Month: June 2015

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A former University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh student has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for possessing the deadly poison ricin.  Twenty-one-year-old Kyle Allen Smith of Oshkosh pleaded guilty in March. He admitted growing castor beans and extracting ricin from them. A count of developing a toxin for use as a weapon was dropped in a plea agreement.  Smith was arrested and charged […]

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — A judge has convicted a 19-year-old man accused of bludgeoning his father to death and hiding his body for nearly a week in their Sheboygan apartment.   Judge Terence Bourke delivered his verdict Friday. Dorrian M. Torres was 17 at the time of the killing in January 2014. He was charged with first-degree intentional homicide. Torres waived his right to a jury trial and claimed self-defense.  The […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin released the following statement on today’s Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage: “Love is love, family is family, and discriminating against anyone’s love, against anyone’s family, is simply wrong. America can proudly say that discrimination doesn’t just violate our values – it violates our Constitution. And now we can proudly say that marriage equality will be the law of the land.  “Today’s ruling […]

Washington, D.C.) - Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) released the following statement after the Supreme Court ruled to allow same-sex marriage in all 50 states.  “I am deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court’s decision today to overturn same-sex marriage laws around the country,” said Congressman Grothman. “This would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, and as recently as three years ago President Obama said he was opposed to same-sex marriage. The […]

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Governor Scott Walker says he wants to assure Wisconsin residents that the government will not coerce them to act against their religious beliefs. Walker in a statement Friday said he believes the state constitution protects religious rights. The statement came in response to the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage.

Fond du Lac State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt has called for the end of the Wisconsin’s Domestic Partnership Registry and requests that the repeal be included in the 2015-17 state budget.   The Domestic Partnership Registry was created through a provision in Governor Jim Doyle’s state budget in 2009.  This action allowed limited, legal recognition of same-sex relationships across Wisconsin.  Thiesfeldt says he proposed the change in light of the U.S. […]

A Republican legislator from Wisconsin is ripping the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt of Fond du Lac issued a statement Friday saying states should be left alone to create their own marriage laws. He says the Supreme Court bowed to pressure to create a right that, according to him, doesn't exist in the U.S. Constitution.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A gay Wisconsin congressman is cheering a U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the country. Mark Pocan, a Madison Democrat, issued a statement Friday saying the high court has reaffirmed what most Americans already know — that all couples have the right to get married no matter who they love.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A gay woman who successfully sued to overturn Wisconsin's ban on gay marriage is praising the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that same-sex couples have a right to marry in all 50 states. Judi Trampf of Madison and her partner, Katy Heyning, were among a group of eight gay couples who sued to overturn Wisconsin's ban last year. They married this past January.