Environment

Congress expands Great Lakes projects, 14 projects planned for Michigan

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By Qing Zhang
Capital News Service
LANSING — Everybody knows water flows, but not many people know that the sediment below it does too. That’s why harbors need dredging, or excavating the gradually accumulated material on the bottom and transporting it elsewhere. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Detroit District planned eight dredging projects in Michigan and Wisconsin for 2014 at a cost of $13.2 million. But Congress recently allocated an additional $17.8 million. That allows the district to include eight new projects and increase funding for four of the original projects.

Education

Preparation for trades could count toward graduation under proposed legislation

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By ASHLEY WEIGEL
Capital News Service
LANSING — High school students could learn algebra while working with metal under legislation pending in the Senate. The bills sponsored by Rep. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, and Rep. Joel Johnson, R-Clare, would give students more flexibility in classes they could take in high school. They could take an agricultural science or anatomy class in place of the traditional second year science class, swap a foreign language class for an industrial art class and fulfill the Algebra II requirement with classes that incorporate the material differently. The Michigan Merit Curriculum enacted in 2006 allows little flexibility for students to explore a career field, McBroom said. All around the state there have been unintended consequences popping up because of the rigid requirements, McBroom said.