Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Racine Zoo preparing [to] welcome an Eastern Black Rhino
Holly Gilvary
A South African university launched an anti-poaching campaign on Thursday to inject the horns of rhinos with radioactive isotopes that it said were harmless for the animals but which can be detected by customs agents. (AP Video: Alfonso Nqunjana)
RACINE — The Racine Zoo is preparing to welcome Ayubu, an Eastern Black Rhino male, to its “Land of Giants” area.
Five-year-old Ayubu will make the journey from the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City, Kansas, in a few days, according to the Racine Zoo.
After his arrival, Ayubu will be cared for in the Land of Giants rhino barn for quarantine for at least 30 days before he is available to be seen on exhibit. Although the Racine Zoo has exhibited paired rhinos in the past, male Eastern Black Rhinos are often solitary animals who thrive on their own.
Ayubu is being moved based on recommendations from the Associations of Zoos and Aquariums’ Eastern Black Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan.
The Racine Zoo said it has worked closely with Lee Richardson Zoo during the past year to plan Ayubu’s trip. Racine Zoo staff prepped the enclosures this past winter while Lee Richardson staff have worked on his crate training and other behaviors needed to ensure a successful trip.
Eastern Black Rhino males are most noted for their horns, which can weigh more than six pounds and exceed 50 inches in length. The horns are comprised of a protein called keratin, and are sought after by poachers as a “remedy” for various ailments or as a status symbol, according to the Racine Zoo.
Eastern Black Rhinos are critically endangered in their wild range, with numbers dropping from around 70,000 in the 1970s to about 1,650 today.
The AZA’s Eastern Black Rhinoceros Species Survival Plan aims to conserve Eastern Black Rhinos around the world, including by maintaining important genetic diversity within the captive population.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Harry Wait found guilty on three of four counts in 2022 election fraud case
Milana Doné
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Wait was found guilty of two misdemeanor counts of election fraud and one felony count of identity theft. |
RACINE — A jury on Tuesday night found Harry Wait guilty on three of four charges in his election fraud case following a two-day trial and more than three hours of deliberation.
The 71-year-old faced two felony counts of misappropriating identifying information — obtain money and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud — fraud/absentee ballot.
Wait was found not guilty of one count of misappropriating identifying information.
Case history
On July 26, 2022, Wait was at the Racine County Fair when he ordered absentee ballots for Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason be sent to his residence in Union Grove.
While ordering the ballots, Wait was on camera for HOT Government, a watchdog group whose name is an acronym for honest, open and transparent. In 2022, Wait was the group’s president.
Later, Wait sent an email to several public officials saying he ordered the ballots to prove that harvesting ballots can be done. In the email, he said if the ballots were mailed to his residence, he would return them.
Mason’s ballot arrived at Wait’s residence, and Wait posted a photo of himself holding it.
After unsuccessfully trying to return the ballot to the City Clerk’s Office, Wait ultimately returned the ballot to the Racine County Sheriff's Office.
Since then, the case has garnered state and national attention.
Trial
Dozens of supporters of Wait and HOT Government filled the courtroom gallery in downtown Racine on Monday and Tuesday, and extended into an overflow courtroom to watch the proceedings via Zoom.
During opening statements Monday afternoon, prosecuting attorney Leigh Neville-Neil said that Wait put the integrity of an election at risk to seek attention.
“He broke the law so he could broadcast it to anyone who would listen to get the attention he was after,” Neville-Neil said.
Defense attorney Joseph Bugni did not contest any of Wait’s alleged actions but argued about the intent behind what Wait did.
“All he wants to do is expose corruption,” Bugni said.
Bugni said that while Wait ordered the ballots, he had no intention of keeping them, destroying them or using them to vote.
Rather, Bugni said Wait's only intent was to prove it could be done and expose the vulnerabilities of elections and MyVote, an online portal used in Wisconsin for registering to vote, requesting ballots and obtaining ballot information.
The state claimed the intent did not absolve Wait of taking responsibility for committing the crimes, saying it is wrong for someone to rob a bank to prove it can be done or to set fire to a house to prove the fire department arrives too slowly.
During his witness testimony, Vos said he was “frustrated” when he found out Wait requested his ballot.
On the stand, Mason said he “was upset someone pretended to be me and take my ballot.”
Vos and Mason said once the respective village and city clerks knew the absentee ballots were fraudulently ordered, both were still able to vote in the 2022 election.
When Wait took the stand Tuesday, he said he “didn’t want to take away their voting rights.”
Wait said he did not want the ballots, which is why he returned Mason’s ballot to the sheriff’s office. The state argued that ordering the ballots without wanting them was illogical.
Wait said he ordered the ballots “for public good, for public benefit because people have to realize their vote is not safe.”
He asserted that he proved his point.
“I could’ve ordered a thousand ballots. I could’ve ordered yours and mailed it to her,” Wait told state prosecutors during cross examination.
The state tried to prove that Wait ordered the ballots to gain attention and fame, especially because he chose the ballots of public figures.
Wait repeatedly admitted to ordering the ballots in Vos’ name and Mason’s name without their consent, but adamantly denied wanting personal fame.
“I brought attention to it because attention had to be brought to it,” Wait said. “It’s not about me.”
When asked by his attorney why he did it, Wait said, “to save a republic.”
Wait’s signature bond was set at $2,500. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 2 at the Walworth County Courthouse.
This article has been updated since originally published to reflect the scheduled sentencing date.
Friday, March 27, 2026
Racine-based Burn Pit BBQ coming to Wisconsin Walmart stores in April
Business grew out of pandemic-era hobby
Burn Pit BBQ, a small Racine-based barbeque seasoning business, is moving into the world's largest brick-and-mortar retail chain.
Walmart will carry Burn Pit BBQ's garlic seasoning and Memphis-style barbeque rubs at 70 Wisconsin stores starting April 19. It's a dramatic expansion for a business that grew out of a pandemic-era hobby.
Founders Ben Kreple and Greg Fischer, former soccer teammates at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, bonded after graduation over a shared love for grilling.
"It was a way to continue to get our families together," Kreple told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Racine residents saw more neighbors fire up their backyard grills, some for the first time. So, they started a blog offering recipes and tips.
"When Greg and I first started grilling together, we would reach out to ask questions, and there'd be times you'd get trounced on for asking certain questions," Kreple said. "Our vision was to have something for the newer, beginning grillers to feel free to ask questions."
Soon, Kreple and Fischer began experimenting with their own recipes. They opened an online store, Burn Pit BBQ, in 2020.
Burn Pit BBQ specializes in barbeque sauces, seasonings, and hot sauces. Sauces and seasonings run $12 per bottle, and hot sauces cost $15 per bottle.
The business boasts all-natural ingredients and gluten-free options. Kreple and Fischer said they wanted to offer a healthy, Wisconsin-made option for new grillers and enthusiasts alike.
After a couple years of online sales growth, Burn Pit BBQ expanded to a few local retailers. Among them are Metcalfe's Market in Wauwatosa, Butcher Block Meat Market in Oak Creek, and Harry Hansen Meat Service in Caledonia.
Walmart's Open Call program provided an opportunity
Last spring, a friend made Kreple and Fischer aware of Walmart's Open Call program, which invites small businesses to pitch for a chance to put their products on the retail giant's shelves. They applied online and were invited to meet with a buyer at Walmart headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas.
"We got 30 minutes to pitch our brand and our products, and after that 30
minutes, we were told that they'd like to give us a shot," Fischer said.
The pair run Burn Pit BBQ with the help of partner distributors and co-packers, but this new expansion has them looking bring on more people in the next few years. If all goes well, they hope to grow regionally.
"We want to focus on our backyard," Kreple said. "That's always been our goal – focus really heavily on Wisconsin, where we're from, and the Midwest."
Kreple and Fischer, both of whom served in the U.S. military, also host an annual "Back Yard Bash" fundraiser at Greendale's Explorium Brewpub to support local veterans' organizations. The event has raised more than $30,000 since it began five years ago.
"Being a veteran-owned business, it's very important for us to continue to remember our service as well as those that have served and continue to serve," Fischer said.
During this period of rapid growth, Kreple and Fischer want to keep accessibility central to Burn Pit BBQ.
Each online product description offers a rundown of flavor profile and which meats are best paired with it. Burn Pit BBQ's blog posts weekly recipes and grilling advice.
It's a part of helping others continue to bond over the grill, they said.
Francesca Pica can be reached at fpica@usatodayco.com.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Conservative activist convicted in voter-fraud case
From: The Washington Post:
In Wisconsin, Harry Wait said he set out to expose the potential for voter fraud. He ordered mail ballots in the names of others — and got charged with felonies.
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| Harry Wait, a conservative activist, waits to meet with other HOT Government group members in 2022 at a bar in Racine, Wisconsin. (Alex Wroblewski/For The Washington Post) |
By Patrick Marley
MADISON, Wis. — Conservative activist Harry Wait said he ordered ballots in the names of prominent local politicians four years ago to expose the risks of voter fraud.
Prosecutors determined he was right that voter fraud was an issue — but they believed he was the culprit.
On Tuesday night, a jury convicted Wait of one felony count of identity theft and two misdemeanor counts of election fraud, according to online court records. The jury acquitted him on a second identity theft charge. He faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison but is unlikely to receive a punishment that severe.
The verdict came as President Donald Trump and his allies put a focus on the dangers of voter fraud and pressed Senate Republicans to abandon the filibuster and pass legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast ballots.
Voter fraud is rare, and Wait’s case shows that those who try to uncover it can pay serious consequences if they push legal limits.
Wait, a 71-year-old retired business consultant, is the president emeritus of a group in southeastern Wisconsin known as HOT Government, which Wait says pushes for honest, open and transparent leadership. Wait has spent years railing against the state-run website that allows Wisconsin voters to find their polling places and order mail ballots.
He used that system in 2022 to request ballots in the names of State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, the most powerful Republican in the state, and Cory Mason, the mayor of Racine, Wisconsin, and a Democratic former state lawmaker.
Wait asked for the ballots to be sent to his home and then announced he had done so, saying he was highlighting a flaw in the state’s voting processes that bad actors could exploit to cast ballots for other people. The state Justice Department launched an investigation and charged Wait.
One of the municipal clerks who received a request from Wait sent him a ballot; the other did not. Election officials have said that actions like Wait’s are extremely rare and that they would have quickly caught on to them even if he hadn’t disclosed what he did. The state tracks where ballots are sent and investigates when voters question whether someone tried to vote in their name, election officials said.
Wait has said the ease with which he ordered ballots shows the state’s online portal is vulnerable to mischief. In the four years since he was charged, he has said bringing the issue to light was worth the criminal charges.
“I’d do it again in a heartbeat, because to save the republic, soldiers have to draw blood and blood be drawn,” Wait told The Washington Post in 2022.
On Wednesday, Wait said he would appeal his conviction but was prepared to pay a price for his actions.
“What I’m afraid [of] is that any whistleblowers that are coming down the road that have this information are going to be scared to do it,” he said.
Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the state’s bipartisan Elections Commission, said Wisconsin’s online voter portal is set up to balance access to the ballot and voter security. Voters who don’t like the state’s election policies should contact legislators instead of committing a crime “as some sort of stunt for personal aggrandizement,” she said.
“I hope the message [the verdict] sends is, ‘If you break election laws, you will be caught and you will be convicted,’” Jacobs said.
Wait’s supporters have lauded him as a hero. At rallies, some have worn “Free Harry” T-shirts and others military-style dog tags with Wait’s name, the date he ordered ballots and the designation of “patriot.” On Monday and Tuesday, his backers posted video updates about his trial and filled the courtroom in Racine.
Wait got involved in reviewing election practices after Trump lost the 2020 election. Reviews have repeatedly found the results were correctly tallied, but Wait has said he believes the election was rigged. Trump, too, has continued to falsely claim that election was stolen, and his administration recently seized ballots in Georgia and election data in Arizona as it investigates.
Wait is not alone in facing legal consequences. Three months after Wait ordered ballots in the names of others, Milwaukee’s deputy elections director created three false identities to request that military ballots in their names be sent to a state lawmaker. The elections official, Kimberly Zapata, said she was trying to identify a flaw in the state’s systems. Zapata, who was quickly fired, was convicted in 2024 of absentee-ballot fraud and misconduct in office, and sentenced to a year of probation.
In Colorado, former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters (R) is serving a nine-year prison sentence for conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation and other crimes related to a scheme to copy voting machine hard drives. In Michigan, two attorneys and a former state lawmaker face charges related to efforts to obtain voting machines.
From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/03/24/activist-voter-fraud-mail-wisconsin/
Caledonia woman reported missing has been found dead, police say
Steven Martinez
been found dead.
Police early Wednesday, March 25 issued a missing endangered person alert for Kari Nelson. Authorities cancelled the alert about 9:20 a.m., saying Nelson's body had been found.
Nelson was last seen about 6:30 p.m. March 24 leaving her house to pick up medication from a Meijer in Oak Creek. She never returned home.
Police found her car around 10 p.m. that night in Bender Park. Her cellphone was inside the vehicle, the alert said.
Police issue missing endangered alerts when a missing person does not meet critera for certain missing alerts, like an Amber Alert, a Silver Alert or a critical missing alert, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
Racine County activist Harry Wait found guilty in voter fraud case
Molly Beck
MADISON - A Union Grove man who illegally requested absentee ballots to make a statement about election security was found guilty of election fraud by a jury.
Harry Wait, a leader of a Racine County-based group known as H.O.T. Government that promotes false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, was found guilty of two counts of misdemeanor election fraud and one count of identity theft by a Walworth County jury on Tuesday, March 24 after a two-day trial.
Wait was charged by Attorney General Josh Kaul in 2022 after he posed as Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Racine Mayor Cory Mason to request their absentee ballots in order to show violations of the law are possible.
The jury found him not guilty of a second felony identity theft charge. He faces up to seven years in prison.
Wait is a leader of a Racine County group that focuses its advocacy on the false election claims, including that President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and that Wisconsin's elections are rife with fraud.
"I'm glad I did it. I would do it again in a heartbeat," Wait told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when he was charged in 2022.
According to the criminal complaint, an investigator with the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation alleged Wait requested eight ballots but all but two individuals gave him permission to do so.
The charges came two months after the state DOJ launched an investigation into the scheme to commit election crimes by Wait and others who believe former Trump did not lose the 2020 election.
Ahead of the charges, Wait freely spoke about the crime and contacted former Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling and others about his actions.
In one email to Schmaling, Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson, Vos and others, Wait said, "I stand ready to be charged for exposing these voting vulnerabilities when I ordered Mason's and Vos's absentee ballot online, all without providing a photo I.D. or identifying myself."
Schmaling did not arrest Wait and instead publicized the plot on social media as being helpful in rooting out vulnerabilities in the state election system and blamed the Wisconsin Elections Commission, calling on commissioners to remove a way voters can easily request ballots online.
Wait has become a minor celebrity among those in Wisconsin and beyond who do not believe President Joe Biden legitimately won the presidency in 2020.
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has praised Wait's actions, calling him a "white hat hacker."
Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes. Recounts financed by Trump, nonpartisan state audits, and a study by a conservative legal firm have confirmed the result and did not find widespread voter fraud.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
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