It’s been a heavy week with the Derek Chauvin trial coming to a close Wednesday, which brought moments of police brutality and racial reckoning from the past year right to the forefront.
Chauvin, 45, has been found guilty on all charges in the murder of George Floyd, which include unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
“This is important to the whole world,” Natnael Bekele, an artist in Minneapolis, told Madison365. “The whole world has felt the vengeance of police injustice.”
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As eyes were on Minneapolis tuning into the Chauvin verdict, 15-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was fatally shot by a police officer in Columbus, Ohio. According to The New York Times, across the U.S., police killings occurred every day of Chauvin’s trial. Adam Toledo, 13, was fatally shot by a police officer on the first day of the trial, with his hands in the air, complying with law enforcement.
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In August, Jacob Blake, a Black man living in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was shot by Kenosha police officer Rusten Sheskey seven times, leaving Blake paralyzed. The Aug. 23 incident added to growing protests and tensions around race and police brutality last summer, both in Wisconsin and across the country. Sheskey and other officers involved were not charged for the shooting.
Some protests following the shooting of Blake became destructive and violent. Kyle Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time and has been supported by far-right groups, shot three demonstrators, killing two of them. Rittenhouse’s legal back and forth has been prominent in the national news cycle, continuing to center Kenosha.
Kenosha is again in the spotlight after a mass shooting at the Somers House tavern on April 18.
Now, some local members say the city is healing.
“Everyone is now wanting to show things can happen, change can happen,” activist Porche Bennett-Bey, who was named a “Guardian of the Year” by Time Magazine, told the Journal Sentinel. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but from what I’m seeing, it’s very beautiful.”
Earth Day Efforts
Daughter Of Earth Day Founder, From Wisconsin, Continues The Movement
The founder of Earth Day, former Wisconsin governor and U.S. Sen. Gaylord Nelson, is from the town of Clear Lake. Thursday marked 71 years since the first Earth Day.
Nelson’s daughter, Tia Nelson, has continued the work he started — she’s held roles with the Nature Conservancy, the Wisconsin Board of Commissioner of Public Lands, and the Outrider Foundation.
Tia Nelson told the Wisconsin Examiner that as she looks back on her father’s speeches and environmental efforts over the years, “I’m in a complicated dance between hope and despair.”
She sees hope in the younger generations and the connections she’s made throughout her time advocating in the environmental movement.
“Youth, regardless of political ideology, consider climate change a priority,” Nelson said. “That is going to change what happens in Washington, and what happens in our statehouses. I see that happening now.”
Evers, DNR Commit To Reforestation
Thursday, Gov. Tony Evers issued an executive order that directs the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to plant 75 million trees by the end of 2030.
Joe Vande Hey, the DNR reforestation team leader and nursery superintendent, said the DNR will distribute 4.7 million seedlings this year.
“I always say that trees are our greatest renewable resource,” he said.
Cardi B Responds To Rep. Grothman’s Criticism
U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman, R-Glenbeulah, has joined the list of conservatives who’ve criticized rappers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion for their song “WAP,” which has sparked a roar of controversy.
In a speech on the House floor, Grothman said his office has received complaints about Cardi B’s performance at the Grammy Awards as “inconsistent with basic decency.”
Cardi B replied to a video of the speech on Twitter, expressing anger that the issue of her music was taking up representatives’ time during a week when tensions were fresh around the issue of police brutality.
This gets me so mad ya don’t even know! I think we all been on the edge this week since we seen police brutality back to back including watching one of the biggest case in history go down DUE to police brutality but wait ! This is wat state representative decide to talk about 🤔 https://t.co/k2ZBn9gONA
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) April 22, 2021
Ex-Waukesha Student Who Was Shot By Police Reaches Plea Deal
A former Waukesha South High School student who was shot by police inside a classroom in 2019 has reached a plea deal on a long list of criminal charges from that case and others that followed.
Tyrone Smith, now 19, will be sentenced April 29, though the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports it will be on far fewer charges than those that had accumulated following his initial arrest.
Court records shows that Smith entered no-contest pleas and was convicted Wednesday on two charges: misdemeanor possession of a dangerous weapon at a school and a single count of felony bail jumping.
Strawberry Festival Canceled For Second Year
The Festivals of Cedarburg Board announced Thursday that the event would again be canceled this year. Its dates were set for June 26 and 27.
The board cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and risk of COVID-19 as reasons for the cancellation.
State DOJ To Investigate Catholic Dioceses For Sexual Abuse
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reported Thursday that Attorney General Josh Kaul sent a letter this week to the state’s five Catholic dioceses and several religious orders to inform them of an investigation into abuse by clergy members and church leaders.
Advocacy groups representing survivors of sexual abuse are applauding the news. The DOJ said it will be making an announcement next week.
Cars Crash, Pile Up During Spring Snow
On Wednesday, snowy conditions resulted in two different pile ups of vehicles on I-41. There were at least 20 crashes overall, according to FOX6 Milwaukee. One woman, 37, died. One of the piles involved 48 vehicles.
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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