‘Sweet Little Boy’: 8-Year-Old Little Leaguer 6th Parade Victim

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Nov. 24. Our hearts are with the residents of Waukesha, Wisconsin, this week. We have the latest on the Christmas parade deaths on Waukesha Patch. Here are some of the other stories we’re following:

• The jury in the Ahmaud Arbery case returns Wednesday for a second day of deliberations.
• Matt Nagy was already in the hot seat for his team’s losing record, but the Thanksgiving Day game could be his last as head coach of the Chicago Bears.
• The family of Brian Laundrie, a person of interest in his fiancée Gabby Petito’s death, has released his cause of death.
• Virginia parents lost their fight to have LGBTQ books removed from the school library.

Jackson Sparks, an 8-year-old boy who was marching in the Waukesha Christmas Parade with his Little League baseball team, and whose family previously said “needs a miracle” to survive, has died of injuries received when an SUV plowed through barricades and sped along the route.

A GoFundMe page set up for the family announced that Jackson had died and that their "sweet little boy who is now under the care of Jesus." His brother, Tucker, 12, remains hospitalized.

More portraits of the victims emerged Tuesday.

The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies’ costumes may have varied as they danced through one parade after another, but one thing that never changed for the grande dames of the Wisconsin parade circuit: their smiles.

Three members of the dance troupe with the brightest and broadest smiles were among the six people killed Sunday in Waukesha when an SUV plowed through the crowd. They included a 52-year-old woman dancing with the Grannies for the first time. An 81-year-old man who tried to help the women also was killed.

“Those who died were extremely passionate Grannies,” the group said in a statement that noted how “their eyes gleamed” and the “joy” they felt to belong to the group. The post called them “the glue” that “held us together.”

Another of the victims, 52-year-old Jane Kulich, was remembered as a “a loving, beautiful and charismatic mother, grandmother and friend to so many.”

“The world is a much darker place without a woman like this,” her family wrote on a crowdfunding website.

Patch’s Scott Anderson was in Waukesha Monday night and put together this gallery of candlelight vigil photos.

Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, the driver of the SUV, made his initial court appearance Tuesday. He was charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide and will face a sixth count, the DA said in court. Brooks’ bail was set at $5 million cash.

Read the latest:

• Boy, 8, Is 6th Victim In Waukesha Christmas Parade Tragedy
• Darrell Brooks Jr. Makes 1st Court Appearance
• Dancing Grannies Mourn 3 In Waukesha Christmas Parade Tragedy
• Jane Kulich Remembered: Waukesha Christmas Parade Victim
• Waukesha Parade Deaths: Resources Available At Carroll University
• Vigil Photos: Waukesha Mourns 5 Who Died In Christmas Parade
• Pope After Christmas Parade Crash: May Good Overcome Evil

Arbery Jurors to Deliberate 2nd Day

The jury will return to the Glynn County Courthouse on Wednesday to continue deliberations in the trial of the three men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery as he jogged through his neighborhood last year. » Jurors In Ahmaud Arbery Case Continue Deliberations Wednesday, via Atlanta Patch

Bad News For Bears Coach?

For disgruntled Chicago Bears fans looking for something to be thankful for after five straight losses, this could be it: Matt Nagy will coach his last game for the Bears on Thanksgiving in Detroit, a top source with knowledge of the decision told Patch’s Mark Konkol. » Matt Nagy Will Coach His Last Bears Game On Thanksgiving: Source, via Chicago Patch

House Envy

A dog — a very, very wealthy pooch, with a net worth of $500 million, the world’s richest dog — is selling Madonna’s old pad. You read that right. Now, read more about what may be the world’s strangest real estate listing on Miami Patch.

Around ‘The Patch’

Unite The Right Damages: White supremacists engaged in a conspiracy in advance of the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, a jury found Tuesday as it ordered organizers to pay millions of dollars in damages, via Fredericksburg, Virginia, Patch.

LGBTQ+ Books Return To School Library Shelves: A school district in Virginia book-ended an earlier decision to remove two LGBTQ-themed books from the school library with a decision to return them to high school library shelves. Fairfax County Public Schools received complaints about the books, but said after a two-month review, found the challenges were “without merit,” via Fairfax City, Virginia, Patch.

Here are some other stories to talk about:

• Help Patch Find The Best Holiday Lights In America: Enter Now, via Across America Patch
• The 2021 Santa Experience Is A Mix Of Laps, Distancing, via Across America Patch
• We Now Know How Brian Laundrie Died, via Sarasota, Florida, Patch
• Batiste, Bieber, Doja Cat Lead Grammy Nominees, via Studio City, California, Patch
• Lawsuits Filed By Families Of 2 Killed AT Astroworld, via Naperville, Illinois, Patch
• ‘Lecturn Guy’ From U.S. Capitol Riot To Write Book, via Bradenton, Florida, Patch
• Fighting $3.40 A Gallon Gas, U.S. Releases 50 Million Barrels, via Across America Patch

Today In History

Jack Ruby fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald at 12:20 p.m. on Nov. 24, 1963, in the basement of the Dallas police station, where Oswald was being held in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy two days earlier as he rode in an open-car motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas, via History.com.

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