Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/2014/11/)
Nov. 25, 2014 – Week 11
To: CNS Editors
From: Eric Freedman & Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/. For technical problems, contact CNS tech manager Tanya Voloshina (248-943-8979) voloshin@msu.edu. You can email us at cnsmsu@gmail.com. All articles ©2014, Capital News Service, Michigan State University School of Journalism.
By KEVIN DUFFY
Capital News Service
LANSING— A fight over logging restrictions is delaying federal protection of the northern long-eared bat, a Great Lakes species already decimated in the American Northeast. A decision on whether to list the bat as endangered or threatened has been pushed back to April. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has federal jurisdiction over protected species, is using the extra time to respond to the unexpected controversy, said Mollie Matteson, a senior scientist and a bat disease specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity. Endangered means a species is at high risk of extinction in the wild, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Under federal law, a threatened species “is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”
Forest industry officials worry a federal listing will hinder logging.
By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — The woods are calling, and so are logging and wood products companies. Calling for skilled employees, that is. Experts say the labor shortage hampers economic growth. Many experienced foresters and other workers in Northern Michigan are retiring. At the same time, jobs in other industries such as mining, energy and construction often pay higher wages than those at timber-related companies.
By JORDAN BRADLEY
Capital News Service
LANSING – Alpena Community College is developing a bachelor’s degree in electrical systems technology. Jay Walterreit, director of public information and marketing at Alpena, said the community college is hoping to have the program running by August 2016. The “rigorous” program’s curriculum is awaiting accreditation. Unlike the other energy technician programs available at Alpena, the program will qualify a student with a bachelor’s degree. Walterreit said that there would not be much overlap between existing programs and the new program, except a few prerequisites.
Local senators and immigrants react to President Barack Obama’s action on immigration reform. A new tax proposal could raise gas prices significantly in Michigan. And, a petition to ban smoking at MSU is making its way around town. Focal Point is an Emmy awarding winning, student produced newscast from the School of Journalism at Michigan State University.
Nov. 21, 2014 – Week 11
To: CNS Editors
From: Eric Freedman & Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/. For technical problems, contact CNS tech manager Tanya Voloshina (248-943-8979) voloshin@msu.edu. You can email us at cnsmsu@gmail.com. All articles ©2014, Capital News Service, Michigan State University School of Journalism.
By IAN K. KULLGREN
Capital News Service
LANSING — New research suggests increased ethanol fuel use could be dramatically reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Michigan. A study by scientists at Michigan State University shows ethanol use in the state is reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 1.4 million metric tons each year, the equivalent of emissions from 294,000 cars. Ethanol fuel production, meanwhile, has nearly doubled in the past seven years, from 276 million gallons in 2007 to 452 million in 2012. The findings suggest ethanol could serve as one tool to slow global warming, experts said. “We can reduce some portions of greenhouse gas if we use more ethanol,” said Seungdo Kim, a chemical engineering and materials science professor who coauthored the study.
By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Pesticides, mostly from agricultural runoff and yard use, remain a concern for fish and insects in many of the country’s streams and rivers, warns a national study based in part on research done in Michigan. Although levels of pesticides usually didn’t exceed benchmarks for human health, their potential to harm aquatic life is likely underestimated, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the U.S. Interior Department. That’s because the agency can afford to monitor “less than half of the more than 400 pesticides currently used in agriculture, and monitoring focused only on pesticides dissolved in water.”
U.S. farms use more than half a billion pounds of pesticides each year to boost crop production and reduce insect-borne disease. “Some of these pesticides are occurring at concentrations that pose a concern for aquatic life,” the Geological Survey said. An environmental scientist at Michigan State University’s Kellogg Biological Station said the study shows a need for more research about “potential interactive effects of pesticides and other organic contaminants in aquatic ecosystems.
“The report is important as the best systematic evaluation we have,” said Stephen Hamilton, a professor of ecosystem ecology and biogeochemistry at the research station near Kalamazoo.
By IAN K. KULLGREN
Capital News Service
LANSING — As lawmakers wrangle over how to fix the state’s crumbling road system, one group is increasingly volunteering to foot the bill: Local taxpayers. More than a third of counties now have local property tax increases in place to help fund road maintenance. In 2006, voters in 12 counties had approved local road maintenance levies. That number has now risen to 28 as of this year, when eight passed new increases in the August primary and November general elections. Although the taxes are expected to bring in millions of dollars in additional road funds each year, local leaders say it will barely make a dent, even if the House passes a bill in December to double the gasoline tax.
By DUYGU KANVER
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Syrian town of Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish city by the Turkish border, has been under assault by the jihadist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) since mid-September, leaving about 800 dead and 300,000 displaced from their homes. While airstrikes led by the U.S. have supported ongoing resistance by Kurdish forces in the region, Kurds say Turkey’s collaboration by opening its borders with Syria and Iraq is central to saving Kobani. “We ask for nothing from the Turkish government but this,” says Ruken Sengul, a Turkish Kurd postdoctoral fellow in the Armenian Studies program at the University of Michigan. On Oct. 29, Turkey’s borders were opened to Kobani-bound rebel fighters called the Free Syrian Army and a day later to Iraqi Kurdish fighters called the peshmergas, but those moves by the Turkish government didn’t satisfy the Kurds and Turks in Michigan.