Education

Schools look bad while doing good

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – On-time high school graduation rates are down in Leelanau County, but is that a bad thing? 2011 graduation statistics look worse in Leelanau County, but it’s because Suttons Bay High School has taken on at-risk students whom the district knows won’t graduate in the standard four years, said Principal Raphael Rittenhouse. He said other districts around the state try to get at-risk students to drop out before they bring down graduations statistics – before ninth grade – or send them to alternative schools for the same reason. Suttons Bay has as many online students from districts across Michigan as local in-classroom students, Rittenhouse said. Many had been turned away from other districts.

Environment

Energy efficiency rewarding for Michigan businesses

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Success in energy efficiency is something worth bragging about in Michigan. Detroit was listed in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 top 25 cities with the most ENERGY STAR rated buildings. It ranked 19th with 100 ENERGY STAR buildings. The leader, Los Angeles, had 528 buildings with ENERGY STAR ratings. ENERGY STAR buildings use less energy, are less expensive to operate and cause fewer greenhouse gas emissions than at least 75 percent of similar buildings.

Government

Let's eat outdoors, doggonit!

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By JUSTINE MCGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Don’t forget the doggy dish. Michiganians might be able to dine at restaurants with their furry friends soon – at least if they are outdoors. Dogs may be allowed to accompany their owners in outdoor dining areas if a bill introduced by Rep. Margaret O’Brien, R-Portage, passes. O’Brien said she wrote the bill after being approached by constituents who were concerned because they could bring their dogs into patio seating areas when traveling out of state to Florida but not in Michigan. The bill would allow a restaurant to decide whether to permit dogs in outdoor seating areas and would let it turn away dogs if there is a health or safety hazard present.

Education

Valedictorians may be ready for final valedictory

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By JUSTINE MCGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Petoskey High School has done away with class rankings, but some other Northern Michigan high schools still see value in comparatively sizing students up. The Petoskey School Board voted in March to eliminate the ranking of students within a graduating class. There will no longer be a first or a fifth-ranked student or a thirty-third ranked one. Principal Jim Kanine said that college counselors at the top 10 universities that graduates attend told the district that removing rankings would not hurt student admissibility. The list includes Michigan State, Grand Valley State, University of Michigan, Central Michigan and Northern Michigan.

Education

College degrees pay off, new study shows

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – A four-year college degree is still worth paying for – even during recession years, a recent study shows. The Pew Charitable Trust concluded that during the recession, recent college grads had a lower unemployment rate than their counterparts with only high school diplomas or associate’s degrees, and the reason was largely not because they took pay cuts or accepted jobs they were overqualified for. “It’s indisputable that a full college education puts people at a better economic standing,” said Rep. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, a member of the House Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee. The national study shows that although bachelor’s degree holders experienced a 7 percent decline in employment, a 5 percent decline in wages and a 3 percent decline in the number working in college-level jobs during the recession, they were still much better protected than their less-educated counterparts. “This shows that we really need to continue to invest in higher education and all education as a public good and as a way to increase prosperity,” McCann said.

Business & Economy

Government jobs open, but not in Michigan

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – This could be a good year to get a public sector job in parts of the country, according to the International Public Management Association for Human Resources. But apparently not in Michigan. The association’s new survey reveals that, nationally, more governmental bodies plan to hire for new positions while fewer plan on layoffs, compared to recent years. The Michigan Municipal League, Michigan Townships Association and Michigan Civil Service Commission didn’t have statewide projections for hiring and layoffs in 2013. Alpena and St.

Agriculture

Tart cherry insurance program may arrive next year

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Last year’s tart cherry loss has inspired a flurry of activity to explore federal crop insurance to protect Michigan growers. Wayne Wood, president of the Michigan Farm Bureau, said, “The reason they didn’t have crop insurance before is that it’s such a small industry, and small companies couldn’t make the investment and do the research to justify the policy.”
According to the Risk Management Agency, the majority of specialty crops – like tart cherries – in the state aren’t eligible for insurance. They include asparagus, cucumbers, squash, Christmas trees, sweet corn, strawberries, honey, celery and maple syrup. “And quite frankly, when you haven’t had an event like this since 1945, are you really going to buy insurance?” Wood said. “The demand was low and the demand is high today, as you would expect.”
Many specialty crops do have insurance programs, like apples, blueberries, potatoes, grapes, onions, peaches and tomatoes.

Government

Proposal advances to let public pet bear cubs

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Oswald Bear Ranch in Newberry has allowed the public to interact with bear cubs for 15 years, but Michigan law and animal rights activists would end the practice unless a bill passes to make the activity legal. Oswald’s has violated a 2000 state “large carnivore” law for more than a decade, but was unaware of the situation until last summer, said Carl Oswald, who works at the ranch and is owner’s son. It immediately ended public interaction with its bear cubs last June. “After that, the cubs would look at people, wondering what they had done wrong and why no one would come in and pet them,” Oswald said. Sen. Tom Casperson, R-Escanaba, took up the issue and got a bill passed in December to allow petting of bear cubs up to 36 weeks old or 90 pounds.

Transportation & Roads

Bad roads could turn tourists away

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING – Michigan’s deteriorating roads aren’t equipped to handle the extra traffic from the growing number of tourists throughout the state, and some officials fear bad roads could turn tourists away or give them a bad first impression. A lot of money goes into Pure Michigan and it’s been “wildly successful,” but the first impression of Michigan for many people is bad, dirty roads full of potholes that detract from the state’s beauty, said Kirk Steudle, director of the Department of Transportation (MDOT). Pure Michigan is an ad campaign that promotes the state as a tourism destination. Indicators of statewide tourism increases include record hotel occupancy in 2012 and increased out-of-state spending, according the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Pat Black, director of the Marquette County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said, “It’s great the state gives us $25 million a year for Pure Michigan, but there are more and more people on the roads wearing them down.”
“We’re really shooting ourselves in the foot,” Black said.

Agriculture

Kid power behind push for cherries as state fruit

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By JUSTINE McGUIRE
Capital News Service
LANSING — Pucker up, Michiganders. Tart cherries could be the newest state symbol. The journey to honor the tart cherry began several years ago in Wendy Gravlin’s fourth-grade class at Gallimore Elementary School in Canton. “Even fourth-graders have a voice,” she told her students before they wrote letters to state officials asking them to make tart cherries the official fruit of Michigan. While learning about state symbols, the students noticed that Michigan hadn’t designated a fruit, unlike some of its neighbors.