(The Center Square) – There are accusations of DEI in the child pornography case that earned a former Sun Prairie school official almost two decades in prison.

A federal judge sentenced Robert Gilkey-Meisegeier to 18 years in prison for possessing child pornography. Gilkey-Meisegeier pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Prosecutors say he had sexual and explicit pictures of at least two students at Sun Prairie West High School. Gilkey-Meisegeier was the school’s dean of students.

He initially denied having a relationship with the students, but later admitted to what he did, including that he bought one student a car, and bought another student alcohol.

WMTV in Madison reported Gilkey-Meisegeier’s lawyer said to reporters outside the courtroom that his client was a victim of both of fetal-alcohol syndrome, and of Sun Prairie Schools’ lax hiring and supervision policies.

“What qualifications did he have for that? What training did he have for that? What supervision did he get for that? None,” the station reported attorney Chris Van Wagner said after the sentencing.

Van Wagner said Gilkey-Meisegeier was promoted to dean of students despite not having the qualifications for the job.

“They didn’t really look. Why? Because they had a person of color who had a degree. It was in the post-George Floyd era. It was in the DEI era. And the last thing they were going to do was remove a young black man who they viewed as a professional staffer who was apparently popular with and supported by the young people of color in the high school in a district where young people of color were becoming more numerous,” Van Wagner said.

Sun Prairie Schools denied those claims.

"[The district] never condones behavior that could endanger the welfare of a child by any employee and continues to reinforce with all staff the collective expectation that student safety remains paramount at all times," Sun Prairie Schools said in a statement.

Gilkey-Meisegeier did not have a teaching license. He was working while that license was being processed. He also had a criminal recording, including drunk driving convictions.

Gilkey-Meisegeier is not the only one facing charges in the case. Sun Prairie West's now-former principal is facing state charges for failing to report child abuse. She is challenging those charges in Dane County.

(The Center Square) – A group of Wisconsin congressmen have introduced a bill that would allow Wisconsin to petition to have its air quality designation change and remove the requirement for vehicle emissions testing in Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan, Washington and Waukesha counties.

A group of Wisconsin state representatives sent a letter to Wisconsin’s congressional delegation in December and Congressman Tom Tiffany stood with state leaders in late March stating he would push the Environmental Protection Agency to change Clean Air Act rules to remove the emissions testing requirements.

The seven counties are part of a nonattainment area that the lawmakers said shows pollution from Chicago and outside the state with no more than 10% of the pollution measured coming from Wisconsin.

Tiffany, R-7th Congressional, along with Reps. Bryan Steil, R-1st Congressional, Scott Fitzgerald R-5th Congressional and Glenn Grothman, R-6th Congressional, introduced the Fair Air Standards Act to allow states to petition to remove themselves from the status based upon where the pollution originates.

“This is a topic we’ve been working on for 25 years, as the poorly drafted Clean Air Act has punished industries in Wisconsin, making them less competitive, especially compared to other states and factories around the world,” Grothman said in a statement.

The testing is funded through a 1-cent per gallon petroleum tax with an estimated $271.4 million spent by Wisconsin residents from 1984 to 2022-23 on testing.

Lawmakers have cited advanced technology and a low failure rate of 3.1% and 3% in 2021 and 2022.

“Because of outdated federal rules, hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin drivers in seven counties are forced to complete emissions tests every two years just to renew their registration,” Tiffany said. “Wisconsin families should not be punished with costly and time-consuming mandates because of pollution drifting in from Illinois and Indiana.

"Four decades later and with cleaner vehicles on the road, it is time to end this non-attainment zone mandate and stop burdening drivers with a system that cannot prove it works.”

Longtime Prosecutor Paul Dedinsky announced his campaign for a seat on the Waukesha County Circuit Court, Branch 3, with the endorsements of Wisconsin Supreme...

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany is asking that Democratic candidate Francesca Hong comment on a post by fellow Democrat Kirk Bangstad and Minocqua Brewing that said a “a brother or sister in the Resistance needs to work on their marksmanship” after a shooter attempted to run past security at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Bangstad’s company posted that it would be a free beer day if President Donald Trump dies.

Hong reportedly donated $25 to Bangstad’s 2020 campaign for state assembly.

Congressional candidate Rebecca Cooke, running again against incumbent Derrick Van Orden, reportedly previously did work for Bangstad’s campaign.

Bangstad’s post caught the attention of social media accounts such as Libs of TikTok and media outlets across the country. In response, Bangstad made several posts about reporters who reached out for comment, posting their cellphone numbers and criticizing the outlets, including Newsweek, Fox News and the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

(The Center Square) - Wisconsin’s tribes agreed to a ban on micro betting on small events such as the result of an individual pitch in a baseball game along with several responsible gaming concessions in order to get the votes necessary to pass the state’s new sports wagering bill, according to Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison.

Tusler said on Thursday that the tribes first declined the requests but ultimately agreed with a group of Wisconsin legislators to ban the use of credit cards, use an age verification system, allow self-exclusion and allowing users to put a cap on daily deposits.

“I shared these concerns with many of my Republican colleagues, who expressed similar hesitation,” Tusler said. “For that reason, I opposed the bill throughout most of the legislative process. However, I realize that unregulated sports gambling is already occurring in Wisconsin, unchecked, on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings. Further, there has been no effort to enforce our laws on these sites.”

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed the sports wagering bill into law April 9 and is negotiating compacts with Wisconsin’s 11 tribes to send revenue from gaming from the tribes to the state. Those compacts must be approved by the federal government.

“Although not perfect, these limitations are better than unregulated and unchecked betting in this state," Tusler said. "I will be watching closely as the tribes amend the sports gambling compact to include these provisions and work vigorously to provide more resources to help problem gamblers. Our goal should be to reduce the amount of people gambling, and I will work with both Republicans and Democrats to achieve this.”

The law changed the state’s definition of “bet” to allow the state’s tribes to offer mobile sports wagering if the bettor is in Wisconsin and the sportsbook servers are on tribal land, an amendment to current compacts allowing for casino gambling and sports wagering on tribal lands despite the state’s ban on betting.

The law allows for a similar sports wagering model as Florida, where the state’s sportsbook operators have servers on federally recognized tribal lands while users can be in the state of Wisconsin.

“I have long been against sports betting in Wisconsin,” Tusler said. “In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which made sports betting illegal in the United States. Since then, I have had the unfortunate opportunity to see the effects of unchecked, legalized sports betting across the country.

“From what I have seen, unregulated, legalized sports betting has caused more harm than good in these states.”

(The Center Square) – Rising prices are not scaring Wisconsin home buyers away.

The latest Wisconsin Realtors Report, for March, shows another increase in prices. But it also shows a sizable jump in sales.

“Sales rebounded in March after a slow start in January and February. As we enter the peak period for sales, it’s good to see this bounce in closings, and hopefully it continues into the summer," Realtors chairwoman Amy Curler said.

March 2026 home sales jumped 7% compared to March of 2025. The real estate agends said they closed on 4,750 homes last month, compared to 4,441 last March.

Since January, home sales in Wisconsin have steadily grown.

According to the report, sales were up more than 2% for the first quarter of 2026. That is noteworthy, particularly because prices are growing as well.

"The annual appreciation of home prices ticked up, rising 6.5%, and the modest improvements in family income and mortgage rates just kept pace with that price increase. Supply remains tight, so we really need to see consistent reductions in mortgage rates for affordability to improve," Realtors CEO Tom Larson added.

The median price for a home in Wisconsin increased last month, jumping to $330,000. That's a 6.5% increase from March of last year.

That is, of course, the statewide median price. Homes in the Madison-area remain more expensive. The median price for a house in south central Wisconsin hit $395,000 last month. Homes in southeast Wisconsin, which includes Milwaukee, saw a median price of $340,000.

Homes in central and northern Wisconsin remain the only ones with a median price less than $300,000. The Realtors report said the median price there is $272,000. The median price in northern Wisconsin saw a median price of $275,000.

The report adds that interest rates on 30-year mortgages have fallen, but the real estate agents said there continues to be not enough homes for sales.

The California man accused of charging security and shooting a Secret Service officer at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner Saturday night will appear Monday in federal court.

Among other possible charges, the 31-year-old suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, is facing two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence and one count of assault on a federal officer using a dangerous weapon, media outlets reported.

“It is clear that this individual was intent on doing as much harm as he could,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro posted on social media. “Thank God for our law enforcement who acted so quickly to prevent what could have been a horrific event.”

President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and members of Trump's cabinet were at the event and were rushed out of the banquet hall of the Washington, D.C. Hilton., less than two miles from the White House.

The Hilton was also the place where John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.

A long gun and shell casings were recovered at the scene, where Allen was detained. No one else but the Secret Service agent, who Trump said he spoke to and was doing OK, sustained injuries during the incident.

The Center Square's White House Bureau Chief Sarah Roderick-Fitch was in attendance at the event, and said she heard a loud noise before attendees started screaming. Secret Service agents then stormed the room and began escorting people out, Roderick-Fitch said.

Federal law enforcement officers searched the suspect's California home and interviewed members of his family.

According to reports from media outlets, Allen was an amateur video game developer and a tutor from Torrence, California. He graduated from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 2017 and donated $50 to the campaign of then presidential candidate Kamala Harris through ActBlue.

Allen’s “manifesto” sent to family members before the attack, which the New York Post reported Sunday, said he wanted to minimize casualties at the hotel but, "I would still go though most everyone here to get to the targets if it were absolutely necessary (on the basis that most "chose" to attend a speech by a pedophile, rapist and traitor, and are thus complicit) but I really hope it doesn't come to that."

Allen may enter a plea during his Monday arraignment.

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