Arts & Entertainment
An X Shore electric boat

Electric boats expected to make a splash in Michigan this year

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ELECTRIC BOATS: Amid concerns about climate change, air quality, lakeside quality of life and future supplies of fossil fuels, more Michigan boaters are switching to electric-powered vessels which are quieter and less polluting.We hear from DNR, an Elk Rapids marina owner, is thinking about installing chargers WHERE. By Jack Timothy Harrison. FOR CLARE, GLADWIN, CRAWFORD COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY, BENZIE COUNTY, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY, DETROIT, MARQUETTE, IRON MOUNTAIN, SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, CHEBOYGAN, PETOSKEY GREENVILLE, ALCONA, MONTMORENCY ALPENA, CADILLAC, PLANET DETROIT, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, MANISTEE, LUDINGTON, BIG RAPIDS AND ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

Are teachers ready for the rise of Artificial Intelligence?

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CHEATING: Some Michigan education officials and teachers are worried that the free new ChatGPT artificial intelligence software will make it easier for students to get away with cheating, while others see its availability as a positive. Superintendents of Traverse City and Anchor Bay schools, Grandville and Waverly teachers and the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals discuss. By Samuel Blatchford. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, WKTV, DETROIT, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Digital rendering of residents of Veridian at County Farm at the community garden.

Developers seek to create solar neighborhood

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SOLAR NEIGHBORHOOD: An Ann Arbor developer is building one of the first 100% solar-powered, carbon-neutral and fossil fuel-free communities in the U.S. The goal is to pioneer the creation of neighborhoods that limit their contribution to climate change. By Genevieve Fox. FOR PLANET DETROIT, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS

Education
This exploding star, known as the ‘Firework Nova’ is an example of the types of stellar explosions that can be examined by repurposing radio telescopes.

Heat detector finds explosive stars in cosmic game of ‘I Spy’

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SKY SURVEY: Scientists are only now discovering a new way of exploring the universe by using existing technology to better understand distant objects with strange, previously unseen behavior. It’s a two-fer: Technology that detects heat in the sky can also find supernovae and other cosmic explosions. Experts from MSU, Northwestern and Columbia explain. By Kate Townley. FOR ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy
Line 5 carries nearly 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan and on to Sarnia, Ontario.

Ice makes oil spills harder to detect, easier to contain

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ICE & OIL SPILLS: What happens if oil spills under ice in freshwater? The question rises in prominence as controversy continues overEmbrudge’s Line 5 beneath the Straits of Mackinac. We hear about Line 5 and an earlier Kalamazoo River pipeline spill from Enbridge, MSU, the Kalamazoo Watershed, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Ottawa Indians and Michigan Water Environment Association. By Cameryn Cass. FOR SAULT STE. MARIE, ST. IGNACE, BAY MILLS, MARQUETTE, CHEBOYGAN, TRAVERSE CITY, IRON RIVER, ALPENA AND ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

Iron, salt and water could change power grid

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BATTERIES: Batteries come in different sizes: AA, AAA, a 27 billion gallon reservoir of Lake Michigan water. Perhaps someday: a warehouse of iron, salt and water, basic ingredients for manufacturing iron-flow batteries. That technology could help pave the way for the Great Lakes region’s green energy future. The Institute for Energy Innovation produced an energy storage roadmap for the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy in March. It set a minimum storage requirement of 4,000 megawatts by 2040. References the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant that can store nearly 2,000 megawatts. By Jake Christie. FOR LUDINGTON, MANISTEE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! OCEANA, BENZIE, HOLLAND, TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU AND ALL POINTS.

Business & Economy

Experts urge caution with over-the-counter hearing aids.

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HEARING AIDS Experts are urging caution with greater access to over-the-counter hearing aids. We talk to a Holland audiologist and a Michigan State University expert about the federal move to expand access to the devices. While appropriate for mild hearing loss, experts worry about people with severe loss getting adequate help. By Sarah Atwood. FOR HOLLAND, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.

Elections & Politics

Fertility fraud draws regulatory attention 

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DONOR FRAUD: Fertility doctors who secretly substitute their own or others’ sperm would be punished under a bipartisan package of bills that nearly passed this legislative session. Advocates, including a Traverse City resident who found out her biological father was her mother’s fertility doctor, want regulation of the medical service. Sponsors say they will push the package again next session. By Sarah Atwood. FOR TRAVERSE CITY AND ALL POINTS

Education

Technology could aid police response to school shooters

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SCHOOL SAFETY: State safety grants will help digitally map schools and enhance video systems to detect guns. The high tech opportunities are among the measures to be funded by $168 million this year for programs to prevent school violence. The digital maps can help police navigate a school threatened by a shooter and can be sent directly to them while they are enroute to the scene. Also, schools could also use the money to program already existing cameras to detect if someone is carrying a firearm. By Janelle James. FOR ALL POINTS

Construction & Development
The Archimedes screw safely transported these suckers over the Cheboygan Dam

Ancient invention may safely move fish across barriers while blocking invaders, study finds

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FISH LIFT: An ancient device, the Archimedes screw, has been used successfully on the Cheboygan River near Lake Huron to lift native fish upstream over a dam without also bringing in invasive sea lampreys. We talk to researchers from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in Traverse City and the U.S. Geological Survey in Millersburg in Presque Isle County. By Elaine Mallon. FOR CHEBOYGAN, ST. IGNACE, ALPENA, ALCONA, MIDLAND, MONROE, DETROIT, HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, MANISTERE, OCEANA COUNTY, BENZIE COUNTY, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, HARBOR SPRINGS, LEELANAU, SAULT STE. MARIE, MARQUETTE, BAY MILLS AND ALL POINTS.