Free Republic

Madison police announced Friday they have not been able to corroborate allegations made by a biracial Monona woman that she was burned by four white men in Downtown Madison in June in what was initially reported as a hate crime and garnered national and international attention. Althea Bernstein, 18, told police someone sprayed lighter fluid on her and set her on fire in the early morning hours of June 24 after one of the men yelled a racial epithet. But on Friday, the police department said it was closing the case because “after an exhaustive probe, detectives were unable to...

Authorities closed an investigation into an alleged Wisconsin hate crime on June 24, saying they failed to find any evidence that 18-year-old Althea Bernstein was the victim of a racist arson attack, as she claimed. Bernstein made national headlines on June 24 alleging that four white men in Madison lit her on fire, leaving her with burns on her neck and face. The men, she said, had directed a racial slur at her before throwing lighter fluid on her face. The incident was covered by national outlets from CNN to NBC News.

Nearly three weeks after an alleged racist attack on a biracial woman in Downtown Madison, police and the woman’s family are saying little to nothing about whether the authorities are any closer to identifying the perpetrators. Althea Bernstein, 18, of Monona, told police she was stopped at a stoplight, possibly on West Gorham Street at State Street, at around 1 a.m. June 24 when she was approached by four white men, one of whom yelled a racial epithet. One of the men allegedly sprayed her with lighter fluid through her open driver’s-side window and then threw a lit lighter or...

Authorities in Wisconsin are investigating a possible hate crime after an 18-year-old Black woman was set on fire. On Wednesday morning, Althea Bernstein was driving through downtown Madison when she stopped at a red light. Bernstein was sitting at the intersection with her window down when she heard someone yell a racial slur, she told police, CBS News reports. Moments later, she told police four white men appeared, with one spraying a liquid on her face and neck and throwing a flaming lighter at her. Bernstein told police she was able to drive away and put out the flames, but...

Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are demanding that the university remove and replace a statue of Abraham Lincoln. "Many UW-Madison students wait to take their picture on the lap of the Abe Lincoln statue atop Bascom Hill when they graduate," a Change.org petition states. "However, few know how this statue got to the top of the hill, and who put it there." "few know how this statue got to the top of the hill, and who put it there"

An assault on an 18-year-old biracial woman in Wisconsin is being investigated as a hate crime after she was set on fire in her car, according to the Madison Police Department. The victim, Althea Bernstein, told authorities she was stopped at a red light Wednesday with her driver's side window down when she heard someone yell a racial slur. It was at that point that four white men allegedly sprayed a liquid on her face and neck and then threw a flaming lighter at her, which caused the liquid to ignite, according to the incident report. Scared, Bernstein began to...