Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, city departments, restaurants, schools, businesses and families are spending more money on personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies and technology.
Conservation
Polluter ordered to jail for illegally discharging untreated waste
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POLLUTER JAILED: The president of a Flint company has been ordered to spend a year behind bars for illegally discharging more than 47 million gallons of untreated waste — enough to fill 72 Olympic-size swimming pools. Robert Massey pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act over an 8½ year period between 2007 and 2015 for illegally discharging leachate from eight Michigan landfills, including ones in Clare and Saginaw counties. By Eric Freedman. FOR DETROIT, CLARE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! AND ALL POINTS.
Elections & Politics
Big money, lack of transparency, raise concerns over ballot petition drives
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PETITION COSTS: What’s a statewide ballot petition campaign cost? Millions. We look at the two underway now, Unlock Michigan to limit governors’ emergency powers and Fair and Equal Michigan to expand anti-dsicrimination protection for LGBTQ individuals. The Michigan Campaign Finance Network bemoans the high price tag and the fact that donors’ names to petition campaigns don’t need to be publicly disclosed. By Eric Freedman. FOR ALL POINTS.
Elections & Politics
Ranks of lawyers in Legislature sparse
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LAWYER LEGISLATORS: Where have all the lawyers gone? Not to the Legislature, which has a scarcity of attorneys in its ranks, although they dominate the House Judiciary Committee. This year is the first time in Michigan history when the Senate has none. The 13 in the House include representatives from Hillsdale, Grand Rapids, Metro Detroit and Lansing. By Eric Freedman. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, HILLSDALE, LANSING CITY PULSE, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
Business & Economy
DNR offers $1 million to improve wildlife habitat
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WILDLIFE GRANTS: The DNR plans to award about $1 million in wildlife habitat grants this year under a program that was sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. We talk to DNR program manager and past grant winners Lenawee Conservation District and Michigan chapter of the National Turkey Federation. Past grants went for the federation’s habitat work in Oceana, Lake, Newaygo, Barry, Muskegon, Manistee, Alcona, Crawford, Oscoda, LIVINGSTON and Otsego counties. For news and outdoors pages. By Kirsten Rintelmann. FOR BLISSFIELD, MONROE, CRAWFORD COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY, MANISTEE, ALCONA, LAKE COUNTY, LUDINGTON, FOWLERVILLE AND ALL POINTS.
Business & Economy
Despite economic adversity, state preservationists plan ahead
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HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN: The state is getting ready to implement a five-year plan to strengthen historic preservation. Experts from the State Historic Preservation Office and the Michigan History Center explain. By Kirsten Rintelmann. FOR ALL POINTS.
Diversity Issues
Transgender advocates push back against proposed Michigan youth sports restrictions
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Allies of transgender athletes are speaking up against the increasing wave of bills — including in Michigan – seeking to restrict transgender students from participating in youth sports.
Business & Economy
Anti-drug legislation rising in Legislature
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SYNTHETIC URINE: The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a bill, sponsored by a Ludington lawmaker, to outlaw the sale of synthetic urine, used to cheat on drug tests. However, a Detroit lawyer who specializes in cannabis cases says there are better ways than drug tests to determine if an employee is impaired. Another pending anti-drug bill with sponsors from Caco Township and Dearborn, would ban billboards advertising recreational and medicinal marijuana. By Chloe Trofatter. FOR LUDINGTON, HOLLAND, DETROIT, LAKE COUNTY, MANISTEE, LEELANAU, CADILLAC, BENZIE, TRAVERSE CITY, LANSING CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS & ALL POINTS.
Capital News Service
Disabled tenants in Detroit say they face significant problems, neglect
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HOUSING WOES: A Detroit wheelchair-using tenant in federally subsidized housing says life is a nightmare with a plague of bedbugs that leaves her sleeping in the bathtub and other problems that neither the property owner nor government agencies have resolved. Such experiences are commonplace for tenants with disabilities, she and a former tenant say. We also hear from the Disability Network of Wayne County-Detroit. By Sheldon Krause. FOR DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
Conservation
Forget freighter ballast, these mussels got here on moss balls
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MOSS BALLS: The new hitchhikers in the Great Lakes region aren’t stopping drivers with a thumbs up. They’re riding moss balls across the ocean, and aquarium owners should be on the lookout for invasive zebra mussels. The warnings come from MSU Extension, Michigan and Wisconsin natural resource departments and the U.S. Geological Survey. By Taylor Haelterman. FOR ALL POINTS.
Government
With identity theft reports up, residents are urged to protect themselves
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ID THEFT: Attorney General Nessel says identity theft complaints have risen since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Her office has created a new unit to help victims of such fraud. Meanwhile, the IRS is warning taxpayers of the dangers of identity theft. By Kirsten Rintelmann. FOR ALL POINTS.