Ethanol production levels off in Michigan

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Less than a year after a brutal drought damaged corn crops across the Midwest, the ethanol industry is looking to recover from its first national decline in 15 years. Though Michigan’s corn crop was damaged less than those in nearby Indiana and Illinois, production of ethanol — an alcohol-based fuel made from corn — slowed at its refineries while other facilities throughout the U.S. idled or were shut down. For example, the Global Ethanol Inc. Riga facility near Blissfield was able to maintain its 46 employees through last year’s drought but experienced declines in output, plant manager Bill Welever said. “The ethanol industry is highly dependent on the weather and, in turn, there’s peaks and valleys,” Welever said. “Over the course of the last six years, there’s been a lot of ups and downs.”
Jim Zook, executive director of the Michigan Corn Growers Association, said this year’s crop projections look promising, but extended cold temperatures and heavy rainfall have delayed planting a few weeks for many farmers.

Inmates not always treated for addiction, mental illness

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Unpredictable behavior, irrationality, confusion, loss of control: all are symptoms of mental illness and signs of drug abuse. Although the two can be similar, problems of addiction and mental health have long been dealt with separately in county jails, Michigan Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Terrence Jungel said. Mentally ill inmates with drug addictions seeking help for their illnesses often are turned away from treatment because of their substance abuse problem and vice versa, Jungel said. When substance abuse counselors turn away drug addicts because of their mental illnesses or mentally ill patients are turned away because they have substance abuse problems, Jungel said the system is working against itself. “You’ve got two people pointing fingers at each other,” he said.

Winemakers pressing for new grape varieties

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — As wine grape growers prepare for what many hope will be another strong season, some members of the industry also hope that this year’s crop will reflect innovation. Experiments with new grape varieties have been underway since 2007 at Michigan State University’s Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center in Traverse City. This year, some growers expect to see the first production of wines from at least two varieties of red grapes that are new to the state — teroldego and lagrein. They’re among a few dozen tested during the past few years in an effort to diversify the wine produced in Michigan, particularly reds. Michigan reds have been a weak point in the eyes of judges and critics, said Lee Lutes, a winemaker and general manager of Black Star Farm winery in Suttons Bay.

Long sentences fuel big prisons budget

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital New Service
LANSING — Despite a declining prison population, the average Michigan prisoner is spending more time behind bars — at significant taxpayer expense. Michigan inmates spend on average 4.3 years in prison while the national average is 2.9 years, according to a study by the Pew Charitable Trust. The disparity is even greater among violent criminals at 7.6 years on average in Michigan compared to five years nationally. Some experts argue longer prison stints do little to deter crime or reduce recidivism and therefore only swell the Corrections Department budget. Corrections Director Daniel Heyns said the major source of the problem is sentencing.

State prisons adapting to graying, infirm inmates

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — When you imagine a state prison inmate, you might think of someone young and tough with arms covered in tattoos and muscles swollen from hours of pumping iron in the yard. How about wrinkled and gray with arthritic hands gripping a walker or spinning the wheels on a wheelchair? Despite an overall decline in prison population, the number of inmates above the age of 65 has increased 78 percent to 1,073 during the past decade. Those inmates make up about 2.5 percent of the prison system, but with more baby boomers entering old age, that number will only go up, officials warn. It’s a fact the Department of Corrections can’t ignore.

No hole in one for Michigan golf this year

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — March 2012, golf courses across the state were in full swing. This year, some are still buried in snow. Last year brought the first signs of growth in a sport that had seen substantial declines in participation in recent years, but lingering winter weather threatens to stop that progress cold. “Last year we were golfing by now and this year there’s still 6-to-8 inches of snow on the ground,” Joy VanDrie, executive director of the Cadillac Area Visitors Bureau, said. With eight courses within 30 minutes of each other, the Cadillac area is one of many parts of the state that benefitted from last year’s early spring.

Fracking fervor fomenting

 
By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — The process is the same: Drills burrow thousands of feet below the surface to make way for large quantities of water, sand and chemicals to be pumped into the ground to create fissures for gas to flow through. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, has existed in Michigan since 1952, largely without opposition or question. More than 12,000 wells have been drilled during the past six decades the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) hasn’t recorded a major leak or spill in that time. Despite what industry officials call an impressive safety track record, this method of natural gas extraction is under fire. Advances in technology allow energy companies to dig deeper and efficiently extract more natural gas and oil, creating a nationwide boom in supply and raising environmental concerns among residents of producing states, such as Michigan.

Green jobs grow again after dip

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital New Service
LANSING — After losing 3 percent of its “green” jobs a year earlier, Michigan became one of the fastest-growing states for environmental employment last year. According to Environmental Entrepreneurs, a national organization of business leaders, Michigan was among the top 10 states for environmental job growth in 2012, adding 19 projects and about 3,700 jobs. That brings the total to more than 86,000. The report was a sign of good things to come not just in Michigan, but nationwide, said Hugh McDiarmid Jr., communications director of the Michigan Environment Council, a coalition of conservationist groups. The Environmental Entrepreneurs report estimated an increase of 110,000 green jobs throughout the U.S.

“Michigan has the manufacturing infrastructure, skilled workers and quality of life that will enable us to attract our share of this growing field,” McDiarmid said.

Electronic court records could cut costs, create privacy risks

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — To save time and money, a bipartisan group of legislators wants to make more court records digitally accessible. The legislation would reduce the time it takes to access them and therefore reduce court costs, Rep. David Rutledge, D-Ypsilanti, said. The proposals would let digital and electronic records be used as evidence instead of requiring the originals. “This is part of modernizing the court system,” Rutledge said. “It has an opportunity to speed things up in the system and thereby save taxpayer dollars.”
Some states digitize all their court records, while others are in the process of doing so, reducing costs for litigants as well as taxpayers, said Seth Andersen, executive director of the American Judicature Society in Des Moines, Iowa.

Poachers, trespassing hunters could face higher fines

By KYLE CAMPBELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Deer poachers might soon be paying big bucks for illegally killing big bucks in the Great Lakes State. A pair of bills in the Senate aim to deter hunters from trespassing on farmland, as well as increasing penalties for poachers who target large-antlered deer by tacking on additional restitution fees. Ypsilanti resident Jim Pryce, president of the Tri County Sportsmen’s League in Saline, authored a resolution for the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC) that inspired the legislation. “Here in Michigan we have devalued the big bucks,” Pryce said. “Right now it doesn’t matter if you look at a 10-point buck or small buck, the fine is only $1,000 for poaching.”
Sens.