Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee protest group slams RNC demonstrations plan, vows to march its own route

Published

2 years ago

June 21, 2024

Milwaukee protest group slams RNC demonstrations plan, vows to march its own route

Hours after the demonstration areas for next month’s Republican National Convention were unveiled Friday, the most prominent group planning to protest the event slammed the plan and vowed to march its own route.

Omar Flores, co-chair of the Coalition to March on the RNC 2024, rejected the city’s plans for demonstration areas at parks on the north and south ends of a “hard” security zone that will encompass the primary convention sites of Fiserv Forum on the north down to the Baird Center on the south.

“It’s completely insulting for them to offer either of those parks because they’re not within sight and sound of the Fiserv Forum,” Flores said at a press conference outside the federal Courthouse where earlier discussions failed to produce a resolution to the group’s lawsuit against the city over its plans for demonstrations.

On Friday, representatives from the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, city and Milwaukee County announced the location of the demonstration areas and a march route in addition to the boundaries of a hard security zone that credentials will be needed to enter for the July 15-18 event.

Of note was the inclusion of Pere Marquette Park in the hard security zone, a move the Secret Service had previously resisted despite pressure from Republicans to do so. The city had been expected to designate the space just west of the Milwaukee River and two block from Fiserv Forum as a demonstration area, causing consternation for Republicans, the Coalition and nearby businesses for different reasons.

Two demonstration areas will instead be located at Haymarket Square on the north side of the hard zone and at Zeidler Union Square on the south side.

A demonstration march route will be on the south side of the hard zone, beginning and ending at Zeidler Union Square.

“We believe we provided premier access on both the south and the north side,” Mayor Cavalier Johnson’s Chief of Staff Nick DeSiato said.

He pointed to the area where the march route will take demonstrators directly up to the fence outside the Baird Center, where media from around the nation and globe will be working.

On the north side, he said, demonstrators will be close to Fiserv Forum, where primary convention activities will take place. Former President Donald Trump is expected to formally accept the party’s nomination in the arena during the convention, setting up a rematch of the 2020 race for the White House between Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden.

The northern demonstration zone is also by an area where delegates will be entering, DeSiato said.

Citing the group’s lawsuit, he said he could not speak to how the city would respond if anyone chose to march a route different than the one designated by the city.

It’s difficult to gauge how many people will choose to demonstrate at the city’s designated areas because the city does not ask how many people are expected to accompany the applicant, he said. About 100 applications have been filed with the city to demonstrate during the RNC, he said.

“We also suspect that just like any national convention, there’ll be some ad hoc demonstrating,” he said. “And if you’re lawfully demonstrating on a sidewalk, you can lawfully demonstrate on a sidewalk. If you’re lawfully demonstrating on public property, you can lawfully demonstrate on public property.”

Flores vowed to march a route the group expects to release soon, saying it will be a “family-friendly protest.” And while he said the group does not plan to try to march into the hard zone, the group won’t be limited to the sidewalk, either.

Flores said he expected thousands of people to be part of the group’s march, making it unsafe to try to squeeze onto the sidewalk.

As for the group’s plans to march its own route, he said, “If MPD is serious about what they’re saying, then we shouldn’t be worried about any type of arrest and honestly, I’d encourage them to not even show up.”

At an earlier press conference, Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said police would seek to be patient and communicative, though he said there would be limits.

Friday’s back and forth was the latest in a monthslong debate over the city’s plans for demonstrations during the convention.

Representatives of the Coalition to March on the RNC met with officials on June 17 in an ultimately failed effort to resolve the federal lawsuit the group brought earlier this month over the city’s demonstration plans.

The group is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which on Friday also criticized the demonstration plans and the size of the downtown hard zone.

“The large size of this zone makes it more critical than ever that the City take steps to allow for effective opportunities for expression and assembly by those with differing viewpoints,” Tim Muth, staff attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin, said in a statement.

He also said the inclusion of Pere Marquette Park in the hard zone “cannot be justified” and “represents an impermissible concession to the Republican National Committee, which did not want to see or hear demonstrators near its convention.”

Republicans previously argued that locating a demonstration zone at Pere Marquette Park would force convention attendees to walk right by protestors, creating a “mandated confrontational area.”

Secret Service RNC Coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino cited the RNC’s rental of the Milwaukee County Historical Society building on the park’s southwest corner as the reason it was included in the perimeter.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com. Tristan Hernandez can be reached at thernandez@gannett.com.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee stabbing suspect deemed ‘not competent’ for trial

Published

8 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Milwaukee stabbing suspect deemed ‘not competent’ for trial

The Milwaukee man accused of stabbing his 44-year-old girlfriend to death then allegedly confessing to the crime in a text message was found not competent to stand trial and unable to assist in his own defense.

Mile Dukic has been in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail since his arrest in February, following the brutal killing of Amanda Varisco, 44.

Dukic is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, use of a dangerous weapon, and felony counts of bail jumping.

The doctor’s report was submitted to the court April 9, online court records show. At an April 10 hearing, Dukic, attending by Zoom, and his lawyers Arial Rosenberg and Theodore O’Reilly did not contest any of the report’s conclusions.

Court proceedings were ordered suspended by Circuit Court Judge David Swanson, and Dukic was assigned to the Department of Health and Family Services for institutional treatment to restore competency.

Swanson ordered the parties to return for a review hearing on July 9 to report progress.

Here’s what police and prosecutors say happened that night

According to a criminal complaint, Dukic and Varisco had a physical altercation on Feb. 3 at an apartment on the 3600 block of West National Avenue.

Milwaukee police were sent there that night to do a welfare check.

Officers arrived and talked to Varisco’s daughter and the daughter’s boyfriend at the scene. The daughter shared with police a text message she said she received from Dukic in which he claimed he had killed her mother, the complaint said.

Dukic told officers in an interview he and Varisco fought because Varisco had gotten a phone call from another man and that she told Dukic she wanted him to leave, the complaint reads.

Online court records show Dukic was out on bail in two cases at the time of Varsico’s death – one for stalking another woman, one for bail jumping.

Chris Ramirez covers courts for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at caramirez@usatodayco.com.

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Milwaukee, WI

Milwaukee man accused of appliance beating; victim later dies

Published

20 hours ago

April 10, 2026

Press Room

Milwaukee man accused of appliance beating

A Milwaukee man accused of beating a 64-year-old friend with appliances earlier this month now faces possible additional charges after the victim later died from injuries.

MILWAUKEE – A Milwaukee man accused of beating a longtime friend with household appliances now faces additional scrutiny after the victim later died from his injuries.

What we know:

The accused is 51-year-old David Tisser. He has been charged with the following:

Battery to an elderly person – intentionally causing great bodily harm, use of a dangerous weapon
Battery to an elderly person – intentionally causing bodily harm

If convicted, he faces up to $110,000 in fines and up to 46 years in prison, including a possible five-year dangerous weapon enhancer. However, now that one of the victims has died, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office will be reviewing additional charges.

The backstory:

According to a criminal complaint, the incident happened just after 7 p.m. April 1 at a building near 15th and National.

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Investigators say Tisser first kicked in a door and injured a 72-year-old man before forcing his way into another room belonging to 64-year-old Steve Stegall.

Stegall’s daughter, Sheronica McIntyre, said her father knew Tisser and considered him a friend.

The complaint says Tisser struck Stegall in the head and face using multiple items inside the room, including a microwave, mini-fridge and television, before pushing him down a stairway as he attempted to leave.

What they’re saying:

McIntyre reiterated this.

“He went to open the door, David Tisser forced himself in his room. He beat my dad severely with a microwave and picked up a refrigerator, yes, to beat my day with appliances over the head,” McIntyre said. “He threw him down the stairs severely and my dad says that’s when he hit his head. He was left with a TBI in severe bleeding up the brain.”

Stegall was taken to the hospital with a head wound requiring five staples, a forehead injury requiring 15 stitches and brain bleeding that doctors described as potentially life-threatening.

McIntyre said her father was placed in a coma for three days following the attack. She said he later woke up and described the assault.

“This happened to my dad, being a good person because he believed they’re showing grace,” McIntyre said.

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Stegall died Wednesday, according to McIntyre.

“I’m the only child, he’s my only parent, this is my last parent. This is my dad,” McIntyre said. “He was somebody my dad thought was a friend, so yeah, I want justice for my dad. You know he wasn’t insane. When he did this, he wasn’t insane. He knew exactly what he was doing.”

What’s next:

A competency exam has been ordered for Tisser, with the report expected in court May 4, according to court records.

His cash bond was set at $10,000.

The Source: Information in this report is from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office and Wisconsin Circuit Court.

Crime and Public SafetyMilwaukeeNews

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Milwaukee, WI

Is it legal to forage for food in Milwaukee? Here’s what to know

Published

1 day ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

Is it legal to forage for food in Milwaukee? Here’s what to know

Foraging, or the practice of gathering wild foods, has become more popular over the years as people seek a more authentic connection with nature and with what they eat.

But there is a lot to know about how to do it and where it’s allowed – especially in the Milwaukee area, where legacy industrial pollution has left behind contaminated soil in many places.

Experts say you should not eat something unless you’re completely certain of what it is and whether it is safe to eat. They also remind people not to take more than they need.

Here’s what to know about where you can – and can’t – forage in Milwaukee and the surrounding area.

Is it legal to forage in Milwaukee County parks?

No.

Milwaukee County Ordinance 47.08 says no person shall “harvest, collect, deface, or disturb” native plants or fungi anywhere in the park system. The removal of invasive species is only permitted by parks department staff or others they have authorized. Breaking the rule comes at a cost of $100.

The ordinance is in place largely because many soils around the county are contaminated due to the area’s industrial history, said James Tarantino, deputy director of Milwaukee County Parks. In other words, it’s a safety issue.

“People really can’t assume that just because this field is green and it has plants growing on it that it’s always been that way,” Tarantino said.

The parks department is working on restoring native habitat and cleaning up soils, including in the Milwaukee River corridor, which is designated as one of the most degraded areas in the Great Lakes region.

Tarantino said the number of tickets issued for foraging in the parks is small and usually occurs when people are taking large quantities of a plant for commercial use. Typically, parks department staffers try to to educate people about the reasons foraging is not allowed, he said.

Is it legal to forage in Wisconsin state parks?

Foraging is allowed on state lands, including parks, forests and natural areas – but some rules still apply.

According to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, people can forage for edible fruits and nuts; wild mushrooms; wild asparagus and watercress; and garlic mustard and other invasive species, without a permit.

Still, it is only allowed for personal consumption. Collecting seeds, plant parts and wild ramps is not allowed. Foraging of endangered or threatened species is similarly banned, and the state has specific rules for harvesting wild rice and wild ginseng.

Do other counties allow foraging?

Foraging is legal in some Wisconsin county parks. It’s always a good idea to check in advance.

Dane County, for example, offers a list of specific locations within parks to find nuts, morel mushrooms, berries and other fruits, as well as the best times to harvest.

Madeline Heim covers health and the environment for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at 920-996-7266 or mheim@usatodayco.com.

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