Government

Proposal would increase juror pay rates

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan jurors would soon receive their first pay increase since 2003 if a bill on compensation passes, a representative said. Rep. Peter Lucido, R-Shelby Township, introduced a bill last year that would increase juror compensation by  $5 per full day and $2.50 per half day. They currently make $25 for a full day and $12.50 for a half day on the first day, then $40 and $20, respectively, on subsequent days. “Jurors aren’t even making enough to pay for their parking,” Lucido said. “When you look at the economics of it, it’s just not fair.

Government

Legislator wants law to solve school bathroom issue

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – A state lawmaker wants transgendered students in Michigan to be required to use school bathrooms or locker rooms of the gender they were assigned at birth. Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, announced that he will introduce the bill in response to guidelines recently released for schools by the Michigan Department of Education. The guidelines are optional and say students should be allowed to use the restroom that matches their current gender identity. “All-gender or single- user restrooms (staff bathroom or nurse’s office) should be made available to students who request them, but not presented as the only option. Any student who has a need or desire for increased privacy, regardless of underlying reasons, has the right to access a single-user restroom,” reads the document.

Government

Michigan government purchasing scores high in national survey

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan ranked ninth in a recent national survey assessing how well each state government buys stuff. The report in Governing, a news organization that reports on state and local government, found that Michigan ranked first in performance measures and fourth in how well it administers contracts. Those are good marks, according to Liz Farmer, author of the study on state procurement. Government procurement is a process to maximize efficiency in large-scale transactions involving a public agency. It’s important that it’s done well because it’s how the government spends taxpayers’ money, Farmer said.

Agriculture

New apple storage containers extend life of apples

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – A new technique would allow Michigan apples to be stored longer without draining their freshness. JMT US, a French company with Okemos offices, recently finished a six-month study of expanding the freshness of stored apples at Michigan State University. The purpose of the study was to compare the apple quality in controlled atmosphere modules with regular cold room storage, according to a recent Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) report. “It’s making a large box that can hold up to 800 pounds of apples into a modified atmosphere container, which limits the gas movement inside through membranes on the lid of the box,” said Randy Beaudry, a MSU horticulture professor. The low oxygen and elevated carbon dioxide levels in these containers keep the apples from spoiling.

Agriculture

Buffs boost black swallowtail as best bet for state butterfly

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – The black swallowtail would flit over Michigan as the official butterfly of the state if recently proposed legislation is approved. The apple blossom was designated Michigan’s state flower in 1897. The white pine was designated the state tree in 1955, and the brook trout was made the state fish in 1965. Despite Michigan’s long list of official symbols, it’s one of just three states without an official insect or butterfly. Sponsored by Sen. Curtis Hertel Jr., D-Meridian Township, the bill would put Michigan in line with 47 other states that have either a state butterfly or insect.

Public Safety

Bill would ensure new firefighter training opportunities

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Training and education for Michigan firefighters would expand under a recently proposed bill to increase the kind of training allowed to be funded from a tax on fireworks. “The bill would ensure that money designated for fire safety training can be used for such,” said Sen. Geoff Hansen, R-Hart, the bill sponsor. “It would allow us to provide enhanced and more complete fire safety training across the state.”
Funding for firefighter training is made available through the safety fee assessed on the sale of all fireworks  and is set aside within the Fireworks Safety Fund. “Money has been building in this account,” said David Glotzbach,  chief of the Muskegon Fire Department and vice president of the Michigan Association of Fire Chiefs. “That’s designated directly to firefighter training and allocating it to get to the firefighters has been a struggle.”
According to the Michigan Fireworks Safety Act of 2011, all of the money received from fireworks safety fees must be used for the training of firefighters.

Public Safety

Bill would allow 18 year olds to be sentenced to juvenile institutions

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Convicted felons  who are 18 years old could be sentenced to certain juvenile institutions instead of prison under recently proposed legislation. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Wendell Byrd, D-Detroit, works in tandem with the juvenile reform package introduced in 2015 that raises Michigan’s criminal age from 17 to 18. Byrd’s bill was recently referred to the House Committee on Families, Children and Seniors. A hearing date has not been set. The juvenile reform package introduced last year would mean that 18-year-old offenders would be charged as juveniles instead of adults, said Terri Barker, a legislative aide for Byrd.

Health

Michigan traffic deaths rise, bucking decade trend

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – The number of traffic deaths in Michigan rose nearly 10 percent in 2015 following a 7.9 percent decrease the previous year. The 972 deaths reported so far is up 9.7 percent from the previous year, according to the Traffic Improvement Association of Michigan, a coalition of groups that analyze accident data. It is just the fourth time Michigan has seen an increase in annual traffic fatalities in the past 11 years. “They’ve been trending down over the last decade,” said Anne Readette, communications manager of the State Police’s Office of Highway Safety Planning. In 2004 there were 1,159 reported Michigan traffic deaths.

Health

No Zika virus in Michigan, experts say — yet

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – The Zika virus will likely reach Michigan, but it won’t be the mosquitoes that bring it, health officials say. The mosquitoes that carry the virus, Aedes aegypti or Aedes albopictus, “live predominantly in tropical areas,” said Josh Meyerson, medical director for the Department of Health of Northwest Michigan. Zika instead poses a threat to Michigan if someone contracts the virus elsewhere during a vacation and brings it here. While there are no confirmed cases of the virus in Michigan, it may be just a matter of time. “It is likely that we will have confirmed cases of the Zika virus in Michigan,” said Jennifer Eisner, public information officer for the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Government

Bills would allow concealed guns without permits

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By JASON KRAFT
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan residents could carry concealed handguns without a permit under a recently proposed package of four bills. After previously failed attempts to pass similar legislation, the lawmakers “started from scratch and proposed what we believe is the best language,” said co-sponsor Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Larkin Township. More so now than any time in recent history, people face a threat to personal and public safety, Glenn said. “The more law-abiding citizens who are armed and able to defend themselves and those around them, the better,” Glenn said. Others disagree.