News

Artist captures DeWitt history with an unlikely medium: fabric

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It’s one thing to read about history, leafing through textbook pages, trying to find meaning in the stories and happenings of the past. Seeing history, though, yields an entirely different, immersive experience, especially when it’s brought to life on something as unusual as fabric. Cameryn CassPeggy Szasz with her handmade downtown DeWitt quilt.

A seasoned quilter and artist, Peggy Szasz, has turned traditional quilting into a medium for storytelling, encapsulating DeWitt history through lively landscapes of buildings and homes central to the town. Szasz said her favorite buildings to include are the ones that no longer exist. 

“If I hadn’t done this, they’re gone,” Szasz said. “Because they’re on this fabric, this quilt, wherever it ends up when I’m gone, these buildings are still here.” 

Szasz began quilting 29 years ago by somewhat of an accident.

News

Bathloads of local savings can revamp school playground

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Nora McCallister, a first grade student at Bath Elementary School, with the Save Around coupon book. Bath Elementary School is holding its biggest fundraiser of the year this month to purchase new equipment and teacher appreciation gifts. This year, the school hopes to use the money to revamp the playground. 

The school has been doing the fundraiser for nearly 10 years, and Kim Kracko, the school’s administrative assistant, said community members and parents love it. 

It’s called the Save Around Coupon Book Fundraiser, and the school gets to keep half the proceeds. The book costs $25 and offers deals to local and national businesses that don’t expire until the end of the year, Kracko said. 

“Sometimes we’re hit pretty hard with fundraisers, but this is one you get something you’ll really use out of it,” said Christine McCallister, a mother of two children in the school district. “It’s not like you’re getting more wrapping paper or five pieces of chocolate for $30.

An empty street covered with snow and tire tracks in it.
News

Plows struggle to keep roads clear as snow falls incessantly 

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he sounds of birds chirping, shovels and snow blowers break up the unusual stillness brought on by this remarkable winter storm, the typical humdrum of traffic silenced as humans hibernate to avoid the weather.

A few courageous souls brave the cold and the snow, either out of necessity, to shovel or get to work, or to play, sleds and snowballs in hand.

“I love it,” said Erik Altnann, a psychology professor at Michigan State University. “It’s been a long time coming.

Business & Economy
The Big Rock Nuclear Power Plant in Monroe County was decommissioned in 1997

Nuclear power concerns outlast decommissioning 

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NUCLEAR RISK: As Michigan moves away from coal and other brown energy sources, there’s growing interest in carbon-free alternatives, including nuclear energy, which now fuels 30% of the state’s electricity. Big Rock Point in Charlevoix closed in 1997 and has been fully decommissioned. Next spring, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Van Buren County will close. Michigan also has nuclear plants in Newport and Bridgman. Among the dilemmas: what to do with nuclear waste. We talk to the Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy, Union of Concerned Scientists and an Indigenous environmental expert. Cameryn Cass. FOR MONROE, ADRIAN, BLISSFIELD, DETROIT, BAY MILLS, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, CHEBOYGAN, PETOSKEY, CORP! and ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Michigan and U.S. Jobless Rates 2020-21

Michigan’s worker shortage persists; why? 

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WORKER SHORTAGES: LANSING – “Help Wanted” and “Now Hiring” signs make up the storefronts of many Michigan businesses as employers struggle to find employees. Business officials blame unemployment benefits for discouraging workers from returning. But others say unemployment insurance doesn’t come close to replacing regular wages for most workers. Low wages and a dramatic shift in interest in finding a new job is more likely the reason, they say. By Cameron Cass. FOR GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORPS AND NEWS AND BUSINESS PAGES OF ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

More Michiganders live alone

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SOLO LIVING: Living alone is increasingly common throughout Michigan and the rest of the world, a trend worrisome for older folks and particularly so during the pandemic. Michigan is bolstering programs to help older people living solo to connect socially. More than 2.4 million of Michigan’s population is aged 60 and up, and 41% of them live alone. COVID-19 is only making the problem more profound. By Cameryn Cass. FOR MARQUETTE, ST. IGNACE, SAULT STE. MARIE AND ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service

A new 911 for behavioral health crises 

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MENTAL HEALTH HOTLINES: Michigan is turning up the heat on mental health hotlines. One proposal would support first responders going through trauma while another provides support from sufferers of the same mental illness. The proposal comes while the state seeks to establish a three digit number to access a national suicide prevention number. By Cameryn Cass. FOR LANSING CITY PULSE and ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

Can a bottled water royalty help preserve the Great Lakes?

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BOTTLED ROYALTY: When is a tax not a tax? When it’s a royalty. Michigan residents would pay 3 to 6 cents more for a bottle of water and bottled water companies would pay 25 cents for each gallon they pump from the ground under a plan to sustain Great Lakes water improvements.
The plan by Traverse City-based For Love of Water could put an estimated $250 million a year into an annual water trust fund. The measure would also shift the concept of water as a product to be sold into that of a resource to be protected by the public trust, supporters say. The International Bottled Water Association opposes the idea, saying it’s unfair to put a royalty on water when food is royalty-free. By Cameron Cass. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, LEELANAU, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! MICHIGAN FARM NEWS. BIG RAPIDS, CLARE COUNTY, LAKE COUNTY AND ALL POINTS.

Arts & Entertainment
Hammock-only site in Port Crescent State Park in Port Austin is part of an effort to reach new types of campers.

Unusual attractions lure new campers

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UNIQUE CAMPING: Hammock-camping? Goat yoga? From DeWitt to Ionia, Port Austin and across Michigan, public and private campgrounds are implementing unusual programs and camping opportunities to attract people into nature. We hear from the owner of a Lansing-area blueberry farm with camping, DNR and an online marketplace that connects private landowners to camping opportunities. By Cameryn Cass. FOR CHEBOYGAN, IONIA, GREENVILLE, LANSING CITY PULSE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Onsted Community Schools’ on-the-ground solar panels span five acres near its athletic fields.

New solar program might help Michigan K-12 schools curb energy cost

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K-12 SOLAR: A new energy cooperative is spearheading a drive to solarize Michigan schools. Energy costs are the institutions’ highest expense after faculty salaries and advocates say the sun can save them money. We talk to the Michigan School Business Officials, the Michigan Schools Energy Cooperative, a national coalition and the head of Onsted schools. By Cameryn Cass FOR ADRIAN, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS