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Milwaukee mayor responds to GOP lawmakers criticizing city response to violence

8 August 2025 at 21:50

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson is clapping back at Republican state lawmakers who say city leaders aren't doing enough to address violent crime.  

The post Milwaukee mayor responds to GOP lawmakers criticizing city response to violence appeared first on WPR.

Nevada Latest State to Authorize Stop-Arm Cameras

7 August 2025 at 21:14

Nevada became the 26th state to authorize school districts to install and use school bus stop-arm cameras.

Assembly Bill 527, which passed June 6 and went into effect on July 1, allows school districts to install the cameras and for law enforcement to use evidence of illegal passing to issue citations to the vehicle’s registered owner. Fines collected are used to fund the installation, maintenance and operation of the camera systems as well as pay the vendor to install, operate or maintain the systems.

School districts that choose to vieo cameras must conduct a public awareness campaign regarding the use of cameras and notify the public on when enforcement starts.

While school district leaders applaud the law, local police departments are questioning if they have adequate staffing to handle review video and issue citations, as noted in a local news article.

The law also addresses privacy concerns by requiring school districts and police departments to delete images of vehicles after 90 days.


Related: New York State Amends School Bus Camera Law Following Court Rulings
Related: Update: Nevada School District Raises Pay Amid Bus Driver Shortage
Related: Are Extended Stop Arms Part of Solution to Illegal School Bus Passing?

The post Nevada Latest State to Authorize Stop-Arm Cameras appeared first on School Transportation News.

Wisconsin village considers disbanding police department, contracting with county

7 August 2025 at 10:00

The village of Sturtevant is considering disbanding its police department and outsourcing services to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.

The post Wisconsin village considers disbanding police department, contracting with county appeared first on WPR.

50 Pounds of Dynamite Found Inside Alaska School Bus

30 July 2025 at 17:42

Authorities in Alaska found 50 pounds of dynamite on an old school bus Wednesday, reported Fox 19.

According to the news report, Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Day said the property owner, who was not identified at this writing, discovered the dynamite in the school bus located on Richarson Highway. The bus was parked on his property, and he called law enforcement, which in turn contacted the FBI.

State troopers and other agencies shut down the highway for seven hours as they investigated. Agents said the dynamite was at least 20 years old and its location near the highway made it unsafe to attempt a controlled detonation.

Day told local media that authorities worked to remove the dynamite to a more appropriate location to dispose of it safely. The dynamite was doused with chemicals to keep it from exploding while it was burned. The situation was also monitored by a bomb disposal robot.

Authorities reportedly did not provide information on how the explosives got on the school bus or their intended use. Day stated that if anyone finds explosives in or on their property the best thing to do is contact law enforcement, which will assess the situation before making sure the explosives are disposed of safely.


Related: Alaska School Bus Driver Arrested for DUI, Firearm Possession
Related: Alaska School Bus Driver Charged with DUI 
Related: Law Enforcement Expert Shares Importance of Identifying Weapons on School Buses
Related: WATCH: Fire Expert to Lead School Bus Evacuation Training at STN EXPO West

The post 50 Pounds of Dynamite Found Inside Alaska School Bus appeared first on School Transportation News.

Doctors, advocates hold out hope for appeals in abortion privacy rule case

10 July 2025 at 19:07
A 2024 provision under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects reproductive health information from disclosure to law enforcement when care was legally obtained, such as in another state with abortion access. (Photo by Dave Whitney/Getty Images)

A 2024 provision under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects reproductive health information from disclosure to law enforcement when care was legally obtained, such as in another state with abortion access. (Photo by Dave Whitney/Getty Images)

Two pending lawsuits over a 2024 federal rule protecting certain reproductive health information from disclosure are on hold while the Trump administration decides whether to appeal a Texas judge’s June decision that declared the rule unlawful and void.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued an opinion nullifying the federal rule that shielded reproductive health information from law enforcement when care was legally obtained, such as in another state with abortion access. In this case, Dr. Carmen Purl argued that the U.S. Health and Human Services rule conflicted with the laws requiring her to report child abuse. Purl said in court documents she believes abortion and gender-affirming care fall under the definitions of child abuse.

Purl lives in the judicial district where Kacsmaryk — who has taken anti-abortion stances in the past — is the only judge. His ruling applied nationwide and took effect immediately.

Without the rule, law enforcement officials in states with abortion bans may issue subpoenas for records related to reproductive health care obtained legally in another state, as some have already recently tried to do. According to health policy nonprofit KFF, 22 states and the District of Columbia have laws limiting what reproductive health information can be obtained, but others with legal abortion access do not, such as New Hampshire and Virginia.

Abortion-rights advocates say it’s largely an intimidation tactic meant to sow fear in patients and providers. Since the Dobbs decision in 2022,  anti-abortion attorney Jonathan Mitchell filed nine petitions in Texas seeking to legally question abortion funds, providers and researchers, and two individual women who sought abortions in other states, according to the Texas Tribune.

Carmel Shachar, a Harvard law professor who has extensively researched data privacy and health policy, said it’s possible for a patient to travel to a state with legal access and have that information stored in their medical records that is shared with their providers back home.

“Without the reproductive privacy rule, the concern will be, ‘OK, will some of these states that have taken a very strong stance against abortion be able to pinpoint where residents of their states travel to receive abortion care?’” Shachar said.

Tennessee plaintiffs push for separate ruling after Texas decision

Two lawsuits challenging the legality of the rule are frozen at least until the government’s Aug. 18 deadline to appeal. One case is in Missouri, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the other. Paxton’s office had also challenged the legality of the underlying privacy rule or HIPAA established in 2000, which could have opened more avenues for state investigations if a judge agreed to throw it out. But according to recent court filings, the state is no longer asking the court to do that.

A Tennessee lawsuit includes 17 other states that heavily restrict or ban abortion as plaintiffs. Their attorneys general asked the court to find the 2024 rule unlawful because they said it impedes their right to investigate cases of waste, fraud and abuse. In the most recent court brief, attorneys for Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said the case can still be decided by U.S. District Judge Katherine Crytzer, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump.

Until judgment is affirmed on appeal and no further appellate review is available or the deadline to appeal passes, “the plaintiff states’ claims remain live and ready for this court to resolve,” the brief said.

Legal organization continues attempts to intervene so they can appeal

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) allows law enforcement to obtain health information for investigation purposes. But the addition of the 2024 provision under former Democratic President Joe Biden prohibited disclosure of protected health information in investigations against any person for the mere act of seeking, obtaining, or facilitating reproductive health care, to impose criminal or civil liabilities for that conduct, or to identify the person involved in seeking or obtaining that care. It also applied to gender-affirming care.

The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment. Whether it appeals Kacsmaryk’s ruling is in question, as the Justice Department under Trump did not address whether it thought the 2024 rule was proper and lawful prior to Kacsmaryk’s decision. Attorneys instead said they were reviewing the rule but had no other updates. In the Missouri and Tennessee cases, DOJ attorneys have argued for dismissal for other legal reasons, but also have not defended the 2024 rule itself.

In March, the DOJ dropped the case that argued the federal law mandating stabilizing emergency care should apply to those who need emergency abortion care. And in early June, U.S. Health and Human Services rescinded guidance that said that care should be required in emergencies.

Attorneys for Democracy Forward, a nonprofit legal organization, are representing Doctors for America and the cities of Columbus, Ohio, and Madison, Wisconsin, and attempted to intervene in the case because they did not expect the government to defend the rule. If they were allowed to intervene, they could appeal Kacsmaryk’s opinion striking down the rule regardless of the Trump administration’s decision.

Kacsmaryk denied their motion, while a decision in the other three cases is pending. Carrie Flaxman, senior legal adviser for Democracy Forward, said they have appealed that denial to a higher court. Given that the Department of Justice attorneys chose not to defend the rule on the merits in court proceedings, Flaxman said, she thinks they have a good argument for appeal.

Repealing the rule was a directive in Project 2025, the blueprint document for the next presidential administration published by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Several prominent anti-abortion organizations were part of the panel that drafted Project 2025, and many of the individuals involved in writing the 900-page document now work for the Trump administration.

Evers gives $1.8 million to Green Bay area public safety to cover NFL draft costs

18 June 2025 at 18:13
Lambeau Field in Green Bay

Lambeau Field in Green Bay | Photo by Jason Kerzinski for Wisconsin Examiner

Gov. Tony Evers announced Wednesday that he’s awarding $1.8 million to the city of Green Bay to cover the public safety costs associated with hosting the NFL draft in April. 

The event drew more than 600,000 visitors to the city which, with a population of about 105,000, is the smallest NFL city in the country. Initial estimates say the draft generated $94 million in economic activity across the state and $20 million for the Green Bay area specifically. 

Prior to the draft, a pair of Republican lawmakers had requested that the Republicans in control of the budget writing Joint Finance Committee include $1.25 million in the next state budget to help cover public safety costs. That request has not yet been addressed as Republicans continue to work on delivering a state budget to Evers. 

The money Evers awarded is being disbursed from the Opportunity Attraction and Promotion Fund, a program proposed by Evers in his last state budget proposal to help the state recruit and host large-scale events. The 2023-25 budget included $10 million for the program and Evers had proposed an additional $5 million in his latest budget proposal. 

“The 2025 NFL Draft was a booming success, and I’ve said all along that nobody could have pulled it off other than the Green Bay Packers and the good folks in Green Bay and across the region,” Evers said in a statement. “So, it was critically important to me that Green Bay and our local partners received the support they need to cover public safety costs, and I’m glad we were able to get this done.” 

According to a news release, the grant will also help the village of Ashwaubenon and Brown County cover their costs associated with the event. Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said the money will keep the burden of the event off city taxpayers. 

“We’re incredibly grateful to Gov. Evers and WEDC for their critical support in covering public safety expenses related to the NFL Draft,” Genrich said. “This was a historic event that brought enormous economic benefits to our community and the entire state of Wisconsin. The allocation of this funding recognizes that positive statewide economic effect and protects our local taxpayers from bearing the costs—a win-win for our state’s and our city’s residents.”

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Milwaukee-area cop quit last police job after appearing to miss 200+ work hours

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A police officer forced out of a suburban Milwaukee department for appearing to skip a lot of work and claiming many questionable comp days is now working for a small-town department in Waukesha County.

Amanda Lang resigned from the Glendale Police Department in 2021 after an internal investigation found she had more than 230 paid hours unaccounted for between 2019 and 2021. At her wage of $40 an hour, those hours added up to $9,300, the investigation noted.

“Based on the discovery of leaving early, along with the substantial number of full shifts not accounted for, one can only wonder how many other times she has left significantly early without documentation,” then-Captain Rhett Fugman wrote in his investigation, which The Badger Project obtained in a records request.

Amanda Lang
Amanda Lang worked for the Glendale Police Department for more than 13 years before an investigation into her work hours led to an internal investigation and her resignation. (Photo obtained through a records request)

The captain recommended Lang be fired, and she resigned in April of 2021.

She worked for Glendale in the Milwaukee suburbs for more than 13 years, rising to the level of sergeant, before her resignation.

“As a sergeant, additional responsibility and trust was provided to Sgt. Lang,” Fugman wrote. “Her actions and inactions displayed regarding leaving early and posting off time over the last two plus years have displayed a lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness.”

“These characteristics are the foundation of what we are as police officers,” he continued.

Lang was hired by the Lannon Police Department later in 2021 and has worked there since.

Lannon Police Chief Daniel Bell said his department “follows rigorous background checks and screening procedures for all new hires to ensure they align with the standards and integrity expected of our officers,” including for Lang.

“During the interview process, we were satisfied with her explanation of the situation,” Bell said of her resignation.

Lang is “consistently demonstrating professionalism, dedication and a strong commitment to community policing,” he added.

She has been promoted to lieutenant, the second in command of the 12-officer department.

Another officer employed by the Lannon Police Department, Nathaniel Schweitzer, was forced out of the police department in the town of Waterford in Racine County late last year. Like Lang, he “resigned prior to the completion of an internal investigation,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s database on officers who left a law enforcement position under negative circumstances.

Number of wandering officers in Wisconsin continues to rise

The total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin has dropped for years and now sits at near record lows as chiefs and sheriffs say they struggle to fill positions in an industry less attractive to people than it once was.

Unsurprisingly, the number of wandering officers, those who were fired or forced out from a previous job in law enforcement, continues to rise. Nearly 400 officers in Wisconsin currently employed were fired or forced out of previous jobs in law enforcement in the state, almost double the amount from 2021. And that doesn’t include officers who were pushed out of law enforcement jobs outside of the state and who came to Wisconsin to work.

Chiefs and sheriffs can be incentivized to hire wandering officers, experts say. Hiring someone new to law enforcement means the police department or sheriff’s office has to pay for recruits’ academy training and then wait for them to finish before they can start putting new hires on the schedule.

A wandering officer already has certification and can start working immediately.

Nearly 2,400 officers in the state have been flagged by their former law enforcement employers as having a “negative separation” since the state DOJ launched its database in 2017.

Most are simply young officers who did not succeed in a new job during their probationary period, when the bar to fire them is very low, experts say. But some have more serious reasons for being pushed out.

Law enforcement agencies can look up job applicants in that database to get more insight into their work history. And a law enacted in 2021 in Wisconsin bans law enforcement officers from sealing their personnel files and work histories, a previously common tactic for officers with a black mark on their record.

About 13,400 law enforcement officers are currently employed in Wisconsin, excluding those who primarily work in a corrections facility, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Wandering officers make up nearly 3% of the total.

At least one major study published in the Yale Law Journal has found that wandering officers are more likely to receive a complaint for a moral character violation, compared to new officers and veterans who haven’t been fired or forced out from a previous position in law enforcement.

Sammie Garrity contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee-area cop quit last police job after appearing to miss 200+ work hours is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Pentagon sets price tag for 60-day Los Angeles troop deployment at $134 million

10 June 2025 at 21:58
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee at the U.S. Capitol on June 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Tuesday was the first time Hegseth testified before Congress since his confirmation hearings in January.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testifies before the House Appropriations Committee's Defense Subcommittee at the U.S. Capitol on June 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C. Tuesday was the first time Hegseth testified before Congress since his confirmation hearings in January.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles will cost the federal government about $134 million, a Pentagon budget official said Tuesday, as the response to the protests further divided officials in California and Washington, D.C.

The situation in the country’s second-largest city captured the attention of lawmakers in the nation’s capital, even as the Republican-led Congress charted a path forward for the Trump-backed tax and spending cut bill.

Democrats in Congress on Tuesday warned the administration’s actions bordered on authoritarianism, while President Donald Trump said his intervention saved the city from destruction.

“If we didn’t send in the National Guard quickly, right now, Los Angeles would be burning to the ground,” Trump said in the Oval Office Tuesday.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, meanwhile, sought a restraining order blocking the 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines deployed to Los Angeles from assisting with domestic law enforcement. Trump ordered the troops to the city over Newsom’s and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ objections.

Budget question

Democrats on Capitol Hill criticized the administration over several aspects of the deployment, saying Trump was instigating violence, overstepping his authority and wasting taxpayer money.

At a previously scheduled Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing, Democratic Reps. Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Pete Aguillar of California asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth the financial cost of placing 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines in Los Angeles.

Hegseth, who is originally from Minnesota, declined to answer McCollum’s question directly, instead invoking the riots in Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 and saying Trump sought to avoid similar chaos in Los Angeles.

“President Trump recognizes a situation like that, improperly handled by a governor, like it was by Gov. (Tim) Walz, if it gets out of control, it’s a bad situation for the citizens of any location,” he said.

When Aguillar asked a similar question about cost, Hegseth deferred to acting Pentagon comptroller Bryn MacDonnell, who estimated the current cost at $134 million, mainly for housing, travel and food. That money came out of existing operations and maintenance accounts, she said.

Hegseth told the panel the deployment was authorized for 60 days.

Just 2 miles away at the White House, though, Trump implied the decision could be more open-ended, saying during the Oval Office event that troops would stay in Los Angeles “until there’s no danger.”

“When there’s no danger, they’ll leave,” he said.

Restraining order

California’s federal lawsuit challenging the deployment, which state leaders filed Monday, includes a request for the court to issue a restraining order by 1 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer did not issue such an order by that deadline.

The administration intended to use the military personnel “to accompany federal immigration enforcement officers on raids throughout Los Angeles,” the request for a restraining order said.

“These unlawful deployments have already proven to be a deeply inflammatory and unnecessary provocation, anathema to our laws limiting the use (of) federal forces for law enforcement, rather than a means of restoring calm,” the state said.

“Federal antagonization, through the presence of soldiers in the streets, has already caused real and irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles, the people who live there, and the State of California. They must be stopped, immediately.”

Democrats in California’s congressional delegation and members of the congressional caucuses for Black, Hispanic and Asian and Pacific Islander Democrats also blasted the administration’s role in inflaming the standoff between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who’d conducted recent raids on workplaces in the area.

“President Trump’s unlawful decision to deploy the National Guard onto the streets of Los Angeles is a reckless and inflammatory escalation, one designed not to restore calm, but to provoke chaos,” Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette D. Clarke said at a press conference.

“Let’s be clear about how this began: with peaceful protests sparked by the unlawful and inhumane targeting, detention and deportation of our immigrant neighbors.”

Clarke, a New York Democrat, said in response to a reporter’s question that she believed the sending in of troops constituted an impeachable act by Trump.

“I definitely believe it is, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” she said.

‘Met with force’

Other Democrats on Capitol Hill have said Monday and Tuesday that Trump engineered the conflict to distract from unpopular provisions of Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” and other issues.

“Donald Trump, cornered by his own failures – from pushing a heartless bill that would rip health care away from 16 million Americans, to raising costs from his reckless tariffs, to waging war with Elon Musk – Trump is desperately seeking a distraction,” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor Tuesday.

“His order to deploy the National Guard and Marines – our own troops – on Americans is not just outrageous and provocative, it’s a dangerous authoritarian overreach that threatens the very fabric of our democracy.”

Rep. Jimmy Gomez led a press conference of California’s U.S. House Democrats Tuesday where he warned that the militarization in Los Angeles could happen elsewhere.

“If it can happen in Los Angeles, it can happen in any state in the union,” he said.

Later, at the Oval Office, Trump said protesters at his military parade on Saturday would be “met with very strong force.”

‘Tarred and feathered’

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Trump acted responsibly to protect Southern Californians and blamed Newsom for “failed leadership” that he said led to the clash this weekend.

Asked if, as Trump and White House border czar Tom Homan have suggested, Newsom should be arrested for interfering with immigration enforcement, Johnson initially demurred before suggesting an 18th-century punishment.

“I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested,” the Louisiana Republican said.

“But he ought to be tarred and feathered… He’s standing in the way of the administration and the carrying out of federal law. Right? He is applauding the bad guys and standing in the way of the good guys. He is trying to — he’s a participant, an accomplice — in our federal law enforcement agents being not just disrespected but assaulted.”

Johnson said House Republicans were fully behind Trump’s actions and deflected a question about if there was a point at which he would oppose the administration’s efforts.

“He is fully within his authority right now to do what he is doing,” Johnson said. “We have to maintain order.”

Massachusetts School Bus Contractor Sued After Driver Accused of Striking Pedestrians

A bus contractor for Boston Public Schools (BPS) is being sued after one of its school driver allegedly caused a crash that injured an 8-year-old student with autism, reported WCVB 5.

The incident reportedly occurred last year, when a school bus veered onto a sidewalk at the Curley School in Jamaica Plain and struck the child, who was walking with a school aide.

According to the article, the lawsuit, filed this month by the child’s family, alleges gross negligence by contractor Transdev and its employees, citing inadequate supervision, failure to ensure alert and competent staff, and systemic safety failures.

The crash was captured by a dashboard camera in the school bus. Footage reportedly shows the bus driver and bus safety monitor, who were not identified, napping in their seats just moments before the driver awoke, started the bus, and swerved into pedestrians standing on the sidewalk.

The injured child’s guardian said the incident almost took her child’s life and that Transdev must be held accountable to protect children and prevent this from ever happening again.

Following the crash, police stated said the bus driver made multiple false claims, including that the bus experienced a “mechanical issue (steering).” But the investigating officer found that all existing mechanical issues on the bus were a result of the crash.

The bus driver also claimed that as he was pulling the bus forward, a vehicle cut in front of him, and that in attempt to avoid the vehicle he turned the steering wheel in the opposite direction but pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal by mistake.

According to the news report, the child sustained a broken femur, which resulted in surgery and months of impatient hospital care and treatment.

The lawsuit follows an independent investigation into school transportation safety by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and BPS, launched after a 5-year-old was struck and killed by a bus in the city’s Hyde Park April 28. The BPS bus driver, identified as Jean Charles, was driving on an expired school bus certificate, which he had been notified about.

Natashia Tidwell, a former federal prosecutor and police officer who specializes in external investigations, will lead the independent review of safety policies and performance under contracts with Transdev, the transportation company that has been contracting with BPS since 2013 to hire, train and manage the district’s approximately 750 school bus drivers.

The case is ongoing.


Related: Massachusetts Woman Arrested After Nearly Hitting Child Boarding School Bus
Related: Florida Students Hit, Two Killed During School Bus Stop Walks
Related: Texas Man Strikes Student with Vehicle
Related: Missouri Child Hit by Pickup Truck While Getting Off School Bus

The post Massachusetts School Bus Contractor Sued After Driver Accused of Striking Pedestrians appeared first on School Transportation News.

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