Michigan works to bring young people back

By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING — What do young people want? It’s a question employers, officials and educators are working overtime to answer. A “brain drain” has leeched Michigan’s up-and-coming workforce for decades, with young professionals opting to live in other states. About a quarter of the state’s population is in the 20- to 40-year-old bracket, one of the lowest rates in the Midwest. But state leaders say they’re beginning to siphon this demographic back in.

$16 million federal grant targets rural opioid addiction

By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING — The state plans to use part of an incoming $16 million federal grant to help prevent and treat opioid addiction in underserved rural areas. The money comes through the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, which promised funds to all 50 states to fight the growing epidemic linked to prescription painkillers. Michigan received the seventh-largest aid package. The state’s 1,980 opioid-related deaths in 2015 were also the seventh-highest mark in the country. In addition to rural expansion of a program that offers medicine and other treatment to opioid addicts, known as Medication Assisted Treatment, University of Michigan opioid research funding will be enhanced.

Another legal lap ahead in horse pulling doping dispute?

By BEN MUIR
Capital News Service
LANSING — It has taken five years, four judges and three rounds in a lawsuit to decide a doping scandal between a state horse pulling association and one of its members. And it’s still not over. A fourth round is possible. Many thought it was over after a three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled in favor of a Chippewa County man accused of breaking competition rules. The case started in 2012 when a horse owned by David Esslin of Goetzville, then a member of the Bear Lake-based Michigan Horse Pulling Association, tested positive for an illegal substance.

Seed-stealing bugs threaten prairie restoration

By LIAM TIERNAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Bugs hinder prairie restorations more than previously thought, according to research conducted at Michigan State University. The study found that arthropods — which include insects, spiders and crustaceans — account for the majority of seeds removed from prairie restoration sites. The study could catch a lot of attention in the prairie restoration field, said Mary Linabury, an MSU plant biology researcher who authored a study to be published in the Journal of Plant Ecology. “In the past, I don’t believe that managers believed that arthropods had much of an impact on seed consumption,” said Linabury, who conducted the research with Lars Brudvig and Nash Turley of MSU. “This study says otherwise.”
The findings have implications for every prairie restoration project, she said.

‘Saving Arcadia’ tells conservation success story

By IAN WENDROW
Capital News Service
LANSING — For Michiganders, going “Up North” is a common answer to questions about upcoming vacation plans – and for good reason. That region holds Michigan’s dunes—landforms integral to the state’s history and tourism. They also hold stories of grassroots advocates and volunteers who successfully preserve these pristine landscapes. Heather Shumaker, the author of “Saving Arcadia: A Story of Conservation and Community in the Great Lakes” (Wayne State University Press, $22.99), explores the near 40-year battle between Arcadia Dune conservationists and CMS Energy, the holding company of Consumers Energy, a natural gas and electric public utility. Located along Lake Michigan’s coastline and almost directly across from Wisconsin’s Green Bay, the Arcadia Dunes’ conservation story begins in 1969.

April 21, 2017 CNS Budget

To: CNS Editors
From: Perry Parks and Sheila Schimpf
http://news.jrn.msu.edu/capitalnewsservice/
For technical problems, contact CNS technical manager Pechulano Ali, (517) 940-2313, pechulan@msu.edu. For other issues contact Perry Parks, perryrobertparks@gmail.com, (517) 388-8627. Here is your file:
Three-story criminal justice package:

 
STEPPINGUP: Despite recent efforts, the incarceration of people with mental illness still plagues Michigan. A lack of attention to mental health services provided in prisons and jails can lead to higher recidivism rates and costs to all parties. We speak with representatives of the Michigan Association of Counties, the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association, the Michigan Department of Corrections and Citizens for Prison Reform on why the problem persists.

State laying plans to put new criminal justice laws to work

By LAINA STEBBINS
Capital News Service
LANSING — For the 18 criminal justice revamp bills signed by Gov. Rick Snyder last month, the next step is making the changes necessary throughout Michigan’s criminal justice system to spur them into action. The updates to the state’s criminal justice system as a whole are meant to signal an emphasis on prisoner rehabilitation, as well as reducing recidivism and streamlining the system. This mostly involves incorporating more evidence-driven programs, or initiatives that have proved successful elsewhere. Most of the bills will take effect on June 28.  Several of the bills will take effect starting Jan. 1, 2018.

Local governments applaud Legislature’s proposed revenue-sharing boost

By LAINA STEBBINS
Capital News Service
LANSING — Proposed increases to Gov. Rick Snyder’s recommended budget for revenue sharing marks a welcome shift for cities, villages, townships and counties, which say they have not seen this part of their funding change for years despite great need for additional money. Despite numerous cuts elsewhere to Snyder’s budget, Republicans in the House and Senate want the numbers for revenue sharing to local governments to be higher. They have proposed increases in the overall revenue-sharing budget of 5 percent and 1 percent, respectively, which has been met with praise from Michigan associations of local government units. The revenue sharing program takes a portion of sales tax revenues collected by the Treasury and distributes those funds to local governments. The sales tax currently stands at 6 percent.

Try 17-year-olds as juveniles, report suggests

By LAURA BOHANNON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Raising the age of juvenile offenders by a year could reduce crime, cost little, and lead to better lives for thousands of young people, a recent report concludes. In Michigan, 17-year-olds can be tried as adults in court. Washington, D.C.-based Justice Policy Institute Executive Director Marc Schindler said placing juveniles in adult detention centers can create problems, like kids committing more serious crimes more often after being incarcerated with adults. Seven other states have recently raised the age for juveniles to be tried as adults to 18, and Schindler said those states have seen some benefits already. Kids incarcerated in juvenile centers are less likely to continue committing crimes when they’re released, unlike kids incarcerated with adults, Schindler said.

Midwives must be licensed under new law

By CAITLIN TAYLOR
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan midwife associations were pleased when Gov. Rick Snyder signed new midwife licensing legislation into law at the beginning of the year. Midwives are trained to assist women in childbirth. They help with delivery as well as provide prenatal and postpartum care. Michigan has 31 certified professional midwives currently registered with the state, according to the North American Registry of Midwives. To further protect the safety of mothers, some midwifery advocates lobbied for such a licensing law for nearly six years, according to Stacia Proefrock, president of the Michigan Midwives Association and a certified professional midwife at Trillium Midwifery in Ypsilanti.