Author: Todd Richmond

A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction on December 18, marking a victory for Donald Trump as he continues his sweeping authoritarian crackdown on the judiciary across the country. Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count. The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. Dugan and her...

Defense attorneys and prosecutors selected the jury on December 11 that will decide whether a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal officers committed a crime. Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan this spring with obstruction and concealing an individual to prevent arrest. They allege she showed 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom through a back door when she learned federal authorities were in the courthouse looking to arrest him. Dugan is set to stand trial beginning December 15 in the latest show of force in the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown....

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has decided to fast-track permits for building a protective tunnel around an aging Enbridge oil pipeline that runs beneath a channel connecting two Great Lakes, stoking environmentalists’ fears that the project will escape scrutiny, damage the sensitive region, and perpetuate fossil fuel use. The move comes after Donald Trump issued an executive order in January declaring that the U.S. has become too dependent on foreign energy sources. The order mandates that federal agencies identify energy infrastructure projects for expedited emergency permitting from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency....

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is reviving his plan to let voters repeal and create state laws without legislative involvement, this time through the state budget. Governor Evers told reporters on January 3 that the state budget he plans to unveil next month will include a mandate that legislators take up a constitutional amendment allowing voters to petition for ballot proposals to repeal state statutes and create new ones. The popular Democratic governor crafted a similar proposal in 2022 for voters to repeal the state’s 1849 abortion ban, but Republicans killed the plan. Wisconsin is one of 24 states that...