Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/elections-politics/page/2/)
Election and political coverage from the Spartan Newsroom
WATERSHEDS: Watershed councils covering the Huron, Rouge and Clinton rivers have created the Rain Catchers Collective to help more residents and municipalities build green infrastructure. By Elinor Epperson. FOR ALL POINTS.
SHIPWRECK: Only a year after its launch in Detroit, the ill-fated Mojave sank in an 1864 storm, taking its crew of five to the bottom of Lake Michigan. The ship, well-preserved due to the lake’s cold water, was just added to the National Register of Historic Places. By Eric Freedman. FOR ALL POINTS.
DAMS & BLOOMS: Like clockwork, Ford Lake and its downstream neighbor, Belleville Lake, turn bright green every summer due to harmful algal blooms. The lakes, near Ypsilanti, have struggled for decades with phosphorus pollution that spurs algae growth. The quest for a solution is familiar to urban lake communities across the Great Lakes region. Area residents, a U-M researcher and an Ann Arbor public works official discuss. By Elinor Epperson and Daniel Schoenherr. FOR ALL POINTS.
SOLAR DISPUTE: Large-scale solar projects are a hotly disputed topic in Livingston County and elsewhere in the state, especially in rural areas with lots of farmland that could become project sites. Complex, interconnected questions about local government authority, private property rights and renewable energy sources. We talk to a Conway Township farmer, Consumers Energy, Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association and Michigan Environmental Council. By Ruth Thornton. FOR ALL POINTS.
RURAL MORTALITY: The gap in death rates between urban and less healthy rural areas has widened, USDA figures show. Rural hospitals are reducing services and communities are having trouble recruiting and retaining health care providers. We hear from the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and the Michigan Association for Local Public Health. By Anish Topowala. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, SAULT STE. MARIE, IRON MOUNTAIN, MARQUETTE, BAY MILLS, CHEBOYGAN AND ALL POINTS.
FREE PRE-K: The governor is pushing to expand free pre-K programs for 4-year-olds. We hear from the Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement and Potential, the Wayne Regional Education Service Agency and a Wyoming legislator who is enthusiastic about its potential benefits. By Sophia Ceru. FOR GREENVILLE, WKTV, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
ORGAN DONORS: More than 6,000 Michigan residents so far have taken advantage of a 2023 law that lets them check a box on their income tax returns to be designated as an organ donor. A pending bill would mandate organ donor education for 9th graders. Ohio and Illinois have higher rates of organ donors among new drivers. We talk to Gift of Life and to lawmakers from Pittsfield Township and Berkley. Other sponsors include legislators from Grand Rapids, Detroit and Eastpointe. By Owen McCarthy. FOR DETROIT, LANSING CITY PULSE, GREENVILLE AND ALL POINTS
CHILD LABOR: Federal and state agencies have been taking action against employers who hire underage workers following news reports of child labor abuses at a Kentwood company and elsewhere. Pending legislation is intended to crack down on illegal child labor and protect whistleblowers. We hear from the lead sponsor from East Grand Rapids, Michigan Immigration Rights Center in Grand Rapids and federal and state labor agencies. The other sponsor is from Muskegon. For business and news sections. By Alex Walters. FOR CORP! GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, WKTV, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
BANKRUPTCIES: Michigan bankruptcy filings are up, a trend attributed at least in part to higher interest rates and an end to pandemic-era stimulus payments. Even some high-income people are drowning in debt. A Wayne State law professor, a credit counselor at a Farmington Hills-based firm and a Lansing bankruptcy lawyer discuss. By Owen McCarthy. FOR CORP! GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
OSCEOLA COUNTY PROFILE: Working-class, lower-income Osceola County can’t afford to ignore politics and presidential election in a local economy dominated by two major employers, a hospital and a yogurt plant, and a long tradition of voting Republican. By Archer Guanco, Daniel Schoenherr, Anna Barnes and Lauretta Sha. FOR BIG RAPIDS, CLARE, LUDINGTON, CADILLAC AND ALL POINTS.