The Wisconsin Assembly's Socialist Caucus unanimously voted against the child protection bill.
Francesca Hong was one of only six Wisconsin Democrats to vote against a law making grooming a felony.
Assembly bill 677 aimed to make “grooming a child for sexual activity” a felony in Wisconsin. The bill was introduced in 2025 after public school teacher Christian Enwright got away with mere disorderly conduct charges despite apparently conducting “a months-long grooming relationship with a 14-year-old student.”
'I will never vote for legislation that institutes hate speech, and that is recognized hate speech.'
“No person may engage in a course of conduct, pattern of behavior, or series of acts with the intention to condition, seduce, solicit, lure, or entice a child for the purpose of engaging in sexual intercourse or sexual contact or for the purpose of producing, distributing, or possessing depictions of the child engaged in sexually explicit conduct,” the bill read.
The Wisconsin Assembly passed the bill 93-6 in January. Hong and three of the other no votes form the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, which unanimously rejected the new child protections. Democrat Gov. Tony Evers signed the bill into law in March.
The trick only works if the mark wants to believe. Jason Arday gave liberal institutions exactly the story they wanted.
Jason Arday is almost certainly a fraud. But I hope he is something vastly more interesting.
Until very recently, Arday was one of those people liberal institutions put on a pedestal: Cambridge professor, youngest black professor in the university’s history, working-class, autistic, illiterate until late adolescence, scholar of inequality, champion of diversity, ultramarathon runner. And, by every indication, a man of the left.
It’s a fair bet Arday understood liberal institutions well enough to know that their pants-soiling terror of violating ideological taboos left them ripe for manipulation.
That last part I believe. The rest? Well.
Now there are serious questions about plagiarism, his curriculum vitae, fundraising claims, ultramarathon feats, and some of the more lurid tales he fed the press about racist abuse. Cambridge opened an investigation. Arday promptly resigned.
The homeowner, who spoke to KHOU-TV but did not want to be identified, said she had gone to a Houston Astros baseball game with her son when she starting getting Ring camera alerts.
'We're sorry about what happened. We did not mean for it to happen. It was a fluke, a fluke accident.'
She said she asked her neighbor Kendra Donald to check on her home through the garage, and she told KHOU that she screamed when she saw the aftermath.
Such a pace would put the U.S. on course for 125,000 revocations in 2026.
The Trump administration announced Monday that it had revoked a total of 175,000 visas since the start of the president's term, stating that most revocations stemmed from recipient encounters with law enforcement.
"The majority of these visas were revoked due to law enforcement encounters for a range of criminal activity, with assault, driving under the influence, theft, and drug crimes being the leading causes," the State Department said in a statement. "A significant share of visas were revoked for reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse, fraud and embezzlement, and other crimes."
The Department also highlighted several revocations linked to alleged "birth tourism" schemes, criminal conducts, fraud, and other offenses. The administration revoked a total of 100,000 in 2025, meaning that roughly 75,000 revocations occurred this year.
Such a pace would put the U.S. on course for 125,000 revocations in 2026. The revocations come as part of the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on visa abuse for purposes deemed harmful to the country.
Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.
The son allegedly has a history with police, including being shot by an officer when he allegedly pointed a gun at cops.
A high-ranking law enforcement official in New York state and her husband have been arrested after prosecutors alleged they helped their son flee the scene of a shooting that targeted a suspected rival gang member in a getaway vehicle.
Jennifer Lackard, 49, was employed as the deputy commissioner of wellness for the Mount Vernon Police Department.
'It is stunning that this public official would jeopardize her position and reputation to be involved in this alleged conspiracy.'
Lackard and her 20-year-old son, Chase Lackard, were arrested around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday following the execution of a search warrant at the family's Bronx apartment, according to WCBS-TV.
Jennifer Lackard pleaded not guilty.
James Lackard, Jennifer's 47-year-old husband, turned himself in to the 44th Precinct station house in the Bronx around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, according to the New York Post.
WCBS reported that the trio was charged with attempted murder, three counts of attempted assault, six counts of weapons possession, one count of conspiracy, and one count of reckless endangerment.
Court records show that Jennifer Lackard and her son each were released on $75,000 bail, and the father — James Lackard — was held on $300,000 bail, according to the New York Post.
A newly unsealed indictment states that the family participated in a coordinated shooting attack outside the Bronx Criminal Courthouse around noon June 29.
WABC-TV reported that the parents drove their son to the courthouse in their tan Chrysler Pacifica, and Chase Lackard fired a semiautomatic gun out of the vehicle's window.
Prosecutors said Chase — a reported member of the Slutty Gang — was targeting a member of a rival gang, the Sex Money Murder crew.
However, prosecutors said the shooter missed the target, and nobody was injured in the alleged attack.
The indictment said Chase Lackard sent a text message instructing his mother to pick him up in the front of the courthouse.
Jennifer Lackard asked her son what time to be there, according to the indictment.
"You can't just sit directly outside. It has to be timed right," she texted, ABC News reported, citing the indictment.
The mother drove the family back to their home, according to the indictment.
ABC News, citing the indictment, reported that Jennifer Lackard's "son changed his clothing "to avoid identification."
Prosecutors said the shooting was caught on surveillance video.
According to ABC News, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark stated:
These defendants allegedly conspired with each other to drive from their Bronx residence to the Hall of Justice for the purpose of shooting someone. Despite multiple shots being fired, thankfully no one was hit.
It is stunning that this public official would jeopardize her position and reputation to be involved in this alleged conspiracy.
Jennifer Lackard was terminated from her position with the Mount Vernon Police Department.
The City of Mount Vernon said in a statement, "Effective immediately, the City of Mount Vernon has terminated Mrs. Lackard's employment."
"The allegations are unrelated to her duties with the Mount Vernon Police Department and do not stem from any conduct associated with the Department or the performance of her official responsibilities," the statement read.
Lackard was paid a salary of $138,219 last year, according to online payroll records.
The Mount Vernon Police Department said in a statement that it was aware of the criminal history of Jennifer Lackard's husband.
"As part of the hiring process, information regarding her husband’s prior criminal history was disclosed and reviewed and deemed not to be disqualifying for her civilian position," the statement said.
The Mount Vernon Police Department stated that it will not comment on the situation any further because it is an active investigation.
The Journal News reported that Jennifer Lackard founded the Ivy House Center for Self-Sufficiency, a former nonprofit substance abuse and mental health outpatient treatment center in North Carolina, in 2007.
However, the center was forced to close in 2012 because James Lackard was arrested on drug charges.
WCBS-TV reported that a 2012 federal indictment shows James Lackard previously served 52 months on a drug conviction before later pleading guilty in another federal drug case.
Meanwhile, Chase Lackard reportedly has a history of encounters with police.
According to the Journal News, Chase Lackard has pending criminal cases in the Bronx and Manhattan.
The Journal News reported:
In November 2024 he was arrested after being shot in the leg by an NYPD officer when he allegedly pointed a gun at officers following a fight in the Soundview neighborhood. Three months earlier, he was arrested on gun charges in Manhattan. In 2023 he was shot in the chest during a gang-related fight on an MTA bus in the Bronx.
The NYPD stated that Jennifer Lackard has no criminal history in New York City.
A Sports Illustrated writer called the 'white privilege' accusation 'asinine.'
A black WNBA player blamed "white privilege" after she was tossed out of a very physical match between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky over a flagrant foul.
DiJonai Carrington aggressively took down the Fever's Sophie Cunningham as Cunningham drove to the basket for a layup at the start of Saturday's game, leading to an angry response from Cunningham.
'I’m not going to let anyone just do that to me. I think everyone knows that. I think that’s why she did it because she wants attention.'
Carrington was ejected from the game and then potentially worsened the situation for the league by posting "WHITE PRIVILEGE" on social media afterward.
Cunningham was far less divisive in her response following the game.
Green Bay's clerk has been embroiled in voting controversies since the 2020 presidential election.
A Green Bay election official accused of bungling ballot distribution sent herself packing on Friday.
Celestine Jeffreys resigned August 7 after allegedly issuing 152 duplicate absentee ballots to registered voters in April 2026 amid a subsequent Wisconsin Elections Commission investigation into her conduct. Jeffreys was the Green Bay official who helped facilitate Mark Zuckerberg-backed 2020 election grants routed through the Center for Tech and Civic Life, according to RealClear Investigations.
‘A clerk who does not believe the law prohibits issuing duplicate ballots cannot be trusted to prevent it from happening again.’
Brown County Republican Party board member Theresa Sipes filed a complaint against Jeffreys in April, alleging the duplication violated state law. The duplicates created “a substantial risk of confusion, double voting and increasing the opportunity for and possibility of fraud,” according to the filing.
The Wisconsin Republican Party backed Sipes’ filing.
The City of Green Bay defended Jeffreys, arguing that the discrepancy was an accident.
“Wisconsin law prohibits election fraud, not the inadvertent issuance of multiple ballots,” Green Bay stated in its response, obtained by Fox 11. “The statute does not impose liability for inadvertent duplication in issuance, rather, it establishes the elector’s right to receive a ballot.”
Sipes' lawyer Nicholas Boerke rejected the city’s defense.
“A clerk who does not believe the law prohibits issuing duplicate ballots cannot be trusted to prevent it from happening again,” Boerke argued in a supplemental letter to the WEC. He went on to say that the “fundamental misunderstanding of ballot issuance law displayed in the response makes future violations inevitable absent commission action.”
The WEC saw enough merit in Boerke's arguments to open an investigation.
“The commission authorizes an investigation into the City of Green Bay clerk to determine if the clerk or any employee or contractor of the City of Green Bay failed to comply with Wisconsin law or otherwise abuse their discretion in the preparation and mailing of absentee ballot mailers," Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Don Millis told Spectrum News 1.
Her resignation follows a years-long string of controversies, beginning with her tenure as Mayor Eric Genrich’s chief of staff.
“Is he working with you? As far as I’m concerned I am taking all of my cues from CTCL and work with those you recommend,” Jeffreys wrote in an email to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, according to RealClearInvestigations.
After Jeffreys’ email and in conjunction with CTCL, Green Bay hired Democrat operativeMichael Spitzer-Rubenstein to oversee its 2020 election operations. Spitzer-Rubenstein eventually drove out then-City Clerk Kris Teske after demanding unprecedented access to voter databases.
The WEC reviewed the incident and found no impropriety. Wisconsin voters banned private election assistance via constitutional amendment in 2024.
Jeffreys previously courted controversy in 2023 when she allowed third parties to return absentee ballots on behalf of others. In 2024, the clerk failed to deactivate voter registrations in violation of state law in instances where Election Day materials were returned as undeliverable.
The Green Bay Mayor’s Office directed Blaze News to its August 7 press release when reached for comment.
“The City of Green Bay and Celestine Jeffreys are jointly announcing that Ms. Jeffreys has made the decision to step down from her role as City Clerk. We wish her the best in her future endeavors,” the press release states. “This will be the City’s only statement on the matter.”
Jeffreys, the Brown County Republican Party, the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and the Center for Tech and Civic Life did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Mark Zuckerberg declined to comment.
