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Wednesday, July 30, 2025

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Peaceful Protest? Armed Confrontation, Reckless Driving Described

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It’s time to cast aside the falsehood perpetrated by some that protests in Wauwatosa have been peaceful. While some demonstrators have been peaceful, overall, here’s the reality of this one.

Wauwatosa Police and other law enforcement authorities arrested 24 people “during unlawful demonstrations” on Oct. 8, they revealed in a news release on Oct. 9. Before the arrests started, police say the marchers blocked an undercover police vehicle, trying to gain entry to it, throwing rocks at it, and pointing a gun at the occupants.

Is that peaceful? No.

They say members of the group then “began going car to car, demanding identification from occupants.” (This was similar to behavior we witnessed when the group showed up at the West Allis Police Department later that night to check on arrested protesters whom they believed were moved there; they aggressively shined strobe lights into the windshields of passing motorists, screaming expletives at people they identified as being out group.)

A smaller group then tried to force entry at 7:48 p.m. to the Cigarette Depot at N. 76th Street and West Center Street, say police. That resulted in three arrests turned over to Milwaukee Police Department. Marchers then went through a residential neighborhood, violating curfew and “disturbing the peace,” police wrote.

Police added: “These individuals made the choice to engage in public demonstration during an emergency declaration, which had been ordered with the purpose of protecting life and property during this tumultuous time in our community. The arrests were made without regard for who these persons were; rather, they were made based on those individuals’ own decision to willfully violate the emergency order. We can appreciate the anger and frustration that exists among those closely affected by recent events. Moving forward, we ask that all citizens comply with the emergency order in place by remaining away from City of Wauwatosa public spaces.”

At 7:48 p.m., a group of protesters broke away from the main group and attempted to force entry to the Cigarette Depot on the northwest corner of N. 76 St. / W. Center St. Three people were arrested and turned over to the Milwaukee Police Department.The demonstrators continued through a residential area, disturbing the peace all the while violating the emergency curfew order.

Wauwatosa arrest
Pictures show the damage from oct. 7. Photos: jessica mcbride milwaukee

“Citations for violating an emergency order were issued to 19 people. Additional charges may be issued after a comprehensive review of videos, reports, and other evidence,” they wrote.

Police did not release the names of those arrested, but video and widespread social media reports indicated that they included Tracy Cole, the mother of Alvin Cole, the armed teen shot by a police officer after the teen pointed the gun at him in a case ruled lawful self defense by the DA. Cole’s two sisters and the father of Jacob Blame were among those arrested, according to social media accounts. We asked police whether they could confirm that, but haven’t gotten a response yet on the names. Read the story on the mother’s arrest here.

In details that match that incident, police say that they encountered vehicles driving “across all lanes of traffic” and deployed tire deflation devices to protect the public. Some people refused to exit their cars when told they were under arrest.

Wauwatosa was operating under a curfew running from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The night before police made a single arrest. Sporadic looting broke out, businesses were vandalized, rocks were thrown at police officers, residential neighborhoods faced problems, and there was widespread defiance of curfew.

https://twitter.com/zerosum24/status/1314422387232976896

Around 5 p.m. on Oct. 8, police say “a large group of demonstrators, both on foot and in vehicles, departed Merrill Park, 435 N. 35 St., in the City of Milwaukee, and proceeded to the area of N. 59 St. / W. Center St. Once there, they stopped, and waited.”

Once curfew hit at 7 p.m., they “entered the Wauwatosa city limits, in immediate violation of the emergency curfew order. At 7:02 pm, law enforcement units declared the group an unlawful assembly, and made such announcements to the group. The group, consisting of marchers and vehicles, paraded through Wauwatosa streets, honking car horns and blocking all directions of traffic.”

Tosa protest
Damage from oct. 7

According to police, law enforcement tried first, with the National Guard, to establish “a protective line” in the 6700 block of West North Avenue, “with the goal of preventing dangerous and destructive acts, similar to those that had occurred the previous evening.”

Again marchers didn’t comply so arrests started for violating curfew. After the first few arrests, a smaller group broke off. At 8:25 pm, law enforcement officers “encountered a group of vehicles that were driving across all lanes of traffic, southbound on Wauwatosa Av., near Wauwatosa East High School. Law enforcement deployed tire deflation devices to protect the motoring public from the oncoming vehicles. The occupants of these vehicles were all subsequently arrested for curfew violations.”

Tosa protest
A family dollar store was looted on oct. 7. Photo: jessica mcbride

According to police, “While most of these people cooperated when told they were under arrest, some refused to exit their vehicles. Law enforcement officers forcibly removed those who refused to exit in order to effectuate the arrests. Several more people were arrested during this encounter. Two of the arrestees, a 49-year-old female, and a 28-year-old female, requested medical attention. Wauwatosa Fire Department was summoned, and they were transported to the hospital. They were released a short time later, and will be cited and/or charged at a later time.”

Tosa protest
Photo: jessica mcbride

Police said no National Guard members made arrests.

“We will not be releasing the names of those arrested until a complete, comprehensive review of video, reports, and evidence is finished. We have learned that some of those who were arrested have already identified themselves to local news media, which is their choice,” they said, adding, “We have received inquiries as to whether or not members of the media were among those arrested-we do not know those answers at this time. Once the investigation is complete, and all citations and charges have been determined, the police reports will be available.”

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Border Patrol Agents Continue to Arrest Iranians, Weapons Traffickers at Northern Border

At the northern border, Border Patrol agents continue to arrest Iranians and weapons traffickers and are helping seize record amounts of fentanyl.

While illegal border crossings are down at the northern border under the Trump administration, Border Patrol agents in the busiest northern border Swanton Sector are continuing to interdict crime. The sector includes all of Vermont, six upstate New York counties, and three New Hampshire counties.

Earlier this month, Border Patrol Agents from the Champlain Station in New York responded to a report of suspicious activity near Mooers Forks, New York. Upon arrival, they located a minivan occupied by five Iranian citizens and two Uzbekistan citizens – all adult men in the country illegally.

Border Patrol agents then determined all seven men “had previously illegally entered the United States at various locations along both the U.S./Mexico border and the U.S./Canada border,” Swanton Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said. They were detained and are being processed for removal.

“Border security is national security and directly correlates to public safety,” Garcia said, adding that “Swanton Sector agents remain vigilant and committed to protecting our borders and enforcing immigration laws.”

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are also arresting Iranians in the country illegally, including Revolutionary Guard soldiers, after more than 1,500 Iranians illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration, with more than 700 released into the U.S., The Center Square exclusively reported.

In another instance, Border Patrol agents notified the New York State Police about a suspected driver of a vehicle allegedly involved in smuggling activity in upstate New York. State troopers responded, located and stopped the vehicle near Albany, Garcia said. A subsequent vehicle search resulted in a seizure of roughly 4.7 pounds of powdered fentanyl, enough to kill more than one million people.

“This seizure is a powerful reminder of why strong partnerships between federal, state, and local law enforcement are vital to our national security and public safety,” Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia said.

In another instance, Border Patrol agents helped ATF federal partners apprehend a criminal foreign national wanted for weapons trafficking. Honduran national Yubert Yasiel Lopez-Lopez, 31, was arrested in North Attleboro, Mass., after he illegally reentered the country after he was previously deported.

He was first apprehended in 2014 after illegally entering the U.S. in Hidalgo, Texas, under the Obama administration. A federal immigration judge in Houston ordered his removal, which occurred four years later under the first Trump administration. In 2022, he again illegally entered the country in Yuma, Arizona, under the Biden administration. It took another three years to arrest him, this time in Massachusetts, with authorities learning he was wanted in Honduras on weapons trafficking charges. A federal grand jury indicted him last month in Vermont, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont announced. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted and removal from the U.S. for a third time.

“We continue to enforce federal immigration laws and seek maximum consequences against those who violate them,” Garcia said.

Garcia also regularly thanks members of the public for supporting Border Patrol efforts, sometimes acting as the eyes and ears for agents in rural areas by calling in sightings of illegal border crossers or suspicious activity. He continues to encourage members of the public to report suspicious border activity in the Swanton Sector by calling 1-800-689-3362.

The sector was hit hard under the Biden administration with illegal border crossings from Canada reaching record levels, totaling nearly one million, according to CBP data and gotaway data exclusively reported by The Center Square. The greatest number ever reported in U.S. history in the sector was in fiscal 2024 of nearly 200,000, excluding those who evaded capture, The Center Square reported.

Evers Drew Congressional Maps Eric Wimberger Republican’s Second Tax Cut evers vetoes evers budget

Wisconsin Republicans Introduce Bill to Repeal Evers’ 400-Year Veto

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin state legislators have started circulating a bill to repeal Gov. Tony Evers’ 400-year school funding veto.

Evers’ veto in July 2023, which turned a temporary $325 per student K-12 funding increase – originally slated for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years – into a permanent increase through the year 2425, was recently upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April, The Center Square previously reported.

However, the court’s ruling suggested lawmakers could still draft legislation as a recourse to the governor’s partial veto, and Republicans are seeking to do just that.

“The pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock 402 years before this veto. It is hard to justify locking in a funding increase for just as long into the future,” the bill’s four co-authors said in a cosponsorship memo circulating at the state Capitol, WPR reported.

The bill would effectively reverse Evers’ 400-year veto, eliminating the $325 per pupil adjustment in the school district revenue limit formula beginning with the 2026-27 school year.

“One man locked in a tax-raising mechanism that no one voted for and no one approved,” the cosponsorship memo reads. “Evers’ move bypassed both the elected Legislature and the hard-working people who pay the bills.”

However, if the bill passes both chambers of the Legislature, it would ironically require Evers to not veto it in order to become law.

While the Senate had voted to override Evers’ original veto in September 2023, the Assembly never held a vote on the override, so the effort failed and the veto stood.

Will Flanders, the research director at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, previously wrote, “The Governor is not a king, even if the state Supreme Court says he is. Given this increase, the legislature should fight hard against any further increases for public schools that are now set up for a boondoggle.”

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Wisconsin Cities, Counties Saw Drop in June Unemployment Rate

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin saw the June unemployment rate go down in 24 of the state’s largest 35 cities over the month while the rates lowered in 63 counties and stayed the same in eight more, according to new numbers from the state’s Department of Workforce Development.

Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went down to 3.2% in June, less than the 4.1% national rate.

Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate went down to 65.1% in June while the national rate decreased slightly to 62.3%.

Wisconsin saw 10 of its largest metropolitan areas show unemployment decreases while three of those areas remained the same. Twelve of the metropolitan areas saw unemployment decreases over the year while the rate in Sheboygan remained the same.

Menominee, meanwhile, was the only county that saw a month over month increase in unemployment rate while the rate increased in just four counties year over year.

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Tulsi Gabbard Releases New Intel Claiming FBI, CIA ‘Knowingly created’ Russia Hoax

Federal officials have released more documents indicating a Democratic-led intelligence community politically targeted President Donald Trump by claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin influenced the 2016 presidential election to help Trump win.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard declassified a 2020 House Intelligence Committee report Wednesday that “exposes how the Obama Administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment that they knew was false.”

“The Russia Hoax was a lie that was knowingly created by the Obama Administration to undermine the legitimacy and power of the duly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump,” Gabbard posted on X.

Notably, the report found that the majority of the intelligence community’s judgements on Russia’s confirmed attempts to meddle with the 2016 election were “sound,” including its findings that Putin ordered “conventional and cyber influence operations” to undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process and the legitimacy of an expected Hillary Clinton presidency.

However, further judgments from the intelligence community alleging that Putin “developed a clear preference for candidate Trump” and “aspired to help his chances of victory” were not only false but also the result of apparent bad faith, the oversight investigation reveals.

To reach their conclusion that Putin had attempted to help Trump win, top intelligence officials cherry-picked inconclusive information that supported the narrative, omitted or suppressed information contradicting the narrative, and based their “high confidence” assumptions on untrustworthy and dishonest sources.

The report builds upon other documents that Gabbard declassified over the weekend showing that Obama, along with his senior advisors, reportedly pressured the intelligence community to contrive evidence that Russia intended to manipulate the vote count in Trump’s favor.

The Trump administration believes these efforts amounted to a “coup” meant to delegitimize the results of the 2016 election and cast doubts on Trump’s presidency.

Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said Wednesday that the “Russia hoax will go down as one of the most troublesome events in U.S. history” that caused the country to become “more polarized than ever before.”

“A President of the United States was falsely accused, and a nation had to endure lies fabricated by rogue personnel within their own Intelligence Community,” Crawford said on X. “There are still Americans who passionately believe the fabricated narrative. That is why releasing this document to the public has been so important.”

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2026 GOP Candidate Josh Schoemann Challenges Evers’ Budget Approach

(The Center Square) – Josh Schoemann, the only Republican currently in the race for governor next year, is criticizing Gov. Tony Evers’ approach to the next state budget by comparing it to his plans in Washington County.

“In Washington County our budget cycle starts right now, and it’s not due until November. We will propose our budget goals to the County Board in the next couple of months. We will share ‘This is what we’re thinking.’ It gives them months of time to think those through, give us feedback, and [have] that kind of dialogue,” Schoemann explained in an interview on News Talk 1130 WISN.

Schoemann said that is far better than the approach Evers is taking again this year.

“That’s not how government is supposed to work,” Schoemann said. “It’s not the vision of the governor. It’s not the vision of any one person.”

Evers and the Republican legislative leaders who will write the budget have been involved in on-again, off-again budget talks this month. On Thursday, the governor’s office said those talks were off once again because of gridlock in the Senate.

“Ultimately, the Senate needs to decide whether they were elected to govern and get things done or not,” Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said in a post on X.

Schoemann’s criticism of Evers is nothing new. He has long been a critic of the governor and has turned that criticism up since launching his campaign for governor.

But the recent criticism was also aimed at other Republicans who may jump into the 20206 governor’s race later this year.

“Nobody else in this race on the Republican side, being rumored to this point, has the executive leadership of skills and history to be able to show ‘This is how I’ve done it before, and here’s how we’ll do it Madison,’” Schoemann said. “The results in Washington County speak for themselves.”

Northwoods Congressman Tom Tiffany is also rumored to be looking to get into the Republican race. Before he went to Congress, Tiffany was a Republican lawmaker in Madison.

Businessman and veteran Bill Berrien is also on the short list of likely GOP candidates for 2026.

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