Beloved Wisconsin chiropractor killed in high-speed crash while walking with family
Heartland Family Chiropractic in Cottage Grove confirmed that Dr. Kami Hansen died after a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed jumped a curb and struck her while she was on a walk with her family. Her son reportedly underwent emergency surgery, though his condition was unknown at the time of this publication.
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Dr. Hansen was a respected figure in the Cottage Grove area, known for her involvement in civic life and local causes. The Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce, where she served as a board member for six years and sat on two committees, also confirmed her death in a social media post.
'Dr. Kami was a beloved Chamber Member… She loved her community and always wanted the very best for it,' the post stated.
A memorial fund for her family has been set up through the Cottage Grove Community Foundation, which helps support victims of tragic local events.
According to the Cottage Grove Police Department, the crash happened shortly after 6:30 p.m. in the 1300 block of Landmark Drive. A preliminary investigation indicates that multiple people—and a dog—were injured after a vehicle left the roadway and struck them. Three individuals were transported to a hospital.
Police say speed was a factor in the crash and that a full investigation is underway in collaboration with the Dane County District Attorney's Office.
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'The tragic event saddens us,' police said in a statement. 'We understand the community has questions… the precise actions and motivations of an individual involved are the subject of an ongoing investigation.'
Additional updates are expected as the investigation continues.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Chicago Tribune
16-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Returning again to the Scopes ‘monkey trial,' and what I learned
You may have noticed that the 100th anniversary of the so-called 'monkey trial' in Dayton, Tennessee, has rolled around this month, with various offerings, notably my colleague Ron Grossman's excellent recent story, which informed me, among many things, that the town's main street 'took on a carnival atmosphere. Rival trainers brought chimpanzees to town — including a celebrated simian named Joe Mendi, who wore a plaid suit and a fedora hat. Vendors hawked toy monkeys and Bibles. Shop windows had monkey-theme displays.' Read that story and perhaps you too will be compelled to dive deeper into the past. The simplest way is to watch the 128-minute 1960 movie based on the events that took place, mostly in a sweltering courtroom, from July 10-21 in 1925. I did that, and 'Inherit the Wind' is a great movie. Adapted from a successful play written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and based on real events, it is dominated by those towering actors Spencer Tracy and Fredric March. They portray, respectively, opposing attorneys Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan, though they're given the names Henry Drummond and Matthew Harrison Brady. See what I mean by 'based on.' Still, Amazon touts the movie as the 'thrilling recreation of the most titanic courtroom battles of the century,' hyperbolically ignoring a trial the year before, when Darrow took on the defense of killers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb in Chicago. (There's a pretty good movie of that too, 1959's 'Compulsion'). The trial, more formally called the Scopes trial, or the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, involved a high school teacher, John Scopes, who was accused of violating the Butler Act, a Tennessee state law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools. After watching 'Inherit,' I did some further digging and feel fortunate to have learned some encouraging things about Scopes. For instance, 'He did not capitalize at all on his celebrity,' said John Mark Hansen. 'He had offers of tens of thousands of dollars to go on vaudeville stages and talk about the trial. Instead, he came to the University of Chicago to further his education, never seeking attention.' Hansen is a longtime University of Chicago political science professor and Hyde Park resident. He is also a talented writer, and his 'Evolution on Trial' story in the university's magazine makes for enlightening and lively reading. Among the other things I learned: Darrow, the principal defense attorney, knew many University of Chicago scientists and professors, because for years, living in an apartment on 60th Street near Stony Island Avenue, 'he hosted an informal biology club … directing discussions on biology, religion and evolution,' Hansen writes. He recruited some of these folks to testify at the trial, and they stayed in 'a big Victorian house on the edge of Dayton,' which is described as 'ancient and empty … now crudely furnished with iron cots, spittoons, playing cards and the other camp equipment of scientists,' Hansen writes. 'It was called the Mansion, Defense Mansion, and, inevitably, the Monkey House.' Scopes decided to study geology at the University of Chicago. His tuition toward earning a doctorate was paid for by a grant and other donations. But when he applied for a third year to finish his studies, the president of another school that administered the fellowships refused to consider his application, saying, 'As far as I am concerned, you can take your atheistic marbles and play elsewhere.' And so he did, fading away into life as a working geologist, Hansen tells me, living in Texas and Louisiana. He did return to the University of Chicago campus for a conference in 1960. When asked about the 1925 trial, Hansen writes, 'Scopes had little to add. 'I hope that I don't ever have to go through something like that again.'' 'Some of the issues of the trial still echo,' says Hansen. 'Ever debated is the role of religion in public school classrooms, as is the question 'Who controls what gets taught in school?'' Bryan died only days after the Scopes trial and Darrow lived until 1938, the most famous lawyer in the world then, and arguably still. Reading Hansen's fine story and watching 'Inherit the Wind' put Darrow solidly in my mind and compelled me to go to see a small and pretty bridge in Jackson Park. It sits behind the Museum of Science and Industry, named in Darrow's honor and dedicated in 1957 by relatively new mayor Richard J. Daley. 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Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
He was called a hero during Pulse, but he wants to remember the music instead
Chris Hansen said he was ready to re-enter the Pulse Nightclub, nine long years after his life changed in a barrage of bullets. He saw it as a means to an end. 'I actually want to feel the letting go,' Hansen said when WFTV first met up with him Wednesday. 'I want to feel the if I feel anything at all when I walk in, see if I can feel eerie, or if I can still remember the dancing and then hear the music and hear the laughter of everything before the chaos.' Most of all, he said he wanted to find the wall where he hid from the gunman, and if possible, touch the bullet hole on the other side. After his visit on Friday, he had many things to say about the 30 minutes he had months to anticipate. 'Confused,' he described. 'Emotional.' Hansen said he walked through Pulse as he did on June 12, 2016. He pretended to pay a cover at the door. He went to the bar and bought his final drink. Memories began flooding in of victims and survivors dancing. 'The [dance] floor is gone. The bar is still there, but I thought the wall was missing' he said. 'I went to the wall, and I leaned up against it, and I'm like, 'Maybe this was the wall.' And I felt like, was I hiding from it all? The whole time? Was I in the corner?' Hansen said the building felt smaller than before, noting that time slows down in moments of chaos. He said he stuck his hand into the fountain where police busted through the wall, naming it a 'fountain of life.' He couldn't remember what happened after he escaped, when he jumped into action to carry other survivors to get help and triage some of the wounded. His actions had him branded a hero. 'I tried, but I couldn't, I couldn't get past the beauty behind my pain,' he said, tearing up. 'I still remember the dancing, the laughter, the joy, and I think that's where I want to leave it.' He quoted song lyrics several times during his interview, and pulled in the woman who he credited with saving him: Michelle Rampone, a counselor who drove to Orlando after hearing about the Pulse attack and allowed Hansen to stay in her hotel room because his car keys and credit cards were locked inside the club. The two have been friends ever since. Hansen asked her to accompany him and his father into the club. 'It was very emotional, especially the floor, you know?' she recalled. 'There were certain things that were very difficult to see and imagine what went on, and I've heard a lot of different stories from different people. I was just happy I could be here.' Hansen said he would turn his focus to the future and to his Rainbow Remembrance project that displays flags and messages of hope in honor of violence victims. He said he didn't think he'd return for the 10th anniversary next year but planned to come back for the 11th to see the finished permanent memorial. 'I'm ready to move forward,' he said. 'I'm not going to forget [Pulse], but… I'm going to put a period at the end of that chapter and move to the next chapter. It's time for a change. It's time for a transition. It's time to move forward from Orlando.' Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Nine years later, famed Pulse survivor searches for closure
As the sun set behind a cloudy sky Wednesday, a small group of people set up flags, lit candles and strummed a guitar while the Lake Eola fountain splashed behind them. At the center of the group was Chris Hansen, a man with a near-constant smile on his face, but whose eyes occasionally flash signs of a deeper pain. Hansen became well known during the night of the 2016 mass shooting as being one of the first to escape Pulse nightclub, and who went back in to help pull others out. Now he works across the country to give victims and allies of violence spaces to be together. 'I woke up from a dream, and I thought I was in a crowd of people in my dream, and I was wondering what it was about,' Hansen said. 'I don't remember, except for the fact that I brought a lot of people together.' Hansen spoke of his struggle to move on from that night, describing the process as glacial. His project, called the Rainbow Remembrance, centers on affirmation, love and hope. It's also personal for him. He pointed to one lantern in honor of a 17-year-old from his hometown who was shot by a police officer. Hansen will take his own turn going through Pulse Friday morning, where he said he will be focused on the wall that saved his life. 'I want to touch that bullet hole. I want to see the that I saved my own life, or that my life was saved for some reason,' he said. 'Through every storm as a rainbow. Who knows why I'm still here or what message I'm supposed to perceive, but I know that I'm here for a reason, and I'm not going to be quiet.' Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
