Education

Anonymous student tips help keep schools safe

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — State officials are enthusiastic about the progress of a new school safety program that encourages students to anonymously report threatening activity. “In the first year we were wondering how it would go, and I will say I think it’s been overwhelmingly successful,” said Col. Kriste Kibbey Etue, director of the Michigan State Police. Under the OK2SAY program, students can submit tips by text, email or phone app. The program also keeps tips completely confidential by law.

Nonprofits & Social Services

Veteran-home volunteers hold hands, listen, comfort

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — In 1994, Pam Jackovich of Marquette turned to volunteering to add meaning to her life after the death of her husband, a Vietnam War veteran. Jackovich visited the D.J. Jacobetti State Veterans Home in Marquette and immediately enjoyed the conversations she had with veterans there. “I started visiting with the residents and I really started learning more about history,” Jackovich said. In April, Jackovich was honored for volunteering more than 9,000 service hours at the home in the last 20 years — an average of seven hours a week. Volunteers who socialize with veterans and run home activities are considered necessary for state veteran homes in Marquette and Grand Rapids, according to Jim Dunn, the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency deputy director, who oversees both homes.

Environment

State and local partners plan statewide trail

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
LANSING — State officials are partnering with Michigan’s communities to create the Iron Belle trail, a 1,200-mile pathway starting in Detroit and ending in the western Upper Peninsula. “We’ve found out trails invigorate communities, and it’s a place for people to go and visit, it’s good for local economies, it’s good for public health, so there’s a lot of benefits,” said Paul Yauk, the Department of Natural Resources Interim State Trails Coordinator. The Iron Belle trail — first introduced by Gov. Rick Snyder in 2012 — is actually two trails. Both a 774 mile biking trail and a 1,200 mile hiking trail will start at Belle Isle Park in Detroit and end in Ironwood. The DNR created a route based on existing trails in Michigan, Yauk said.

Environment

Young conservationists advise DNR on kids’ interests

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Students passionate about the environment can help the state provide outdoor recreation for their generation while learning more about Michigan’s natural resources. Applications for the state’s Youth Conservation Council are available on the council’s website and will be accepted until April 30. “If we are going to sustain world-class resources, you have to have people that care about them, and so how do you get the next generation to care about them?” said Keith Creagh, director of the Department of Natural Resources. The Youth Conservation Council was created in 2013 to bring the next generation’s conservation leaders — ages 14 to 18 — together to discuss how the DNR can increase young people’s interest in Michigan’s outdoors, according to Ray Rustem, the Youth Conservation Council’s adviser. The 25-member council includes students selected from across Michigan to give the DNR insight into the interests of kids in all areas of the state.

Business & Economy

State pushes job opportunities for disabled workers

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Workers with disabilities are often overlooked, even if they have the right skills for a job, state officials say. “There is tremendous talent out there in that segment of our community, and the opportunities to showcase that talent aren’t always there,” said Matt Wesaw, executive director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights. A new committee appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder is working to make sure state government is part of the solution and not the problem when it comes to identifying and working with disabled employees. In a report issued April 1, the State Equal Opportunity and Diversity Council found state government has no program for training state employees on the importance of including disabled people in the workplace. The council of six officials, from areas such as the office of the State Employer and the Department of Civil Rights, hopes to develop a program to educate state employees on misperceptions about disabled workers and how to remove barriers that keep disabled workers from using their talents, Wesaw said.

Business & Economy

Bill would help counties replace failing snow plows

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Keweenaw County’s 30 road commission vehicles — which include snow plows and salt trucks — average 27 years old and 130,000 miles. The county’s oldest snow plows are from the 1970s and have over a quarter million miles on them, said Gregg Patrick, Keweenaw County Road Commission engineer. “Most county commissions are running their equipment twice the life they used to, and these can start to fail in the winter season,” Patrick said. Counties have trouble keeping roads safe and convenient for the public when their old equipment is failing and needs maintenance more often, said Ed Noyola, deputy director of the County Road Association of Michigan. “Its reliability factor goes down as the vehicle ages beyond its intended life,” Noyola said, “What used to take us a day is now taking us two and a half days or longer in certain communities.”
Rep. Scott Dianda, D-Calumet, is reintroducing a bill to give counties like Keweenaw an opportunity to get affordable snow plows by giving local entities the first bid on equipment that the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) is auctioning off.

Education

Schools, communities improve students’ health

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Newberry Elementary School in Luce County doesn’t have a school nurse, but it has a school health team that gets tips from hospital experts on how to teach nutrition and respond to flu season. This coordinated school health team maximizes limited resources by bringing together health and physical education teachers with experts in the community, said Principal Stacy Price. “Who we call on depends on what direction we are going,” Price said. For example, a hospital dietitian attends meetings when school nutrition is being discussed. About half of Michigan’s school districts rely on coordinated health teams to meet unique needs in their areas.

Agriculture

Michigan’s forests underused, experts say

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan could be getting a lot more out of its forests. Most of the state’s harvested timber is sold as logs, but more jobs and dollars could be generated by turning those forests into products such as syrup, furniture and ethanol, according to the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Initiative. “Right now we are shipping logs out of the state, and losing a lot of potential value,” said Mark Rudnicki, a professor at Michigan Technological University and executive director of the initiative. The forest initiative is a group of experts in industry, academia and state government looking to grow Michigan’s economy by promoting better use of the state’s forest resources, Rudnicki said. Michigan has 20 million acres of forest land, including 13 million privately or corporately owned, said Debbie Begalle, assistant chief of the Department of Natural Resources Forest Resources Division.

Business & Economy

Michigan elections increasingly influenced by ‘dark money’

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — A growing number of Michigan political campaigns are being influenced by independent groups raising and spending unlimited funding, with donors not always disclosed to the public. More money than ever was raised for the 2014 state elections, topping the previous record in 2006. The top 150 Political Action Committees raised a total of $68 million, over 30 percent more than the $51.9 million raised in the 2006 election cycle, according to the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. The nonprofit, nonpartisan network researches money in Michigan politics and works to expose anonymous funding, also called “dark money.”

“Much of that money is dark money,” said Susan Smith of Ann Arbor, president of the League of Women Voters of Michigan. “You don’t know who is providing the funding, so you don’t know who is influencing the vote.”
Groups funding advertisements related to campaigns can remain anonymous under a 2013 Michigan law that separates issue advertisements from campaign advertisements.

Business & Economy

Small businesses help spur state job growth

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By ELIZABETH FERGUSON
Capital News Service
LANSING — Michigan’s small businesses are expecting to hire more employees and increase wages in the upcoming months, according to the Small Business Association of Michigan. Almost 30 percent of the 600 small businesses surveyed by the association in January said they hired more workers in the past six months, and 33 percent intend to hire more workers in the next six months. Nearly 40 percent of the surveyed businesses said they planned to raise wages. In 2014, there were 216,956 businesses in Michigan with less than 50 employees. Last year these businesses hired 20,526 new employees, according to the state’s Bureau of Labor Market Information and Strategic Initiative.