WLIP K-Town Rewind 5/3/19

Gov. Tony Evers is retreating from his previous comments that he didn’t think Foxconn Technology Group would employ 13,000 people at its project in the state. Evers spoke to the editorial board of the Racine Journal Times and Kenosha News on Thursday after meeting with the group’s leader, Terry Gou, in Milwaukee. Evers says how many jobs Foxconn creates “could be less, it could be more than 13,000. That came after he said last month it was “unrealistic” and “difficult to imagine” that Foxconn would hire that many given that it was downsizing the display screen factory it was building. Evers says he and Gou had a “great conversation” and they were “building a good relationship.” Evers said they also discussed how Foxconn operations would change as Gou steps away from daily operations to run for president of Taiwan.

The City of Kenosha is asking qualified developers to submit proposals for the construction of a multi-family residential housing project at Fifth Avenue and 59th Street, near the city’s central business district. The chosen developer will acquire the project site and begin construction in the Spring next year. The city is also seeking proposals for construction of six owner-occupied single family homes in the Wilson Redevelopment Project Area. Located on the northwest side of Kenosha, the project area was created by the Redevelopment Authority in 2008 to address the blighting influence of 60 four-unit rental apartment buildings. To get more information on these projects visit our website, wlip dot com.

New street signs for Italiana Circle and Calabria Way will be unveiled this week. A ceremony is set for Friday at 1:30 PM near Celebration Place in Harbor Park. A measure passed earlier this year by the Kenosha City Council changed the name of the former Fisherman Drive to Italiana Circle, a private road, and the former Ring Road which connects the east ends of 56th and 54th streets, to Calabria Way. The street names are to honor Kenosha’s Italian Heritage and the fact that Kenosha’s sister city, Cosenza is in the region of Calabria. Everyone is invited to attend Friday’s event.

Democrat Tip McGuire defeated Republican Mark Stalker in the special election for the 64th Wisconsin Assembly District to replace Peter Barca. McGuire had 4,424votes to Stalker’s 2,677. McGuire won the Mt Pleasant/Racine wards by 58 votes. In Kenosha the margin was a bit wider, with McGuire winning by almost 17-hundred votes. McGuire says that he hopes that all sides will be able to come together.

A former Tremper student was arrested after allegedly making threats during an unauthorized visit to the school. According to the police report a 16 year old student who had been expelled visited the school Monday and was talking with students in the commons. The conversation was about a Netflix series about suicide. In the course of the conversation, the suspect allegedly admitted to saying he would rather commit homicide than suicide and then pulled a bandana displaying the Confederate Flag, covering his face. The other students allege that the teen then said he was “ready.” The teen denied that claim. He was arrested for trespassing and disorderly conduct. It appears the teen did not have access to weapons.

Three people are in custody after an alleged kidnapping incident. The incident occurred around 12:40 Sunday afternoon at a home near the 78-hundred block of 88th Avenue. Pleasant Prairie Police report that officers responded to a disturbance and learned that a 32 year old Zion man claimed to have been kidnapped by three men. He reported that the three took him at gunpoint and demanded he go with them to retrieve stolen property that the kidnapped man allegedly took. The suspects apparently believed the property was in the home in the village. The three suspects are charged with kidnapping, possession of a firearm by a felon, and recklessly endangering safety. The situation remains under investigation.

There were 10 overdoses reported in Kenosha over this past weekend. The Kenosha News reports that emergency medical services were called to 10 overdose cases between Thursday and Sunday. All of the people who OD’d survived after being revived by Narcan. The oldest person is 64, the youngest is 29. Most were men. Kenosha County officials are concerned that a particularly deadly batch of fentanyl or fentanyl laced heroin may be circulating in Kenosha. There have been five confirmed overdose deaths in Kenosha County so far this year, and four of them have involved the opioid pain medication. The Kenosha County Health Department has handed out over 23-hundred Narcan kits in the past two years.

A police chase Saturday night led to the arrest of a suspect but not before three squad cars were damaged. 41 year old Aaron Kimberly of Kansasville allegedly led Kenosha County Sheriff’s Deputies on a chase northbound on Highway 32. As the chase entered Racine County, Mt Pleasant Police used stop sticks that punctured two tires in the fleeing car. The suspect continued at a reduced speed, with one officer using his squad to try and stop his momentum. Kimberly allegedly hit another and then was stopped when he collided with a third. No one was injured. Kimberly is in jail on several charges including fleeing and bail jumping.