‘UPFRONT’ recap: Tommy Thompson says Trump must campaign in Dane and Milwaukee counties [Video]
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‘UPFRONT’ recap: Tommy Thompson says Trump must campaign in Dane and Milwaukee counties [Video]

Former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson says Donald Trump must campaign in Dane and Milwaukee counties ahead of Election Day in order to win Wisconsin. “They’ve got to reduce the Democratic votes in Dane County,” Thompson said on WISN’s ‘UPFRONT’ which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics.com. “Number two, they’ve got to go to Serb Hall and have a rally. And just like before your time, Ronald Reagan came and opened up Serb Hall. South Milwaukee is a conservative Democrat area, and you can pick up a lot of votes there. And then go into Platteville and talk to the people down there about the Keystone pipeline and opening up the border.” Thompson said he personally delivered the message to Trump when he campaigned in La Crosse. “He listened,” Thompson said. “He listened intently, and let’s see what he does.”Thompson, who’s helping advise the campaign behind the scenes, said Trump needs to focus on the issues during Tuesday night’s presidential debate.”He’s got to make sure he doesn’t take the bait and become personal,” Thompson said. “He’s got to talk about, like he did at the Economic Forum in New York, talk about the importance of tax cuts, talk about economic development, talking about closing the border, reducing the illegal drugs.” “The choice I think is quite simple,” he added. “And I think if Donald Trump gets that message out during the debate and pins her to the positions she’s always taken and lays out his vision.” During a bus tour throughout parts of Wisconsin, U.S. education secretary Miguel Cardona says public schools, including in Wisconsin, are ‘under attack.'”While underfunded in many places, we’re seeing money being taken away to pay for private tuitions and vouchers,” Cardona said. “So we’re defending public education. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for public schools that I attended and for the great majority of students across this country.” When asked about the shared revenue law Gov. Tony Evers signed that increased funding for both public and choice schools, Cardona said while’s a ‘big believer in choice’ public school funding is paramount.”I want to make sure that our local neighborhood school has the resources it needs to move forward,” Cardona said. “Nothing against choice, but I want to make sure that before we start saying that our schools are not meeting the needs of students, we’re properly funding them.” Cardona also said he doesn’t believe school resource officers should be federally mandated inside each school. The new state law requires officers to be reinstated within Milwaukee Public Schools, which hasn’t yet happened.”I’ve seen school resource officers used in a way that really builds relationships with the students and not only creates a positive learning environment, but also gives students an opportunity to explore another career option to public service, public safety is a career option,” Cardona said. Universities of Wisconsin president Jay Rothman says he’ll spend the following months ‘making his case’ to lawmakers for an additional $855 million in state funding as part of the next state budget. “We’ve been talking about Wisconsin being 43rd out of 50 states in terms of public support for its university system since I started in my role,” Rothman said. “So this is not a new conversation.” “It goes to things that are really important, that goes to ensuring affordability with a tuition promise, that goes to accessibility,” Rothman added. “It goes to areas around student success, investing in academic advising, career advising and mental health. It goes to ensuring quality, paying our faculty and staff at market levels.” Rothman said if the $855 million is approved, he would not propose a tuition increase during the next two-year biennium.”We have increasingly become more tuition dependent,” Rothman said. “Tuition now comprises a larger percentage of our budget than does our state support. That never was the case. I think we’ll have to see how this plays out. I don’t want to have to go back and raise tuition. I think we want to make sure that we are as affordable as we can be.” Rothman again rejected an idea stemming from a legislative committee, proposing UW-Madison spin-off from the rest of the UW System.”It’s a proposal that’s been floated before,” Rothman said. “It’s been rejected before. And I think, quite frankly, it should be rejected again. Our 13 universities that comprise the Universities of Wisconsin, including our flagship UW-Madison, are better together. Separating them and pitting universities within the state against each other makes no sense to me.” Rothman said universities like Madison and Milwaukee are prepared for more pro-Palestinian protesters, adding university officials spent part of the summer focused on the issue and communication among campuses and police.”We are prepared to deal with whatever might come,” he said. “And we will respect people’s First Amendment rights to protest, and if they protest within the law, that’s fantastic. That’s part of what the university experience should bring. But it also has to be within the law, and we expect more activity, but we are prepared for it.””The encampments were a violation of Wisconsin law, full stop,” Rothman added that if they are set up again, “We’re going to have to address them, and we are prepared to do that.” ABC News Washington Bureau Chief Rick Klein says neither presidential candidate will receive questions or topics in advance of Tuesday night’s debate despite the unfounded claims by former President Donald Trump.”No, of course not,” Klein said. “It’s actually stipulated in the formal rules. And no candidate gets any kind of an advantage like that, no. No glimpse at the topics, the questions, any of the sort. And the ABC News contributors are not part of the debate prep. It’s journalists that are working on it and will be David Muir and Lindsey Davis asking the questions.” Tuesday night’s debate will include no audience and the candidates mics will be muted when it’s not their turn to speak. “They’ve never been in the same room in a sustained way that we’re aware of before, and they certainly have never interacted in a policy discussion,” Klein said. “It’s all brand new for so much of the country, and given the upheaval of the last couple of weeks and months, it seems like an enormous moment all around.”

Mother of mass shooting suspect called Apalachee High School with warning [Video]
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Mother of mass shooting suspect called Apalachee High School with warning [Video]

The mother of the teenager suspected of killing four people during a Georgia school shooting called to warn a school counselor before the shooting, the suspects aunt and grandfather said Saturday.Video above: Georgia school shooting suspect’s father arrestedColt Gray, 14, apologized to his mother Marcee Gray on the morning of the mass shooting at Apalachee High School sending an alarming early-morning text that prompted the mother to warn the school, his grandfather told the New York Post.Marcee Grays father, Charles Polhamus, told the New York Post his daughter was at his home in Georgia on Wednesday morning when Colt texted her to say: Im sorry, mom.Colt has been charged with four counts of murder after committing a mass shooting earlier this week at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, prosecutors said. He will be tried as an adult.Marcee Gray broke her silence Saturday, apologizing for the absolutely horrific shooting.I am so, so sorry and can not fathom the pain and suffering they are going through right now, she told the Washington Post in a text.The mother called the school about an unspecified extreme emergency involving Colt sometime before the shooting began, Grays sister Annie Brown told the Washington Post and later confirmed to CNN.A 10-minute call was placed from Marcee Grays phone to the school at 9:50 a.m., the Washington Post reported. Police were notified of the shooting around 10:20 that morning, CNN previously reported.Marcee Gray later confirmed the call to the Washington Post, which reported Gray declined to elaborate on what had prompted her to call in the warning to the school, but said she had shared that information with law enforcement.According to the Post, Brown has a shared phone plan with the family which allowed her to see a log of the calls made by her sister.The Barrow County School District did not return CNNs request for comment. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation referred CNNs request for comment to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorneys Office.CNN has reached out to the Piedmont Judicial Circuit District Attorneys Office Saturday evening. CNN has also reached out to Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith, who previously said he did not know any phone call to the school before the shooting.The 14-year-old suspect is expected to face additional charges accounting for the injured victims, officials said Friday.A community grievesAs more information continues to emerge about the circumstances surrounding the attack, a small Georgia community is grieving the two students and two teachers who died Wednesday in the 45th school shooting of 2024 and the deadliest U.S. school shooting since the March 2023 massacre at The Covenant School in Nashville.In the days since the tragic attack, Apalachee students have given harrowing accounts of the courageous actions they took to protect their classmates and teachers in the face of senseless violence.In one classroom, a 14-year-old said she kept the suspect from getting through the door when she saw him pull out a gun. After a teacher in another classroom was shot, students say they pulled him back inside and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop his bleeding while barricading the door with desks and chairs. Even with a gunshot wound, one teenage boy said he raced to close the classroom door to prevent the shooter from entering.Victims families wiped away tears or clutched stuffed animals as they sat in the Barrow County courtroom Friday during Colt Grays arraignment, where he declined to enter a plea to the charges against him.Prosecutors allege Gray fired an AR-style rifle on campus Wednesday morning, killing four people. Nine others were injured, all but two of whom were shot, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.Because of his young age, the maximum penalty Gray could face is life in prison with or without parole, Judge Currie Mingledorff told the teenager in court. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled no one can be put to death for crimes committed before the age of 18.Grays father, Colin Gray, 54, faces a maximum sentence of 180 years in prison for four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.An arrest warrant for Colin Gray alleges he gave his son a firearm with knowledge he was a threat to himself and others. He declined to enter a plea at his first court appearance Friday, and neither he nor his son have asked for bond to be set at their hearings.Im just trying to use the tools in my arsenal to prosecute people for the crimes they commit, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said.CNN on Saturday sought comment from the public defenders representing Colt Gray and his father.Smith said he expects additional charges against Colt Gray in connection with victims who were injured during the shooting. Authorities on Thursday said all nine people wounded in Wednesdays shooting are expected to make a full recovery.The next step in the case against Gray will be a grand jury meeting on October 17. This will be followed by a scheduled arraignment before the trial process is started, Smith said. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 4, Mingledorff said.For survivors and others, a community recovery center will open in Barrow County on Monday to offer financial assistance, legal services and spiritual and mental health care, the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency announced Friday.Heres what we know so far: Suspect will be tried as an adult: Colt Gray, who is being held at the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice, is slated to remain there while in custody until he turns 17, Glenn Allen, the agencys spokesperson, told CNN Thursday. Under Georgia law, a juvenile aged 13 to 17 who commits a serious crime is automatically tried as an adult. The four people killed: The shooting at Apalachee High School claimed the lives of two 14-year-old students Christian Angulo and Mason Schermerhorn, as well as two teachers 53-year-old math teacher Cristina Irimie and 39-year-old assistant football coach Richard Aspinwall, who also taught math. Authorities say Irimie was celebrating her birthday with her students the day she was shot and killed, according to a family friend. Nine injured are expected to make a full recovery: Of the nine other people injured, seven of them six students and a teacher were shot, the GBI said Thursday. The other two both students suffered other injuries, the GBI said. Suspect was questioned about online threats: In May 2023, law enforcement officials questioned Colt Gray and his father about online threats to commit a school shooting that included photos of guns, according to a joint statement from FBI Atlanta and the Jackson County Sheriffs Office. Colt Gray, who was 13 at the time, told investigators during that interview that someone is accusing him of threatening to shoot up a school, stating that he would never say such a thing, even in a joking manner, authorities said. Authorities could not substantiate the threats and the investigation was closed, according to the sheriffs office. Suspects father gifted him the gun involved in the shooting: Two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation said Colin Gray told authorities he purchased the AR-style rifle used in the school shooting as a holiday present for his son in December 2023 just months after authorities initially contacted the father about the online threats. Suspect had writings on past school shootings: During questioning, Gray told investigators, I did it. As authorities searched his home, they found documents that they believe he wrote referencing past school shootings, including references to the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, a law enforcement source told CNN. Shows of support: Ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs kick-off against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday, a moment of silence was observed to honor those affected by the shooting. Also on Saturday, in front of the high school, more than 100 motorcyclists from different motorcycle clubs staged a rally to show their support.Student says she didnt open the door after spotting a gunBri Jones, 14, was in the second period Wednesday when Colt Gray left the classroom, Jones said. We didnt notice he left, Jones said, adding that Gray was always quiet.But Gray came back and knocked on the door, Jones said.Bri said she peeked out the door before she opened it because thats what her mom taught her to do.As I was looking at the door, he was pulling his gun out, and then I froze up, like I froze up and I said no to myself, she said.The teacher asked for the door to be opened, Bri said, because she didnt know he had a gun because she was at her desk. As she went to open the door, I was like, No, he has a gun, Jones said.Then, the shooter looked up at them before turning and firing shots, Jones said.He was looking at me, my teacher, and then somebody was in the hall, she said. He turned his head and he just started shooting.The students then ran to the back of the class and the teacher turned off the lights, Bri said.Once he started shooting, its like he kept going, it was so many gunshots after gunshots, she said. It felt like he was just shooting forever.If she had opened the classroom door, Bri said she believes the suspect would have got every single one of us in that class.Another student, 14-year-old Ronaldo Vega, immediately took cover under his desk when the shooting began in his second-period math class, he said. Ronaldo was injured amid the four to six shots fired, but he still stood up quickly to close the classroom door so the shooter couldnt come back, he said.Only after seeing one of the bullets behind the teachers desk did he realize he had been shot and was bleeding, Ronaldo recounted.Students took the shirts off their backs to try to save their math teacherRichard Aspinwall, a math teacher, heard commotion outside his classroom and entered the hallway to see what was going on. When he did, he was shot in the chest by the 14-year-old suspect, according to family friend Julie Woodson, who cited accounts by Aspinwalls students.We had to watch our teacher come back in the classroom holding himself like hes been shot, and fell to the floor, 17-year-old Malasia Mitchell said. And as he kept going, my teacher was shot again.Students in the class say they pulled Aspinwall back into the classroom and used the shirts off their backs to try and stop their teachers bleeding, according to Woodson.Meanwhile, the students closed the door and protected themselves with desks and chairs, Mitchell said.Woodson said Aspinwall died as a hero trying to save his students lives.If he didnt walk out and take the bullet who knows what wouldve happened, Woodson said.Malasia remembered her teacher as a great guy with such a happy spirit someone who wouldnt want her to ever give up.He wouldnt want me to just stop coming to school, she said. He would want me to keep going.CNNs Ashley R. Williams, Rebekah Riess, Holly Yan, Mark Morales, Ryan Young, Isabel Rosales, Chelsea Bailey, Sara Smart, Jaide Timm-Garcia, Raja Razek, Jade Gordon and Steve Sorg contributed to this report.