helping

The foundation has so far raised £65,000 through, in part, events like a ball at Worcestershire’s New Road and a golf day. But Lisa and Paul have hit an obstacle. Spending the money is proving more problematic than raising it.

“I thought it would be the other way around,” says Paul. “Raising money is never easy, but how do we change people’s lives, how do we make things better for people and have success stories to tell on the back of it?

“The aim is to give something back to the sport of cricket that we cherish as a family.

“It’s not something we have the expertise in, so we’re finding out how we can divert funds into helping people, clubs, or the medical side of the game. It could be helping juniors get to matches, or helping families where finances are a barrier.”

Now, Lisa and Paul are asking anyone who can give the JB33 Foundation some direction to get in touch via the charity’s Instagram page.

“It’s something we’re very passionate about, because it means so much to us,” says Lisa. “We need to start spending and shouting about what we’re doing.”

Even while they’re in Australia, Lisa and Paul are continuing to take calls and hold meetings about the Foundation. When they get home in the new year, they want to press on with their work before the new season begins.

Before then, they will finish their Ashes trip in Sydney. On day one of the fifth Test they will once again be wearing their JB33 T-shirts, as they have on the opening day of each of the previous four.

“It hurts like hell because they have his face on the back, but it’s also beautiful,” says Lisa.

Like Melbourne, returning to Sydney will stir unbearable emotions that no parent ever should feel.

It was outside the Sydney Cricket Ground where Josh bowled during the Ashes Test of 2011, and it was in the city when Josh had his winter cricketing adventure just months before he passed away.

“He wasn’t a big Christmas person,” says Lisa. “I don’t doubt that he wouldn’t have spent a Christmas at home for a long time – he’d have been out here playing cricket.

“He loved his life. Music was a big part. Certain songs come on and I have to take a deep breath. He loved his music. He was always singing.

“Coming to Australia is very special to us now. We feel closer to him out here at Christmas than we would at home.”

MILWAUKEE — A jury found a Wisconsin judge accused of helping a Mexican immigrant dodge federal authorities guilty of obstruction Thursday, marking a victory for President Trump as he continues his sweeping immigration crackdown across the country.

Federal prosecutors charged Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan with obstruction, a felony, and concealing an individual to prevent arrest, a misdemeanor, in April. The jury acquitted her on the concealment count, but she still faces up to five years in prison on the obstruction count.

The jury returned the verdicts after deliberating for six hours. Dugan faces up to five years in prison when she’s sentenced, but no date had been set as of late Thursday evening.

The case inflamed tensions over Trump’s immigration crackdown, with his administration branding Dugan an activist judge and Democrats countering that the administration was trying to make an example of Dugan to blunt judicial opposition to the operation.

Dugan and her attorneys left the courtroom, ducked into a side conference room and closed the door without speaking to reporters. Steve Biskupic, her lead attorney, later told reporters that he was disappointed with the ruling and didn’t understand how the jury could have reached a split verdict since the elements of both charges were virtually the same.

U.S. Atty. Brad Schimel denied the case was political and urged people to accept the verdict peacefully. He said courthouse arrests are safer because people are screened for weapons and it isn’t unfair for law enforcement to arrest wanted people in courthouses.

“Some have sought to make this about a larger political battle,” Schimel said. “While this case is serious for all involved, it is ultimately about a single day, a single bad day, in a public courthouse. The defendant is certainly not evil. Nor is she a martyr for some greater cause.”

U.S. Deputy Atty. Gen. Todd Blanche praised the verdict on X, saying nobody is above the law, even judges.

According to court filings that include an FBI affidavit and a federal grand jury indictment, immigration authorities traveled to the Milwaukee County courthouse on April 18 after learning 31-year-old Eduardo Flores-Ruiz had reentered the country illegally and was scheduled to appear before Dugan for a hearing in a state battery case.

Dugan learned that agents were in the corridor outside her courtroom waiting for Flores-Ruiz. She left the courtroom to confront them, falsely telling them their administrative warrant for Flores-Ruiz wasn’t sufficient grounds to arrest him and directing them to go to the chief judge’s office.

While the agents were gone, she addressed Flores-Ruiz’s case off the record, told his attorney that he could attend his next hearing via Zoom and led Flores-Ruiz and the attorney out a private jury door. Agents spotted Flores-Ruiz in the corridor, followed him outside and arrested him after a foot chase. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in November he had been deported.

Prosecutors worked during Dugan’s trial to show that she directed agents to the chief judge’s office to create an opening for Flores-Ruiz to escape.

An FBI agent who led the investigation testified that after agents left the corridor, she immediately moved Flores-Ruiz’s case to the top of her docket, told him that he could appear for his next hearing via Zoom and led him out the private door.

Prosecutors also played audio recordings from her courtroom in which she can be heard telling her court reporter that she’d take “the heat” for leading Flores-Ruiz out the back.

Her attorneys countered that she was trying to follow courthouse protocols that called for court employees to report any immigration agents to their supervisors and she didn’t intentionally try to obstruct the arrest team.

Richmond writes for the Associated Press.