Wisconsin
Judge rejects attempt to revive recall targeting top GOP lawmaker
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt to revive the recall effort targeting the longest-serving Wisconsin Assembly speaker in state history, saying signatures were wrongly collected under legislative boundary lines now barred from use in any election.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump had targeted Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos for recall after he refused calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. Biden’s win of about 21,000 votes has withstood two partial recounts, lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm.
Vos further angered Trump supporters when he did not back a plan to impeach Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official.
Vos recall organizers failed to submit enough signatures to trigger an election in their first attempt in May. The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month rejected a second recall attempt on a bipartisan vote, also finding that it fell short of the needed number of signatures.
Recall organizers appealed the decision to Dane County Circuit Court on Friday. On Tuesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that the organizers’ attempt to force a vote under old legislative maps violates the state Supreme Court’s order barring the use of those boundaries.
Recall organizers had collected signatures for the recall effort from voters in the 63rd Assembly District, which is the one Vos was elected to represent in 2022. But in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court barred the use of those boundary lines going forward.
The Legislature approved new maps that put Vos in a new 33rd Assembly District.
The elections commission had asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify which district boundaries would apply for the recall, but the court declined to weigh in.
Recall organizers had argued that the elections commission should have accepted signatures that were collected after a 60-day petition circulation deadline had passed, but before the deadline to submit the petitions.
But Ehlke didn’t even address that issue because he ruled that the signatures were collected in the old district.
“Simply put, this court will not command WEC to do what the Wisconsin Supreme Court forbids,” Ehlke wrote referring to the elections commission.
Recall organizers issued a statement calling Ehlke’s decision wrong and saying the Supreme Court couldn’t have intended to deny Wisconsin citizens the right to recall an incumbent. They said they look forward to pursuing the case in higher courts, signaling they plan to appeal.
Alabama
Muslim inmate asks that state not autopsy his body after execution
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate will not ask the courts to block his execution next week but is requesting that the state not perform an autopsy on his body because of his Muslim faith, according to a lawsuit.
Keith Edmund Gavin, 64, is scheduled to be executed July 18 by lethal injection. Gavin was convicted in the 1998 shooting death of a delivery driver who had stopped at an ATM to get money.
Gavin filed a lawsuit last month asking a judge to block the state from performing an autopsy after his execution. It has been the standard practice in the state to perform autopsies after executions.
“Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim. His religion teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole. As a result, Mr. Gavin sincerely believes that an autopsy would desecrate his body and violate the sanctity of keeping his human body intact. Based on his faith, Mr. Gavin is fiercely opposed to an autopsy being performed on his body after his execution,” his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in state court in Montgomery.
His attorneys said they filed the lawsuit after being unable to have “meaningful discussions” with state officials about his request to avoid an autopsy. They added that the court filing is not an attempt to stay the execution and that “Gavin does not anticipate any further appeals or requests for stays of his execution.”
William Califf, a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said Tuesday that “we are working on a resolution.”
Gavin was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 shooting death of William Clinton Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County in northeast Alabama. Clayton, a delivery driver, was shot when he stopped at an ATM to get money to take his wife to dinner, prosecutors said.
A jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty for Gavin. The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced him to death.
Florida
Environmental groups, state regulators settle lawsuit over massive 2021 leak of polluted waters
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Environmental groups and Florida regulators have settled a lawsuit over the 2021 leak of millions of gallons of polluted water from a phosphate plant reservoir into Tampa Bay, which triggered major fish kills and the temporary evacuation of dozens of nearby residents.
The settlement, filed Monday in federal court in Tampa, requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue a Clean Water Act permit that will ensure oversight and accountability for any future discharges from the Piney Point facility, said Ragan Whitlock, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The facility near the mouth of Tampa Bay in Manatee County operated for 20 years without such a permit. It is in the process of being closed down, with contaminated water now being pumped into wells deep underground.
“It clearly is too little, too late. This is something (state regulators) could have done a long time ago,” Whitlock said Tuesday. “But the facility will still continue to pose a threat to Tampa Bay for a long time.”
In addition to the permit, the settlement calls for the state to pay $75,000 for the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to monitor water quality near Piney Point.
The reservoir contained stacks of gypsum, a slightly radioactive byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production. After its owner went bankrupt, the state took over its operation and allowed dredge material to be stored there, according to the lawsuit. The leak was caused when tears in a plastic liner threatened to trigger a major breach that could have unleashed even more contaminated water unless some was released.
Because of that potentially catastrophic threat, county officials in April 2021 issued evacuation orders for communities near the reservoir and Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the site. The reservoir that leaked about 215 million gallons (814 million liters) of water is one of three at the Piney Point site, two of which have not yet been drained.
Beyond the evacuations, the contaminated release triggered a toxic red tide outbreak that killed more than 600 tons of fish and other aquatic life in summer 2021 around the Tampa Bay area. The state Legislature has appropriated about $100 million to close Piney Point for good, with estimates for that to be completed in the mid-2025 range.
“It wasn’t too long ago that shorelines once teeming with life were littered with all kinds of dead fish for months,” said Justin Tramble, executive director of Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, also involved in the lawsuit.
“This brings some closure to the past and shifts the focus to making sure mechanisms are in place to prevent even more tragedy in the future.”
There are about two dozen other similar phosphate wastewater reservoirs in Florida, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They hold about 1 billion tons of gypsum stacks similar to those at Piney Point.
Missouri
Man accused of imprisoning and torturing a woman for weeks indicted for murder
A Missouri man accused of keeping a woman hidden in his basement while repeatedly sexually assaulting her was indicted Tuesday for allegedly murdering another woman.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Timothy M. Haslett was charged with murder in connection with 36-year-old Jaynie Crosdale’s death, adding that she was killed “by an act of homicidal violence.” He said her remains showed impact wounds consistent with a gunshot.
Haslett, of Excelsior Springs, previously was indicted on one count of rape, four counts of sodomy, two counts of second-degree assault and one count each of kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.
He is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on $5 million bond.
Haslett’s public defender, Tiffany Leuty, did not immediately return an Associated Press call and email seeking comment Tuesday.
Police arrested Haslett in October 2022 after a woman told law enforcement that she had escaped from weeks of torture in his locked basement, according to a probable cause statement. She fled to a neighbor’s house wearing a trash bag, a padlocked collar around her neck, and duct tape.
The survivor said Haslett had offered her money, and she agreed to go with him to his home. Once she was in his pickup truck, the woman told law enforcement that he held a gun to her, raped her and forced her to take narcotics.
He then took her to his basement, restrained her arms and legs, and raped, whipped, tortured and choked her every day for weeks, according to the probable cause statement. She escaped after slipping out of the chains while she believed he was taking his child to school.
The woman who survived also told authorities that Haslett had described killing two other women he previously kidnapped: one by suffocating her with a gas mask, and another who died after violent sexual torture.
He told her “if she did not listen to him, he would suffocate her and put her in a barrel like the rest of ‘them,” according to the probable cause statement.
Thompson had said law enforcement officers followed more than 100 leads and spent more than 1,200 hours on the case, including searching for Crosdale and posting a missing person billboard with her photo in Kansas City.
Police made progress after kayakers in June 2023 found a blue, 30-gallon barrel with a skeleton inside while camping off the Missouri River in Saline County, according to police.
The remains were identified as Crosdale in July 2023, the Kansas City Star reported.
The charges filed Tuesday are based on the evidence authorities currently have, Thompson said. He said the investigation is ongoing, and he urged anyone with information to come forward.
“Today’s indictment represents the next step in our pursuit of justice for the victims, the families and our community,” he said. “The physical, psychological and sexual torture described by the defendant’s surviving victim is brutal and barbaric.”
Judge rejects attempt to revive recall targeting top GOP lawmaker
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A judge on Tuesday rejected an attempt to revive the recall effort targeting the longest-serving Wisconsin Assembly speaker in state history, saying signatures were wrongly collected under legislative boundary lines now barred from use in any election.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump had targeted Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos for recall after he refused calls to decertify President Joe Biden’s narrow win in the state. Biden’s win of about 21,000 votes has withstood two partial recounts, lawsuits, an independent audit and a review by a conservative law firm.
Vos further angered Trump supporters when he did not back a plan to impeach Meagan Wolfe, the state’s top elections official.
Vos recall organizers failed to submit enough signatures to trigger an election in their first attempt in May. The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month rejected a second recall attempt on a bipartisan vote, also finding that it fell short of the needed number of signatures.
Recall organizers appealed the decision to Dane County Circuit Court on Friday. On Tuesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Stephen Ehlke ruled that the organizers’ attempt to force a vote under old legislative maps violates the state Supreme Court’s order barring the use of those boundaries.
Recall organizers had collected signatures for the recall effort from voters in the 63rd Assembly District, which is the one Vos was elected to represent in 2022. But in December, the Wisconsin Supreme Court barred the use of those boundary lines going forward.
The Legislature approved new maps that put Vos in a new 33rd Assembly District.
The elections commission had asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to clarify which district boundaries would apply for the recall, but the court declined to weigh in.
Recall organizers had argued that the elections commission should have accepted signatures that were collected after a 60-day petition circulation deadline had passed, but before the deadline to submit the petitions.
But Ehlke didn’t even address that issue because he ruled that the signatures were collected in the old district.
“Simply put, this court will not command WEC to do what the Wisconsin Supreme Court forbids,” Ehlke wrote referring to the elections commission.
Recall organizers issued a statement calling Ehlke’s decision wrong and saying the Supreme Court couldn’t have intended to deny Wisconsin citizens the right to recall an incumbent. They said they look forward to pursuing the case in higher courts, signaling they plan to appeal.
Alabama
Muslim inmate asks that state not autopsy his body after execution
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — An Alabama inmate will not ask the courts to block his execution next week but is requesting that the state not perform an autopsy on his body because of his Muslim faith, according to a lawsuit.
Keith Edmund Gavin, 64, is scheduled to be executed July 18 by lethal injection. Gavin was convicted in the 1998 shooting death of a delivery driver who had stopped at an ATM to get money.
Gavin filed a lawsuit last month asking a judge to block the state from performing an autopsy after his execution. It has been the standard practice in the state to perform autopsies after executions.
“Mr. Gavin is a devout Muslim. His religion teaches that the human body is a sacred temple, which must be kept whole. As a result, Mr. Gavin sincerely believes that an autopsy would desecrate his body and violate the sanctity of keeping his human body intact. Based on his faith, Mr. Gavin is fiercely opposed to an autopsy being performed on his body after his execution,” his attorneys wrote in the lawsuit filed in state court in Montgomery.
His attorneys said they filed the lawsuit after being unable to have “meaningful discussions” with state officials about his request to avoid an autopsy. They added that the court filing is not an attempt to stay the execution and that “Gavin does not anticipate any further appeals or requests for stays of his execution.”
William Califf, a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, said Tuesday that “we are working on a resolution.”
Gavin was convicted of capital murder for the 1998 shooting death of William Clinton Clayton Jr. in Cherokee County in northeast Alabama. Clayton, a delivery driver, was shot when he stopped at an ATM to get money to take his wife to dinner, prosecutors said.
A jury voted 10-2 in favor of the death penalty for Gavin. The trial court accepted the jury’s recommendation and sentenced him to death.
Florida
Environmental groups, state regulators settle lawsuit over massive 2021 leak of polluted waters
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Environmental groups and Florida regulators have settled a lawsuit over the 2021 leak of millions of gallons of polluted water from a phosphate plant reservoir into Tampa Bay, which triggered major fish kills and the temporary evacuation of dozens of nearby residents.
The settlement, filed Monday in federal court in Tampa, requires the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue a Clean Water Act permit that will ensure oversight and accountability for any future discharges from the Piney Point facility, said Ragan Whitlock, attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.
The facility near the mouth of Tampa Bay in Manatee County operated for 20 years without such a permit. It is in the process of being closed down, with contaminated water now being pumped into wells deep underground.
“It clearly is too little, too late. This is something (state regulators) could have done a long time ago,” Whitlock said Tuesday. “But the facility will still continue to pose a threat to Tampa Bay for a long time.”
In addition to the permit, the settlement calls for the state to pay $75,000 for the Tampa Bay Estuary Program to monitor water quality near Piney Point.
The reservoir contained stacks of gypsum, a slightly radioactive byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production. After its owner went bankrupt, the state took over its operation and allowed dredge material to be stored there, according to the lawsuit. The leak was caused when tears in a plastic liner threatened to trigger a major breach that could have unleashed even more contaminated water unless some was released.
Because of that potentially catastrophic threat, county officials in April 2021 issued evacuation orders for communities near the reservoir and Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for the site. The reservoir that leaked about 215 million gallons (814 million liters) of water is one of three at the Piney Point site, two of which have not yet been drained.
Beyond the evacuations, the contaminated release triggered a toxic red tide outbreak that killed more than 600 tons of fish and other aquatic life in summer 2021 around the Tampa Bay area. The state Legislature has appropriated about $100 million to close Piney Point for good, with estimates for that to be completed in the mid-2025 range.
“It wasn’t too long ago that shorelines once teeming with life were littered with all kinds of dead fish for months,” said Justin Tramble, executive director of Tampa Bay Waterkeeper, also involved in the lawsuit.
“This brings some closure to the past and shifts the focus to making sure mechanisms are in place to prevent even more tragedy in the future.”
There are about two dozen other similar phosphate wastewater reservoirs in Florida, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They hold about 1 billion tons of gypsum stacks similar to those at Piney Point.
Missouri
Man accused of imprisoning and torturing a woman for weeks indicted for murder
A Missouri man accused of keeping a woman hidden in his basement while repeatedly sexually assaulting her was indicted Tuesday for allegedly murdering another woman.
Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Timothy M. Haslett was charged with murder in connection with 36-year-old Jaynie Crosdale’s death, adding that she was killed “by an act of homicidal violence.” He said her remains showed impact wounds consistent with a gunshot.
Haslett, of Excelsior Springs, previously was indicted on one count of rape, four counts of sodomy, two counts of second-degree assault and one count each of kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child.
He is being held in the Clay County Detention Center on $5 million bond.
Haslett’s public defender, Tiffany Leuty, did not immediately return an Associated Press call and email seeking comment Tuesday.
Police arrested Haslett in October 2022 after a woman told law enforcement that she had escaped from weeks of torture in his locked basement, according to a probable cause statement. She fled to a neighbor’s house wearing a trash bag, a padlocked collar around her neck, and duct tape.
The survivor said Haslett had offered her money, and she agreed to go with him to his home. Once she was in his pickup truck, the woman told law enforcement that he held a gun to her, raped her and forced her to take narcotics.
He then took her to his basement, restrained her arms and legs, and raped, whipped, tortured and choked her every day for weeks, according to the probable cause statement. She escaped after slipping out of the chains while she believed he was taking his child to school.
The woman who survived also told authorities that Haslett had described killing two other women he previously kidnapped: one by suffocating her with a gas mask, and another who died after violent sexual torture.
He told her “if she did not listen to him, he would suffocate her and put her in a barrel like the rest of ‘them,” according to the probable cause statement.
Thompson had said law enforcement officers followed more than 100 leads and spent more than 1,200 hours on the case, including searching for Crosdale and posting a missing person billboard with her photo in Kansas City.
Police made progress after kayakers in June 2023 found a blue, 30-gallon barrel with a skeleton inside while camping off the Missouri River in Saline County, according to police.
The remains were identified as Crosdale in July 2023, the Kansas City Star reported.
The charges filed Tuesday are based on the evidence authorities currently have, Thompson said. He said the investigation is ongoing, and he urged anyone with information to come forward.
“Today’s indictment represents the next step in our pursuit of justice for the victims, the families and our community,” he said. “The physical, psychological and sexual torture described by the defendant’s surviving victim is brutal and barbaric.”
