WINNEBAGO CO., Wis. (WFRV)- Little Lake Butte Des Morts in Winnebago County recently received positive news in the waterways recovery from the PCB cleanup that took place in the early 2000s.

Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are a man-made chemical that was used often in the 20th century to make carbonless copy paper. In the late 1970s, the federal government banned the usage of PCBs due to their impact on human health and wildlife.

The cleanup of the Fox River started in 2004, beginning with Little Lake Butte Des Morts, and ended in 2020 at the mouth of the Fox River at the southern end of the Bay of Green Bay. Jim Killian was involved in the PCB cleanup and is a sediment and dredge material management coordinator with the Wisconsin DNR.

“Here in Little Lake Butte des Morts, which was the first stage of the clean up of the entire 29 miles of the Fox River PCB project, hydraulic dredges were used to remove three hundred and seventy thousand cubic yards of contaminated sediment,” says Killian. “That’s roughly the equivalent of thirty thousand dump trucks full of wet mud.”

On top of removing the PCBS from the area, Killian says 114 acres of the river bed were capped with layers of sand and gravel to prevent the PCBs from entering the water column beneath the river. With that part of the project in the rearview mirror, the Wisconsin DNR announced the lake has been placed in a monitored recovery stage.

Rae Ann Eifert is the Lake Michigan monitoring and sediment coordinator for the Wisconsin DNR and is in charge of the long-term monitoring of the lake. Eifert explains what is in the plans as part of the monitoring stage.

“Essentially that means they go out every five years to check to see the progress toward their final goals in terms of fish tissue concentrations for PCBs and then PCB concentrations in the water.”

The last water sampling took place in 2022, and the results of that round resulted in the lake being elevated to this monitoring stage. The next round will take place in 2027 and Eifert says this will be another stepping stone to the goal of a ninety percent reduction in the PCBs in the water.

“Everything is continuing to come down and it does seem like we are going to meet our goals in terms of making sure the fish are safer to eat and that environmental exposure to PCBs has really decreased in this area. “

However, humans are more at risk of being exposed to PCBs through the consumption of fish that inhabit the waterway. Eifert explains that anglers planning to consume the fish should still be on high alert.

“PCBs don’t like to be soluble, they like to be hydrophobic so they like to bind to particles,” explains Eifert. “So your primary way of being exposed to it is not through the actual water itself, it’s through your actual consumption of fish.”

Fish advisories on the amount of consumption do continue for Little Lake Butte des Morts and many lakes and rivers across the state. Eifert says the advisories vary by fish and can vary by gender and age.

The DNR reminds anglers to check for any postage signage at the boat launch of the lake or river. If there is no signage, use this application on the DNR website to find out the advisories at the waterway that you are headed out to.

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DETROIT — A Detroit man was convicted Wednesday of fatally shooting two people and wounding six others during an argument that started over a vehicle blocking his driveway.

A jury found Winston Kirtley Jr. guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, six counts of assault with intent to murder and 10 counts of using a firearm during a felony, Wayne County prosecutors said in a statement.

The shooting in which Toyake Thirkeild, 39, and Andre Willis, 38, were killed took place July 31, 2022.

Kirtley, who faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison, testified Tuesday that he was going to exercise about 2:30 a.m. and an SUV was blocking his driveway, The Detroit News reported.

Willis and Thirkeild were in the vehicle. Kirtley said he asked Willis three times to move it, according to the newspaper.

Kirtley said Willis responded by saying “What?” several times.

“He pulled out a black pistol and pointed it at me, and I went to my house and grabbed my gun,” Kirtley testified. “I was scared and confused of him shooting me. I came back out and shot the Durango. I felt my life was in danger.”

Kirtley also said he heard gunshots from across the street before he retrieved his assault-style rifle and began firing. He said he shot 16 times at Willis and Thirkeild, and another three times at two other men.

Defense attorney James Schlaff told the jury that his client believed he was about to be harmed or killed when he saw Willis with a gun.

But Assistant Prosecutor James Kehoe said during closing arguments that there was no evidence Willis had a gun. Kehoe also said a slug struck a neighbor’s home before one of the men who was wounded began shooting at Kirtley, according to The Detroit News.

“This gun is being shot at everyone because this is a mass shooting,” Kehoe said. “He meant to pull that trigger and he meant to do it at least 19 times. He wasn’t threatened. He wasn’t provoked.”

Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 4.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced Wednesday five student organizations have been temporarily suspended after posting antisemitic language on social media accounts.

The groups are associated with a coalition that posted the “alarming” messages on Instagram last week, according to the university.

“A July 19 Instagram story post to the uwm4palicoalition account included intimidating language aimed at Jewish community members and organizations that support Israel,” according to a statement from the school. “UWM strongly denounced the post, and any form of antisemitism.”

A subsequent Instagram post by the coalition reaffirmed their original message.

Both messages have since been removed. In a recent post the group thanks UWM for bring attention to the Instagram account.

“We refuse to shy away from the fact that any support of Israel is considered an extremist position, only held by extremists, and we refuse to normalize extremism on our campus,” the post says.

The UWM student organizations that are temporarily suspended include Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim Student Association, Students for a Democratic Society, Young Democratic Socialists of America and Un-PAC, all of which identified as part of the coalition in the spring.

Miryam Rosenzweig, president and CEO, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, said she is glad UWM and the UW System is taking the safety of students seriously and investigating all incidents of harassment or intimidation.

“Making UWM a safe and welcoming environment for all students, including Jewish students, without exception must be the overarching priority of the largest urban university in Wisconsin,” Rosenweig said.

In May, a pro-Palestinian encampments occupied UWM’s campus for about a week.

Chancellor Mark Mone came under fire from Jewish groups and Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman for a deal he struck with protestors to end the encampment, which included a call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Rothman called the agreement “disappointing,” and Mone later said he should not have weighed in on deeply complex geopolitical and historical issues.