Arts & Entertainment

Old bikes get recycled into burgeoning rental programs

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By ALEXANDER SMITH
Capital News Service
LANSING — As the number of abandoned bikes grows on college campuses, bike rental programs flourish. In New York, abandoned bikes are recycled or trashed. In Denver, they are auctioned and the proceeds go to the city’s general fund. Elsewhere they are donated to charities. In Michigan, some colleges are recycling them into bike rental programs.
The University of Michigan and Western Michigan University have programs stocked with brand new bikes.

Agriculture

Small coastal communities spiff up their resumes

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By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING — Small coastal communities are laying the groundwork to bring cash to their waterfronts. Community members, researchers, designers, engineers and others are helping six small harbor communities plan for the future. And the effort, coordinated by Michigan Sea Grant, could have a statewide impact by modeling development strategies for other coastal communities, creating safe harbors for recreational boaters and spurring tourism. Four communities last year participated in a program that helps to develop five-year  plans for their waterfronts: Ontonagon, Pentwater, Au Gres and New Baltimore. Two more – St.

Environment

Heavier storms threaten states ageing drains

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By RAY WILBUR
Capital News Service
LANSING — While people in Florida gear up for more intense hurricanes, Michigan officials are bracing for heavier rainfall caused by global warming ,and that threatens the state’s aging drains and the Great Lakes. Local drain commissioners are questioning how to handle the influx of water and the problems it brings. And more intense, heavier rainfall has become more prevalent in Michigan, said Joan Rose, an international expert in water microbiology, quality and public health at Michigan State University. That causes trouble not only for the state’s old drainage systems and its water sources but for animal and human health, she said. “When it rains, the water moves contaminants quite broadly,” Rose said.

Environment

Culling deer herd reduced chronic wasting disease

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By CARIN TUNNEY
Capital News Service

LANSING — Federal sharpshooters and more hunting permits that reduced the deer population helped fight chronic wasting disease among white-tailed deer, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reports. Results are in from the first-year management strategy for chronic wasting disease in Michigan. Wildlife officials confirmed the disease in the state’s wild deer herd in May 2015. During the past 16 months, the DNR tested more than 6,000 animals killed by hunters, sharpshooters employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or in traffic accidents. Eight tested positive, the report shows.

Elections & Politics

Legislature divides over parenting

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By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan custody law should reflect the changing Michigan family. That’s the sentiment behind a bill in the House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors that would revise the Child Custody Act of 1970 which says parents have to be “advised” of joint custody as an option. Meanwhile, a resolution, passed by the committee, would raise awareness of parental alienation. Under the proposed “Michigan Shared Parenting Act,” courts would presume joint custody is in the best interest of the child, unless certain conditions are met. Those conditions would include the parents agreeing not to have joint custody or a judge believing the child would be “materially harmed” by joint custody.

Government

Good Samaritan bill expected to be signed into law

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By RAY WILBUR
Capital News Service
LANSING — Two pills and a night in December of 2014 changed the lives of one Michigan family and in turn spawned an effort to help families affected by drug overdose deaths across the state. Mason Mizwicki, 16, of Watervliet, died of a methadone overdose on New Year’s Day of 2015 after a party with friends. Mizwicki took two methadone pills that had been provided by a woman hosting the party. Methadone is an opioid medication administered to reduce withdrawal symptoms in people addicted to heroin. When he began having a seizure, his friends did nothing.

Business & Economy

Bills would add time to driver's ed

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BY ALEXANDER SMITH
Capital News Service
LANSING — Bicyclists may be safer when riding on Michigan roads if new driver’s education bills are passed by the Legislature. The proposals would require vehicles to be at least 5 feet away when passing a cyclist and create harsher penalties for injuring or killing a rider. They would also require three hours of instruction on bicycle and motorcycle awareness as part of driver’s education. According to the Office of Highway Safety Planning, crashes between motorists and bicyclists rose 57 percent from 2014 to 2015. Between Jan.

Diversity Issues

Bill to reduce zero-tolerance policies in schools has bipartisan support

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BY CAITLIN DeLUCA
Capital News Service
LANSING — A bill aimed at reducing the number of suspensions and expulsions of students in Michigan schools could move to the Senate floor soon. In Michigan, a zero-tolerance policy covers a plethora of situations in schools, including physical violence, possession of any weapon, tobacco, alcohol and bomb or similar threats. That means that a student who commits any of those behaviors must be suspended or expelled for at least a year. The mandatory punishment leaves the schools’ hands tied. The bill would remove mandatory suspensions or expulsions for some of these misbehaviors.

Education

Seats without candidates cause problems for schools, cities

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By KAREN HOPPER USHER
Capital News Service
LANSING — In Michigan more than 150 local government, school and library seats lack candidates for this November’s election, according to a preliminary document from the  Department of State. State officials are in the early stages of tallying uncontested seats and that number could change. “It looks like a long list, but it’s actually a small proportion,” said Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. The United States has more elections than any country in the world, Grossmann said. The vacancies do, however, create problems for cities.

Education

Schools could benefit from a state reform of how they can spend local tax dollars

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By ALEXANDER SMITH
Capital News Service
LANSING — School districts could have an easier time paying for security systems and classroom electronics thanks to a new bill that would broaden the use of the millage they collect. The legislation would affect sinking funds, which are better than they sound. They allow voter-approved property tax to be collected and spent by a district to buy land for a new school, build a new building or repair an existing building. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Michael McCready, R-Bloomfield Hills, would also allow sinking funds to buy equipment and technology. According to a House summary of the bill, 173 districts have sinking funds.