Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/tag/cns/page/4/)
By LAINA STEBBINS
Capital News Service
LANSING — The clock is ticking. What happens when state and federal agencies lack the technology to prevent a potential ecological disaster? What happens when the well-being of Michigan’s ecosystems and economy is on the line? If it’s up to the governor, Legislature and Department of Natural Resources (DNR), you hand the problem over to the international community. You make it a contest.
By IAN WENDROW
Capital News Service
LANSING — Detroit once was home to the world’s largest municipally owned streetcar enterprise, an industry with a history stretching from the city’s early founding through the 1950s. Now a new book, “The Thirty-Year War: The History of Detroit Streetcars, 1892-1922” by Neil Lehto, provides an in-depth look at the origins and development of that public transportation system. Lehto is an attorney representing Michigan townships and villages in cases involving public utilities, with a focus on telecommunications. Before he was a lawyer, Lehto cut his teeth working for a Royal Oak newspaper while attending Wayne State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. The combination of municipal law and journalism fueled his desire to write the book.
By LIAM TIERNAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — Ballast water entering the Great Lakes from ships may contain viruses dangerous to wildlife and humans, according to a recent study published by the American Chemical Society. The water used to stabilize vessels may be transporting viruses from ocean water or foreign lakes to the Great Lakes, according to Yiseul Kim, a postdoctoral microbiology researcher at Michigan State University. Kim’s research involved sampling and detecting virus-like particles using a method that differs from others previously used to study ballast water. The method, called metagenomics, studies chains of viral genetic material sampled directly from the ballast tanks. The researchers then match them to known viral chains.
By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — The recent FBI and State Police search of Sen. Bert Johnson’s office in Lansing and home in Highland Park serves as a reminder that illegal conduct, corruption and scandal don’t carry party labels. Details of the federal-state investigation of Johnson, D-Highland Park, remain incomplete, but news reports suggest it may relate to questionable staff payroll practices. Evidence in Michigan and elsewhere in the country demonstrates that some politicians — regardless of party affiliation — don’t respect the law, the public or the oath they swore
Think about recent history in the state:
Republican ex-Rep. Todd Courser of Lapeer, expelled from the House in disgrace last year in an adultery scandal, faces trial in May on a perjury charge. Republican ex-Rep. Cindy Gamrat of Plainwell, who resigned in the same scandal, had her perjury and misconduct in office charges dismissed last June. Democratic ex-Rep. Brian Banks of Detroit was sentenced in February for filing false financial statements to secure a loan.
By LAURA BOHANNON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Day care centers, adult care centers and foster homes would have to meet higher standards for reporting injuries on an online database, under bills introduced in the state House. Rep. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township, who sponsored the bills, said the increased record-keeping will make it easier for people to evaluate centers when choosing one. Although those institutions already face state reporting requirements, Lucido said his bills would ensure that patterns of more minor incidents would not be overlooked. Lucido said, “I don’t think a registry or database is so wrong when dealing with loved ones, people we’re trying to protect.”
There are “good bruises and bad bruises,” Lucido said. If a child is playing outside, falls down and scrapes a leg, an accident report would go online saying what happened.
By LAINA STEBBINS
Capital News Service
LANSING — Depending on who’s talking, Michigan’s new medical marijuana laws could streamline marijuana operations into a lucrative source of local revenue, or allow for an unnecessary expansion of the medical marijuana industry in the state. Still another group says the laws overlook confusion about dispensaries’ legality, which has led to police raids and facilities going out of business. The new legislation — which was signed into law in December 2016 and takes effect in December 2017 — creates three classes of medical marijuana growers, allows dispensaries to apply for licenses according to the new three-tiered class system, creates a statewide tracking system for commercial marijuana and sets a state tax on dispensaries. One thing that will stay the same, much to the dismay of many medical marijuana providers, or “caregivers” – is a provision left over from the 2008 “Medical Marihuana Act” allowing communities to decide whether to allow medical marijuana facilities to operate in their area, and on what terms. That means cities and townships can still pass ordinances banning medical marijuana facilities in their area, even if facilities were already in existence. “The real power is in the local units of government,” said Muskegon County Prosecutor D.J. Hilson.
By JACK NISSEN
Capital News Service
LANSING — That short burst of tweets you hear from wrens might be the best way to tell if they’re near, but it isn’t the only way. A good way to predict the bird populations in the Great Lakes is to listen not for the songs of wrens, but for the roar of car engines. A recent study in the Journal of the Society of Wetland Scientists shows where humans are and where wren populations should be – but aren’t. One of the broadest research projects on two species of wrens in the Great Lakes region found that urban development has a primary influence on where the birds live. For the most part, where you find people is where you likely won’t find wrens.
By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING — There are 148 members of the Legislature. Just 34 are women. One is in a leadership position. “You’re not getting kind of that balance between who your representatives are and who your constituents are,” said Rep. Christine Greig, D-Farmington Hills, the House minority floor leader. “That is a problem, and I think that’s what skews the issues that get talked about.”
The House includes 15 Democratic and 15 Republican women, while four women — three Republicans and one Democrat — are in the Senate.
By CHAO YAN
Capital News Service
LANSING — As Michigan accelerates toward leadership in the emerging driverless car technology, industry experts say its workforce needs to catch up. Gov. Rick Snyder signed legislation in December allowing the public to buy and use fully self-driving cars when they are available — a package of four bills that is “leading the way in transforming the auto industry,” Snyder said in a statement. Michigan, led by Detroit, has a 100-year history as the heart of the U.S. auto industry, but to be the first is not always easy. “As the industry evolves and more information is available, we have a disconnection in workforce,” said Elaina Farnsworth, the chief executive officer of Mobile Comply and a member of the state’s Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Task Force. Farnsworth said the group discovered a problem when it started analyzing skill gaps, even though Michigan has a high concentration of engineers.
By ISAAC CONSTANS
Capital News Service
LANSING — In his 32 years of recovery from cocaine, marijuana and alcohol abuse, Rep. Joseph Bellino, R-Monroe, has seen coworkers, friends and constituents fall victim to his former vice. Recently, he’s seen more preventable deaths than before, as the lure of opioids in his community has intensified. “I being a man who lost a cousin a few years ago to a heroin overdose — it started with pills after a surgery. I have a small store in Monroe. I lost a bottle boy,” Bellino, who owns an alcohol shop, said.