A look back at the people and events that made news the past week. Week-ends is a regular weekly feature of  This Just In…

HEROES OF THE WEEK

Ryan Belcher

C.B. Fleming

Jess Rollisson

VILLAINS OF THE WEEK

Jussie Smollet

R Kelly

Lisa Britt

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“We have a terrific and dedicated group of city workers who are out there doing the job, but for goodness sake, they could use a little help with a few extra bodies. The city bonded for $49 million for the streetcar and we can’t keep a reliable fleet for snow plows out on the streets? To me that is financially reckless behavior on the part of this administration. Our city priorities are seriously out of order and it’s time for Mayor Barrett to explain how he’s going to fix them before Milwaukee is totally buried under snow.”
Milwaukee Alderman Tony Zielinski who has announced he’s running for mayor

“As a cancer survivor, I know the side effects of a major illness can make everyday tasks a challenge. People shouldn’t be treated as criminals for accessing a desperately-needed medication that can alleviate their suffering. Wisconsinites overwhelmingly agree that this is a critically important issue. But it’s not just about access to health care, it’s about connecting the dots between racial disparities and economic inequity.”
Governor Tony Evers announced that his budget will include proposals to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, establish an expungement procedure for individuals who have completed their sentence or probation for possession, and align Wisconsin’s laws on cannabidiol, also known asCBD oil, with federal standards

“Families in Wisconsin deserve the right to legally access medical marijuana to alleviate a wide variety of symptoms related to medical conditions, such as cancer, glaucoma, and seizures. Patients that need medication should not be treated as criminals. Access to medical marijuana is an especially important tool in our state’s battle to fight the opioid epidemic, which has needlessly destroyed the lives of too many.”
The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses & Health Professionals

“Not only does Evers’ plan put Wisconsin at odds with federal law, the state’s business leaders are concerned about the impacts marijuana decriminalization will have on workplace safety. Employees who test positive for marijuana use had 55 percent more industrial accidents, 85 percent more injuries and 75 percent greater absenteeism compared to those who tested negative, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Additionally, from 2010 to 2013, car crashes involving marijuana went up 300 percent and, as more states legalize the drug, those rates continue to increase.”
The Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) – the state’s largest business association – urged Gov. Tony Evers to rethink his plan to decriminalize marijuana for recreational use

“When we are dealing with opioids as the single biggest health crisis this state has ever had, you are going to tell me legalizing more drugs is the answer? Absolutely not.”
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu. On Thursday a bill to legalize cannabis in his  state moved forward by just one vote.

“The accusation within this phony attack received national attention for weeks. Celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates weighed in on something that was choreographed by an actor.

“This announcement today recognized that ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career. I am left hanging my head asking ‘why?’ Why would anyone — especially an African American man — use the symbolism of a noose to make false accusation.  Bogus police reports cause real harm. They do harm to every legitimate victim who is in need of support by police and investigators as well as the citizens of this city … I’m offended by what happened and I am also angry.”
Chicago Police superintendent Eddie Johnson called out celebrities, news commentators and even presidential candidates on Thursday for their decision to amplify coverage of what he said was the “phony attack” against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett

“Smollett should not get off easy. He should face jail time for concocting this horrible story; wasting resources, time and money of the Chicago Police Department; and abusing the trust of those who believed him. Meanwhile, Smollett’s story should not deflect attention from a real problem that exists: white nationalists who seek to sow racial hatred and kill in the name of a hateful ideology. There are real monsters out there, but making up fictitious ones to gain attention makes it harder to convince people they exist.”
Linda Chavez is chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity

“Now Smollett has been arrested and journalists still haven’t learned a thing. They whine that Trump and his supporters are anti-First Amendment, even though that same amendment also protects Trump’s speech along with their own.

“And too few journalists want to admit they are the problem, or that hype and clicks go hand-in-hand with hatred and division. News exists to report on the problems of the world. Yet it is thoroughly incapable of reporting on the problems of the news itself.

“Most journalists don’t want the truth. They want the narrative that depicts them as good guys, as truth tellers – no matter how many stories they get wrong or how many lives they ruin doing it.”
Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center

“Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty. My dear departed grandmothers … as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not, with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics.”
Donald Harris, the Jamaican-born father of Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and a professor of economics at Stanford. He was reacting to his daughter  who admitted to smoking pot — “I did inhale.” She was also asked by a radio host about accusations that she has, in the past, opposed legalization efforts. “Half my family’s from Jamaica,” she said. “Are you kidding me?”

“My constituents want jobs. It would have been 25,000 jobs at $150,000 minimum for the job. There were promises for a new school, and as a former teacher, I was intrigued with their plans to have a curriculum in 30 different schools supported by Amazon on high tech. We should be really diversifying our base of taxes, our base of businesses. We are too dependent on financial services.

“It used to be that we would protest wars. Now we are protesting jobs? People are complaining about jobs coming to your [city] … If this had gone through, it would have made overnight New York City the high-tech capital of the east coast, the most important job center for tech jobs.”
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was not too happy with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) celebrating Amazon nixing a plan to build a headquarters in New York City

“You say the media is mostly liberal. I agree with you. It’s true. Why can I say that with certainty? Well first of all I’ve been part of this for all my life, I’m 47 now and I’ve been a journalist since I was 17 and the media everywhere is mostly liberal not just in the U.S, but in this country 85 percent of journalists are registered Democrats so that’s just a fact.

“For example, the coverage on Trump, all the time, is negative,” she continued. “There’s no mitigating policy, or event or anything that has happened since he was elected that is out there in the media that you can read about, right? Well, that tells you, that’s distortion of the way things go in real life.

“Although the media has always been left-leaning, we’ve abandoned our pretense or at least the effort to be objective today. We’ve become political activists, and some could argue propagandists, and there’s some merit to that.”
CBS’s Lara Logan in a candid interview with former U.S. Navy Seal, dog trainer, and author Mike Ritland on his Mike Drop podcast

“Greg Gard’s players battled uphill all night Monday at the Kohl Center. Imagine one man trying to lug a piano up 20 flights of stairs that have been coated in grease and you understand the type of night Wisconsin endured.”
Jeff Potrykus writing in the Journal Sentinel about Wisconsin’s 64-58 win over Illinois

OUTRAGE OF THE WEEK

This columnist is probably right

MOST UNDER-REPORTED STORY OF THE WEEK

Suburban women, Trump, and the wall

MOST OVER-HYPED STORY OF THE WEEK

The Oscars

MOST UNUSUAL STORY OF THE WEEK

On the golf course…