Wisconsin
Lawmakers to consider parole transparency bill
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin lawmakers were set to take public comments Wednesday on a Republican-authored bill that would force the state's embattled parole commission to abide by open meetings laws and post its decisions online.
The Assembly Committee on State Affairs was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposal. The committee wasn't expected to vote on the bill but the forum offered stakeholders a chance to sound off on commission shortcomings.
Republicans have spent months criticizing the commission after it decided in May 2022 to parole convicted murderer Douglas Balsewicz after he served 25 years of his 80-year sentence. Balsewicz, now 55, had fatally stabbed his wife, Johanna Balsewicz, in West Allis in 1997.
The commission's chair, John Tate, one of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' appointees, approved the decision, leaving Johanna Balsewicz's family outraged. A slate of Republicans who were running for governor at the time demanded Evers intervene.
The governor doesn't have the power to unilaterally rescind paroles. But in the face of blistering GOP criticism and with the November election just months away, Evers met with Johanna Balsewicz's family and afterward asked Tate to rescind Douglas Balsewicz's parole. Evers said at the time that the family didn't get an adequate chance to respond.
Tate complied and resigned weeks later, again at Evers' request. He said in his resignation letter that no parole decision pleases everyone but he did his best to be fair. Evers picked former Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach to replace him in January.
The bill from Republican state Rep. John Spiros and Sen. Van Wanggaard would apply Wisconsin's open meetings laws to the commission — right now the commission is exempt — and require the commission to post notice of all its meetings on the state Department of Corrections website.
The Department of Corrections would be required to post online any guidance documents the commission uses when making parole decisions. The agency also would have to post the names of any individuals granted or denied parole as well as those returned to prison for parole violations along with monthly and annual totals.
The Wisconsin Newspaper Association and the Wisconsin Professional Police Association have registered in favor of the bill, according to Wisconsin Ethics Commission records. No groups have registered in opposition.
Spokespeople for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu didn't immediately return messages inquiring about the bill's prospects.
Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback responded to a request for comment by pointing to two sentences in the governor's budget proposal that call for "clarifying the responsibilities" of the commission to notify crime victims' families when a convict applies for parole and is released on parole.
Maine
Law school dean tapped to lead Bates College
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — The dean of the University of Minnesota Law School has been tapped to lead Bates College, becoming the liberal arts college's first Black president, the Maine school said Wednesday.
Garry W. Jenkins, who was selected unanimously by trustees, said he was overjoyed to join the Bates community. "Simply put, everything about Bates and its culture resonates with me," he said.
Jenkins, who begins his post on July 1, will be Bates' ninth president since its 1855 founding.
The 1992 graduate of Haverford College is a respected legal scholar and champion of the liberal arts.
"We are at a pivotal moment for American society and higher education. The world urgently needs leaders who have been challenged, developed and nurtured by Bates and a liberal arts education," Jenkins said.
At Minnesota, he boosted the school's diversity and inclusion and expanded the demographic profiles of admitted students.
During his tenure, the school's endowment doubled. He also concluded a record-setting fundraising campaign that brought in $106 million.
New York
EMS workers punished for media interviews in NYC settle suit
NEW YORK (AP) — Four New York City ambulance workers who said they were disciplined for speaking to the media during the harrowing, early months of the COVID-19 pandemic have reached a settlement in their free speech lawsuit against the fire department and the city, their union announced Wednesday.
The four emergency medical workers — including paramedic Elizabeth Bonilla, who allowed the Associated Press follow her through the first half of a 16-hour double shift in April 2020 — will each receive $29,999, a spokesperson for FDNY EMS Local 2507 said. Additionally, the city will expunge from their records any claim that they violated department rules by communicating with the news media.
Messages seeking comment were sent to the city law department and the fire department.
Bonilla, along with fellow paramedics Alexander Nunez and Megan Pfeiffer, and emergency medical technician John Rugen, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan in June 2020 alleging that they had been unfairly punished for giving media interviews about their work on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to their union, Bonilla, Nunez and Pfeiffer were restricted from treating any patients, and Rugen was put on restricted status and suspended without pay for 30 days.
"Our union always believed that the City and FDNY's case was built upon nothing more than prosecutorial overzealousness," Oren Barzilay, the president of the local, said in a statement.
Barzilay said that "With this settlement, justice is finally served, albeit a bit cold after nearly three years."
