Wheeler News - Afternoon State News #1 - 6/29/11

===Stations: Learfield Data was down at mid-afternoon, so we're sending the Afternoon State News #1 and the Afternoon State Sports on this blog.===

Wheeler News Service – Wednesday, June 29, 2011 – Afternoon Report #1

Editor on duty: Thom Gerretsen (715) 389-2373
Story contributions: wheelernews@yahoo.com
Wheeler Blog: http://learfielddata.blogspot.com

Here are the headlines:

Republican Senate recall challenger David VanderLeest could be facing more legal trouble…
Federal indictments are issued against 35 people in a pair of major drug trafficking operations in Racine and elsewhere…
Jurors in Arizona were about to decide this afternoon whether James Arthur Ray should get a tougher sentence for a Milwaukee man’s death in a sweat lodge.

Here are the details:
A Republican challenger for a Wisconsin Senate seat in a recall election could be facing more legal trouble. It’s already been reported that David VanderLeest of Green Bay has two misdemeanor disorderly conduct convictions from 2007, plus other arrests – all connected with alleged domestic violence. And today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said VanderLeest is under investigation in Oconto County. Chief Deputy Clark Longsine said there’s an open investigation which deputies have shared with the county’s human services agency. He didn’t give details, but VanderLeest told the Journal Sentinel it was connected with a restraining order his ex-wife sought in April that she later withdrew. VanderLeest is a wind farm developer who’s the only official G-O-P candidate at the moment for the Senate seat held by Democrat Dave Hansen of Green Bay. The disorderly conduct convictions were part of a plea deal in which he was originally charged with intimidating a witness and battery. His ex-wife had obtained restraining orders against him in 2005-and-’06. And Wisconsin Democrats said he was also arrested for pulling his ex-wife’s hair, throwing her to a floor to stop her from calling police, and another battery. Those incidents were from 2006-and-’09, but VanderLeest was not convicted in those cases. He told the Journal Sentinel those cases were the result of a bad marriage and what he called corruption in the court system. State Democratic chairman Mike Tate says VanderLeest is not a person who’s fit for office. He organized the recall effort against Hansen. Earlier this week, state Representative John Nygren of Marinette was kept off the ballot for a primary against VanderLeest due to a lack of valid nominating signatures. But Nygren is challenging that matter in court, and a hearing on it is set for Friday in Madison.
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Federal authorities say 35 people have been indicted in a pair of large drug trafficking operations in Racine. The U-S attorney’s office said 18 people were charged in one operation. That’s after authorities were told that a barber at Ruth’s Beauty Salon in Racine had been suspected of helping sell crack cocaine and heroin. In the other case, 17 people – including gang members from the Gangster Disciples – were indicted for drug and firearms charges. U-S Attorney James Santelle (san-tell’) said cocaine, marijuana, meth-amphetamines, and cash were taken during searches in the Racine, Chicago, and San Antonio areas. He said a Racine man had been the leader of that group.
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Jurors in Arizona were about to decide this afternoon whether James Arthur Ray should get a tough sentence for letting a Milwaukee man die in a sweat-lodge ceremony. Closing arguments in the trial’s penalty phase were presented this morning. After convicting Ray last week, the jury must decide if there were aggravating factors that a judge should consider when giving his sentence. The jury found Ray guilty last week on three lesser charges of negligent homicide, for causing the deaths of 40-year-old James Shore of Milwaukee and two others during a spiritual ceremony in a heated structure in 2009. Ray could get anything from probation to 11 years behind bars. Prosecutors had survivors of the victims testify about their effects on their families’ lives due to the tragedy. But the defense said the state did not meet some key burdens of proof. Ray’s lawyers said he never profited from the sweat lodge ceremony, and there’s no proof that Ray had a unique position of trust with the victims.
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