Briefs are posted every weekday morning, M-F

NEWS

Cardinal Stritch University, which has been serving students since 1937, is closing its doors at the end of the spring semester, the college president announced Monday.

“We’re all devastated by this development, but after examining all options this decision was necessary,” President Dan Scholz said in a video announcement. “I wish there was a different path we could pursue. However, the fiscal realities, downward enrollment trends, the pandemic, the need for more resources and the mounting operational and facility challenges presented a no-win situation.”

The university Board of Trustees recommended the closure to the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi after determining the Fox Point school “could no longer provide high-quality educational experiences our students deserve,” he said. The Sisters accepted the recommendation and set the closing in motion, Scholz said.

The announcement came as a shock to the close-knit campus, and to its broader community.

“It’s devastating for everyone here,” said Philip Jakobsson, a student who plays on the school’s soccer team. Jakobsson said he had considered transferring to a different university and even submitted an application, but he was leaning toward staying at Cardinal Stritch next year. That ended Monday evening.

Now, he’s hoping the other university admits him; otherwise, he will have to head back home to Germany.“A lot of people were crying,” Jakobsson said. “At this university, I would say everyone has such a familiar relationship to everyone.”

As the school winds down its operations, Scholz said, Cardinal Stritch will offer some services this summer to help students close to completing their graduation requirements. The school is also finalizing partnerships with local universities for students seeking to transfer their credits. 

Commencement will still be celebrated at the Wisconsin Center this spring.

Cardinal Stritch celebrated its 85th anniversary last summer. But like many smaller, private schools heavily reliant on tuition dollars, Cardinal Stritch has suffered enrollment declines. Nearly 2,400 were enrolled in 2018-19, but that dropped to 1,400 by fall 2021, according to federal education data.

Asked what the loss meant to Fox Point, Village Manager Scott Botcher sounded optimistic about finding a new use for the 40-acre campus.

“While losing an institution with this much history is tinged with sadness, it gives Fox Point (and Glendale) the opportunity to work with current or subsequent property owners to facilitate another use which may more highly benefit the community,” he wrote in an email. 

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

In the wake of a deadly school shooting in Nashville that killed three 9-year-olds and three adults, two Republican lawmakers are proposing to permit Wisconsin school officials to decide whether to allow employees who are licensed gun owners to carry firearms on school grounds — a measure Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has already pledged to veto.

Rep. Scott Allen of Waukesha and Sen. Cory Tomczyk of Mosinee on Monday released a bill that would create an exception to the state’s law banning firearms on school grounds if the person holds a concealed carry license, is employed by the school, and the school board has adopted a policy that allows employees who are licensees to possess a firearm.

The proposal also waives for teachers the fees associated with obtaining a concealed carry license.

“School shootings are tragedies we hate to see. The reality is that schools are often soft targets for those looking to do harm. The knowledge that no one on the premise has the firepower to stop them emboldens bad actors,” Allen and Tomczyk wrote in a co-sponsorship memo to colleagues seeking support.

“Parents are rightly asking for action to ensure the safety of their students.”

In response, Evers said he would veto any legislation that weakens the state’s gun-free schools law.

—Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Authorities on Monday identified two police officers and a man who were all killed in a shootout during a weekend traffic stop in northwestern Wisconsin.

State Justice Department officials said 32-year-old Emily Breidenbach of the Chetek Police Department and 23-year-old Hunter Scheel of the Cameron Police Department were killed during a firefight with 50-year-old Glenn Douglas Perry on Saturday afternoon in Cameron. Perry later died at a hospital.

The officers were looking to stop Perry because he was wanted on a warrant and to check on his welfare, Justice Department officials said. They did not elaborate on the warrant or offer details on what precipitated the gunfire.

The Cameron and Chetek police departments issued a joint statement briefly outlining the officers’ backgrounds. Briedenbach had been with her department since 2019 and handled the agency’s therapy dog, Officer Grizz. Scheel joined the Cameron department just last year. He also served six years as a member of the Army National Guard.

—Wisconsin AP

An “unthinkable day” unfolded in Louisville, Kentucky, when a gunman opened fire at the Old National Bank downtown, Mayor Craig Greenberg said. The gunman shot 13 people before police returned fire, killing him.

The gunman was a bank employee who committed “an evil act of targeted violence,” Greenberg said during a news conference on April 10, hours after the shooting. He, the city’s police chief, and the governor of Kentucky all knew one or more of the people who were hurt or killed.

Four victims died in the immediate aftermath of the shooting. During the evening of April 10, police announced that a fifth victim passed away. All five were bank employees, mostly in executive roles, according to profiles on LinkedIn.
Two people, including a police officer, remained in critical condition, and three were hospitalized with less-serious injuries. Three shooting victims were treated and released, officials said.

In an emotional news conference, Greenberg, Interim Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, and Kentucky Gov. Andrew Beshear described the tragedy’s effects on the community and on them, as friends or acquaintances of the victims.

Throughout their remarks, officials remained focused on the victims; the police chief stated that she would only mention the gunman’s name once, and she stuck to that vow.

The gunman, Connor Sturgeon, 25, used a rifle, Gwinn-Villaroel said, while he live-streamed the attack on Instagram. She declined to answer further questions about Sturgeon’s actions and motives, saying it would take time for police to piece together the whole backstory.

—The Epoch Times

One year after Gov. Ron DeSantis launched Florida’s Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Program, the state has awarded over 1,750 bonuses to newly employed law enforcement recruits. At least 530 of them relocated from out of state, with 200 coming from New York, California, Texas and Pennsylvania.

Several recruits shared why they relocated to Florida in a joint statement released by the governor’s office. Many expressing gratitude are former NYPD officers who argue the city abandoned them.

New York City is seeing record numbers of police officers retire or resign. This January and February, 239 left the force; 176 and 110 left during the same months in 2022 and 2021, respectively. NYPD pension data reveals their departures represent a 36% increase from last year and a 117% increase from 2021, according to a report published by the New York Post.

One former NYPD officer, Davey, who relocated to central Florida last year to serve in the Clermont Police Department, said, “After working in the NYPD for 17 years, I began to feel as if the city I served no longer supported my efforts. I decided to look into relocating my family and practicing law enforcement elsewhere.”

—Just the News

After the White House told reporters to go home for the day and appearing only at the Easter Egg Roll Monday morning, President Joe Biden quietly and unceremoniously signed away the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. 

“On Monday, April 10, 2023, the President signed into law: H.J.Res. 7, which terminates the national emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the White House released in a memo. 

Originally Biden planned to officially end the emergency in May after saying months ago the pandemic was over. Republicans on Capitol Hill forced his hand to do it now by authoring H.J. Res. 7. 

Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is still fighting in federal court to reimplement mask mandates on public transportation and maintain the government’s pandemic power. 

—Townhall

Fifty five percent of likely voters in the United States believe that the indictment and attempted prosecution of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump is “bad for America,” according to a poll conducted last week by Rasmussen Reports.

The controversy surrounding the prosecution appears to have reached the ears of both parties, with more than a third, 34 percent, of Democrats seeing it as a negative for the country, and even 31 percent of self-described “Liberal” voters concurring.

Rasmussen pollsters also asked the same voters their thoughts on the following statement made by Francey Hakes, a former Federal Prosecutor, who said “[t]his is a serious time because this is banana republic sort of stuff. Using the law as a weapon against a political opponent is so wrong.”

A whopping 64 percent agreed with the statement, with 48 percent of that figure “strongly” agreeing. Twenty eight percent disagree, with 20 percent disagreeing “strongly.”

The best example of how the issue is backfiring against the left appears when voters are asked whether the indictment will make it more likely that Trump wins the 2024 election. Almost a third — 32 percent — of Democrats answered, “more likely.” Forty-two percent of likely voters said “more likely,” with 29 percent saying “less likely”.

—The National Pulse

The Dalai Lama has apologized after an unsettling video appeared on social media in which he kissed a young Indian boy on the lips before asking him to ‘suck’ his tongue.

Footage of the uncomfortable incident showed the moment the Tibetan spiritual leader invited the boy on stage during a charity event at his temple in Dharamshala, India in February. 

In the video, the boy asks the Dalai Lama ‘can I hug you?’, to which Tenzin Gyatso responds: ‘Okay – come!’

The spiritual leader first asks the boy to kiss him on the cheek, before pointing at his lips. He holds the boy’s face as they briefly kiss, then the pair press their foreheads together. 

Just as the boy goes to pull away, the Dalai Lama instructs him: ‘And suck my tongue’ – prompting him to slowly inch forward towards the 87-year-old’s outstretched tongue. 

Some supporters of the Dalai Lama sprang to his defense, claiming their leader was simply ‘joking around’. 

But the clip has sparked outrage on social media, with commentators branding the Dalai Lama’s actions ‘scandalous’, ‘disgusting’ and ‘absolutely sick’.

Others went as far as to describe him as an ‘insidious false prophet’. 

—The Daily Mail

Many Americans aren’t yet sold on going electric for their next cars, a new poll shows, with high prices and too few charging stations the main deterrents. About 4 in 10 U.S. adults are at least somewhat likely to switch, but the history-making shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.

The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago shows that the Biden administration’s plans to dramatically raise U.S. EV sales could run into resistance from consumers. Only 8% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household owns or leases an electric vehicle, and just 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid vehicle.

—Associated Press

ELECTRIC car drivers are being warned about the increasing risk of charger thefts – with replacements costing hundreds of pounds.

Thieves are starting to steal electric car chargers – which motorists plug in at home to save going to public pay-as-you-go points.

Many drivers hook up their cables from their car to a socket in a garage or on an outside wall while they relax indoors, often leaving it connected overnight.

The cables are sometimes stolen from the vehicle’s boot but can be removed at a charging point if the car is unattended.

And the scrap value for materials in a cable may be worth around £50, plus second-hand chargers are being sold for around £200.

However, motorists could see themselves paying £700 for a brand-new replacement charger.

—The US Sun

OPINION

The transgender juggernaut…it’s another leftist attack on moral spiritual strength and the natural law that is the basis of all civilization.

Late last week, the Biden Administration issued new Title IX guidelines that effectively force every school district to allow transgender athletes to compete in school sports. There is a very narrow exception for so-called “competitive sports” that would likely result in schools being forced into expensive lawsuits.

The bottom line is that no school district is going to risk crossing the radical trans ideologues who run the Department of Education, the Department of Justice and the White House at the risk of losing federal dollars that fund various programs vulnerable students rely on.

Americans overwhelmingly oppose this nonsense, but the Biden Administration is all in. Joe Biden even tried to cut off school lunch programs that feed poor children in order to force this insanity on your local school district. There’s nothing “compassionate” or “moderate” about that!

These obscene regulations must be fought. We hope state attorneys general will band together and go into federal court to fight the vagueness of these regulations and the obvious idiocy of forcing women and girls to compete against men and boys.

—Gary Bauer

It’s not just Chicago that has become a war zone. Portland, Seattle and San Francisco were not so long ago the crown jewels of the West Coast. They were said to be progressive cities that worked. No more. Now, they are unlivable. San Francisco is overrun with homeless people on seemingly every downtown street corner, feces on the sidewalks and trash everywhere.

In Portland, major businesses are pulling out in the aftermath of the takeover of the radical anarchists during COVID-19. Crime is so rampant that Walmart recently said “adios,” shutting down its last store. Rains PDX, a clothing store in Portland, shut down last November after a string of break-ins made it impossible to stay open. This printed sign pasted on the door says it all:

“Small businesses (and large) cannot sustain doing business, in our city’s current state. We have no protection, or recourse, against the criminal behavior that goes unpunished. Do not be fooled into thinking that insurance companies cover losses. We have sustained 15 break-ins … We have not received any financial reimbursement since the 3rd.”

For the first time, Seattle is losing population. To be “progressive,” Seattle is imposing a massive capital gains tax increase — socking it to the rich. So they are fleeing the city and Washington state.

One of the nation’s top demographers, Wendell Cox, has been analyzing the just-released Census Bureau data on county population. He found that “during the late 2010s and before the pandemic, population growth and domestic migration transitioned toward smaller metropolitan areas from larger ones. That outmigration is accelerating.”

The nation’s 10 largest counties have lost more than 1 million residents since 2019. The biggest losers have been the counties that are home to New York and San Francisco and Chicago’s Cook County. Even Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous county, with just under 10 million people, is now contracting.

Welcome to the real-world impact of progressivism. Instead of worker paradises, the Left has transitioned our once-shining cities into slums, murder zones, homeless encampments and boarded-up stores. They have become cults of economic and political quackery — and tragically, few Democrats have the courage to speak out.

The three poisons of America’s leftist cities are 1) high taxes, 2) schools that don’t educate and 3) crime running rampant.

—Stephen Moore, who formerly wrote on the economy and public policy for The Wall Street Journal, is chief economist at The Heritage Foundation

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY – 55 years ago today in 1968, President Lyndon Johnson signed the 1968 Civil Rights Act, which expanded previous laws prohibiting discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race, religion, or national origin. It also provided protection for civil rights workers.

The act was perhaps spurred to success by the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. one week earlier.