September 09, 2016 Budget

Sept. 9, 2016
To: CNS Editors
From: David Poulson and Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/.
This is the first CNS file of the fall semester. We have a crop of new correspondents eager to meet your needs. Our group interview next week is with the Michigan Association of School Boards.
For technical problems, contact our new CNS tech manager Pechulano Ali, (517) 940 2313, pechulan@msu.edu. For other issues contact David Poulson, poulsondavid@gmail.com. (517) 899-1640.
You can email us at cnsmsu@gmail.com
Here is your file:
TUITION: Michigan officials are scrambling for solutions to a university funding crisis that saddles the state’s students with the ninth-highest average school-debt in the country. That’s how a recent report ranks the state in a study that says state support has dropped 30 percent since 2003. We talk to the chairs of the Senate banking and Appropriations committees. By Ray Wilbur. FOR LAKE COUNTY, CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS AND ALL POINTS.
FOODRESCUE: Trucks carrying some 40,000 tons of cherries will soon deliver them for distribution to food banks across the state, part of an increasing statewide drive to minimize food waste and maximize the good it can do. We talk to the Food Bank Council of Michigan, a Comstock Park-based food bank, Shoreline Fruit and the Michigan Sugar Co., among others. By Karen Hopper Usher. FOR ST. IGNACE, SAULT STE. MARIE, GREENVILLE, MARQUETTE, HOLLAND, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, LEELANAU, LUDINGTON, CHEBOYGAN, CADILLAC, BIG RAPIDS, LAKE COUNTY, HERALD-REVIEW, OCEANA, MANISTEE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS  AND ALL POINTS.
MINORINPOSSESSION: Lawmakers are poised to ease Michigan penalties for underaged drinking—for the first offense. Kids caught with alcohol would be ticketed and fined, the first time. The second time they could be charged with a criminal offense. We talk to a. Grand Ledge senator, sponsor and the chair, from Plymouth, of the House committee studying the bill. The director of public safety at Ferris State University is opposed. By Caitlin DeLuca. FOR BIG RAPIDS, CITY PULSE  AND ALL POINTS.
MIBOATING: Higher water levels on the Great Lakes meant more boating slips were leased this summer at Michigan ports. Looper traffic—boaters who travel nearly 30,000 miles from Florida, through the Great Lakes to Chicago and down the Mississippi to the Gulf Intracoastal waterways—is up 200 percent this season. We talk to boat industry experts, dock masters and harbormasters. By Bridget Bush. FOR LUDINGTON, HOLLAND, GRAND RAPIDS, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, MARQUETTE, ST. IGNACE, SAULT STE. MARIE, MANISTEE, OCEANA, ALCONA, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS.
DOGBREEDBILL: Legislators are studying a bill that would eliminate dog breed distinction, now a fact in 29 cities. Any new local regulations would have to be based on breed-neutral characteristics, such as size. We talk to the Detroit Animal Welfare Group, a Waterford resident who witnessed a dog attack, and a Lansing man who was attacked by a Rottweiler when he was a child. By Alexander Smith. FOR CITY PULSE, AND ALL POINTS.
LABINACAN: A new remote sensing device that will soon be launched in Lake Erie could pioneer a network of such sensors that warn of toxic algae and other threats to the Great Lakes. With two photos: photo1: The sealed Environmental Sample Processor is lowered into a lake. Image: NOAA., photo2: The Environmental Sample Processor out of its case and in the laboratory. Image: NOAA. By Hannah Brenner. FOR ALL POINTS.
SNOWPLOW: An attempt to ease the liability of snowplow companies for people who slip and fall on plowed pavement has failed to get traction with state lawmakers. By Anthony Harvey. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS & ALL POINTS.