October 14, 2016 CNS Budget

Oct. 14, 2016
To: CNS Editors
From: David Poulson and Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/
For technical problems, contact CNS technical manager Pechulano Ali, (517) 940-2313,
pechulan@msu.edu.
For other issues contact David Poulson, poulsondavid@gmail.com. (517) 899-1640.
Here is your file:
COMMISSIONERTURNOVER:  More than 130 county commissioner seats statewide will be filled by people new to their jobs — a 21 percent turnover rate. And that’s just because of the August primary. In the November general election, 145 more seats remain in contention. If all of them get new commissioners, that would be a stunning turnover of 44 percent. That means there will be a lot of new local officials struggling to figure out how to quickly govern. We speak with the Michigan Association of Counties, an official who trains local commissioners and candidates and commissioners from St. Joseph, Wexford, Emmet and Chippewa counties. By Karen Hopper Usher. FOR CADILLAC, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, HARBOR SPRINGS, PETOSKEY, TRAVERSE CITY, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE AND ALL POINTS.
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DEERCRASH – Thanks to warmer winters, car/deer crashes are on the rise. A healthy deer population means more of them around to hit.. We talk to police from the Cadillac State Police Post and Kent County and a deer expert at the Department of Natural Resources and supply county by county statistics showing the change from the  previous year. By Alexander Smith. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CADILLAC, TRAVERSE CITY AND ALL POINTS.
w/DEERCRASHTABLE – A county by county breakdown of the change in car/deer crashes between 2014 and 2015.
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SUPERG – Michigan  health officials are bracing for a new strain of gonorrhea that is resistant to medicines now used to treat it. We talk to health officials from Michigan State University and from northern Michigan health agencies. By Bridget Bush. FOR MANISTEE, LUDINGTON, OCEANA, BLISSFIELD, TRAVERSE CITY, CADILLAC, LEELANAU, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, ALCONA,  MONTMORENCY, BIG RAPIDS, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, LAKE COUNTY AND ALL POINTS.
EDITORS: Additional resource:
w/SUPERGTABLE – A county by county list of number of cases of gonorrhea.
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OPIOIDCHILDREN — The increasing use of prescription opiates, heroin and other drugs by adults is causing a statewide epidemic that increasingly harms children.  Drug overdose was the number-one cause of injury-related deaths for adults in 2014, when the total of overdose deaths in the state jumped to 1,745, about a 12 percent increase over the previous year.  Experts say this five-year upward trend is increasingly uprooting the lives of children. By Ray Wilbur. FOR CHEBOYGAN, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS
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STANDARDIZEDTESTING – State officials are proposing changes to standardized testing that reduce the number of times students would have to take the tests. The state Board of Education is considering. We talk to state officials and a school administrator in Manistee. By Caitlin DeLuca. FOR MANISTEE, LUDINGTON AND ALL POINTS.
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WILDRICE: After decades of leaving wild rice management to Native American tribes, state officials are gearing up to track how some government agencies handle wild rice issues. There are beds in the UP, Northern Lower Peninsula and Lake Erie. We talk to DNR, an endangered species consultant and members of the Lac Vieux Desert Band in the UP, Little Traverse Bay Band Odawa Indians and Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe. By Karen Hopper Usher. FOR BAY MILLS, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, CHEBOYGAN, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY AND ALL POINTS.
w/WILDRICEPHOTO1: Wild rice, or manoomin, is a traditional food for many Native Americans. Image: Barb Barton
w/WILDRICEPHOTO2: Charlie Fox, a Mole Lake Band of Lake Superior Chippewa elder, uses a push pole to move his canoe through a rice bed. Image: Barb Barton
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PENNYCRESS: Although long considered a weed, pennycress could become a profitable source of biofuel and new revenue for farmers. A Detroit company is building a processing facility in Flint and contracting with farmers to supply it with pennycress. The crop could also help combant climate change. By Becky Wildt. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS AND ALL POINTS.
w/PENNYCRESSPHOTO: Commercial pennycress field in April. Credit: Jerry Steiner, Arvegenix