Tuesday, 11.24
The State Veterans Affairs Board fires Secretary John Scocos two months after he returned from a tour in Iraq and replaces him with a man Scocos had demoted. The board faulted Scocos' handling of an inquiry over spending at a state veterans home, among other things. Scocos tells the Wisconsin State Journal: "That's what I get for serving my country and coming back. Welcome back. They'll be hearing from me in court."
U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph T. Randa refuses to dismiss a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin claiming that the Taycheedah Correctional Institution, a state prison for women, is providing negligent health care for inmates. Randa cites evidence of "systemic and gross deficiencies in staffing, facilities and procedures."
Lynda Sykes pleads guilty in a Cleveland, Ohio, court to involuntary manslaughter for the beating death last July of her 6-year-old niece, Deshaunsay Sykes-Crowder, and is sentenced to 15 years in prison. Dane County gave Sykes custody of the girl in 2005, despite Sykes' history of violence (See "Children Die, Oversight Committee Snoozes," 8/21/2008).
Thursday, 11.26
Ieshia Fox, 23, allegedly stabs Brittish Lloyd in Fitchburg after Lloyd apparently refuses to watch Fox's children. Fox is later charged with first-degree reckless injury.
Friday, 11.27
Tim John, the president of a Christian printing company in Milwaukee, says he's running for governor as a Democrat. He plans to focus on unemployment, especially among African Americans.
Saturday, 11.28
Donte Beasley, 38, shoots his girlfriend, Zenolia Rice, multiple times, and then shoots their 8-year-old daughter in the back of the head and 7-year-old son in the face, before injuring himself. All four are expected to survive. Beasley was allegedly enraged because Rice refused to have sex with him.
Monday, 11.30
Madison's Landmarks Commission votes 5-2 against a proposal by Hammes Co. to expand the Edgewater Hotel, on grounds that the proposal is not visually compatible with the historic neighborhood. Mayor Dave Cieslewicz laments "a broken city approval process that needs to be fixed" and urges Hammes to make its case to the Common Council, which can override the Landmarks Commission.
Tuesday, 12.01
Planned Parenthood opens its new office at 2222 S. Park St., as part of the Villager Mall development. The new clinic replaces an older one on Park Street as well as one on West Mifflin Street.
A Dane County social worker testifies that she thought a 14-year-old girl was dead when she found her lying silent and emaciated in a bedroom closet of her parents' home. The girl's father, Porfirio Olivas, faces 23 counts of child abuse and one count of second-degree sexual assault. The girl's mother, Minerva Lopez, pleaded no-contest last month to six counts of child abuse.
Wednesday, 12.02
Bob Dunn, president of Hammes Co., says he will appeal the Landmarks Commission's ruling against the Edgewater project, saying, "we believe we met the criteria required for approval."
Compiled (in part) from local media
