KENOSHA PROTEST-SHOOTINGS-EXPLAINER-VICTIMS

EXPLAINER: Rittenhouse attorneys spar over victim depictions

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Attorneys spent the first week of Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial sparring over who provoked whom, with prosecutors portraying Rittenhouse as the aggressor and the defense working to show that the men he shot had threatened him. Rittenhouse shot Joseph Rosenbaum, Anthony Huber and Gaige Grosskreutz during the August 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Rittenhouse’s attorney Mark Richards has worked to show that Rittenhouse fired in self-defense after the men attacked him. He suggested that Rosenbaum ambushed Rittenhouse and said Huber was trying to take Rittenhouse’s head off when he swung a skateboard at him. Prosecutors said Rosenbaum was unarmed and that Huber and Grosskreutz were trying to protect the crowd. Only Grosskreutz survived being shot.

HOMECOMING ASSAULT

Madison student charged in attack that prompted protests

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Madison high school student has been charged with sexually assaulting a girl at a homecoming party. The attack prompted student protests across Madison and the resignation of the principal at East High School. The 17-year-old was charged Friday with sexual assault and strangulation in the Oct. 10 incident. According to the complaint, the victim was at a friend’s after-party when the suspect allegedly locked her in a bedroom and assaulted her. In the days following, the Wisconsin State Journal reports, students staged two walkouts in support of the victim. East Principal Sean Leavy stepped down late last month.

HO-CHUNK FLAG

UW-Madison flies Ho-Chunk Nation flag atop Bascom Hall

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin-Madison has raised the Ho-Chunk Nation flag over its main administration building, marking the first time that the university has flown another nation’s flag with the U.S. and Wisconsin flags. Friday’s ceremony at Bascom Hall felt historic to senior Paige Skenandore, one of roughly 100 Native American students on campus. She tells the Wisconsin State Journal it was “a great first step.” Chancellor Rebecca Blank says the flag-raising was part of an ongoing commitment to educate and acknowledge Wisconsin’s tribes and their sovereignty. The Ho-Chunk Nation gave up territory that includes the campus under an 1832 treaty.

CHICAGO VIOLENCE-TRAFFIC SHOOTING

Arrest made in slaying of father driving daughter to school

CHICAGO (AP) — An 18-year-old man has been arrested in the fatal shooting of a Chicago father as he drove his daughter to school on the city’s westside. Authorities found Avanta Ware Friday in Wisconsin. He was being extradited back to Illinois. Ware was wanted in the Sept. 1 slaying of Travell Miller who was shot multiple times while stopped in traffic by a man who stepped out of another car and opened fire on him. Relatives have said Miller bent over to protect his 7-year-old daughter who was uninjured. An arrest warrant was issued in September charging Ware with murder. Ware also was wanted for two counts of carjacking in Berwyn, a Chicago suburb.

KENOSHA PROTEST-SHOOTINGS-EXPLAINER-HERO TESTIMONY

EXPLAINER: What came of hero testimony at Rittenhouse trial?

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — An effort by prosecutors at Kyle Rittenhouse’s murder trial to portray one of the men he shot as a hero never got off the ground, and one legal expert says they were probably fortunate it didn’t. Rittenhouse faces homicide and other charges in the August 2020 shootings during street unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Among the dead was Anthony Huber, a 26-year-old protester who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard before Rittenhouse shot him. Huber’s great-aunt was asked Friday whether she’d ever seen Huber run toward danger. The defense objected, saying such testimony would allow them to introduce evidence about two criminal cases involving Huber. The judge agreed and the state dropped the line of questioning.

ELECTION 2021-SCHOOL BOARD RACES

Culture war fight finds mixed success in school board races

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — School board candidates opposing mask mandates and lessons about racism in U.S. history won in red states and some politically divided districts, but often came up short in their bids to shape policy for school districts over the newest culture war issue., The political tracking website Ballotpedia identified 96 school districts across more than a dozen states where race education and masking were part of the debate. It found that at least one anti-critical race theory or anti-mask candidate prevailed in 35 of the 86 districts in which it has determined winners, or 40%. 

ELECTION 2020-AUDITS-WISCONSIN

Vos again ordered to turn over 2020 election probe records

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Dane County judge says Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has 10 days to turn over records about a secretive review of the 2020 election that Republicans have been conducting for months. Circuit Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn ordered Vos to provide records that were created between May and late August. It was the same order Bailey-Rihn issued in October when she told Vos he could either release the records or come back in a month and state his case. Vos attorney Ronald Stadler said after Friday’s ruling that it would be up to Vos and Assembly Republicans to decide whether to appeal the decision.

LITERACY TESTS VETO

Evers vetoes education bill meant to help ‘at-risk’ readers

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed a plan that would have overhauled how elementary schools work with young children who struggle to read. Evers says it needs more money to support the changes. The bill would have tripled the number of literacy tests young students take in school and require educators to create a personalized reading plan for every student identified to be an “at-risk” reader. Supporters say the move would improve reading skills that have been poorly rated for decades. Evers, the former state superintendent and a former educator, said in his veto message that the bill didn’t include needed funding to accomplish the bill’s goals. Republican who authored the bill said it would be a step in the right direction.

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