What you need to know: Tuesday
It’s Tuesday, May 19 and here is your day ahead:
In local news…
WEATHER: Skies will start out mostly cloudy this morning but turn partly sunny by this afternoon. It will be chilly for the middle of May with highs only in the middle 50s. Winds will be a little lighter, but from the northwest around 8-15 MPH. Full forecast
1. TONY ROBINSON
Call for resignation: A group of local religious leaders is calling for the resignation of Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny. It was a week ago today that the Dane County DA announced charges would not be filed against Kenny for the shooting death of Tony Robinson. Pastors from the African American Council of Churches called for Kenny to resign during a vigil last night. They say the way the situation was dealt with shows the racial disparities and discrimination in Madison. More on this story
2. MADISON SCHOOL BOARD
Discipline changes delayed: The Madison Metropolitan School District’s board of education delayed implementing changes Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham calls key to making the district’s discipline policy, known as the Behavior Education Plan, work effectively. Cheatham told board members based on staff, student, parent and community feedback, changes can be made to correct massive misunderstandings surrounding the BEP, such as disruptive or unsafe students being kept in classrooms and teachers being unable to ask students to leave their class. More on this story
3. PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING
Committee vote: The Joint Finance Committee plans to vote today on K-12 funding and expanding private school vouchers. Rep. John Nygren says he would like to see funding for public schools increase $75 per student. Public school advocates are calling for an increase in funding, and Nygren said that is his goal. Nygren also said a plan to fashion the voucher program after public school open enrollment “makes some sense.” More on this story
4. UW BUDGET CUTS
Potential job layoffs, eliminations: The University of Wisconsin-Madison is preparing for potential state budget cuts with a plan to eliminate 434 positions, resulting in a total of 70 layoffs. Of the 434 positions cut, 70 would be faculty, 108 would be academic staff and 66 would be graduate assistants, according to documents provided to News 3. No faculty would be laid off. The College of Letters and Science and Facilities Planning and Management would lose the most positions. The College of Letters and Science would lose 92 positions and Facilities Planning and Management would lose 56. More on this story
5. FORMER BADGER FOOTBALL PLAYER SHOT
Shot while he was down: Former University of Wisconsin running back Booker Stanley said he was shot in the back during a robbery in Milwaukee. Stanley told WITI-TV that he was robbed by two men around 1 a.m. Friday shortly after parking a vehicle. He says he gave his money, watch and car keys to the men and lay down on the ground with his hands up, but that one of the men shot him in the back. According to Stanley, he suffered a collapsed and punctured lung. WITI-TV reports he was released from a hospital Monday night. More on this story
In national news…
1. BIKER BRAWL
Ugly, getting uglier: North Texas is looking a lot like ground zero in a battle royal for rival biker gangs. First, there was the weekend shootout in Waco that killed at least nine people. Now this: A memo to law enforcement warning them that the Bandidos and Cossacks may be arming themselves and heading to north Texas. More on this story
2. POLICE WEAPONS
Hard stance on hardware: Time was when the feds would give local cops certain kinds of military gear, like grenade launchers and tank-like armored vehicles. Yesterday, President Obama said no more. “We’ve seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there’s an occupying force as opposed to a force that’s part of the community that’s protecting them and serving them,” he said. More on this story
3. PLANE HACKING
Be afraid, be very afraid: You know that cybersecurity consultant who told the FBI he hacked into computer systems aboard airliners up to 20 times and managed to control an aircraft engine during a flight? Well, the GAO says hundreds of planes flying commercially today can have their onboard computers hacked and remotely taken over by someone using the plane’s passenger Wi-Fi network, or even by someone on the ground. Gulp! More on this story
4. AMTRAK CRASH
Crossing one off: We don’t yet know what caused last week’s deadly Amtrak train derailment, but we now know it wasn’t a bullet. The FBI was asked to figure out whether a mark on the train’s windshield was made by something thrown at it. Their ruling? It definitely wasn’t from a gun. More on this story
5. ISIS OFFENSIVE
Whack-a-mole game: The war against ISIS is a messy back-and-forth conflict. For each inch of ground it captures, it loses some elsewhere. So, it’s difficult to answer the question — “Is ISIS winning?” Losing Ramadi to the extremist group is disturbing though. Yesterday, the Iraqi government rushed reinforcements to shore up defensive lines. More on this story
