Category Archives: Wisconsin

Michelle Obama: ‘I’m just devastated by the shootings in Kenosha’

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The former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake by police as well as killings of Wisconsin protesters

Michelle Obama said she was “devastated” by the shootings in Kenosha, Wisconsin, this week and is “exhausted and frustrated” at the trauma of Black and brown people in the US.

In a lengthy statement released on Friday, the former first lady condemned the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Wisconsin man shot seven times in the back by police in front of his children, as well as the shooting of three protesters by an alleged 17-year-old rightwing militant in the protests that followed.

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Jacob Blake shackled to hospital bed despite being paralyzed, father says

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Jacob Blake Sr said in TV interview he did not know why his son was under restraint after being shot by police in Kenosha

Jacob Blake, the 29-year-old who was shot seven times by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer on Sunday, has spent the week shackled to his hospital bed despite being unable to walk and being heavily medicated, his father revealed on Friday.

“There was the cold steel on his ankle. He is shackled to the bed, but he cannot get up, he could not get up, he is paralyzed,” Jacob Blake Sr, father of Jacob Blake Jr, told CNN, describing a hospital visit with his son two days ago.

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Donald Trump portrays Biden as threat to America in RNC speech packed with falsehoods – live

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That’s it from us tonight. Here are the key takeaways of the final night of the Republican convention:

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly plans to resign due to his health.

The Japanese outlet NHK reports:

Abe Shinzo is scheduled to hold a news conference later in the day to explain his decision.

Abe has visited a hospital twice over the past two weeks, fuelling speculation that his health has deteriorated.

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Trump attacks Biden as eager to ‘tear down’ America in RNC speech

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President accepts Republican presidential nomination in event staged at White House, raising ethical concerns

Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, heightened racial tensions, and widespread unemployment, Donald Trump framed his Democratic rival Joe Biden as the real danger to the country’s safety and economic welfare in his address to the Republican convention on Thursday.

Accepting the party’s presidential nomination ahead of November’s elections, Trump argued for more than an hour that his administration had accomplished everything it had set out to do and warned that a Biden presidency could be ruinous.

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‘We’ve all had enough’: Kenosha in anguish over Jacob Blake shooting

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Communities have been left to come to terms with the setback for race relations, a frayed relationship with police and the damage that has upended daily life

Antwainnetta Edwards is a new mom. Just weeks ago she had a baby girl and worked hard preparing herself to raise a child during a coronavirus pandemic and the related economic crisis.

Now, as she stood on the porch of her home in Kenosha, rocking her newborn back and forth, she reflected on the last four days and nights that have shaken the small Wisconsin city since, once again in America, a white police officer shot a Black man during an interaction that went out of control, severely wounding Jacob Blake on Sunday.

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Kenosha police officer who shot Jacob Blake named as Rusten Sheskey

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Officer was caught on video firing seven times into Blake’s back at almost point-blank range

Police in Kenosha, the Wisconsin city rocked by protests and deadly violence since the shooting of Jacob Blake, have named the officer who fired multiple bullets into Blake’s back.

Rusten Sheskey, who has been employed by the Kenosha police department for seven years, was named as the officer caught on video firing seven times into Blake’s back at almost point-blank range as he held him by his shirt.

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Chaotic scenes as gunfire rings out during unrest after Jacob Blake shooting – video

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Footage taken from the third night of unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, appears to show an armed civilian fire at a person before running towards police officers. The protests began after the police shooting of Jacob Blake three days ago. Video posted on social media showed chaotic scenes as gunfire rang out, scattering people in the street. Two people have been killed, and another injured

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Two dead in Kenosha after at least one gunman opens fire on BLM protesters

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Three shot as Wisconsin city rocked by further violence on streets following shooting of Jacob Blake

Two people were shot dead and another injured when at least one gunman opened fire on protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, amid demonstrations against the police shooting of Jacob Blake three days ago.

David Beth, the county sheriff, said one person was shot in the head and another in the chest shortly before midnight on Tuesday. Another person was shot in the arm. The victims have not been identified.

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‘I don’t want pity, I want change’: Jacob Blake’s sister gives powerful testimony – video

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Letetra Widman, the sister of Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back by police on Sunday, gives an impassioned plea saying that above all the other labels given to her brother, he is human.

Letetra said she had been inundated with messages of support but that all she really wanted was change.

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Family of Jacob Blake say he is paralysed after police shooting – video

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The family of Jacob Blake, the black man shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, has revealed the 29-year-old has been paralysed. Speaking alongside attorney Benjamin Crump, Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr said, 'They shot my son seven times. Seven times. Like he didn't matter. But my son matters.' Blake's mother, Julia Jackson, called for unity after damage to the city from protests following the shooting

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Wisconsin governor promises police reforms after Jacob Blake shooting

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  • Tony Evers calls special session of state legislature
  • Lawmakers had delayed ordering body cameras for years

In the wake of protests over the shooting of a Black man by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the state governor, Tony Evers, has promised to move forward with reforms to curb law enforcement misconduct.

Evers has demanded state legislators meet on 31 August in a special session to consider a set of nine police reform bills which were floated more than two months ago. The proposals – which followed the 25 May killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police – include banning chokeholds and limiting other use-of-force methods.

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Wisconsin police fire teargas during second night of protest over shooting of Black man

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Kenosha police confront demonstrators shouting ‘no justice, no peace’ over the shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday

Anger over the shooting of a Black man by police spilled into the streets of Kenosha for a second night Monday, with police again firing teargas at hundreds of protesters who defied a curfew, threw bottles and shot fireworks at law enforcement guarding the courthouse.

The south-eastern Wisconsin city became the latest flashpoint in a summer of racial unrest in the US after footage of police shooting Jacob Blake apparently in the back, as he leaned into his SUV with his three children inside, circulated widely on social media Sunday. The 29-year-old was hospitalised in a serious condition.

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Video appears to show black man shot in back by police in Wisconsin

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* Some viewers may find the following footage distressing* 

Footage posted on social media appears to show police shooting at a man seven times as he leaned into a vehicle in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The man, identified by the Wisconsin governor as Jacob Blake, is in a serious condition in hospital after the shooting at about 5pm on Sunday.  Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said Blake’s three young sons were in the car. A police officer is being investigated by the Wisconsin justice department 

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‘This is unstoppable’: America’s midwest braces itself for a Covid-19 surge

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Experts predict an increase in deaths across the region, made significantly worse by lawmakers who question the value of face coverings

Three months ago, the Republican governor of Missouri chose not to wear a mask in a shop, because he said he wasn’t going to let the government tell him what to do. Mike Parson visited a hardware store to celebrate its reopening after he lifted Missouri’s coronavirus lockdown over the objections of health professionals and mayors of major cities.

Parson said the worst of the pandemic was past and the economic impact of the shutdown was worse than the virus. As for masks, the governor dismissively claimed “there was a lot of information on both sides” over whether to wear one so he wasn’t going to require people to do so.

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‘He’s in trouble here’: can Trump win this critical swing state again?

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If he’s to stay in power, Trump needs to repeat his victory in Wisconsin. But the landscape is very different now – and support is shrinking

Donald Trump claimed to have done so much for African Americans that his campaign decided to open the first ever Republican office in a black neighbourhood of Milwaukee.

Related: White House attacks Fauci as states see record new coronavirus cases – live updates

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Jay-Z’s Team Roc call for prosecution of police officer who shot and killed 3 men

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Officer Joseph Mensah was found to have acted in self-defence in two of the shootings, with another currently under review

Jay-Z’s social justice initiative Team Roc has called for a Wisconsin police officer to be fired and prosecuted, after he shot and killed three people while on duty.

Joseph Mensah, of Milwaukee suburb Wauwatosa, killed Alvin Cole, Antonio Gonzales and Jay Anderson in three separate incidents between 2015 and 2020. He is under review for the most recent killing, of Cole, but the earlier two were deemed self-defence and he did not face charges.

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‘Swim happy!’: family save bear found swimming with a plastic jar on its head – video

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A family were fishing on a lake in Wisconsin when they spotted a bear with a plastic jar stuck on its head. After several attempts at moving their boat next to the bear and removing the jar, they were finally able to free the animal. 'Never dreamt we would ever do this in our life time,' Tricia Hurt wrote on Facebook. 'Out on Marshmiller Lake yesterday with Brian Hurt and Brady Hurt when we spotted this poor bear. He made it to shore after all that'

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Supreme court blocks House Democrats’ access to Mueller grand jury materials – live

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Joe Biden assailed Donald Trump in a pair of virtual events in Wisconsin, calling him “a destroyer of everything he touches.”

“All he’s ever done is hollow out what really matters and then slap a gold sign on a flimsy foundation,” Biden said during the virtual rally in the battleground state.

“Donald Trump claimed he would fight for the forgotten man, the working class,” the former vice president continued. “But as soon as he got into office, he forgot them.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Biden held a virtual roundtable with Wisconsin congressman Ron Kind and community advocates who spoke about the challenges facing rural Americans during the epidemic.

During the back and forth, Biden, referring to federal funding to combat the economic fallout from the virus, said: “Not one more penny should go to a Fortune 500 company. Period. Period. They don’t need it.”

“Among the speakers at the “rally” was Wisconsin senator Tammy Baldwin, who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential nominee after she won re-election in 2018. Biden called her a “true champion for Wisconsin, a true leader.”
Biden has been ramping up his virtual campaign schedule in recent weeks. Earlier events have been riddled with technical glitches - and the occasional honking duck. By contrast, Wednesday’s events went smoothly.

Related: Biden's lead over Trump widens – but strain on his virtual campaign grows

Prisoners and advocates told the Guardian that some infected inmates are in isolation without medical care or adequate food, cut off from family and attorneys

More than 3,200 prisoners in California have contracted Covid-19 and at least 16 inmates have died, in a public health catastrophe that advocates say was both predictable and preventable.

Related: 'People are sick all around me': inside the coronavirus catastrophe in California prisons

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Wisconsin: drinkers return to bars after judges strike down stay-at-home order

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  • Court decision overrules lockdown by Democratic governor
  • Individual counties able to determine whether they can reopen

Wisconsin’s supreme court struck down the state’s stay-at-home order on Wednesday, and some residents took immediate advantage – by packing the bars.

Videos and reports from some areas of Wisconsin showed some bars filled with revelers, most of them not wearing masks.

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Republicans appear on track to win two congressional seats in boost to Trump

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Mike Garcia leading in California’s special election while Tom Tiffany easily won a special congressional election in Wisconsin

Republicans appeared on track for a pair of congressional wins on Wednesday, after notching an easy victory in a Wisconsin House seat and appearing poised to take a seat away from the Democrats in California.

The wins would be seen as a boost to the party and President Donald Trump, whose re-election campaign has been battered by outrage over his response to the coronavirus pandemic and whose popularity has been dipping in many recent polls.

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