MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Police released hundreds of documents Friday related to the fatal police shooting of a 19-year-old man in Madison, including records that show he told his mother he trusted police after a 2014 arrest.
Tony Robinson Jr. called his mother from the Dane County jail last year after he was arrested for armed robbery. In a recorded call, his mother, Andrea Irwin, told him not to tell the police anything. Robinson said he had already told officers he had made a “dumb decision” and was involved in the incident, according to the documents, which show he otherwise had few interactions with police.
“I told the truth,” Robinson told his mother, according to the documents. “We broke into somebody’s house.”
He later told her that officers said “they would help me out.”
In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, Irwin stressed that the incident had nothing to do with her son’s death and she was tired of people judging her family. She said she never told her son not to trust police, but told him to not say anything and to get an attorney.
“Anybody with any decent sense would say the same thing to their child,” Irwin said.
“We are getting bashed and beat up and talked about and getting put down,” she added. “I’m getting tired of everything I say to be taken out of context. I just want my son to rest in peace.”
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Scott Walker’s economic record as Wisconsin governor is a mixed one, and that poses complications as well as opportunity for him in the 2016 Republican presidential race.
On one hand, the jobless rate has dropped from 8.1 percent to 5 percent during his time as governor and businesses have been starting up at a healthy clip.
But Wisconsin has added private sector jobs at a lower rate than the national average since July 2011. Only about 145,000 private sector jobs were created over Walker’s first four years; he’d promised 250,000.
And the state budget faces a shortfall.
It’s a mixed picture and, as the 2016 race heats up, a more complex one than Walker presents to voters as he prepares for a likely candidacy.
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MILWAUKEE (AP) - Diamond Stone helped set the standard for basketball excellence at Whitefish Bay Dominican.
It’s going to be hard to cap the four-year run that Stone had with the Green Knights. They became only the second program in state basketball history to win four straight titles.
Here’s one more distinction for Stone before he goes to Maryland to play his college ball: the 6-foot-10 center has been named The Associated Press player of the year in Wisconsin. Scott Anderson of Stevens Point is the AP coach of the year.
For Stone, there was substantial competition for his honor.
Rice Lake’s Henry Ellenson was also considered. The standout senior is staying in state to play at Marquette this fall.
Stone verbally committed to Maryland last week. He averaged 24.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.9 blocks per game. Stone shot 70 percent (272 of 388) from the field, along with 35 percent (12 of 34) from 3-point range.
“It just goes to show, his hard work and dedication that he’s put into basketball since grade school has paid off all these years,” said Derek Berger, who has coached Stone from fourth grade through his four years at Dominican.
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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Felons could face criminal charges for owning vicious dogs under a bill introduced recently by a Wisconsin lawmaker.
Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said Green Bay police are seeing an increase in dogfighting cases and dogs attacking officers.
Sharon Hensen, Green Bay animal control officer, said Friday that she’s sought similar legislation for five years.
“If you have felons who can’t own guns, why would you give them a weapon like a dog?” Hensen said.
Jacque said the bill doesn’t target a certain breed of dog but instead calls for police to weigh the dog’s behavior and determine whether it’s vicious. The bill says a dog that causes physical harm or leads an officer to believe it poses a significant threat could be considered vicious.
“This isn’t to keep people from owning a dog,” Jacque said, “this is to keep people from owning dogs that are a threat to the community.”
And Hensen said police have seen more breeds of dogs trained to be vicious.
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