Mon. Headlines: Lincoln Surveillance Video; KUSD Budget Issues; Keno. Co. Solar Project

KENOSHAM WI (AP)–School officials in Kenosha released surveillance footage that shows an off-duty police officer putting his knee on a 12-year-old girl’s neck to restrain her amid a lunchtime fight.

The Kenosha Unified School District released redacted footage of the March 4 fight on Friday.

It shows a Kenosha officer who was working as a security guard intervening in the fight and scuffling with the girl.

He falls to the ground, hitting his head on a table.

The officer then pushes the girl’s head into the ground and uses his knee on her neck for about half a minute before handcuffing her and walking her out of the cafeteria.

KENOSHA, WI (WLIP)–Declining enrollment and state aid means Kenosha Unified officials are looking at ways to trim the budget while avoiding layoffs.

At last week’s special meeting interim superintendent Dr Beth Ormseth and KUSD’s Chief Financial officer Tarik Hamdan laid out the numbers for the school board.

Next year’s district budget has a 19-point-5 million dollar structural deficit due to salary increases, health insurance costs, and a decrease in state aid.

Declining enrollment due to Kenosha’s lower birth rate and leveling population means that the district’s revenue limit will be down over six million dollars next year.

District officials hope to avoid layoffs to cover those deficits through staff retirements and other strategies.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin regulators have approved utilities’ $433 million purchase of the state’s first and largest utility-scale solar project using battery storage in Kenosha County.

The Public Service Commission’s action comes despite objections from consumer advocacy groups, which have raised affordability and reliability concerns with the project.

We Energies, Wisconsin Public Service and Madison Gas and Electric are acquiring the 200-megawatt solar project that will produce enough power for around 60,000 homes, as well as provide 110 megawatts of battery storage.

The three utilities say the project is part of efforts to go carbon-neutral by 2050.,