Environment

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.

Business & Economy

Michigan ranks average in reliance on federal funding, report says

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FEDERAL SPENDING: Michigan ranks in the middle of states based on their reliance on federal money, a new analysis shows. That includes a lot of federal dollars in pandemic-related relief. We talk to a Northern Michigan University political scientist, the Department of Technology, Management & Budget and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in Midland. By Sheldon Krause. FOR MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, CORP! GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS AND ALL POINTS.

Federal Government

Justice advocates praise move to close private federal prisons

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PRIVATE PRISONS: President Biden’s executive order against renewing contracts with private companies to hold federal prisoners has anti-private prison advocates happy but could mean a hard financial hit to Baldwin, the Lake County community where the state’s only private federal prison is located. We talk to criminal justice experts at Grand Valley State, Oakland University and Wayne State. By Sheldon Krause. FOR LAKE COUNTY, LUDINGTON, MANISTEE AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service

Michigan transit agencies react to new federal mask mandate

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MASKED PASSENGERS: How will small and rural public transit systems enforce the new federal mask mandate. Bus drivers in Detroit and elsewhere in the country have been assaulted for trying to enforce existing requirements, but small systems in Michigan haven’t reported similar problems. We talk to officials at transit systems in Allegan, Delta and Schoolcraft counties and the Michigan Public Transit Association. By Samuel Blatchford. FOR MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, HOLLAND AND ALL POINTS.

News

COVID-19 creates further financial burden: Will relief come?

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While Congress and the White House put overturning the election ahead of COVID-19 relief, college students against across the country are waiting and struggling.

What would they do withe the money? Pay rent, pay down bills, be able to pay tuition to stay in school or get career-related exoerience.

Article

MSU faculty, students weigh in on Biden’s environmental plan

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Carbon neutral by 2050

President-elect Joe Biden’s main goal in The Biden Plan is to stem climate change by reaching by 2050 carbon neutrality, which means emissions released are offset by being absorbed by an equivalent amount from the atmosphere. 

To help achieve this goal, the President-elect aims to have U.S. electricity production carbon-free by 2035. “It’s attainable, yes, I think it is, but there are many prohibiting factors that could prevent it from happening,” said Bruno Takahashi, a research director at MSU’s Knight Center of Environmental Journalism and associate professor in the School of Journalism. A prohibiting factor could be Congress should it become Republican-controlled. Next month, the country will find out the Georgia Senate runoff results, determining party control. Despite the prospect of future administrations reversing the advancements Biden will potentially make, Takahashi is optimistic that the carbon-free goal is still attainable by 2050.