We missed yesterday, but here’s some recent Michigan headlines:
- Senate Republicans (Still) Obstructing Smoking Ban, Drug Company Immunity Legislation – Blogging for Michigan looks at how Senate Republicans are blocking action on a smoking ban and repealing drug company immunity in the Michigan State Senate.
- Bouchard Strategy: “I’ll Be So Unpopular, You’ll Never Re-Elect Me” – Commentary on Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard’s announcement that he is running for the Republican nomination for governor. It doesn’t exactly sound like he has a winning campaign…
- Michigan to get $7.4M in federal stimulus funding for aquatic wildlife habitats – Michigan is going to get money from the federal stimulus bill to improve aquatic wildlife in state forests. The money will go towards a number of different projects including opening up streams that are currently blocked by artificial obstructions such as dams.
- Feds, Georgia-Pacific agree on Kalamazoo River PCB landfill containment plan – The federal government and Georgia-Pacific have agreed to a plan to cap a Kalamazoo Township landfill that is filled with PCBs.
- Report identifies West Michigan as ripe for wind farm development – A report by the Michigan Public Service Commission identifies Allegan County as a prime location for wind power.
- Proposed $12M Kent County recycling center to simplify recycling for residents – A proposed recycling center for Kent County would all residents to put all of their recyclables in a single bin. According to the article, “single-stream” recycling like this boosts recycling by 20%-30%.
- Kalamazoo City Commission committee set to move on anti-discrimination ordinance – Kalamazoo’s City Commission is expected to move forward on an anti-discrimination ordinance that was approved and then rescinded last year after opponents gathered enough signatures to place it on the ballot.
- PETA’s plans for horse-carriage protests, fish empathy center highlight a busy animal-rights week – The Grand Rapids Press takes the opportunity given by a few headlines about PETA to break out the anti-vegetarian jokes and to remind people that a lot of idiots live in West Michigan. Honestly, do you really think the fact that people hate PETA on the MLive.com message board is newsworthy?
- Obama appoints Great Lakes czar – President Barack Obama has appointed a Chicago-based environmental lawyer to oversee the clean-up of the Great Lakes.
- Michigan House OKs keeping criminals away from prison – Michigan’s House of Representatives approved legislation earlier this week that is designed to reduce corrections spending and reduce re-entry.
- Bills target medical pot regulation – Republicans in Michigan’s Senate have introduced bills aimed at regulating medical marijuana. According to advocates, the bill would nullify the proposal that legalized medical marijuana last election.
- Michigan court rules for police in Taser death – The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of police officers who were charged with the death of a Saginaw man who was shot twice by a Taser.
If we missed anything, let us know in the comments.
