Bembé’s ¡Fiesta Navideña! – Holiday Recital & Celebration

Join Bembé for our annual holiday drum and dance recital and celebration, ¡Fiesta Navideña!, on Sunday, December 11th! Enjoy performances by our Bembé staff, Academia Bembé youth, teen, and adult students, Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School students, and guest Artist-in-Residence, Beto Torrens!

This event is FREE, family-friendly, and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided. An RSVP is strongly encouraged. We hope you can join us for this special holiday celebration!

State files criminal charges against Wisconsin dairy farm

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — State prosecutors filed criminal charges against a Kewaunee farmer, agronomist and hauler who allegedly illegally dumped nearly 3 million gallons of excess manure that washed into tributaries of Lake Michigan.

All three defendants are charged with felony counts of conspiracy and fraud, the Wisconsin State Journal reported Wednesday.

According to a criminal complaint, the farmer had accumulated too much manure at his 2,000-cow dairy operation in late 2019 and hired a hauler to spread it in order to avoid a permit violation. The manure spread on the saturated fields exceeded what was allowed by the farmer’s permit, and the excess manure washed into tributaries of Lake Michigan, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that the person who spread the manure gave the farmer a false report saying he had spread much less.

DNR agents investigating the spills estimated there were about 3 million gallons of unaccounted-for manure spread and found records indicating that all three defendants were aware of the fabricated record, the complaint said.

None of the defendants could be reached for comment Tuesday, and no attorneys were listed in court records for them, the State Journal reported. The charges were announced by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Milwaukee election official charged with fraud in court

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The former Milwaukee Election Commission deputy director charged with fraudulently requesting military absentee ballots just days before last month’s election posted a $2,500 signature bond in her initial court appearance Friday.

Kimberly Zapata was represented by an attorney from the Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm that helped former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in his taxpayer-funded review of the 2020 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Zapata, 45, of Milwaukee, has been out of custody since charges were filed against her early last month.

Zapata is charged with misconduct in public office, a felony, and three misdemeanor counts of making a false statement to obtain an absentee ballot. Zapata entered not guilty pleas to the misdemeanor counts.

Gableman, who now works for the Thomas More Society, argued in a separate case on the eve of the Nov. 8 midterm election that Zapata’s actions demonstrate “a vulnerability in Wisconsin’s military absentee ballot process” and that the immediate counting of military ballots should be blocked. The judge rejected that effort.

Milwaukee County Court Commissioner Maria S. Dorsey set conditions that Zapata not participate in the administration of any elections and have no contact with state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who Zapata sent the ballots to, or Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg for the duration of the court case.

Her next court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 9.