WJI's Daily Reads for Feb. 15, 2022

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Felony case continues against former Waukesha alderwoman for allegedly misrepresenting where she lived.

Courthouse News Service: Wisconsin Supreme Court hears open records case about COVID data.

Lawyers for the Wisconsin state government, the state’s largest business lobby and press freedom advocates argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Monday over whether the state can release records requested by a newspaper showing how many employees at some businesses contracted Covid-19 or had contact with someone who tested positive.

In the summer of 2020, in the earliest wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel made an open records request for data showing how many employees at a given business had tested positive for the coronavirus, responding to large outbreaks at meatpacking plants and other businesses at the time.

The New York Times: U.S. Supreme Court asked to rule on whether 27 years in solitary confinement is cruel and unusual.

Dennis Hope has spent 27 years in solitary confinement in a Texas prison, in a cell that is 9 feet long and 6 feet wide — smaller than a compact parking space. . . .

His only human contact is with the guards who strip-search and handcuff him before taking him to another enclosure to exercise, alone. He has had one personal phone call since 1994, when his mother died in 2013. He suffers from depression and paranoia and fears he is going insane.

Last month, Mr. Hope asked the Supreme Court to consider whether such prolonged isolation can violate the Eighth Amendment, which bars cruel and unusual punishments.

Reuters: American Bar Association backs law school and bar exam accommodations for breastfeeding mothers.

Reuters: Judge to dismiss Sarah Palin's defamation case against The New York Times.

Reuters: Prince Andrew settles sex abuse case brought by Virginia Giuffre.