Once An Inspiring Reggaetón Artist, 37-year-old Miguel A. Aponte Sentenced To Life In Prison, Eligible For Parole in 40 Years, For The 2023 Homicide Of Laeng Sanavongsay, 49, In Ozuakee County

Aponte, an inspiring Reggaetón freestyling singing artist from Waukesha gets life in prison for the homicide of Laeng Sanavongsay in the Town of Grafton in Ozuakee County.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 11, 2026

Town of Grafton, Wisconsin - On Monday, Miguel A. Aponte, 37, of New Berlin,  also known as "Incredulo", a inspiring popular Reggaetón freestyling singing artist from Waukesha County was sentenced to life in prison, but will be eligible for parole (supervision) in 40 years, in Ozuakee County for the March 4, 2023 homicide of Laeng Sanavongsay, 49, from Texas in the Town of Grafton in Ozuakee County. Sanavongsay's body was found in the back seat of a charred vehicle, with a gunshot wound to the right of the victim's head. 

A jury found Aponte guilty of 1st-degree intentional homicide including party to a crime and bail jumping, according to Ozuakee County court records.

The Ozuakee County Medical Examiner's Office (OCMEO) determined that Sanavongsay's death was a homicide. The OCMEO also found that Sanavongsay had also suffered several broken ribs and that his wrist showed signs of being bound.

Sanavongsay's body was found in the back seat of a rental car from Illinois, with tape on his mouth and hands bound. The vehicle was set on fire on the side of Highway C near Tallgrass Drive in the Town of Grafton. 

Aponte was connected to the homicide by DNA found in the vehicle and the victim's cellphone tracking showed he was at the proximity of where Aponte lived before his body was found.

The Sanavongsay homicide case remains open, Aponte's accomplices have not been arrested in the case. According to the Ozuakee County District Attorney's Office, Aponte did not acted alone.

Chicago Couple, Vanessa Soler, 43, And Rob Villanueva, 50, Taunted Mexican Folkloric Dancers With Racist ICE Threats And Threw Unidentified Liquid At Teens, Including Women Over The Weekend

A Chicago couple is facing backlash after a 43-year-old woman and her 50-year-old boyfriend were video recorded taunting and making racist USICE remarks and threats including throwing an unidentified liquid at Mexican Folkloric teen dancers over the weekend.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 9, 2026

Chicago, Illinois - Last Friday, a group of teens who were leaving the Ballad Folklorico de Chicago dance studio in the Avondale neighborhood were met with a couple identified as Vanessa Soler, 43, and Robert "Rob" Villanueva, 50, who were on the second floor balcony of the backside of their apartment building taunting and making USICE racist remarks at women and the teens. Soler in a recorded video of the incident is heard telling the teens, "you're lucky ICE is not here" and her boyfriend Villanueva is also heard repeating what Soler had shouted at the women and teens. Villanueva is also seen going into the apartment and then coming out with a container and he then throws an unidentified liquid at multiple teens and at three women ages, 40, 41 and 43 who were  downstairs and he repeats it again.

Soler and Villanueva allegedly told media outlets that the teens were making noise while they were passing by their apartment building alley at 4010 - 4008 W. Wellington Ave. in Chicago.

The parents of the teens called and Miriam Gómez, an instructor of the Ballad Folklorico de Chicago says, that it's not the first time that Soler and Villanueva have made racist remarks at the teens from the dance studio.

Gómez is filing a protective order (restraining order) against Soler and Villanueva.

In a press release on Saturday, the Ballad Folklorico de Chicago at 3006 N. Pulaski Rd. says, "We have filed a police report and will filing a protective order on Monday and press charges. Behavior like that is Not Ok!"

Update: Robert Villanueva, 50, has been charged with 5 misdemeanor counts for simple battery in Cook County and has a scheduled court appearance for April 9, 2026.

MATC Ignores Communities Of Color Needs, President Dr. Anthony Cruz Has Refused To Restore The Multicultural Student Services At The Technical College

The current MATC administration under Dr. Cruz has become one of the most scandalous in the college's history, and accountability is needed to address these ongoing issues.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 6, 2026

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - In previous news reports, Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) had identified the Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) Human Services Office led by Vice-President and Chief Human Resource Officer Laquitha Bonds-Jones as the epicenter of the alleged troublesome and scandalous internal acts perpetuated under Bonds-Jones that have affected part-time instructors and other employees. 

Under Bonds-Jones, wages from part-time instructors were cut without them or the Local 212 (MATC union) knowing about it until employees discovered the wage discrepancy and the MATC union addressed the issue. MATC had to compensate cut wages to the part-time instructors in a timely manner. Then under Bonds-Jones, once again it was discovered that the Human Resources had decreased sick leave pay for part-time instructors without them knowing until it was discovered. 

To date, the earned sick leave pay has not been fully restored to the MATC part-time instructors, according to sources. Also, Bonds-Jones was allegedly caught by Local 212 altering approved policies without any authorization from Dr. Anthony Cruz, President of MATC or the MATC Board of Trustees including the knowledge of Local 212, which affected MATC instructors and employees. (Article link: http://hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2025/10/300-matc-part-time-instructors-win-back.html)

Another matter was also exposed when the MATC Board of Trustees heard public comment testimony in a meeting in 2024, that the Human Resources hired a non-bilingual (Spanish-English) instructor to teach an economics course advertised as a bilingual courses. To make it even worst, then MATC canceled an economic bilingual course in 2025 when students had already registered to take, in order for MATC not to hire or promote a part-time bilingual instructor to full-time instructor. (October 2024 video testimony: https://youtu.be/Lm_ImpZGXn4)

Under Dr. Cruz, MATC Board of Trustees and Bonds-Jones, four student services specialists from the Office of Multicultural Student Services were terminated when the student services were eliminated in August 2025 and replaced by the Office of Community Impact to comply with Trump's executive order to eliminate all race based programs under Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), which multiple federal courts ruled that Trump's directive was illegal and unconstitutional because it violated instructors free speech in their classrooms. (Article link: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/department-of-education-backs-down-on-unlawful-directive-targeting-educational-equity)

On August 20, 2025, Bonds-Jones, the Vice-President of Human Resources at MATC in an email shared by sources with HNNUSA, she confirmed that four Student Service Specialist staff positions at the Office of Multicultural Services have been eliminated to comply with the U.S. Department of Education guidelines "that prohibits positions with duties that provide services exclusively to students based on race or ethnicity. The four student service specialist roles in question were designed solely to serve students of a specific race/ethnic group. Because those roles could not be restructured to comply with the guidance, the duties themselves were eliminated, and the positions tied to them no longer exist." (Article link: http://hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2025/08/dr-cruz-and-matc-board-allegedly.html)

On February 24, 2026, the Multicultural Coalition to Reclaim MATC once again demanded for Dr. Cruz and the MATC Board of Trustees to restore the Multicultural Student Services, but to date, neither Dr. Cruz and the MATC Board of Trustees haven't publicly responded to the Coalition's demands, nor have they acted in good faith to restore transparency and accountability. (Article link: http://hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2026/02/matc-board-of-trustees-continue-their.html)

Lastly, but not a conclusion yet, the Human Resources Office under Bonds-Jones has proliferated an ongoing hostile work environment for instructors and employees, blatant job discrimination and not promoting employees from part-time to full-time employees, harassment and retaliation tactics against employees and instructors that have filed complaints, eliminating positions to justify the termination of employees and the list goes on and on, which Dr. Cruz and the MATC Board of Trustees have failed to resolve. 

It's a shame that MATC continues to receive donations from scholarship programs like the Ellen and Joe Checota, which the scholarship will provide $15M to support students pursuing trade and technical certificates, despite MATC eliminating the Multicultural Student Services disenfranchising the following communities of color, Latino/Hispanic, African-American, Asian-American and Native-American including students. Major donors should do the right thing and hold MATC accountable before donating to MATC when its internal Human Resources Office operation continues to foster plaguing employees related issues affecting instructors, staff and students alike.

In other words, MATC in social media and its so-called propaganda advertising has attempted to created a superficial (fake) image of success, when in fact its internal operations is plague with human resource failures to address and resolve years of employee related complaints and the lack of credible reform by the MATC administration.

A "No Confidence" sentiment continues to grow against the MATC administration and Dr. Cruz for their ongoing failure to reform and remedy the issues at hand. 

The members of the MATC Board of Trustees are, Erica L. Case, Chairperson; Citlali Mendieta-Ramos, Vice-Chairperson; Dr. Waleed Najeeb, Secretary; Gail Pence, Treasurer; Lauren Baker; Mark F. Foley and Wisconsin State Representative Supreme Moore-Omokunde (D-Milw). (MATC Board of Directors | MATC https://share.google/JBtolZmTGaz4lo885)

33-year-old James Douglas McMillan From Greenfield, Wisconsin Shot Dead By Texas Law Enforcement After Pursuit On Highway I-10

A Wisconsin convicted felon fled from a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas in a stolen vehicle and was shot dead by Texas law enforcement.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 5, 2025

Sierra Blanca, Texas - The Texas Department of Public Safety (TXDPS) reported on X (formerly Twitter) that on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, at around 10:30 a.m. CT, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Texas Highway Patrol Troopers and Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) pilots were called to assist in a high-speed pursuit involving a vehicle that fled a U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) checkpoint along I-10 in Sierra Blanca. The preliminary investigation showed that the suspected driver was identified as James Douglas McMillan, 33, of Greenfield, Wisconsin (convicted felon in WI) who allegedly took off from the checkpoint after a USBP Drug K-9 alerted agents of alleged (drug or unidentified) contraband in the vehicle and agents directed McMillan to pull over for a secondary search. 

During the pursuit, McMillan – the only person in the vehicle – began shooting out the window at DPS Troopers, other responding law enforcement from the Culberson Co. Sheriff's Office, Hudspeth Co. Sheriff's Office, Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) and indiscriminately at civilian vehicles. As law enforcement returned fire, DPS Troopers performed a precision immobilization technique (PIT) maneuver and successfully stopped the suspect vehicle. McMillan barricaded himself in his vehicle and eventually pointed his weapon towards officers – officers then discharged their weapons. McMillan was then fatally shot by law enforcement. No law enforcement officers or civilians were injured.

The continued investigation shows the vehicle McMillan was driving was reported stolen out of Arizona. This is an active and ongoing investigation by the Texas Rangers, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and USBP. No additional information is available at this time.

While there is no further threat to the community, drivers were asked to avoid I-10 near Kent as a traffic highway road block created congestion, but traffic was eventually allowed to proceed, according to the TXDPS.

McMillan's criminal history in Wisconsin: On July 30, 2022, McMillan was convicted in Kenosha County, Wisconsin for one felony count of attempted armed robbery with threat of force.

On September 5, 2013, McMillan was convicted in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin on two felony counts for armed robbery with threat of force.

On October 17, 2012, McMillan pled no contest in Milwaukee County to possession of marijuana and paid a fine of $400, according to Milwaukee County court records in Wisconsin.

74-year-old Angel Luis Santiago Convicted Of Killing Aurora Weier, 45, In 1985 In Milwaukee Passed Away At The Oshkosh Correctional Institute

Santiago passed away due congestive heart failure, according to sources.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 3, 2026

Oshkosh, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Department of Corrections reported on its inmate website that Angel Luis Santiago, 74, who was serving a life term in prison for the November 4, 1985 homicide of Aurora Weier, 45, in Milwaukee has passed away at the Oshkosh Correctional Institute on November 11, 2025. Santiago died from congestive heart failure, according to sources.

Santiago was sentenced to life in prison with five years extended incarceration, in 2001, he eventually confessed to a reporter while being incarcerated at the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota that he as a sniper fatally shot Weier with a rifle from across the street as she was walking with her 7-year-old son into a Latino community center known as the Enrichment Center that was later renamed the Aurora Weier Educational Center, an alternative high school for Latino youths at N. Richards and W. Center Streets in Milwaukee.

Santiago, well known Puerto Rican community organizer who was then the Director of the United Youth Federation apparently became distraught that Weier was an emerging Latina leader and was successful in getting funding for the Enrichment Center. Santiago had experienced deficit funding issues in his organization.

Weier was originally from Panama who saw a need for Latinos to get educated in the Holton Latino and Puerto Rican neighborhood.

Milwaukee Bucks Latino Night 2026 Sports Fan Jóse Díaz Prohibited By Fiserv Forum Usher From Displaying Mexican Flag Inside The Game Seat Section

Díaz was apparently targeted by a Black female usher at the annual Milwaukee Bucks Latino Nights 2026 Fiserv Forum event for displaying a Mexican flag at the game. The female usher prohibited Díaz from displaying the flag from Mexico, according to a video recording by Díaz of the incident on Monday night.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 3, 2026

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Tuesday, Jóse Díaz, a Milwaukee Bucks fan who attended the annual Latino Night 2026 Bucks game at the Fiserv Forum on Monday told Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA) that a Black female usher prohibited him from displaying the flag from Mexico at the seat section where he was seating with other Latino attendees. The Fiserv Forum usher told Díaz that flags weren't allowed at the Fiserv Forum, but she didn't cite or explained any rules banning foreign flags at the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics game, according to Díaz. But, Díaz complied and put away his Mexican flag. (Full video of incident and Díaz describing what happened to him at link: https://youtube.com/shorts/znexTvxj6PA)

Díaz also noted that no signs were posted prohibiting sport fans from displaying foreign flags or any other type of sports paraphernalia inside the seat sections during a game.

Díaz did noticed that a Puerto Rico flag was displayed at another seat section and other foreign flags from Latin and Central American countries were displayed at the Fiserv Forum by fans and vendors attending the Latino Night at the event.

Díaz also told HNNUSA that afterwards, he talked to the Fiserv Forum customer service about his unfortunate incident with the Black female usher and they told him that it shouldn't had happened.

Díaz says that he plans to file a complaint with the Fiserv Forum usher services and Milwaukee Bucks and other organizers who sponsored the annual Latino Night.

The Fiserv Forum at the Deer District has a capacity of 17,000 people.

The Latino sports culture is well known to showcase the pride of Hispanic sports fans, especially displaying foreign flags and other sports paraphernalia.

Milwaukee County Criminal Complaint Against Wisconsin State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milw) By Three Dems Frivolous And Act Of Hypocrisy

Wisconsin State Representatives, Priscilla Prado, Greta Neubauer and Kalan Haywood, all democrats apparently co-sponsored a state assembly bill that Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, also a democrat had authored just 25 days after they filed a complaint against Ortiz-Velez with Capitol Police for allegedly threatening to use an AR-15 on the three dems. Capitol Police in Madison investigated the allegation and found no probable cause to criminally charge Ortiz-Velez.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

March 2, 2026

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Monday, Victor Huyke, the Publisher of El Conquistador Latino Newspaper posted on his personal Facebook page that Wisconsin State Representatives Priscilla Prado from Milwaukee, Greta Neubauer from Racine and Kalan Haywood from Milwaukee had filed a complaint with Capitol Police regarding an alleged threat made by Wisconsin State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milw) against the three dems in early September 2025 over two joint Hispanic Heritage Month and Hispanic Veterans resolutions, but Capitol Police investigated the alleged threat by Ortiz-Velez and they found no probable cause to criminally charge her. But 25 days later, Representatives Prado, Neubauer and Haywood co-sponsored a proposed Assembly Bill AB 441/SB 444, which required law enforcement officers to identify themselves as such, wear surnames, department insignia on their uniform and badge number including the prohibition of officers covering their faces or other disguise to conceal their identities while detaining or arresting individuals that was originally authored by Rep.  Ortiz-Velez, how ironic. (Huyke's Facebook post at link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18ETBzqyKN/ and HNNUSA article link: http://hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2025/09/wisconsin-state-rep-greta-neubauer-d.html)

Since the three dems mentioned, Prado, Neubauer and Haywood couldn't get Capitol Police to find probable cause to criminally charged Ortiz-Velez in Dane County in early September 2025, Prado filed a complaint with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office that included Neubauer and Haywood as potential  witnesses regarding  Representative Ortiz-Velez allegedly making a threat to expose Prado's inappropriate personal actions to a reporter.

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office filed a one count misdemeanor charge against Rep. Ortiz-Velez on February 25, 2026, which no doubt is a frivolous complaint at best. (HNNUSA article link: http://hispanicnewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2026/02/wi-state-rep-sylvia-n-ortiz-velez-48-d.html)

According  to Wisconsin Right Now (WRN), a known right-wing news website, a article dated March 1. 2026, regarding the criminal complaint filed against Ortiz-Velez says, that she has speech protection (immunity) in regards to making any comments during the Assembly floor or outside, since it's related to resolutions regardless, if debate, discussions and controversy is created. (WRN article: https://www.wisconsinrightnow.com/sylvia-ortiz-velez-milwaukee-charge/)

The hypocrisy by Prado, Neubauer and Haywood is evident, if they felt threatened by Rep. Ortiz-Velez in September 2025, then why would they help co-sponsor AB 441/SB 444 that Ortiz-Velez authored? (Bills link: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/ab441, bill text link: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/proposals/ab441, and https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/sb444#, bill text bill link: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/related/proposals/sb444)

The worst part about it, is that Rep. Ortiz-Velez helped Rep. Prado in her campaign to get elected to the state assembly, and Prado in return turned against Rep. Ortiz-Velez. Politics makes very strange bedfellows as the saying goes.

Rep. Neubauer is the Democrat minority leader in the Wisconsin State Assembly. 

On February 20, 2026, Rep. Ortiz-Velez outed in the State Assembly floor when asked, if she was ever told to leave the Assembly floor and not vote for her 8th District,  Ortiz-Velez said "Yes". It seems that the Democrat minority leader Rep. Neubauer had been prohiting other Dems from voting in a bipartisan vote on bills with Republicans that they favored, according to sources.

In brief: Apparently, it seems that several days after, three legislators from the Democrat Caucus allegedly retaliated against Rep. Ortiz-Velez for exposing that democrats have been told to leave the Assembly floor and go home in order not to vote for Republican bills. Rep. Prado filed a complaint with the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office accusing Ortiz-Velez of making a threat to expose personal inappropriate actions by Prado to a reporter. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office filed a criminal complaint for disorderly conduct against Ortiz-Velez on February 25, 2026 and Prado's alleged witnesses were Rep. Neubauer and Rep. Kalan Haywood. Haywood secretly recorded a phone call between him and Ortiz-Velez in early September 2025.

Editor's note:

In the criminal complaint against Rep. Ortiz-Velez, witness 1 is Rep. Priscilla Prado, witness 2 is Rep. Kalan Haywood and witness 3 is Rep. Greta Neubauer. All Democrats.

In the criminal complaint, Rep. Neubauer (witness 3) is accusing Ortiz-Velez (defendant) of making statements that she would expose inappropriate personal actions against Prado (witness 1). Apparently the call between Ortiz-Velez, Neubauer and Rep. Haywood (witness 2) was allegedly recorded by Haywood. (See attached criminal complaint)

In a developing scenario, Wisconsin State Representative Jim Piwowarczyk (R) requested the Capitol Police investigation records regarding Ortiz-Velez, but the State of Wisconsin Department of Administration in an email to Rep. Piwowarczyk that the Governor Tony Evers Office allegedly referred criminal charges against Ortiz-Velez to the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office and refusing to release the Capitol Police records to Piwowarczyk because of an open pending criminal case against  Ortiz-Velez. (Piwowarczyk Facebook post link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GGB3kwSZ6/)

It all sounds like a political prosecution by Democrats against another Democrat, simply because  Ortiz-Velez is supporting Wisconsin Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez (D) for Governor and outgoing Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) is supporting Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley for Governor. While Representatives Prado, Neubauer and Haywood are supporting Crowley for Governor.

Ortiz-Velez helped pass a bill that would limit County executive powers during state of emergencies, which involved Crowley during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis who took control of all the County matters without the oversight of Milwaukee County Supervisors. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ortiz-Velez was a Milwaukee County Supervisor. (County Executive powers limited during state of emergencies at link: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18GxMwkKE4/)

Ortiz-Velez is expected to enter a not guilty plea in her criminal case for disorderly conduct, which will most likely break open the entire case and reveal the actual and alleged motives why the criminal complaint was filed against her.