The crime occurred sometime between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Circuit Judge Richard J. Sankovitz  also ordered Andrews, 54, to serve 25 months of supervised release after his release from prison. Andrews also was ordered to make restitution totaling $170.28 to four victims.

Three people connected to the US consulate were murdered last week in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and that made northern US newspapers, but the general escalation of violence has generally been ignored in Wisconsin media. That journalistic neglect is more than an oversight. Violence is claiming lives in Mexico; it is bound to spill over to the border states and beyond. Corruption already is leading the charge.

From the New York Times, which has done an excellent job covering the issue.

Federal anticorruption investigators continue to struggle to keep up with the screening of newly hired United States law enforcement officers working on the Mexican border and have fallen far behind in checking current employees as well, federal officials testified on Thursday.

The testimony came during a hearing in Washington before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security Committee on rising corruption among the ranks of federal law enforcement officers who patrol the border and guard ports of entry.

Representatives from the F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security painted a grave picture of drug trafficking organizations trying to recruit federal officers to work for them and infiltrate the ranks.

Another, earlier Times story is here.

All the elements are there growing corruption in US law enforcement. The Border Patrol expanded very rapidly. Mexican drug gangs don’t blink at the most vile violence — if you were an underpaid border agent and someone gave you a choice between accepting a large bribe or having your family killed, what would you do?

Yeah, the five guys in Pakistan should be covered, but so should what is going on within our own borders and just beyond. Exploding bombs make a lot of noise and can cause a lot of damage all at once; drug-related assassinations in Mexico makes less noise and spread fear and damage incrementally; and the spread of corruption is silent, but  can cause the strands that hold societies and countries steady to rot and fall apart.

The sentencing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. before Circuit Judge Richard Sankovitz.

Andrews pleaded guilty Feb. 24 to one count of burglary. He still faces misdemeanor charges in two other cases.

So how long before she asks for her teaching job back? And could she be denied on the basis of her being a thief?

It’s reassuring, but a little unnerving, to see cops walk down sidewalks where they rarely tread, even during Brewers season.

Not to worry, according to Mark Stanmeyer, Police Department spokesman and neighborhood resident. There were some burglaries on the west side, although NOT in Story Hill — so District 3 ordered extra foot patrols. A few arrests were made in the meantime and the break-in problem seems to have gone away.

This does not mean you should leave your doors and windows unlocked, however. A vigilant neighbor late last month spotted a man wandering suspiciously around the neighborhood, called police and followed him, letting the police know where he went. They stopped him, and he was wanted on outstanding warrants. He went to jail that day.

But then, so is the screw job the state, through that same bill, might visit upon counties.

State Rep. Fred Kessler introduced the bill this week, and Walker and Holloway were all over it on fiscal grounds.

County Executive Scott Walker and County Board Chairman Lee Holloway are
reiterating their opposition to a bill proposed in the State Legislature to return 17 year-old offenders to the jurisdiction of juvenile court. If enacted, this change could cost Milwaukee County at least $24 million.

“Counties cannot afford any more unfunded mandates from the state,” said Walker. “This mandate could cost local taxpayers more than $24 million each year. The new revenue streams they propose will not cover the cost, and our 2010 Milwaukee County budget does not have a provision to handle the additional costs associated with this legislation.”

“It’s time for the state to get serious about juvenile justice and fund any reforms to our current system. The State of Wisconsin should be financially responsible for any changes to current correctional policy, because our property tax payers already bear too much of a burden for under-funded state mandates. They simply can’t afford a $24-30 million increase in costs,” Chairman Holloway said.

There is something simply grotesque about arguing that children should be kept in adult prisons because counties can’t afford a better alternative. It’s an argument that should not have been made.

Walker and Holloway are totally right, though, in their contention that the potential $24 million cost shift to the county is unacceptable and the state, if it is going to move 17-year-olds from adult court to juvenile court, needs to pick up some of that cost.

It doesn’t compute that Kessler is seeking to return 17-year-olds to juvenile court, (which would reverse the 1996 law that sent them to adult court) to save the state some money.He’s just not that kind of guy. It does compute, though, that some of his legislative colleagues would do the math and come to the happy realization that they could make the state’s horrid budget situation just a bit better by making the county’s really, really horrid budget situation even worse.

The existing law needs to be changed. Counties need to be treated fairly when it is.

The misdemeanor counts of theft and receiving stolen property are unrelated from the Story Hill break-ins and stem from car break-ins in May and June in Milwaukee and Wauwatosa.

The Story Hill break-ins in September led to a felony burglary charge for Andrews. The next court date in that case is Feb. 16.

Andrews, 54, is scheduled to enter pleas today in misdemeanor cases related to a Wauwatosa garage break-in.