Elections & Politics
George Wallace Jones, a delegate to the U.S. House from Michigan Territory, formerly owned two slaves.

Two slave owners once represented Michigan in Congress

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SLAVE OWNERS: Michigan played a crucial role in the North’s victory during the Civil War, but little-remembered is the fact that Michigan voters elected two former slaveowners to Congress. Little-remembered George Wallace Jones brought two slaves when he moved from Missouri to what was then Michigan Territory. Jones, who served as the delegate from Michigan Territory (and then Wisconsin Territory), was one of more than 1,700 members of Congress who had owned slaves, according to a Washington Post database. The more prominent one was former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Lewis Cass, whose name has been stripped from a state office building. By Eric Freedman. FOR DETROIT, LANSING CITY PULSE and ALL POINTS.

Agriculture
February 1919 issue of National Geographic.

Threats face native berries amongst us

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NATIVE BERRIES. Climate change, habitat fragmentation, extreme weather and invasive plants pose challenges for native berries in Michigan and other Great Lakes states. A 1919 National Geographic article, “American Berries of Hill, Dale and Wayside,” features illustrations of 29 species of American berries and their blossoms. We hear from Michigan Natural Features Inventory expert. Reference to Southwest Michigan Land Conservancy. By Eric Freedman. FOR STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, COLDWATER, HOLLAND, WKTV, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS and ALL POINTS.

Capital News Service

Press freedom threatened in democracies, dictatorships alike

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PRESS FREEDOM COMMENTARY: This is an opportune time to assess last year’s press freedom environment in the U.S. and abroad, including a record number of journalists jailed, among them a Metro Detroit reporter working in Myanmar. At least 24 more were murdered. It’s a troubling picture for journalists and news organizations pursuing their mission to provide fair, balanced and accurate coverage of public affairs, to hold institutions of government and power accountable. to give voice to the voiceless and to act ethically amid a sea of misinformation and disinformation. Commentary for news and opinion sections. By Eric Freedman. FOR DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.

Arts & Entertainment
CG 40300 works the ice on Lake Michigan around 1970.

Pioneering Coast Guard boat sails onto National Register of Historic Places

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COAST GUARD HISTORY: A prototype Coast Guard steel motor lifeboat that spent most of its 39-year official career on Lake Michigan and at Escanaba has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Now moored on Cayuga Lake in New York’s Finger Lakes, Coast Guard motor lifeboat 40300 conducted search-and-rescue operations near the Door Peninsula and at Escanaba’s Aids to Navigation Station, then was used as an Eastern U.P. Transportation Authority utility boat and icebreaker in Sault Ste. Marie. We talk to the owner and a former transportation authority mechanic. By Eric Freedman. FOR SAULT ST. MARIE, MARQUETTE, ST. IGNACE, CHEBOYGAN, BAY MILLS, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, LEELANAU, MANISTEE, LUDINGTON, BENZIE COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY, HOLLAND and ALL POINTS.

Arts & Entertainment

Great Lakes reading for the holidays

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HOLIDAY GIFT BOOKS: Searching for a recent Michigan book as a holiday gift? Here are two prospects, including excerpts from interviews with their authors.The Artisan Herbalist by Bevin Cohen of Sanford is a comprehensive guide to at-home herbalism for beginners through experienced herbalists. The Founding Mothers of Mackinac Island: The Agatha Biddle Band of 1870 by Theresa L. Weller is a history of a highly unusual band of predominantly Native American women who lived on Mackinac Island in the 1800s. For features and news sections. By Eric Freedman. FOR ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Climate change is a greater threat than insecticides to the wild bee populations that are vital to growing blueberries in Michigan, a new study finds.

Climate change threatens wild bees that blueberries need

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WILD BEES & BLUEBERRIES: Extreme weather tied to climate change poses a greater threat than insecticides to the wild bee populations essential to Michigan blueberry growers, says a recent study done in Ottawa, Allegan and Van Buren counties, three of the state’s biggest producers. The state grows about 100 million pounds each year. Wild bees, which pollinate blueberries more effectively than honeybees and bumblebees, are stressed by extreme weather events such as drought, storms and early freezes, as well as chemicals in insecticides. We talk to an MSU Extension researcher and a grower from Grand Junction. Berrien and Muskegon counties are also top producers. By Eric Freedman. FOR HOLLAND, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, WKTV, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS.

Arts & Entertainment

CNS marks 40 years of capital news coverage

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CNS 40th ANNIVERSARY: This fall marks the 40th anniversary of CNS, launched by the late publisher Dick Milliman to cover state government, policy and politics for news outlets across Michigan. Participants, including ones from such far-flung locations as Russia, Kazakhstan, Denmark, China, India and South Korea, practice real-world journalism for real-world audiences. CNS has influenced the careers of hundreds of students and provides readers with coverage of their government’s activities in Lansing. It began with 10 newspapers, three of them still CNS members: Cadillac News, Holland Sentinel and Traverse City Record-Eagle. Authored by a CNS correspondent and CNS director for opinion sections. By Danielle James & Eric Freedman.. FOR HOLLAND, CADILLAC, TRAVERSE CITY, LANSING CITY PULSE and ALL POINTS.

Environment

Mapping pathways for roaming cougars

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COUGARS: Cougar habitat in North America has been shrinking due to development and land fragmentation, while “human-induced mortality” has shrunken their numbers. Even so, the future of these alpha predators isn’t all gloom and doom, say scientists who compiled 180 reports of confirmed observations in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota between 2010 and 2020. Sightings rose,, helped by improved technology such as trail cameras and camera phones.We talk to a DNR wildlife biologist based in Marquette and the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy based in Bath. By Eric Freedman. FOR MARQUETTE, BAY MILLS, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, CHEBOYGAN, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS AND ALL POINTS.

Environment

Polluter ordered to jail for illegally discharging untreated waste

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POLLUTER JAILED: The president of a Flint company has been ordered to spend a year behind bars for illegally discharging more than 47 million gallons of untreated waste — enough to fill 72 Olympic-size swimming pools. Robert Massey pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act over an 8½ year period between 2007 and 2015 for illegally discharging leachate from eight Michigan landfills, including ones in Clare and Saginaw counties. By Eric Freedman. FOR DETROIT, CLARE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! AND ALL POINTS.

Agriculture
The Spoonville Peninsula and archaeological site along the Grand River in Ottawa County.

Abandoned food caches offer evidence of Native American survival strategies

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CACHES: You have to look hard to spot the Spoonville Peninsula on a map of Southwest Michigan, but it was an important location for native peoples for centuries before European contact — and may contain the largest collection of cache pits ever excavated in the Upper Great Lakes. Researchers from a Williamston archaeological firm and MSU undertook the project near the mouth of the Grand River in Ottawa County, finding important evidence about how these caches were used to store food as a “risk management strategy” to improve their capacity for survival “in the difficult environment of the region,” according to a new study. By Eric Freedman. FOR STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, HOLLAND, BAY MILLS, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.