WLIP K-Town Rewind 3/15/19

A party at a closed bar that included around 300 people early Saturday left a 17 year old injured. Police were called to the former Finney’s Sports Bar at 22nd Avenue and 60th Street on reports of loud music. Police reports say that officers uncovered a large-and unauthorized-event going on. Several fights were happening in the basement of the building and shots were reportedly fired outside. As police broke up the fights, pepper spray was deployed which caused at least one of the officers to become ill. A 17 year old girl was taken to the hospital for injuries after she collapsed, an arrest was made and citations handed out. No license was on record for the event. 21 year old Haley Ann Meeker, 19 year old D’Avian Cole, and 38 year old Cortney Marshall were cited for not having a public entertainment license. There was evidence of alcohol consumption. Bullet casings were also found near the scene as the fights spread outside into the neighborhood as the crowd dispersed.

After months of study and discussion, Kenosha Unified has decided to change health insurance providers. The board voted 6-0 with one abstaining, to end KUSD’s long time agreement with WEA Trust in favor of United Healthcare Wisconsin Filed Plan. The move is expected to save the district more than 30 percent on health costs. Under the plan the district contributes 37-point-2 million dollars and employees put in four-point-six million dollars. Deductibles would increase under the plan, but there is the addition of an employer funded health savings account for up to 750 dollars for a single plan or 15-hundred dollars toward a family plan. Premiums were set to rise more than 17-percent under the WEA Trust when the current contract expired in June.

Bradford High School’s principal has resigned. Kurt Sinclair’s last day at the school was Wednesday and Bradford’s three assistant principals are taking over on an interim basis. It’s unclear why Sinclair resigned. Kenosha Unified Chief Communications Officer Tanya Ruder said in a statement to WLIP that Sinclair resigned for personal reasons but declined further comment because it’s a personnel issue. Sinclair was principal at Bradford since August of 2012. The process to fill the open position will get underway soon.

As expected, the Racine County Board sent the Highway KR reconstruction plan back to committee. Still, there was a large turnout from citizens on both sides of the county line who expressed concerns about the proposal. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation plans to expand the highway to four lanes along with other upgrades. Almost 69 acres of land would be acquired to create room. While the consensus among the speakers at last night’s meeting was that some change or upgrade might be good for the area, most said the planned changes are too extra, and that an alternative should be considered. The DOT would begin work on the expansion next year.

The former Kenosha Police officer who served jail time for an OWI crash says the department did not follow proper procedure with his termination. The Police and Fire Commission ruled late last week that Greg Munnelly is entitled to a disciplinary hearing and will hear the appeal later this month. Police officials argued that Munnelly no longer fulfilled the requirements for employment with the department because of his revoked driver’s license; therefore making the firing non disciplinary. Munnelly served 40 days in the Milwaukee County Jail after pleading guilty to an OWI crash causing bodily injury. His license is suspended as part of that sentence.

There is a vacancy on the Kenosha Common Council and the city has officially opened the process to fill it. The 2nd district seat, which in part represents Kenosha’s downtown area, is open since incumbent John Fox resigned citing family reasons. Interested parties can apply online, the process is open until March 27th. The council will consider the applicants early next month. So far the former Alderperson of the district, Rhonda Jenkins, has announced she will apply for her former position. Whoever fills the seat will serve out the term which ends in a little over a year. The application is available at kenosha dot org.