Today, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo announced that the Department of Commerce and NOAA have recommended $1.45 million for a project involving Wisconsin to make the state’s coast more resilient to climate change and other coastal hazards. The project encompasses the Lake Superior Basin region of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. The awards are being made under the Biden Administration’s Climate Resilience Regional Challenge, a competitive, $575 million program funded through the nearly $6 billion total investment under the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. 

“As part of President Biden’s commitment to combating the climate crisis, we are investing $575 million to help make sure America’s coastal communities are more resilient to the effects of climate change,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “As part of this historic investment in our nation’s climate resilience the Biden-Harris Administration is investing $1.45 million to help underserved communities in Wisconsin develop and implement new strategies to protect themselves from increased flooding and other impacts of climate change.” 

Administered by the Department of Commerce and NOAA, the Climate-Ready Coasts initiative is focused on investing in high-impact projects that create climate solutions by storing carbon; building resilience to coastal hazards such as extreme weather events, pollution and marine debris; restoring  coastal habitats that help wildlife and humans thrive; building the capacity of underserved communities and support community-driven restoration; and providing employment opportunities.

“Over the past decade, this area has seen, firsthand, the destructive impacts of climate change on lives and livelihoods,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This funding will allow local governments and tribal communities in Wisconsin to address the problem of repetitive flooding, from identifying root causes to implementing long-lasting solutions.” 

The recommended $1,451,065 in total funds for the project will be administered by the Northwest Regional Planning Commission. The project, Accelerating Natural Flood Management in the Lake Superior Basin, will be a joint effort encompassing areas of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan hit hard by catastrophic, repetitive flooding (six federal disaster declarations between 2012 and 2022), with impacts to local communities and an extensive network of state, local, and tribally managed roads. Funding will be used to 1) identify how the loss of headwater wetland storage and floodplain connectivity is contributing to the flooding problem; and 2) implement high-impact, nature-based solutions to combat this flooding by restoring the natural hydrology. The root causes of flooding and potential restoration opportunities will be investigated using new approaches that integrate spatial and field-based assessments. 

“Whether it’s flooding, drought, or extreme weather, communities across Wisconsin are dealing with the costly impacts of our changing climate. Our Inflation Reduction Act is making essential investments to make our communities safer and our infrastructure more resilient for the next generation,” said Senator Tammy Baldwin. “I was proud to support this investment for Northwest Wisconsin to protect the infrastructure families rely on and implement new solutions to address flooding.”

“With climate change causing more extreme weather events and devastating flooding across our state, building flood resilience through high-impact, nature-based solutions to protect our communities and our natural resources is a top priority for us in Wisconsin,” said Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. “I’m grateful to the Biden-Harris Administration and NOAA for their support in these efforts and to the Northwest Regional Planning Commission and our partners for developing a program that will make a lasting difference for folks affected by flooding and on our region’s environmental footprint.”

Additional information is available on the Climate Resilience Regional Challenge website. 

Climate, weather, and water affect all life on our ocean planet. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict our changing environment, from the deep sea to outer space, and to manage and conserve America’s coastal and marine resources. 

DETROIT (AP) — The site of a transient motel in Detroit where three young Black men were killed, allegedly by white police officers, during the city’s bloody 1967 race riot is receiving a historic marker.

A dedication ceremony is scheduled Friday several miles (kilometers) north of downtown where the Algiers Motel once stood.

As parts of Detroit burned in one of the bloodiest race riots in U.S. history, police and members of the National Guard raided the motel and its adjacent Manor House on July 26, 1967, after reports of gunfire in the area.

The bodies of Aubrey Pollard, 19, Carl Cooper, 17, and Fred Temple, 18, were found later. About a half dozen others, including two young, white women, had been beaten.

Several trials later were held, but no one ever was convicted in the deaths and beatings.

“A historical marker cannot tell the whole story of what happened at the Algiers Motel in 1967, nor adjudicate past horrors and injustices,” historian Danielle McGuire said. “It can, however, begin the process of repair for survivors, victims’ families and community members through truth-telling.”

McGuire has spent years working with community members and the Michigan Historical Marker Commission to get a marker installed at the site.

“What we choose to remember — or forget — signals who and what we value as a community,” she said in a statement. “Initiatives that seek to remember incidents of state-sanctioned racial violence are affirmative statements about the value of Black lives then and now.”

Resentment among Detroit’s Blacks toward the city’s mostly-white police department had been simmering for years before the unrest. On July 23, 1967, it boiled over after a police raid on an illegal after-hours club about a dozen or so blocks from the Algiers.

Five days of violence would leave about three dozen Black people and 10 white people dead and more than 1,400 buildings burned. More than 7,000 people were arrested.

The riot helped to hasten the flight of whites from the city to the suburbs. Detroit had about 1.8 million people in the 1950s. It was the nation’s fourth-biggest city in terms of population in 1960. A half-century later, about 713,000 people lived in Detroit.

The plummeting population devastated Detroit’s tax base. Many businesses also fled the city, following the white and Black middle class to more affluent suburban communities to the north, east and west.

Deep in long-term debt and with annual multi-million dollar budget deficits, the city fell under state financial control. A state-installed manager took Detroit into the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2013. Detroit exited bankruptcy at the end of 2014.

Today, the city’s population stands at about 633,000, according to the U.S. Census.

The Algiers, which was torn down in the late 1970s and is now a park, has been featured in documentaries about the Detroit riot. The 2017 film “Detroit” chronicled the 1967 riot and focused on the Algiers Motel incident.

“While we will acknowledge the history of the site, our main focus will be to honor and remember the victims and acknowledge the harms done to them,” McGuire said. “The past is unchangeable, but by telling the truth about history — even hard truths — we can help forge a future where this kind of violence is not repeated.”

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Police Department is warning about a new robbery crew.

They say they’re targeting people in the Riverwest and Upper East Side neighborhoods.

On a picture-perfect day in Milwaukee, there’s no shortage of people walking around. But lately, there’s been some caution, with recent robberies in the area.

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“I don’t know what’s going on, but you definitely have to watch your back,” resident Lee Russell said.

FOX6 News obtained an email from MPD – District 1 Capt. Robert Thiel sent to the Downtown Security Network, comprised of security professionals, real estate representatives and law enforcement, warning of a “robbery crew” that “have been active throughout the city, driving around in a “black Lincoln MKC,” a vehicle suspected to be involved in shootings in other parts of the city.

“I definitely stay vigilant. I keep my eyes peeled,” Russell said. “I watch who’s in my vicinity.”

The news of the crew comes at the same time, two people in town for Northwestern Mutual’s annual meeting were robbed on Tuesday night. Police don’t know whether the crimes were done by the same robbery group.

Milwaukee Police Department (MPD)

While people are concerned for their safety, they say the warning about the crimes won’t stop them from living their lives.

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“It’s weird to me, it’s not surprising,” said resident Aaron Poster. “If I stay inside because I’m worried about a robbery crew, I guess then I would never get out of the house.”

Police have arrested two males, one 17 and one 18. They say they are looking for others involved with this robbery crew.