WISN radio host Dan O’Donnell casually jokes about harming an elected official. This is hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy. Language like this does not belong in any civil society.

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I am appalled by WISN-AM host Dan O’Donnell’s recent social media posts, in which he suggested “taking out the Supreme Leader of Minnesota” and shared a mocking image of Gov. Tim Walz (“Milwaukee radio host says to ‘take out’ Gov. Tim Walz,” March 4).

This is not political commentary — it is dangerous, irresponsible, and disgusting.

Even more outrageous, O’Donnell has publicly defended pardons for convicted or alleged fraudsters, including high-profile cases from the Trump administration, yet he casually jokes about harming an elected official. This is hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy. Language like this does not belong in any civil society.

Our community deserves media voices that uphold decency, honesty and public safety, not ones that normalize threats and spread fear. I demand that leaders and media outlets reject this kind of rhetoric and make it clear that it will not be tolerated.

Laura J. Nigh, Wauwatosa

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I am disappointed Dan O’Donnell is still on air at WISN

I am disappointed that Dan O’Donnell is still on the air. I further ask the Milwaukee County District Attorney to charge him for calling for violence against a public official. His apology is not enough.

David Schmitz, Baileys Harbor

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Record 7-7. Change on 2025: +0.5. 5-inning record: 4-9-1.

Over in Maryvale, the team did at least pick up a five-inning win, leading 2-1 at that point. But the Brewers scored five unanswered runs to beat the D-backs 6-2. Mitch Bratt started, and walked four over 2.2 innings, but gave up just one run on one hit, with two strikeouts. Bryce Jarvis tossed two scoreless, but Juan Burgos, John Curtiss and Taylor Rashi allowed five runs on six hits and two walks, over their three frames. Gavin Conticello and Demetrio Crisantes each went 2-for-3, while DH Manuel Pena had a homer and drew a walk. LuJames Groover drove in Arizona’s other run with a groundout.

Tomorrow, it’s back to one game: that comes at Salt River Fields against the Giants, with a 1:10 pm first pitch, and Kohl Drake starting for the Diamondbacks.

• The Fire and Police Commission is mulling a recommendation the Milwaukee Police Department amend its police chase policy and restrict chases for reckless driving.
• The current recommendation draft calls for a ban on chases for reckless driving after an attempted traffic stop. That will now move to a committee for further changes.
• The draft recommendation comes after department modified the policy to remove speeding as a sole justification for chases. Prior, speeding was allowed to be considered when evaluating reckless driving

A Milwaukee oversight body is pushing for further restrictions on how the city’s police decide to chase vehicles, but isn’t ready to move those forward yet.

At its March 5 meeting, the city’s Fire and Police Commission mulled a recommendation the Milwaukee Police Department no longer chase drivers for reckless driving after an attempted traffic stop and stop other chases for reckless driving if it raises danger to the public. The department’s pursuit policy has been a point of contention for years and has come under intense scrutiny after nine people died from police chase crashes in 2025.

But that recommendation was tabled and sent to commission committee for further discussion, after concerns it needed to be further tweaked and receive more police department input.

“I’m trying to find incremental changes we can make to reduce chases,” said Commissioner Bree Spencer, who sponsored the recommendation.

Spencer said she was hesitant to push for policy changes that were too sweeping or too permissive. She said that had happened in years past, when pursuits were heavily restricted in 2010 and then later opened up in 2017 in response to reckless driving, following a then-Fire and Police Commission order.

As has become the norm at the commission’s meetings, a lengthy public comment period was held where some were critical of the proposed changes. Some called for dashcam footage of pursuit-related deaths to be released, as policy requires in officer shootings, and for the city’s costs of police chase-related lawsuits to be publicized.

“Police chases do not keep our community safe,” Angela Lang, the co-executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Change, said during public comment.

The Fire and Police Commission’s proposed recommendation comes after the department voluntarily removed speeding as a permissible reason to chase someone who is recklessly driving. However, that move was met coldly by members of the public and the commission, which is the oversight body for the department, who said it didn’t go far enough.

Generally, department policy considers pursuits “justified” under six circumstances, among those being when an occupant is involved in a violent felony.

Milwaukee Assistant Chief Craig Sarnow said the department was content with its previous change, when commissioners asked him for feedback on the proposed recommendation.

Both the Fire and Police Commission’s drafted recommendation and police department’s change focus on reckless driving chases. Those make up an overwhelming amount of all chases that officers in Milwaukee make – with officers citing reckless driving as the initiating reason in 742 of the 970 chases in 2025, according to police data.

The Fire and Police Commission’s recommendation is also the first time the body has exercised that power since state legislation, 2023 Wisconsin Act 12, was passed. Before that legislation was passed, the commission held the ability to outright change police department policy, but the law shifted that to the city’s Common Council.

Some have called for the Fire and Police Commission to more aggressively issue recommendations like these.

The recommendation will now move to the commission’s Oversight and Accountability Committee. The decision was made after commissioners said they sought more time to tweak the language and for police to provide input.

License plate reading camera use scrutinized

The department’s use of license plate reading cameras, a system known as Flock, came under scrutiny from many attendees at the meeting as well, who called for the city to ban it. Many noted the recent criminal charges brought against Josue Ayala, an officer who prosecutors say improperly used the system to track a former partner and another person.

Ayala resigned and is facing a misdemeanor charge of attempted misconduct in public office. Ayala had previously faced claims of lying and excessive force but was not placed on a Milwaukee County District Attorney’s list of officers with a history of dishonesty, bias or integrity concerns until recently.