Archive for December 2009
(MI) Detroit Free Press - Lt. Gov. John Cherry on Thursday proposed using Michigan’s water supply to fund education. Businesses that make a profit by selling Michigan’s water should pay a fee of 10 cents per bottle, Cherry said. That money, in turn, could replace the recently dismantled Promise Scholarship, he said.
By David Poulson
Dec. 14, 2009
Confession may be good for the soul but it sure makes for lousy public policy.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last week dug out an old chestnut of a strategy for soliciting comment on a $600 million copper-nickel mine. Critics nickname this process the confessional style of public discourse. Usually government officials resort to it as an efficient way to handle hearings where hundreds of people are eager to express dissatisfaction, if not anger.
By Rachael Gleason
Now it’s easier than ever to search for endangered species habitats and organic farms in Indiana.
An interactive map shows the locations of these sensitive areas so pesticide applicators know where to avoid pointing the nozzle.
A state agency in charge of regulating pesticide use in agricultural areas developed the map to “facilitate communication between applicators and growers.”
By Nick Mordowanec
Dec. 13, 2009
LANSING, Mich. – Ever since the emerald ash borer swept through Michigan in the summer of 2002, the state has spent tens of millions of dollars to subdue it.
But the exotic beetle thought to have come to the United States through airplane or ship cargo remains rampant.
(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Several hours after county and municipal trucks began spreading salt on area streets and freeways in this week’s snowstorm, the salt was detected in urban rivers and streams by a series of water quality monitoring gauges, an environmental official at the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District said Wednesday.
