TIPTON, Iowa (AP) - A woman charged with kidnapping her half sister’s newborn from Wisconsin wants to “express concern” for her sister, saying she hopes she is recovering from the family’s hardship, her defense attorney said Friday.
Attorney Victoria Noel said her client, Kristen Smith, wanted to publicly show concern for her half sister, 18-year-old Brianna Marshall.
Federal prosecutors in Wisconsin have charged Smith with kidnapping Marshall’s days-old baby, Kayden Powell, on Feb. 6, and leaving him at an Iowa gas station. The boy was found about 29 hours later, alive and well despite the below-freezing temperatures.
“She understands her sister has gone through an ordeal and is hoping she’s doing all right, regardless of what may or may not have happened,” Noel told reporters.
Smith, 31, has been jailed in Iowa since her arrest last week on an outstanding Texas warrant charging her with tampering with government documents. She appeared Friday in the Cedar County Courthouse in Tipton, and waived the right to challenge her extradition to Texas.
Texas authorities now can transport her to face that charge. Judge Stuart Werling ordered Smith to remain temporarily jailed on $50,000 bond, citing the “seriousness of the charges.”
The prosecutor’s office in Tarrant County, Texas, said authorities were interested in extraditing Smith - but that a federal kidnapping case would take precedence.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Two unnamed parties are suing the judge and prosecutor overseeing a secret investigation that’s reportedly looking into fundraising efforts by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign and other conservative groups.
Attorneys asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to take the lawsuit as an original action, which means it would start there and skip lower courts.
The sealed filing was made Feb. 7. On Feb. 10 Wisconsin Club for Growth and its director filed a federal lawsuit seeking an end to the secret John Doe investigation. In November three unnamed petitioners filed lawsuits in the state Court of Appeals seeking to end the investigation, but that was rejected.
Online court records show five separate lawsuits were filed in the Supreme Court but they are all housed in one case file.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - Five Milwaukee firefighters accused of vandalizing a firehouse last September won’t be fired.
The Milwaukee Fire Department says two of the firefighters who failed to properly prevent or report the vandalism will be demoted. All five will serve unpaid 30-day suspensions and take remedial training.
Nine firefighters were suspended Sept. 30 after Engine House 32 was found vandalized. It was the last shift before the firefighters were expected to be transferred to other firehouses.
Since an internal investigation began in October, two firefighters have taken early retirement and two probationary firefighters were fired. Last month, an investigation board recommended the remaining five firefighters be fired.
But a department news release Friday said that most of the vandalism and disorder was committed by people who have already left.
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WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - Health officials say the flu death of a Wausau man highlights the need to get vaccinated.
Jeremy Whipps Sr. died Feb. 4, two weeks after he was diagnosed with the H1N1 virus. He was 43.
Judy Burrows, program manager at the Marathon County Health Department, tells the Wausau Daily Herald (https://wdhne.ws/1gHd3wYhttps://wdhne.ws/1gHd3wY ) you wouldn’t expect someone that age to die from the flu. But for some reason, she says, H1N1 is affecting younger, healthy people very hard.
The first U.S. case of H1N1 was recorded in 2009. While the World Health Organization declared an end to the H1NI pandemic in 2010, the Centers for Disease Control says it’s still widespread in adults and children throughout the country.
State health officials report the flu is not currently considered widespread in Wisconsin, however.
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Information from: Wausau Daily Herald Media, https://www.wausaudailyherald.comhttps://www.wausaudailyherald.com
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