Good morning. 
Friday in Whitewater will be mostly sunny with a high of 89. Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:47 PM, for 13h 40m 06s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 94.9% of its visible disk illuminated.
On this day in 1794, United States troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
Katelyn Ferral reports No criminal charges for mishandled Wisconsin National Guard sexual assault cases, state justice department says:
No criminal charges will be filed for 33 sexual assault cases mishandled by the Wisconsin National Guard, but the state Department of Justice says changes are needed to prevent future problems.
The department on Thursday issued the results of its 18-month review of National Guard sexual assault cases in which it examined botched investigations dating from 2009 to 2019. The agency, which does not file its own criminal charges in such instances, said it examined the Guard’s case files and referred them to local district attorneys, who ultimately declined to prosecute.
“Regardless of whether there is ultimately a prosecution, it’s important for our system of justice that when there are allegations made there is a full and thorough review that takes place,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in an interview Wednesday. “We wanted to ensure that kind of review happened.”
The agency review followed a 2019 investigation by the federal National Guard Bureau that found at least 33 sexual assault cases had been mishandled by the Wisconsin Guard. The Guard had been improperly investigating sex assault allegations for years, failing to track such cases and punish some perpetrators.
The Guard Bureau investigation came after the Cap Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found the Guard was violating state and federal rules by discouraging victims from going to police and conducting internal investigations [to discourage federal involvement] into allegations of sexual assault.
Thirty-three cases, yet not a single district attorney’s office would prosecute anyone responsible. Case after case, of obstructing claimants’ legal recourse and official concealment to avoid federal scrutiny, yet no criminal action.
Attorney General Kaul tells Wisconsinites that one should look beyond a lack of prosecutions — literally, regardless —to lessons he wishes to impart.
On the contrary, it’s prosecution, itself, that would impart the lessons Wisconsinites need to hear.