9/10/20 CNS Budget
To: CNS Editors
From: David Poulson and Judy Putnam
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/
For technical problems, contact CNS technical manager Eryn Ho at (616) 485-9295, hoeryn@msu.edu.
For other matters, contact Dave Poulson at (517) 899-1640; poulson@msu.edu.
NOTE: This is the first file of the fall 2021 semester. This fall’s bureau chief is Dave Poulson. Our copy chief is Judy Putnam and Eryn Ho is returning for another stint as technical manager. And we have a passel of new correspondents working to fill your pages.
Here is your file:
HUMANTRAFFICKING: Police have made arrests this year for human trafficking in Oakland County and more recently in Mecosta County. Yet legislation that would keep victims of human trafficking from being arrested, charged and jailed when they are coerced to commit crimes has not moved since legislative hearings were held in early March and the end of April. Interviews with Attorney General Dana Nessel, DeWitt and Casco Township lawmakers and an MSU task force leader. BY BARBARA BELLINGER. For LANSING CITY PULSE, DETROIT, HOLLAND and ALL POINTS.
MAGICMUSHROOMS: Ann Arbor’s EntheoFest on Sept. 19 will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the local decriminalization of psychedelic plants and fungi. Meanwhile, Michigan senators are sponsoring a bill to move this measure statewide, which would drop the punishment for possessing and using entheogenic plants. We interview Detroit, Hudsonville and Ann Arbor senators, the Marquette County sheriff and the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. By CAMERYN CASS. FOR DETROIT, MARQUETTE, HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, LAKE COUNTY, OCEANA and ALL POINTS.
GRAVELMINING: Proposed state regulation of sand and gravel mining wrestles control from local authorities and could lead to a similar loss of authority elsewhere, according to local and environmental officials. We interview the state Sierra Club, a North Branch lawmaker, a Dearborn mining company, SEMCOG and the Michigan Municipal League. BY JOSEPH DUNGEROW. FOR DETROIT, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! and ALL POINTS.
BIRDHOUSES: After birds lay their eggs and their fledglings take off in the spring, you might have an empty bird box at this point. Should you clean out the nest they leave behind? Whether to clean out nests from birdhouses at the end of summer is an ongoing debate. An MSU Extension expert explains. By McKoy Scribner. FOR ALL POINTS.
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PFASTESTING: Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is expanding its testing capacity for monitoring a family of so-called “forever chemicals,” PFAS. For several years, the department’s state laboratory in Lansing has been able to check only drinking water for PFAS contamination. That gives Michigan the opportunity to become a national leader in PFAS action response. By McKoy Scribner. FOR MONTMORENCY, ALCONA, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.
w/PFAS TESTING PHOTO: PFAS testing equipment at a Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy laboratory. Department staffers now have an instrument dedicated to, and available, for environmental analyses. Credit: Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.
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INVASIVEMOTHS: MSU Extension is conducting a program to help monitor an invasive moth species. The destructive box tree moth was found in the United States this past spring, including three areas in Michigan. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services are partnering. By McKoy Scribner. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.
w/INVASIVE MOTHS PHOTO: Caterpillars of the invasive moth first consume the leaves and then the bark of the plant, killing the shrub. Image: Pixabay
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