Wisconsin worker who popped balloon pleads guilty

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin state worker who popped a protester’s heart-shaped balloon has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and is back at work.

The Wisconsin State Journal reported Friday that Ron Blair entered the plea on Thursday and was placed in a first-offenders program. He had been suspended with pay for the July 25 incident, but he is now back at work but not at the Capitol where he had been employed.

A spokesman for the Department of Administration would not say how long Blair had been back at work or where his current assignment is.

The criminal complaint said Blair told Leslie Peterson he popped her balloon because he was tired of retrieving them from the ceiling of the Capitol.