At conservation congress, out-of-touch Walker distracts, panders

Walker spoke at the annual Wisconsin Conservation Congress and delivered a predictably narrow and deceptive message.

1. For example, it has been noted here and here and here, and elsewhere  - - that he's years late addressing the epidemic of chronic wasting disease, (CWD), in the state deer herd, so naturally, Walker and his office aimed his the lede of WCC p.r. at lower-handing fruit.

Governor Walker Calls for More Public Land for Hunting and Fishing at the 84th Annual Convention of the Wisconsin Conservation Congress

You have to read past the halfway point in his release efforts for words to get to his tardy, election-year, campaign-driven 'plan' to stem CWD:

Also, at the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, Governor Walker discussed his aggressive plan to combat the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD) among Wisconsin’s deer herd.

2.  And while Walker went with an easy pander to hunters and anglers about adding more public land access - - a talking point he's repeating on Twitter - -  he went out of his way to ignore these issues and their popular responses highlighted by data collected at all the county meetings which led up to the Congress and are posted on the DNR website.

But you won't catch Walker dead publicizing the strong statewide support for DNR and legislative action to address climate change - - the very issue he had scrubbed from state websites and which he continues to ignore, or obstruct with AG Brad Schimel's assistance - - according to the results of Congress survey questions 19 and 20:

19	WCC support legislation to reduce the risk of climate change through increased use of renewable resources (580417)	3590-Yes 1840 No
20	Support water basin management plans to reduce/ control runoff that has or will be caused by climate change (580417)	4238-Yes 1052 No

So Walker is again on the wrong side of public opinion and good science, and also intentionally-isolated by his service to major polluters from mainstream climate and energy issues polled nationally, which I recently noted:

...a growing number of Republicans - - along with even greater numbers of Democrats - - are concerned about climate change and clean power and want government to act affirmatively to address them, according to a new report released by the authoritative Yale Program for Climate Change Communications.

As I asked yesterday, Walker '18? Seriously? 

If there's an advertising 'Slimee' award,' Vukmir wins

Hat tip, Jonathan Allen:

Verified account 23h23 hours ago

No subtlety in this image just circulated by Wisconsin GOP Senate candidate Leah Vukmir. (Vukmir is the one with Haspel and Sen.Tammy Baldwin is the one below the divider). Baldwin is accused of fighting to give terrorists “hugs” and “safe spaces,” rather than to protect America

Walker gets WI ranked on lists to avoid

Updated with news that WI public defenders are paid $40 an hour, lowest in the US. 
---------------------------------
Walker is spending a lot of our money to lure workers here, and data show why:

Wisconsin has landed on the 'moving-out' Top 10 list.

For the record, Wisconsin was not on the 2017 list.

Also for the record:

*  5/11/18 Update - - WI public defenders are paid the least in the country - - $40 an hour - - a rate unchanged since 1995 when it was reduced from $50.

*  We're ranked 32nd in job growth, down from 29th, with falling average wages, data show:

It also continues a trend of Wisconsin being ranked in the bottom half of states for job growth. Wisconsin hasn’t ranked higher than 27th for any 12 month period over the last four-plus years.

*  We're ranked #1 in escalating opioid ER admissions:

Emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased 109 percent in Wisconsin from July 2016 to September 2017, the highest spike among 16 states closely tracked, federal health officials said Tuesday.

*  And #1 in small farm bankruptcies:

Federal court data shows the Western District of Wisconsin had the highest number of Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies in the nation in 2017, and that's only a glimpse into the problem since Chapter 12 is a relatively rare tool used in bankruptcies. 

*  By one measurement, we are #12 among the states with wells out of compliance with federal health codes, a ranking not surprising given the massive and documented well-water contamination in NE Wisconsin.

*  Wisconsin is second in worst-repaired roads. The decline is persistent.

*  And we're last in entrepreneurial activity.

*  But 1st in recent state handouts, environmental exemptions, clean air and water disregard, etc..

So - - Walker '18!

Judge the Trump team by deeds, not words

I don't hold Melania Trump responsible for the actions of her husband.

But the same White House that just rolled out her signature, children's initiative - - 

Called “Be Best,” the initiative is an awareness campaign dedicated to children’s emotional and physical wellness.

- - is also through harsh immigration procedures ramped up this week by the Attorney General is separating children from their parents and foundational security.

A Wisconsin man went to court to pay his traffic ticket. Now he's facing deportation

A father of four and owner of a small Lake Geneva business went to the county courthouse late last month to pay for a traffic ticket. He never walked out on his own accord. 

"ICE is seeking to deprive our children of their father," his wife, Adriana Robles, said..."They are depriving him of the chance to be with his children. My husband is a hard worker, who has provided jobs for others while trying to do better for himself and his family." 

There is an online petition posted by Voces De La Frontera to support the Robles family and overturn his seizure.

Governor Act 10's new-and-improved message for state employees

In early 2010, he dropped the bomb on public workers.

But that was then, and this is an election year, so I hope you feel appreciated through this official, feel-good Tweet:

Verified account 17h17 hours ago17 hours agoMoreDeclared today State Employee Appreciation Day throughout WI. On behalf of the more than 5.8 million citizens of our great state, I thank you, WI state employees, for the good work you do each and every day. #WIProud

Though to be fair, the tweet is a veritable opus compared to his Earth Day message.

Popular Foxconn pay $9.22 hr.-to-$65,400+yearly, a jobs site says

Foxconn has said jobs at its WI flat-screen device assembly plant will average $57,000, plus benefits.

The company has acknowledged that there will be lower-skilled, presumably lower-paying jobs at the plant, and positions paying less than $15-an-hour will qualify for state subsidy support. One post here with those numbers.


This family budget calculator says a family of four would need income of $80,000+ a year to support a modest lifestyle in Racine County.

Here is some Foxconn position and wage data from the job site Indeed.com:

Foxconn Salaries in the United States

Salary estimated from 401 employees, users, and past and present job advertisements on Indeed in the past 36 months. Last updated: May 4, 2018

Job Category

Popular JobsAccountingAdministrative AssistanceCustomer ServiceHuman ResourcesIT Operations & HelpdeskIndustrial EngineeringInformation Design & DocumentationInstallation & MaintenanceLoading and StockingManagementProduction & ManufacturingProject ManagementRetailSalesSoftware Development

Location

United States    California        San Jose    North Carolina        Durham    Texas        Houston

Popular Jobs	Average Salary	Salary Distribution
Quality Engineer 9 salaries reported	$65,483 per year	Most Reported $22,000 $122,000
Software Test Engineer 10 salaries reported	$60,633 per year	$29,000 $90,000
Test Engineer 10 salaries reported	$50,226 per year	$22,000 $122,000
Repair Technician 11 salaries reported	$29,787 per year	$14,000 $64,000
Assembler 12 salaries reported	$9.22 per hour	$7.25 $25.65

Great Lakes body should ask Walker for climate change action

A treaty-created US-Canada body working on Great Lakes quality says the parties should turn their attention to the impacts of climate change.

So how about sending Walker - - a/k/a/ The Great Lakes Water Policy Outlier - - a letter asking him to:

* Have his 'chamber of commerce mentality'-directed Department of Natural Resources end its internal war on climate change communications and restore the material it deleted about the impacts of climate change on the Great Lakes;

* Rehire the climate change experts his budget removed;

* And institute an affirmative climate change program for Wisconsin and the region that would meet the goals the US-Canada body - - the International Joint Commission - - cites in this established agreement, or "annex:" 

Climate Change Impacts

Purpose

The purpose of this Annex is to contribute to the achievement of the General and Specific Objectives of this Agreement by coordinating efforts to identify, quantify, understand, and predict the climate change impacts on the quality of the Waters of the Great Lakes, and sharing information that Great Lakes resource managers need to proactively address these impacts.

Programs and Other Measures

The Parties shall take into account the climate change impacts on the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Waters of the Great Lakes and shall consider such climate change impacts in the implementation of this Agreement.

The Parties, in cooperation and consultation with State and Provincial Governments, Tribal Governments, First Nations, Métis, Municipal Governments, watershed management agencies, other local public agencies, and the Public, shall use their domestic programs to address climate change impacts to achieve the objectives of this Agreement.

The Parties shall communicate and coordinate binationally regarding ongoing developments of domestic science, strategies and actions to build capacity to address the climate change impacts on the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem.

Recognizing that climate change has an impact on Great Lakes water quality and water quantity, the Parties shall ensure that their actions taken pursuant to this Annex are coordinated, as appropriate, with the water quantity management actions taken by or in conjunction with the International Joint Commission.

Science

To identify and quantify the climate change impacts on the quality of the Waters the Great Lakes, the Parties, in cooperation and consultation with State and Provincial Governments, Tribal Governments, First Nations, Métis, Municipal Governments, watershed management agencies, other local public agencies, and the Public, shall:

1. develop and improve regional scale climate models to predict climate change in the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem at appropriate temporal and spatial scales;
    
2. link the projected climate change outputs from the regional models to chemical, physical, biological models that are specific to the Great Lakes to better understand and predict the climate change impacts on the quality of the Waters of the Great Lakes;
    
3. enhance monitoring of relevant climate and Great Lakes variables to validate model predictions and to understand current climate change impacts;
    
4. develop and improve analytical tools to understand and predict the impacts, and risks to, and the vulnerabilities of, the quality of the Waters of the Great Lakes from anticipated climate change impacts; and
    
5. coordinate binational climate change science activities (including monitoring, modeling and analysis) to quantify, understand, and share information that Great Lakes resource managers need to address climate change impacts on the quality of the Waters of the Great Lakes and to achieve the objectives of this Agreement.

Reporting

The Parties shall report on progress toward implementation of this Annex every three years through the Progress Report of the Parties.

$500,000 is a lot of non-collusion cash

'You'll have to ask Michael Cohen. He's my lawyer.'

Controversial Kohler golf property annexation in court Wednesday

Efforts to block the building of a golf course on a Lake Michigan nature preserve 

247-acre nature preserve might yield to golf course construction. Steve Back photo.

move to a Sheboygan County Circuit Court civil proceeding Wednesday. 

That's when the Town of Wilson tries to undo the property's annexation to the City of Sheboygan which has been approved by Walker's Department of Administration.

And whatever facts emerge in the annexation lawsuit will join the record established when Walker's 'chamber of commerce DNR approved for the proposed golf course a pivotal wetland-filling permit that will be contested in a separate court proceeding June 4-8.

This notice from the grassroots organization Friends of the Black River Forest: 

Town of Wilson vs. City of Sheboygan annexation trial tomorrow May 9 through Friday May 11, Sheboygan County Courthouse, Branch 5, 8:30 a.m.

Our Town of Wilson needs supporters during this trial. Please come.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Also this:

FBRF hearing challenges scheduled June 4-8

The hearing on FBRF's legal challenges to the DNR's approval of the Kohler Wetland Fill Permit and the Final DNR Environmental Impact Statement will take place the week of June 4-8, Mead Public Library, Sheboygan. 

The hearing will last from Monday through Friday. Times are not established but we can expect to begin at 9:00 and go to 4.p.m or longer. On Friday morning, June 8th, the public will have an opportunity to speak to the issues in our challenges. Having lots of people attend throughout the week sends a message as to how seriously the residents take the issues of the planned environmental degradation of a rare Lake Michigan coastal ecosystem. 

Our rights to information, healthy land, air and water have been circumvented and ignored. FBRF is being charged $2000 to pay for a recorded transcript of the proceedings. We will be paying for expert witnesses and our attorneys. This is why we have gone all out on our You Caring campaign. Please continue to share our story.

Town of Wilson vs City of Sheboygan Annexation Hearing
May 9, 10 & 11, 8:30am Circuit Court Branch #5, Judge Borowski

More clean air double-talk from Walker's DNR

A release of opaque, bureaucratic smog by the p.r. shop at Walker's 'chamber of commerce mentality' WI DNR is making for haze over the Wisconsin political environment.

After hurriedly-awarding Foxconn permission in late April to emit annually 796 tons of smog-producing greenhouse gases and other airborne land-and-water contaminating toxins, then winning on May 1 from Trump's EPA exemptions for much of SE WI from stronger air quality rules, and finally a mere three days after the State of Illinois said on May 4th that it will sue over those Wisconsin clean air exemptions, the DNR's p.r. staff emitted its own spinning cloud: 

DNR highlights successes during Clean Air Month this May

Contact(s): Andrew Savagian, DNR communications, 608-261-6422

MADISON - Throughout the month of May, the Department of Natural Resources is highlighting clean air successes and reminding citizens that DNR is committed to clean air in Wisconsin. 

Clean Air Month is held annually each May to recognize positive trends in air quality in Wisconsin. The DNR's Air Program provides information about air quality, tips for reducing air emissions and links for signing up for air quality notices.... 

[DNR Natural Resources Air Program director Gail] Good added that the DNR will continue to work with local, state and federal groups in order to attain all air quality standards.

The DNR website, dnr.wi.gov, has many resources for reducing air emissions. To learn more about Clean Air Month and about voluntary actions to reduce air emissions, please visit the DNR's Do A Little Save a Lot web page.

By the way, that "Do A Little Save a Lot" webpage linked above in the DNR's news release contains this paragraph:

Did you know that the average adult breathes about 20,000 times each day and that both children and the elderly face a greater risk of being affected by air pollution, as do people with heart, respiratory or other ailments. Our daily use of electricity and fuel contributes to air pollution. That means the choices we make every day can directly affect air quality and our health. 

In a May 1 posting of mine at the kickoff of the DNR's Clean Air Month, I included a link to lung association data showing that there are tens of thousands of Wisconsinites already at risk of heart, lung and respiratory diseases.

...data from the American/Wisconsin Lung Associations had already graded Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee and Sheboygan Counties "F" for particulate (read: ozone) pollution, and more data show the thousands and thousands of Wisconsinites in those counties and elsewhere in the state already at risk from pediatric asthma, adult asthma, lung cancer and cardio-vascular disease.

So you tell me how the hot-off-the-presses Foxconn air pollution permits and the EPA clean air rule and enforcement rollback for SE WI will do anything but make things worse for current dirty air sufferers and future victims?

"Do A Little, Save a Lot?" Look in the mirror, Walker and your WMC-compliant, 'chamber of commerce mentality' DNR managers.

Walker climate, energy positions now less mainstream GOP

Many Walker actions which have obstructed climate change science and clean energy development now have less support from Republicans nationwide, new polling data finds.

Could be that common sense pocket book and health concerns - - plus images of heat-driven wild fires, stronger storms of all kinds and flooding even in Wisconsin - - 

could make it easier to retire our environmental outlier Governor in six months.

The pro-industry Walker, his appointees and key ally GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel have routinely stalled wind farm and solar energy development, ignored climate change, scrubbed climate information and science from official websites and quickly approved, over strong objections, four heavily-polluting air permits to the Foxconn project.

And persuaded Trump's pro-polluter EPA to exempt SE Wisconsin from stronger cleaner rules, thus paving the way for Foxconn while keeping Milwaukee, Racine and other DE WI counties in air tht will exacerbate asthma, COPD and other cardiovascular-vascualar diseases.

But a growing number of Republicans - - along with even greater numbers of Democrats - - are concerned about climate change and clean power and want government to act affirmatively to address them, according to a new report released by the authoritative Yale Program for Climate Change Communications.

I urge your to read the full report and subscribe to the Program's email alerts and reports, so here is a key section of the information just released. 

Among Republican registered voters, belief that global warming is happening has increased 4 percentage points, while belief that it is mostly human-caused has increased 9 percentage points since the Fall of 2017. Republicans are also more worried about global warming than they were in the Fall (+5 points).

It appears that the "Trump Effect" – in which Republican opinions on climate change declined after the 2016 election – has bottomed out. Republican opinions have rebounded – in some cases to new record highs. Republican support for strict carbon dioxide limits on existing coal-fired power plants increased 9 points and support for requiring fossil fuel companies to pay a revenue-neutral carbon tax rose 7 points since Fall 2017.

More broadly, public support for a variety of climate and clean energy policies remains strong and bipartisan. Large majorities of registered voters support:

• Funding more research on renewable energy (87% support), including 94% of Democrats, 83% of Independents, and 79% of Republicans.

• Generating renewable energy on public land (86% support), including 91% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 81% of Republicans.

• Providing tax rebates to people who purchase energy-efficient vehicles or solar panels (85% support), including 91% of Democrats, 82% of Independents, and 77% of Republicans (+6 points since Fall 2017).

• Regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant (81% support), including 91% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 69% of Republicans (+8 points since Fall 2017).