CNS BUDGET March 15, 2024 – Week 7
To: CNS Editors & Elaine Kulhanek
From: Eric Freedman
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/
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Editors:
MICHIGAN PRESS ASSOCIATION AWARDS: Capital News Service correspondents and writers for our partner Great Lakes Echo wowed the judges and scored big in the 2023 Division 1 College Newspaper of the Year competition. They earned Best Writer, Best Multimedia Reporting, the top three News Columns or Review slots, the top three Feature Stories and the top four News Stories.
Here’s your file:
FARM TECHNOLOGY: New precision farming technologies, including AI, are making agriculture more efficient. We hear about it from a Farm Bureau board of directors member from Portland, two MSU researchers and the director of the state Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. By Anish Topowala. FOR GREENVILLE, IONIA, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! FARM NEWS, HOLLAND, OCEANA COUNTY AND ALL POINTS.
w/FARM TECHNOLOGY PHOTO SANDBORN: Jeff Sandborn is a farmer in Portland and represents Ionia, Barry, Kent, Ottawa and Allegan counties on the Michigan Farm Bureau’s board of directors. Credit: Michigan Farm Bureau
w/FARM TECHNOLOGY PHOTO TRACTOR: Interior of a planter tractor. Courtesy of Jeff Sandborn.
w/FARM TECHNOLOGY PHOTO DRONE: A DJI T40 spray drone. Courtesy of Jeff Sandborn
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PLASTICS: Western Michigan would get the state’s first chemical recycling facility, in Newaygo, that would convert unrecyclable plastic into other products, such as fuel and more plastic. Critics, including lawmakers from Detroit and West Bloomfield, say the process would create other major environmental problems. The Michigan Chamber of Commerce supports the project. By Theo Scheer. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! DETROIT, GREENVILLE, OCEANA COUNTY, BIG RAPIDS, LUDINGTON AND ALL POINTS.
w/PLASTICS PHOTO NEWAYGO: This Clean-Seas facility in Newaygo is the proposed site of a new chemical recycling operation. Credit: Clean-Seas.
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FARMWORKERS: Advocates are calling for more protection for foreign temporary farmworkers with H-2A visas, who are essential to agriculture in the state. The Farm Bureau reports a jump in their numbers in Michigan. An Ottawa County blueberry farm is involved in a lawsuit accusing it of migrant labor law violations. We talk to the Farm Bureau, a Holt legislator and the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, which has offices in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Detroit and Ann Arbor. By Owen McCarthy. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, HOLLAND, GREENVILLE, OCEANA, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP!, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
w/FARMWORKERS PHOTO HOPE: Rep. Kara Hope, D-Holt, is sponsoring legislation to tighten state oversight of labor contractors. Credit: Michigan House of Representatives.
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HOUSE UNION: Some staff in the state House are organizing a unionization drive which, if successful, would add Michigan to the small roster of states with unionized employees. It would be up to the House leadership, now Democratic, to recognize such a union. We talk to an MSU labor expert and to lawmakers from Clare, Garden City and Northfield Township. By Liz Nass. FOR DETROIT, CLARE, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
w/HOUSE UNION PHOTO WEGELA: Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City. Credit: Michigan House of Representatives
w/HOUSE UNION PHOTO SHINK: Sen. Sue Shink, D-Northfield Township. Credit: Michigan Senate
w/HOUSE UNION PHOTO KUNSE: Rep. Tom Kunse, R-Clare. Credit: Michigan House of Representatives
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SCHOOL MEALS: School districts are adapting to the mandate to offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students, regardless of income. The state is paying for the initiative. They say hungry students don’t learn well, and that students who can’t afford to pay for meals feel stigmatized. We talk to school lunch experts in Marquette, Oakland County and Traverse City. By Alex Walters. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, DETROIT, MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.
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MURALS DOODLES POEMS: The Great Lakes inspire Michigan artists and poets. We talk to an artist-activist who organizes community cleanups around Lake Erie through her nonprofit, a Lake Michigan surfer-artist and an MSU professor-poet. By Kayla Nelsen. FOR MONROE, ADRIAN, BLISSFIELD, HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, PETOSKEY, TRAVERSE CITY, CHEBOYGAN, LEELANAU, ST. IGNACE, ALPENA, ALCONA, HARBOR SPRINGS, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, PLANET DETROIT, IRON MOUNTAIN, OCEANA COUNTY, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
w/MURALS DOODLES POEMS PHOTO TIZEDES: In 2022, the SEA LIFE Aquarium in Auburn Hills featured artist Hannah Tizedes’ plastic mural of the Great Lakes. She collected all of the pieces from Great Lakes coastlines for over a year. Credit: Hannah Tizedes.
w/MURALS DOODLES POEMS PHOTO KNOTH: Artist Nate Knoth creates graphics for the Michigan apparel company M22. Credit: Nate Knoth.
w/MURALS DOODLES POEMS PHOTO MORGAN: Poet Cindy Hunter Morgan says words are how she expresses gratitude for the environment. Credit: Cindy Hunter Morgan.
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SALMON BOOK: The fall of salmon in the Great Lakes can be seen as a good thing ecologically although some people prefer native species, but the personal perspective and the local impact often are forgotten. We talk to a former Muskegon-based biologist who wrote a new book, The Salmon Capital of Michigan: The Rise and Fall of a Great Lakes Fishery, which tells that story from the perspective of Rogers City. We also hear from an MSU fisheries expert. By Shealyn Paulis. FOR ALPENA, ALCONA, MIDLAND, MONROE, ST. IGNACE, BAY MILLS, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, IRON MOUNTAIN, CHEBOYGAN, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, LUDINGTON, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, OCEANA COUNTY, HOLLAND AND ALL POINTS.
w/SALMON BOOK PHOTO PRICHARD: Carson Prichard wrote The Salmon Capital of Michigan, The Rise and Fall of a Great Lakes Fishery, to highlight the local perspective of the rise and collapse of salmon in the Great Lakes. Credit: Courtesy photo.
w/SALMON BOOK COVER: Credit: Wayne State University Press.
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