Prosecution of gravely ill people who rely on medical marijuana is both wasteful and cruel. It’s a poor use of expensive law enforcement efforts better directed elsewhere.
Crime
Crime, Official Misconduct, Press
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism: Indiana prosecutor resigns over Walker email
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s hard to overestimate the outrageousness of this prosecutor’s actions: An Indiana deputy prosecutor and Republican activist resigned Thursday after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism uncovered an email in which he suggested faking an attack on Gov. Scott Walker to discredit union protesters. Carlos F. Lam submitted his resignation shortly before the Center published…
Crime, Government Spending, Official Misconduct
Bell Officials’ E-Mails: We Act Like Pigs – CBS News
by JOHN ADAMS •
Readers may recall the story of excessive municipal compensation of officials in Bell, California, an impoverished town where officials helped themselves to huge salaries. See, Excessive Public Compensation in Bell, California (Lessons for the Rest of America) and Update: Excessive Public Compensation in Bell, California (Lessons for the Rest of America) It’s even worse than…
City, Crime, Police
Authorities investigating Whitewater bank robbery, bomb threat
by JOHN ADAMS •
Officers responded to a robbery at about 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Westside branch of Whitewater Commercial Bank, which is located at Sentry Foods at 1260 W. Main St., Whitewater, a news release from the Whitewater Police Department said. The suspect reportedly was carrying a brown paper grocery bag and a computer bag containing two…
Cats, Crime
Cat-Hating Misfit Pleads Guilty
by JOHN ADAMS •
Giovanni Estrada, now 20, entered the plea in court this morning. Investigators say he tried to drown the cat in its locked carrier back in September because it killed one of his pet crawfish. The cat, later named “Lovie” for her affection towards caretakers, had been shot by a BB gun multiple times. She was…
Crime
GazetteXtra.com: Man Jailed After Ramming Estranged Wife’s Vehicle
by JOHN ADAMS •
A story from nearby Janesville — After an argument at their home Christmas Eve, Michael Thurman, 49, of 2017 Purvis Ave., went looking for his estranged wife, Jodi Thurman, 37. As he pulled into the alley at 12:15 a.m. Dec. 25, behind Weirdo’s Bar & Grill, 209 W. Milwaukee St., he saw her leaving the…
Crime, Law, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Press Release, Taxes/Taxation
Wes [Benedict of the LP] for Wesley Snipes | Libertarian Party
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Libertarian Party issued the following press release about tax protester Wesley Snipes. Note that Snipes was acquitted(!) of tax fraud and conspiracy, but he’s been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on a misdemeanor conviction merely for being a non-filer. Wes for Wesley Snipes Why men can’t jump on Wesley Snipes WASHINGTON – Wes Benedict,…
Crime, University
Wisconsin State Journal: Questions abound after uptick in hate crimes at university campuses
by JOHN ADAMS •
Reporters Deborah Ziff and Doug Erickson write about the rise in hate crimes on some state campuses. They note how standards for cataloguing incidents vary between schools — Even on UW campuses, there is variance in what officials interpret as a hate crime. At UW-Eau Claire, racist graffiti in four bathroom stalls in March, including…
Crime, Press
A free pamphlet about illicit drugs that every reporter should download – By Jack Shafer – Slate Magazine
by JOHN ADAMS •
Drug addiction is a serious problem, and one compounded when bad information substitutes for good — Where do most people get their information about drugs? From the press. And where does the press get its information? Primarily from other misinformed journalists, lazy cops, grieving parents, clueless drug counselors, spurious Web sites, and gibbering druggies. By…
Crime
Milwaukee FBI agent trips up Russian ‘king of spam’ – JSOnline
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authorities say he was the king of spam, a 23-year-old Russian controlling a network of infected computers generating 10 billion unwanted e-mails a day – a third of the global spam stream – until a Milwaukee FBI agent unplugged the operation. Now, Oleg Nikolaenko awaits a hearing in federal court in Milwaukee, where he is…
Crime, University
Wisconsin State Journal – On Campus: A third hate crime reported at UW-Whitewater
by JOHN ADAMS •
At the Wisconsin State Journal, reporter Deborah Ziff writes about reports of a third hate crime at UW-Whitewater: Three cars owned by African-American students at UW-Whitewater were vandalized this week, in what university officials are describing as the third hate crime incident on campus this semester. The owners of the vehicles notified police that the…
City, Crime, Police
Repetitive Failures from the Wrong Approach
by JOHN ADAMS •
Following a house party at which over one-hundred people were cited for underage drinking, Whitewater’s long-tenured police chief, James Coan, announced that two people hosting the party would be cited for violations amounting to six-thousand dollars apiece. (What they’ll actually pay may be a different matter.) See, Residents fined $12,000 from party bust. (I’ve written…