had taken the photos.
The mother told investigators that Burkee worked in the school's day care and was a babysitter who babysat the victim and her sister at his residence in West Allis. Burkee had babysat the children most recently on Nov. 1.
The West Allis Police Department and the FBI executed a search of Burkee's home on Nov. 9
On the morning of Nov. 9, West Allis police and the FBI, having obtained a warrant, conducted a search of Burkee's home in West Allis.
Prior the search, Burkee told investigators, "I know what I did is wrong, I have to go to the bathroom, I have child stuff in my phone. Dad I'm sorry, I have child stuff in my phone."
West Allis police later conducted a search of one of Burkee's cellphones seized during the warrant. It contained multiple photos of female children in the deleted photo gallery.
St. Paul's Lutheran confirmed that Burkee and his father were no longer employees at the school
In an email sent to the Journal Sentinel, Jeff Reinhardt, congregation president of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, confirmed that the school was aware of the situation and that as of Nov. 9, Burkee was no longer an employee at the school.
"We have been and will continue to cooperate with the West Allis Police Department with their ongoing investigation," Reinhardt said in the email. "Please understand that our primary focus at this time is providing our families and students with guidance and support as we navigate this difficult time. Please honor our request and provide our Church, School and families with the privacy we need to work and focus on healing together."
Reinhardt also confirmed that the principal, Burkee’s father, had resigned as principal on Nov. 9.
Burkee appeared in court on Nov. 13. A cash bond was set at $5,000. He is due back in court on Nov. 21.
Contact Adrienne Davis at amdavis@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @AdriReportss.
WWE Smackdown preview tonight in Milwaukee at Fiserv Forum: Championship matches on schedule, tickets
Christopher Kuhagen
The road to WWE Survivor Series: War Games runs through Milwaukee on Friday night.
WWE Smackdown returns to Fiserv Forum two weeks before one of the company's major premium live events.
And it should be a huge show with two championship matches on the docket as well as the start of the US Women's Championship Tournament.
Moreover, superstars like WWE Undisputed champion Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, self-proclaimed Bloodline leader Solo Sikoa, US champion LA Knight, women's tag team champions Bianca Belair and Jade Cargill, Bayley and more set to appear.
Here's what to know about Smackdown:
WWE Smackdown in Milwaukee
WWE Smackdown returns to Milwaukee on Friday, Nov. 15. The televised show begins at 7 p.m.
Before the show, there's typically one non-televised match beginning at 6:45 p.m.
WWE Smackdown tonight
Smackdown is televised live on USA Network. It's a two-hour show.
WWE Smackdown matches
Two championship matches are scheduled.
The Motor City Machine Guns will put their tag team titles on the line against the Street Profits. Also, Naomi will challenge Nia Jax for the WWE women's championship.
The start of the Women's United States Championship Tournament also kicks off tonight with a triple threat match between Candice LeRae, B-Fab and Bayley.
And expect a response from Solo Sikoa and the new Bloodline after Roman Reigns and the original Bloodline, with Sami Zayn, officially reunited last Friday.
WWE Smackdown tickets
Tickets are still available for Smackdown at Fiserv Forum. The cheapest tickets before fees are $30 via Ticketmaster.
Posts on X about Wisconsin election fraud have increased nearly tenfold since Election Day
Maia PandeyAlex Groth
Social media posts about election fraud in Wisconsin have surged since Election Day, surpassing all other battleground states, according to data collected by PeakMetrics, a software analytics company.
Between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12, the number of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, mentioning election fraud in Wisconsin surged from 2,570 to 22,589 — an approximately 789% increase, according to the report. There has been no evidence to suggest voter fraud is a common issue in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde has been among those sowing doubts about voting integrity on X following the election, which he lost to Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“Since last Wednesday, numerous parties have reached out to me about voting inconsistencies,” Hovde said in a statement on X.
The Milwaukee Election Commission in a statement said it “unequivocally refutes Eric Hovde’s baseless claims regarding the integrity of our election process.”
“The (Election Commision) celebrates the dedication of Milwaukee residents to participate in the democratic process and is fully confident that Mr. Hovde’s accusations lack any merit,” the commission said in a statement. “Milwaukee voters can rest assured: the (Election Commission) conducted a fair, accurate, and secure election that fully protects voters rights and preserves the democratic process.”
As of Nov. 15, Hovde has yet to concede the race to Baldwin. With 99% of the state’s votes counted, the Democratic senator led Hovde by 49.3% to 48.5%, a margin of 28,958 votes.
Other battleground states see a drop in election fraud social media posts
The surge in Wisconsin posts comes as other battleground states actually saw a downtick in posts claiming election fraud within the last week. On Nov. 11, Wisconsin overtook Arizona as the state most cited in X posts about voter fraud since the election.
By Tuesday, a week after the election, about 70% of all X posts about election fraud in battleground states mentioned Wisconsin, according to PeakMetrics.
The company found most recent posts included allegations that Democrats “stole the Wisconsin Senate seat” and that absentee ballots in Wisconsin are a sign of “criminal election fraud.” It is a well-documented part of Wisconsin’s election process that absentee ballots statewide are counted on Election Day, with results reported all at once, often late in the night.
Alison Dirr and Jessie Opoien contributed to this report.
Ascension Wisconsin to close labor and delivery units at Brookfield, Mequon hospitals amid other cuts
Sarah Volpenhein
Ascension Wisconsin is closing a Waukesha micro-hospital, labor and delivery units at its Brookfield and Mequon hospitals, and inpatient mental health units at its Racine and Mequon hospitals.
It's the latest move by Ascension Wisconsin to consolidate care to fewer hospitals, including services for pregnant women, cardiac patients, and mental health patients needing overnight hospital stays.
It also comes as Ascension, the national health system and parent of Ascension Wisconsin, continues to struggle with large financial losses amid a May cyberattack.
Ascension Wisconsin will close its micro-hospital in Waukesha in January, which only opened a few years ago, spokesperson Mo Moorman confirmed. He said the micro-hospital had "consistently low volumes" in a community with good access to care from other health systems.
Ascension Wisconsin aims to concentrate "higher acuity, specialized care at centralized locations in southeast Wisconsin to optimize patient care and necessary resources, including equipment and clinicians," according to a Thursday press release.
That includes closing the labor and delivery units at Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital-Ozaukee, in Mequon, and Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital-Elmbrook, in Brookfield.
Those patients will instead be directed to Ascension Wisconsin's flagship hospital Columbia St. Mary's on Milwaukee's east side, or to St. Joseph Hospital on the city's west side.
The labor and delivery unit at All Saints Hospital in Racine will remain.
The release did not give a date by which the units in Brookfield and Mequon will close. It said obstetricians and other providers were working with patients to adjust their birth plans.
“All decisions about how we deliver care are led by what's best for our patients and communities,” Daniel Jackson, CEO of Ascension Wisconsin and senior vice president at the parent company Ascension, said in the release.
St. Francis Hospital inpatient mental health expanding, units at other hospitals closing
The health system also plans to consolidate its southeast Wisconsin inpatient mental health care at Ascension St. Francis Hospital on Milwaukee's south side. It plans to spend $10 million at St. Francis to expand its inpatient behavioral health center to up to 60 inpatient beds.
The expansion is to be completed by July.
That means the closure of inpatient mental health units at All Saints in Racine and Columbia St. Mary's in Mequon. Moorman did not give a timeline for those closures.
St. Francis already has around 20 inpatient mental health beds, though not all are filled, said Connie Smith, president of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, the union representing health care workers there. The unit has experienced staffing issues that make it hard to fill all the beds, Smith said.
"Mental health in our city is very important and those individuals in our city need to be taken care of," Smith said. "We, as a union, welcome the ability to make sure that the most vulnerable people in our community are going to be taken care of."
Moorman said the health system would grow its workforce to support the expansion.
St. Francis Hospital will continue to operate its emergency room, operating rooms, and other inpatient and outpatient health services, the release said.
Ascension closing some cardiac cath labs
Ascension Wisconsin also plans to close cardiac catheterization labs, which are critical for patients having heart attacks, at St. Joseph and St. Francis hospitals.
That means patients experiencing chest pains will be sent to other hospitals, Smith said.
In light of the closure, Ascension plans to make cath lab services available 24/7 at Ascension SE Wisconsin Franklin Hospital. Previously, cath lab services alternated between the Franklin and St. Francis hospitals, or were only available during certain times of the day.
"What we aren’t happy about is the fact that St. Francis has lost so many services over the years and we don't want to see the acute care part of St. Francis continue to decrease," said Smith, the union leader. "Taking away that service line, it’s sad for our community."
The cath lab at St. Francis is slated to close Dec. 14 and will affect two nurses and two techs working there, Smith said.
The cath labs at Columbia St. Mary's in Milwaukee, Elmbrook hospital in Brookfield and All Saints in Racine will remain, according to Ascension's press release.
Labor and delivery units in Brookfield, Mequon only the latest to close
The labor and delivery units closures had been rumored for several weeks.
Last year, the Ascension hospitals in Brookfield and Mequon each reported a little over 300 baby deliveries, according to the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center.
In the last two years, Ascension has closed the labor and delivery units at two other hospitals in Wisconsin: St. Francis Hospital and the Mercy campus in Oshkosh.
That has raised concerns that expectant mothers must travel further to give birth, and may face additional health challenges because of lack of access to delivery services or other obstetrical care.
The next closest hospitals with delivery units to the Brookfield hospital are Froedtert Hospital and ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital, each about seven or eight miles from the Elmbrook campus in Brookfield.
Ascension's St. Joseph hospital is about 10 miles east of the Elmbrook campus, and Aurora West Allis Medical Center is about 11 miles southeast.
The next closest hospital with a delivery unit to Ascension's Ozaukee campus in Mequon is Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, about five miles north of the Ozaukee hospital.
Ascension Wisconsin has defended its decision to close the units, saying that overall birth rates have declined, its obstetricians in those units were leaving, and its other nearby hospitals could provide better, safer care.
The closures also have come as Ascension Wisconsin struggles to keep and hire physicians. The health system has lost many of its primary care doctors and specialists in recent years to competing health systems.
Columbia St. Mary's Hospital, Ascension Wisconsin's flagship hospital, reported about $210 million in losses in the year ending in June 2023, according to the latest data available from the Wisconsin Hospital Association Information Center. That's nearly seven times its reported losses over the prior year.
As for the parent company, St. Louis-based Ascension reported about $1.4 billion in losses from recurring operations in the year ended June 30 of this year, according to its latest annual financial statement.
Ascension's finances took a major hit from the May cyberattack that devastated its hospitals and doctor's office nationwide for more than a month, its financial statement says.
In Racine, I've avoided Ascension because of their terrible reputation. In the early years, Aurora was great. Over time, however, I've found doctors that have lied to me. When confronted about it, they drop me as a patient. I'm very careful how I interact with them now.
Seattle now arresting shoplifters, petty criminals after 4-year hiatus | Dan Abrams Live
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Milwaukee police could help with public safety at Donald Trump's inauguration
David Clarey
Milwaukee police are poised to be at former President Donald Trump's inauguration in two months.
The inauguration is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, the city's Public Safety and Health Committee moved forward a proposal where some officers would assist in traffic control for the parade, pending further approvals.
"Historically, for inaugurations, they seek assistance from other jurisdictions for the lift of public safety," Milwaukee Police Chief of Staff Heather Hough told the council's Public Safety and Health Committee.
More:When will Donald Trump take office? Here’s what to know about the inauguration in January
Participating officers would not be "taken off the street of Milwaukee" but asked to use their personal time, whether vacation or other off time, to participate, she said. The U.S. Department of Justice would cover expenses associated with sending officers to the inauguration.
Officers would not be involved in activities like crowd control or handling civil disturbances, said James Lewis, risk manager for Milwaukee police.
Final approval for police participation in the inauguration awaits approval by the full Common Council. The department also needs approval from the Wisconsin Attorney General, according to Lewis who spoke at the Thursday meeting.
David Clarey is a reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
Patti, the 55-year-old hippo at the Milwaukee County Zoo, has died
Amy Schwabe
Patti — a river hippopotamus and a favorite animal at the Milwaukee County Zoo since she arrived in 1972 — has died.
Patti was humanely euthanized on Sunday, Nov. 10. According to a statement from the zoo, 55-year-old Patti — who was considered geriatric compared to the 36.7-year median life expectancy of hippos living in human care — was reluctant to move out of her pool on Saturday, Nov. 9, and appeared lethargic.
After observing Patti continue to quickly decline through the night, according to the zoo's statement, "the decision was made to humanely euthanize her. Patti died surrounded by her animal care team, including the zookeepers who best knew and loved her, comforting her to the very end, including rubbing her ears and feet."
The statement also noted that a preliminary necropsy indicated that Patti had severe gastroenteritis.
Zoo staff remembered Patti as "opinionated and spirited," noting that when the new outdoor hippo habitat opened in 2020, Patti was reluctant to explore, but that had changed over the past two years: "Patti was very curious and engaged with the public, coming over to the viewing window to watch all the guests, especially little kids."
Patti's death leaves Happy, a male hippo, as the zoo's lone hippo. The zoo's hippo exhibit is currently closed, as is typical in the fall and winter months; Happy will be viewable again in spring.
Additionally, the zoo's construction of Adventure Africa — which includes a new indoor hippo space — is on track to be completed in fall of 2025, at which point the zoo said it will look into bringing another hippo to Milwaukee.
Drone helps in arrest of wanted Racine man who fled police on I-90/94 near Tomah
jhricgels
A drone helped authorities track down and arrest a wanted Racine man who fled police on Interstate 90/94 near Tomah on Tuesday afternoon, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The Wisconsin State Patrol attempted to stop a vehicle on westbound I-90/94 in Juneau County for an unspecified reason at about 1 p.m., but the vehicle fled at high speed and the State Patrol ended the pursuit for safety reasons. The sheriff’s office and state troopers located the vehicle in Monroe County, and it fled again, eventually driving into a ditch of I-94 between Highway ET and Industrial Avenue, Monroe County Sheriff Wesley D. Revels said in a statement.
The driver, Demetrius L. Johnson, 39, of Racine, fled on foot into a wooded area west of I-94. Johnson was wanted by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and was “noted to have violent tendencies,” Revels said.
At about 5:30 p.m., a Sheriff’s Office sergeant saw Johnson walking on Highway ET at the east city limits of Tomah and he fled north on a snowmobile trail.
More law enforcement responded and set up a perimeter before continuing the search. At about 8:30 p.m., Johnson was located by a drone team from the Fort McCoy Fire Department, apprehended by a police dog and arrested by the sheriff’s office.
Johnson was medically treated at the scene before being taken to the Monroe County Jail by the Wisconsin State Patrol.
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
EMS worker pleads no contest in sexual assault case
Annie Pulley
RACINE — An EMS worker accused of inappropriately touching a 17-year-old girl while she was in the back of an ambulance pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges Nov. 11.
According to online court records, 57-year-old Roger Kieffer faced one felony count of second-degree sexual assault by an employee of a child welfare agency or care/service residential facility and two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree sexual assault.
Kieffer pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charges, and the second-degree sexual assault charge was dismissed but read into the record.
The judge sentenced Kieffer to nine months in the Racine County Jail for each charge. However, Kieffer will only serve jail time if he breaks the terms of a three-year probation.
He also will be required to register as a sex offender.
Allegations
According to the criminal complaint, which was filed in March, Kieffer was alone in the back of the ambulance while he and his partner drove a 17-year-old patient from Aurora Medical Center in Mount Pleasant to Children’s Wisconsin after she reportedly overdosed on Oct. 30, 2023.
In a Nov. 22, 2023, forensic interview with the Child Advocacy Center, the girl reportedly said that Kieffer performed what he called a pelvic exam.
Kieffer’s incident report did not mention a pelvic exam, and he reportedly denied remembering the girl.
The criminal complaint also notes that Kieffer reportedly lost his teaching job at Waukesha County Technical College after he was alleged to have inappropriately touched students.
Kieffer was fired from the ambulance service in December 2023.
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