Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/author/capital-news-service/page/26/)
Capital News Service is a wire service at Michigan State University covering state government - issues and personalities.
Michigan residents are paying less for yearly passes to state parks but the program has generated more funds than in prior years.
Michigan Recreation Passports, available at the Secretary of State for the past year, now allow almost 2 million vehicles access to all Michigan state parks.
Michigan residents on food assistance are doubling their purchasing power at farmers markets in a program that encourages healthier eating while supporting farmers.
Michigan companies have hopped on the renewable energy bandwagon, which some state officials and company executives say is reviving the state’s manufacturing industry.
In 2008, the Michigan Natural Resources Commission prohibited hunters from baiting deer.
Some three years later northeast Michigan residents still blame a ban on deer baiting for harming the local economy.
Energy companies that want more Michigan wind farms have come up with a solution to placate neighboring property owners: sharing some of the cold hard cash they generate.
A year after state energy experts recommended developing offshore wind energy in the Great Lakes, lawmakers have not passed legislation needed to implement it.
By PAIGE HOUPT
Capital News Service
LANSING- Some lawmakers want to sink ships, aircrafts and cement structures in the Great Lakes to spur Michigan tourist revenue. Some tourism officials question if the expensive and lengthy process of cleaning and sinking a vessel or aircraft will provide enough economic revenue. Others are concerned about environmental impacts. But with nearly 10,000 shipwrecks at the bottom of the Great Lakes, recreational diving is already a popular activity in the state. “Recreational diving tourism is a huge tax revenue source in other states such as Florida and California,” said Rep. Greg MacMaster, R-Kewadin.
Under proposed legislation, some Michigan landfills would only need one instead of two liners to keep them from contaminating the environment.
The most visible legacy of Michigan’s lighthouse heritage is in the buildings preserved along the coast — among them the Whitefish Point Light Station on Lake Superior, Grand Traverse Lighthouse in Leelanau State Park and Big Sable Point.
Entrepreneurs who sell homemade food products may soon be allowed to increase the amount of money they earn without undergoing health inspections and licensing.