Kenosha, Wisconsin

Wisconsin v. Kizer is a pending murder case in which the deceased's alleged sex trafficking of the defendant is being raised as an affirmative defense, for the first time in Wisconsin and possibly anywhere in the United States.The defendant, Chrystul Kizer, a Black girl, was arrested in 2018 at age 17 for the murder of Randall Phillip Volar III, a 34-year-old White man who had abused and trafficked Kizer and other underage Black girls in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Kizer sought to raise an affirmative defense under a Wisconsin statute (Wis. Stat. s. 939.46) that shields trafficking victims from prosecution for crimes that are a direct result of the trafficking.The trial court ruled that the affirmative defense did not apply to violent crimes, but the ruling was overturned on appeal, allowing Kizer to present evidence of her trafficking at trial. Since the ruling was overturned, supporters have renewed calls for charges against Kizer to be dismissed.Kizer's case has received international attention, especially after the George Floyd protests triggered renewed focus on criminal justice reform. The case has been compared to similar cases involving claims of self-defense, such as George Zimmerman and Kyle Rittenhouse, who were acquitted (the latter of which also took place in Kenosha), and Cyntoia Brown, another Black child trafficking victim, who spent 15 years in prison.Kizer was initially held on $1 million bail and spent almost two years in jail before her bail was lowered to $400,000, which community activists paid, securing her release in June 2020. She was re-arrested in February 2024 after her bail was revoked for having been charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct while out on bail. Kizer's trial is scheduled for June 10, 2024.

Kenosha Engine was an automobile and engine factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin. First opened for automobile production in 1902 by the Thomas B. Jeffery Company and later operated by American Motors, the Kenosha Engine Plant saw all operations halted by Chrysler and it was permanently closed in October 2010 and demolished between December 2012 and April 2013.

Nash Motors Company was an American automobile manufacturer based in Kenosha, Wisconsin from 1916 until 1937. From 1937 through 1954, Nash Motors was the automotive division of the Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. As sales of smaller firms declined after 1950 in the wake of the domestic Big Three automakers’ (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) advantages in production, distribution, and revenue, Nash merged with Hudson Motors to form American Motors Corporation (AMC). Nash automobile production continued from 1954 through 1957 under AMC. Innovations by Nash included the 1938 introduction of an automobile heating and ventilation system that is still in use today, unibody construction in 1941, seat belts in 1950, a US-built compact car in 1950, and an early muscle car in 1957.

Kenosha Unified School District (KUSD) serves the city of Kenosha, the town of Somers and the village of Pleasant Prairie in Wisconsin, United States. KUSD is overseen by a school board of seven elected members whose president is Dan Wade. The superintendent of KUSD is Dr. Jeffrey Weiss.

Kenosha County is located in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 169,151 as of the 2020 census, making it the eighth most populous county in Wisconsin. The county shares the same name as the city of Kenosha, the fourth largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha County is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, the fourth most-populous metropolitan area in North America. Kenosha County is situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. The county has a direct rail link to Chicago via Metra's Union Pacific / North Line. Since 2000, the county saw a population increase of 12.6%, higher than the overall Wisconsin growth of 6.0%. According to Business Insider, Kenosha County is an exurb and benefits as part of the Chicago metropolitan area. In 2022, Kenosha County was ranked 16th out of 72 Wisconsin counties for tourism revenue, at $424 million in 2022; a 13.6% increase over 2021. Kenosha County's previous record level was in 2019 at $391 million.

St. Joseph High School was a Catholic high school located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It served students in grades 9 through 12. On July 1, 2010, it was merged along with St. Mark Elementary School and St. Joseph Interparish Jr. High into St. Joseph Catholic Academy.

St. Joseph Catholic Academy is a Catholic elementary and secondary parochial school in Kenosha, Wisconsin, created on July 1, 2010 as a result of the merging of St. Mark Elementary School, St. Joseph Interparish Junior High School, and St. Joseph High School. The school serves students from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade.

On August 23, 2020, Jacob S. Blake, a 29-year-old black man, was shot and seriously injured by police officer Rusten Sheskey in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Sheskey shot Blake in the back four times and the side three times after Blake opened the driver's door of an SUV belonging to the mother of his children, and attempted to reach inside. Sheskey said that he believed he was about to be stabbed, since Blake was holding a knife. Earlier during the encounter, Blake had been tasered by two officers, but the tasers failed to disable him and he continued towards the vehicle.Blake had a warrant for his arrest from July, based on charges of third-degree felony sexual assault and trespassing and disorderly conduct for domestic abuse in May. Both Kenosha Police Chief Daniel Miskinis and the Kenosha Professional Police Association stated that the officers dispatched on August 23 were aware of the pending warrant for Blake before they arrived on scene; dispatch records confirm this.The police shooting was followed by unrest, which included rallies, marches, property damage, arson, and clashes with police. Two people were also fatally shot in a confrontation with an armed civilian, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse. Blake's name was invoked in protests in other cities as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, which resurged in the wake of several high-profile killings by police officers in 2020.In January 2021, Kenosha County prosecutors announced that the officers involved in the shooting would not be charged, and Sheskey returned to regular police duty in April 2021. Prosecutors also announced that Blake would not face any new charges, and they dropped previous sexual assault and trespassing charges against Blake in exchange for him pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct for domestic abuse, for which he was then sentenced to two years of probation.

The John McCaffary House is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States. It was built in 1842 and was the site of the murder of Bridget McCaffary by her husband, John McCaffary. He was the first and only person executed by the State of Wisconsin before it abolished the death penalty in 1853. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1978.

Kenosha is a railroad station in Kenosha, Wisconsin, served by Metra's Union Pacific North Line. It is the northern terminus of the line, which runs south to the Ogilvie Transportation Center in Chicago. Kenosha is the only Metra station outside of Illinois, and is 51.6 miles (83.0 km) from Ogilvie Transportation Center. Because it is located outside the RTA’s jurisdiction, the service to the station is partially subsidized by the city of Kenosha. It is the northernmost station of the entire Metra system, making it the most northern station in the entire RTA network. As of 2018, Kenosha is the 135th busiest of Metra's 236 non-downtown stations, with an average of 345 weekday boardings.It is the only passenger station in Kenosha County, since Amtrak's closest station is in Sturtevant. The station is linked to Kenosha's streetcar line, which stops on the far side of the station's parking lot. As of 2022, Kenosha is served by twelve trains (six in each direction) on weekdays, by twelve trains (five inbound, seven outbound) on Saturdays, and by six trains (three in each direction) on Sundays and holidays. There is a small coach yard at Kenosha where trainsets are stored overnight and on weekends as well as a Union Pacific maintenance facility.

The Washington Park Clubhouse is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

The Justin Weed House is located in Kenosha, Wisconsin. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and on the State Register of Historic Places in 1989.