Wisconsin

Gov. Tony Evers increases Wisconsin’s commitment to plant 100 million trees by 2030

Published

2 years ago

April 22, 2024

Gov. Tony Evers increases Wisconsin’s commitment to plant 100 million trees by 2030

WAUNAKEE — On the shore of Lake Mendota at the state park named for the holiday’s founder, Gov. Tony Evers on Earth Day signed an executive order pledging that the state will plant 100 million trees by the end of 2030 — an increase from the state’s initial commitment of 75 million.

Wisconsin first joined the global Trillion Trees Initiative, led by the World Economic Forum and American Forests, with an Evers executive order in 2021. The order also included a pledge to conserve 125,000 acres of forestland by 2030.

The governor told cabinet members and state employees gathered at Governor Nelson State Park on Monday that he was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970 — a result of Wisconsin’s former governor and senator Gaylord Nelson’s advocacy.

“We actually, at the UW-Madison campus, had a full day of Earth Day, and professors and others had teach-ins, and it was really extraordinary,” Evers told reporters after planting a tree with a group. “It’s something I still remember to this day.”

Here’s what to know about Earth Day and the governor’s tree-planting pledge.

How many trees have been planted since the 2021 pledge?

The state has planted more than 32 million trees since Evers issued his 2021 executive order.

According to an annual report from the state Department of Natural Resources, more than 9.8 million trees were planted and more than 3,000 acres of forestland were conserved last year. More than two-thirds of seedlings were provided by the DNR. About 22% were planted on private lands. and about 19% were planted on DNR, federal, tribal and other public lands. About 100,000 were planted in county forests, 31,000 in school forests and more than 37,000 were given to elementary school students last Arbor Day.

Since the early 1900s, the DNR’s reforestation program has supplied landowners in the state with more than 1.6 billion seedlings.

Private nurseries partnering with the DNR supplied more than 3 million tree for conservation purposes, in addition to trees supplied by private nurseries for landscaping.

What will 100 million trees do for the environment?

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a mature tree can store and exchange about 48 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in one year. That means 100 million mature trees could store and exchange an expected 4.8 billion pounds of carbon dioxide per year.

The state’s updated goal will also contribute to the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors and Premiers’ bipartisan pledge to plant 250 million trees by 2033.

How many trees did Wisconsin plant in a normal year?

In the years before Wisconsin joined the Trillion Trees Initiative, the DNR nursery had distributed about 2.5 million to 3 million seedlings per year.

Why do we celebrate Earth Day?

While in the Senate, Nelson was frustrated by the lack of federal action on pressing environmental issues during. He advocated for “environmental teach-ins” at schools to prompt change, and on April 22, 1970, 20 million people, showed up at events across the country in support of a cleaner environment.

In the following years, Congress passed the Clean Water Acts, Clean Air Act, the National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, the Federal Pesticides Act, the Environmental Education Act, the National Hiking Trails and the National Scenic Trails Acts. Under President Richard Nixon, the federal government also created the Environmental Protection Agency.

Earth Day has since become an international event celebrated in more than 180 countries.

What does Evers hope will come from the tree-planting effort?

“Certainly all the stuff that the trees do is right on target. They take carbon dioxide and release oxygen to the air and sequester the carbon into the ground. So they are doing their part,” Evers said when asked about his hopes for the new tree-planting commitment. “I think we as human beings can do a little bit better. We’re working on it. We have (electric vehicle charing stations) going now, and as people participate in purchasing those vehicles, that’s going to make a difference as well as, obviously, our big, big issues around making sure that we’re getting enough solar energy in our system and making that happen. So, we’re on the right track, but we have a long, long way to go.”

Laura Schulte of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin multi-county police chase, 2 people from Illinois arrested

Published

9 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin multi-county police chase, 2 people from Illinois arrested

article

Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office

FOND DU LAC COUNTY, Wis. – Two people from Illinois were arrested following a police chase that started in Fond du Lac County and ended in Winnebago County on Friday, May 8.

Initial traffic stop

What we know:

According to the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office, just after 1 p.m. the sheriff’s office got an alert for a stolen vehicle out of Illinois heading northbound on I-41 from County Road Y.

It was learned that the vehicle was involved in two different police chases in the past week in Illinois, but had eluded officers each time.

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A short time later, a deputy spotted the vehicle on I-41 near Winnebago Street. The deputy continued to follow the suspect vehicle northbound, waiting for more deputies to get into position to attempt a high-risk traffic stop. Once those deputies were in position, a high-risk traffic stop was conducted. The vehicle initially pulled over and stopped, but right after deputies got out of their squad cars and started telling the people to get out of the vehicle, it instead fled northbound on I-41.

Chase into Winnebago County

What we know:

The chase went into Winnebago County, with the vehicle failing to pullover and instead speeding up. As the chase continued, the vehicle continued driving recklessly, passing by other vehicles on the interstate, including passing on the shoulder and weaving between vehicles, all at a high rate of speed.

The vehicle exited I-41 and ran three red lights. The chase continued southbound on State Highway 26, with the vehicle continuing to pass vehicles at a high rate of speed on the two-lane highway.

The vehicle then went off the road and drove through the yard of a home before circling around in the yard, traveling through the ditch, and reentering the highway going northbound. It then went into a field near County Road Z and Clay Road.

As a sergeant with the sheriff’s office was moving in to perform a Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT Maneuver), the suspect vehicle went into reverse and rammed the front of the squad. The vehicle then attempted to leave the field by traveling through a ditch and back up onto the road, where another sheriff’s squad ended the chase by intentionally striking the vehicle and pushing it off the road and back into the ditch.

The vehicle rolled over in the ditch, came to rest upright, but was then disabled and could not move. Two people got out of the vehicle and were taken into custody. The vehicle started on fire and a fire department had to respond to extinguish the fire. Both people from the vehicle were evaluated by medical personnel on scene.

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Facing charges

What we know:

The driver of the vehicle was identified as a 23-year-old man from Des Plaines, Illinois. He was taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail on the following charges:

Fleeing/Eluding an Officer
1st-Degree Reckless Endangering Safety (2 Counts)
Resisting/Obstructing Officer
Delivering Illegal Articles by Inmate (Ecstasy Pills).

The driver’s criminal history in Illinois was flagged as armed and dangerous with previous weapons offenses, dangerous drug offenses, and criminal damage to property.

The passenger of the vehicle was identified as a 23-year-old woman from Franklin Park, Illinois. She was taken to the Fond du Lac County Jail on the following charges:

Fleeing/Eluding—Party to a Crime
1st Degree Reckless Endangering Safety—Party to a Crime
Possession of THC
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
Resisting and Obstructing an Officer

The Source: The Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office sent FOX6 a press release.

Police ChasesFond du Lac CountyNews

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Wisconsin

Stepmom from hell accused of starving 35-pound teen daughter enters plea — could spend the rest of her life behind bars

Published

21 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

Stepmom from hell accused of starving 35-pound teen daughter enters plea — could spend the rest of her life behind bars

The Wisconsin stepmother from hell accused of abusing her 35-pound 14-year-old daughter by depriving her of food and water has entered a no-contest plea in the twisted case.

Melissa Goodman, 52, now faces up to 46 years in prison if she’s handed the maximum sentence for charges of chronic neglect causing great bodily harm, chronic neglect causing emotional damage and false imprisonment.

She’s set to be sentenced on July 1.

Goodman, along with husband Walter Goodman, have been accused of starving her autistic stepdaughter. Outagamie County Jail

Goodman, along with husband Walter Goodman, has been accused of starving her autistic stepdaughter.

Goodman’s daughter Savanna Goodman and her girlfriend Kayla Stemler were also charged over the alleged abuse, People reported.

The family is accused of locking the teen in a bedroom without a mattress, restricting her to only her room for years and depriving her of food and water, according to Wisconsin prosecutors.

The mobile home they lived in became a house of horrors for the teenager, who was mistaken for a 6-year-old when she was found by cops in August 2025 and rushed to the hospital.

Walter Goodman, the victim’s father, called 911 to report that his daughter was lethargic and ill.

Responding officers found her weighing just 35 pounds; she was hospitalized with multi-organ dysfunction, including respiratory failure and pancreatitis.

Melissa Goodman — Walter Goodman, the victim’s father, called 911 to report that his daughter was lethargic and ill. WBAY TV-2 | Green Bay, WI/YouTube

From 2020 until August 2025, the victim, whose name is not disclosed because she is a minor, was allegedly isolated in a trailer on Hattie Lane, in Oneida, Wisconsin.

Extended family members were told she was away on vacation or with other relatives to explain her absence.

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Wisconsin

‘Song Sung Blue’ subject Claire Sardina playing Wisconsin State Fair

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

‘Song Sung Blue’ subject Claire Sardina playing Wisconsin State Fair

When “Song Sung Blue” – the biopic about Milwaukee Neil Diamond tribute act Lightning & Thunder – had a premiere at the Oriental Theatre in Milwaukee last December, star Hugh Jackman gave Claire Sardina (played in the film by Kate Hudson) an engraved bench honoring Lighting & Thunder to be installed at Wisconsin State Fair Park.

In August, Sardina will get to have a seat on that bench – and sing again on a State Fair stage.

Sardina will perform with tribute act So Good: The Neil Diamond Experience Aug. 9 at the Bank Five Nine Amphitheater, the largest stage at the fair featuring free concerts with admission.

For Sardina, it will be a return to a place central to Lighting & Thunder. The band performed in the Milwaukee area from 1989 until Mike Sardina, aka Lightning, passed away in 2006. The State Fair was one of their favorite places to play, and the couple got married there in 1994.

The couple’s wild story – from a performance at a Pearl Jam Summerfest concert to major health issues – was the subject of the documentary “Song Sung Blue” that inspired the biopic, and earned Hudson an Oscar nomination for portraying Claire Sardina.

Fair officials May 8 revealed the full headliner lineup for the stage, which includes: