Capital News Service

Recording lures lovestruck birds to woods

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service

LANSING — While Michigan’s efforts to restore a popular but endangered songbird succeeded by doubling its goal, nearby Wisconsin is experimenting with a new way of increasing its population. Every day the love song of a Kirtland’s warbler calls throughout the Bayfield County Forest in northwestern Wisconsin. But it isn’t coming from a bird. It’s a recording created to lure the endangered species to the forest. “We had a handful of birds on the landscape, but none of them was finding each other,” said Nick Anich a conservation biologist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

Capital News Service

State natural resource program raises salmon, sells surplus

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service

LANSING – Each fall, many Chinook and coho salmon make their way from the Great Lakes to their birth streams to spawn and die. But some end up on people’s dinner plates. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) maintains weirs along several rivers that block the fish and allow for the collection of the fish’s eggs and sperm to help more spawn survive. A weir is an obstruction that is placed across a river and used to catch fish. “The weirs are used to bring the fish into a facility where we can do an egg take to help supplement natural reproduction,” said Aaron Switzer, the manager of the DNR’s Northern Lower Peninsula hatcheries.

Capital News Service
Residents are asked to be on the lookout for spotted lanternfly, an invasive pest that could make its way to Michigan.

Use app to be on the lookout for invaders threatening Michigan

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A sap-sucking insect and a fast-growing flower could threaten Michigan plants. They’re the latest invasive species identified as potential threats to the state. Environmental officials are encouraging people to us an app to report sightings of the spotted lantern fly and the Japanese chaff flower. By Kaley Fech.

Agriculture

Cherry growers worry about rising imports

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan is the nation’s top producer of tart cherries but increasing imports from foreign countries worry the state’s growers. “Michigan grows 75 to 80 percent of the U.S. supply of tart cherries every year,” said Kevin Robson, a horticulture and industry relations specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau. The Michigan crop is worth $54 million, according to the Farm Bureau. Imports have rapidly increased over the past decade. Ten years ago, the U.S. imported approximately 24 million pounds of cherry juice concentrate annually, said Phil Korson, president of the Cherry Marketing Institute.

Agriculture

Farmers eye tariff as potential trouble

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING – Many Michigan farmers are worried about a potential backlash as a result of higher federal tariffs and new international trade policies. “The big concern in agriculture right now is that by leveling steel and aluminum import tariffs against some of our key trading partners, like China, it could levy a retaliatory tariff, and often retaliation targets agriculture,” said Chuck Lippstreu, a publicist for the Agricultural Leaders of Michigan. That could to lead to unintended consequences and a retaliation against Michigan agriculture and U.S. agriculture that would hurt farmers, he said. One of the biggest concerns is the effect a backlash from the tariffs could have on soybeans. “Michigan produces over 100 million bushels of soybeans annually, or three million tons,” said David Williams, the president of the Michigan Soybean Promotion Association based in Frankenmuth.

Capital News Service

Health experts confront rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING — Rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)  are on the rise across the country, and Michigan is no exception. “During the past few years, rates are up nationally for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis,” said Lynn Sutfin, a public information officer for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. Michigan follows that trend for chlamydia and gonorrhea but reports of syphilis have been declining in the state, she said. From 2006 to 2011, the average number of cases of chlamydia was just under 45,000, according to the department. Between 2011 and 2015, the average climbed to 47,285.

Business & Economy

Quick! Michigan in two words! Minnesota in three!

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING — “Pure Michigan.” “Honest-to-Goodness.” “Find It Here.”
Can you name the state that goes with each slogan? That first one and “Only in Minnesota” are quite clear about the states they represent. Less obvious state slogans from the Great Lakes region include “Are you up for Amazing?” and “Pursue Your Happiness.”
No matter the phrase, all state slogans seek to attract tourists. “Tourism had a $20 billion impact on our state’s economy in 2016,” said Lisa Marshall, the communications director for Travel Wisconsin
Michigan officials boast of a similar $20 billion tourist industry, second only to manufacturing. And in Minnesota tourism was valued at $14.4 billion in 2015, according to Alyssa Hayes, a public information officer for Explore Minnesota.

Capital News Service

Local government revenues lag state’s economic recovery

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING — The fiscal health of local governments in Michigan appears to be rebounding from a slight dip last year, according to a recent report. But local officials say their revenues still lag the general economic recovery, making it hard to restore basic services like park improvements, pay employee benefits and invest in maintenance of buildings, sewers and streets.  
“Since about 2011 we had seen an improvement in fiscal health that had continued every year,” said Tom Ivacko, administrator at the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan. “ Last year that reversed, and we were surprised to see that.”
The center has surveyed local government leaders since 2009. And while the uptick is welcome, local leaders say improvements to the state’s economy are outpacing improvements to the bottom lines of counties, cities and townships.

Capital News Service

Help is out there for people whose homes are cold, drafty

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING– Old Man Winter is an expensive guest in a home that hasn’t been weatherized.      
“The first time they think about having to turn the furnace on, people start to panic,” said Steve Taylor, home improvement programs manager at the Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency in Traverse City. One way low-income families can reduce their energy costs is through weatherization, the process that makes homes more energy-efficient. Michigan’s Weatherization Assistance Program provides free home energy conservation services to low income residents. These services reduce energy use, which helps to lower utility bills.

Capital News Service

Most Michigan kids lag national average in well-being; African-American students at the bottom

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By KALEY FECH
Capital News Service
LANSING — African-American children in Michigan score the lowest in the nation in a complex measure of their well-being, a new report shows. “The data really shows that African-American kids here in Michigan are faring much more poorly compared to African-American kids in every other state in the country,” said Alicia Guevara Warren, the Kids Count project director at the Michigan League for Public Policy. The Race for Results report, produced by the Kids Count project at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, measures the well-being children of all races. It takes into account 12 indicators, including education, work experience, family support and neighborhood conditions. It looks at how children progress in education, health, economic security and other spheres.