News Bulletin: Nov. 8-15

WHAT HAPPENED

• The Door County Sheriff’s Department is investigating an incident in which a Door County Jail inmate walked away from custody. 

On Nov. 4 at approximately 7 am, 31-year-old Chad A. Skarvan left the jail for Huber release. He did not return to the jail and is considered an escaped inmate. Skarvan – a white male, six feet tall, weighing 190 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes – is serving a sentence for criminal trespassing. 

Anyone with information regarding this incident is encouraged to call the Door County Sheriff’s office at 920.746.2416. If you have information about this incident but wish to remain anonymous, call the Crime Tip Line at 920.746.2436. 

• U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin has worked to secure an additional $9 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative for fiscal year 2020. 

“Investments in the Great Lakes are an investment in the future of Wisconsin’s economy. I am proud to have worked in a bipartisan way to increase funding for our Great Lakes,” said Baldwin, who is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

“The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative has earned bipartisan support and is critical for the health of our region, our communities and our clean-water resources. It helps us clean up polluted sites, restore water quality and combat invasive species. Preserving the Great Lakes is not just an environmental goal – it is an economic necessity for Wisconsin,” she said. 

The funding passed the Senate as an amendment, introduced by Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), to bipartisan appropriations legislation.

• Michigan Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Eichinger confirmed the commitment of $8 million in state funds for the preconstruction, engineering and design phase of a multifaceted barrier system to prevent invasive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. 

In a Nov. 4 letter to Lt. General Todd Semonite, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Eichinger explained that the funds were appropriated as a nonfederal match to design a system of control measures at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in the Chicago Area Waterway System near Joliet, Illinois. It’s a critical pinch point for keeping bighead, silver and black carp – the Asian carp species of greatest concern – out of the Great Lakes. 

Taking action at Brandon Road took on added urgency with the Nov. 1 announcement that 76 of 414 samples taken from waters connected to Lake Michigan – and well beyond Brandon Road – tested positive for environmental DNA (eDNA) for invasive carp. Although no live invasive carp were found, the results showed far more invasive carp eDNA than had previously been discovered, prompting the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and partner agencies to undertake additional surveillance for the presence of invasive carp.

COMING UP

• Fair Maps and Gerrymandering: Restoring More Representative Democracy will be the topic of a community forum Nov. 13, 6:30 pm, at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. The event will feature Matt Rothschild of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (wisdc.org). 

Free and open to the public, the program will focus on the ways in which voting-district boundaries are drawn every 10 years (next in 2021) and how current district boundaries affect voters, policies and democracy. 

The Door County Indivisible Fair Maps Task Force is sponsoring the event. Learn more at indivisibledoorcounty.com or by emailing Mike Brodd at [email protected].

• Gov. Tony Evers and First Lady Kathy Evers will continue the Tribute to Our Troops holiday tree tradition at the Executive Residence. 

“I am pleased to be able to offer families an opportunity, especially during the holiday season, to recognize the brave folks who serve in our armed forces,” Gov. Evers said. “I think it’s as important for family members as it is for the service members being honored in this way.”

The Everses invite family members of Wisconsin’s service members – fallen and living, past and present, deployed and veterans, in Wisconsin and abroad – to send a holiday ornament dedicated to their loved one. Ornaments – plain, fancy or personalized – will be displayed on one of the large evergreen trees at the Executive Residence during its holiday tours. To be included, ornaments must be received no later than Nov. 26 at the Wisconsin National Guard Service Member Support Division, Attn: Liam Walsh, 2400 Wright St., Madison, WI 53704. Ornaments will not be returned.