Aerial view of high school football field
Recreation

Artificial turf trend continues in high schools amid safety considerations

By |

By Donté Smith

Artificial turf fields are becoming a hallmark at high schools across the state with the Michigan High School Athletic Association reporting around 100 high schools now playing on them.

A study by the University Hospitals Sports Medicine Institute and Case Western Reserve University showed athletes were 58% more likely to sustain an injury during athletic activities on artificial turf, compared to natural surfaces, with significantly higher injury rates observed in football, soccer and rugby.

A photo showing the downtown area of Detroit from above
Climate

Hotter temperatures worsen health inequalities in Detroit

By |

By Ayushya Gautam

Big buildings, concrete and roads paint Detroit, just as they do other cities across the country. As a result, the city’s temperature also tends to be hotter than in nearby communities.

Cities are prone to the heat island effect, a phenomenon in which urban areas experience more heat than rural or even nearby suburban areas due to the concentration of infrastructure.

A goose and its babies walk across an open green field
Wildlife

More goose poop, more problems

By |

By Clara Lincolnhol

Chris Compton, owner of a company called Goose Busters, has spent nearly 30 years addressing human-goose conflicts. Over the years, the goose population has continued to grow, especially in more populated areas, he said.

“We have them all over,” he said. “They’re building up in Lansing quite a bit. Ann Arbor’s a big area. Troy, Detroit, Rochester Hills and Auburn Hills too.” 

That also means there’s a lot of goose poop. One adult goose can produce up to two pounds of feces a day. Too much waste could cause environmental problems, research shows.

Climate

Many elderly Ohioans feel unprepared for severe weather, study finds

By |

By Clara Lincolnhol
Ohio took a beating from a record-breaking 73 tornadoes in 2024. Twisters and other severe weather events are becoming more common in the Midwest due to climate change, and seniors are more at risk. As the threat from major storms grows, roughly one in five older adults living in central Ohio say they feel unprepared or uncertain of their readiness for a severe weather event, according to a recent study conducted by The Ohio State University. The study surveyed more than 1,400 individuals aged 65 and older living in eight counties to gauge their preparedness for a severe weather event. Questions were based on storm-readiness recommendations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 
Overall, 78% of participants said they felt prepared for severe weather, 13% said they did not and 9% felt unsure. 
The study also asked individuals if severe weather caused them significant life disruptions, such as preventing them from getting to doctor’s appointments or from accessing medication or other vital supplies.

Waste

EPA restricts use of chemicals used in dry cleaning, brake cleaners 

By |

By Elinor Epperson
The Environmental Protection Agency has banned the use of perchloroethylene in dry cleaning processes. The chemical will be phased out over a 10-year period. 
The EPA has banned all uses of trichloroethylene (TCE) and most uses of perchloroethylene (PCE). Those are cancer-causing chemicals used in a variety of consumer products and industrial processes. TCE is used in spray coatings for arts and crafts, for example. The new rules will ban both chemicals from all consumer products, most within a year, according to the EPA.

Wildlife

Michigan’s lost prairies: Grassland restoration fights wildlife decline

By |

By Ruth Thornton

Gary Groff fondly remembers hunting all day on his grandfather’s land as a boy. “For my dad’s life he could not believe that I could go out there before daylight and come back after dark,” he said. 

Now retired for many years, he still hunts the central Michigan property with friends. The parcel is partially wooded and partially farmed, but the farmland is poor. “The soil is sandier than heck,” Groff said, and the farmer who rented it did not make much money from the crops. 

So, a few years ago, they enrolled the parcel in a government set-aside program and seeded it with native grasses and wildflowers. Now, the farmer “gets paid more for leaving it idle than he does for farming,” Groff said.  

The program is one of many by state and federal agencies to restore grasslands and native prairies in Michigan.

Transportation

Transit agencies to test thermal cameras to beef up traffic safety

By |

By Anna Rossow
Capital News Service
Federal grant money will help Michigan’s Department of Transportation implement increased safety measures for public transit drivers and pedestrians. MDOT will receive over $500,000 in funding to install thermal imaging cameras on public transit vehicles to help prevent collisions with people and animals in a variety of weather and light conditions. According to MDOT, the cameras will be installed on up to 60 vehicles at four rural and urban transit agencies: the Blue Water Transit Area in Port Huron, the city of Alma, the Community Action Agency of South Central Michigan based in Battle Creek and the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan. The state’s application for the technology started when Janet Geissler, a mobility specialist at the department, saw a news release on such cameras being used on cars to detect pedestrians, cyclists and animals
She said it is a good technology that is applicable to transit vehicles. She said, “Collisions between transit vehicles and people are a really serious issue.”
The cameras will be mounted on various-sized vehicles – large and small buses, vans and motor coaches – she said. 
Geissler said visible light cameras are being used to alert drivers of obstacles but don’t work as well in poor lighting conditions. 
“The thermal imaging cameras will detect that obstacle, the person, whether it’s nighttime, whether it’s a snowstorm, whether it’s foggy or whether there’s sun glare,” she said.

The Buzz

West Michigan timber fraud earns prison term

By |

By Eric Freedman
Capital News Service
The former owner of a West Michigan timber harvesting business has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for cheating investors of more than $2 million. Authorities said Trent Witteveen of Montague ran a Ponzi scheme involving phony documents and misusing some investors’ money to repay others. 
U.S. Judge Robert Jonker also ordered Witteveen, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud, to pay $844,282 in restitution. The grand jury’s indictment laid out the background this way, saying Witteveen “earned his living in the timber harvesting business, initially as a subcontractor or independent contractor to sawmills: 
He registered a company called Tall Timber and ran the fraud scheme from June 2018 to January 2021, the indictment charged. 
It described how Witteveen approached landowners whose property had hardwood and softwood trees for purchase by the lumber industry and sawmills, mostly around Pentwater and elsewhere in Northwest Michigan 
“Had he operated his business in a lawful manner, Witteveen would have used the investment capital to pay the landowners and harvest timber, including by subcontracting the cutting of the timber,” the indictment said. “When the cutters harvested the timber, it would be transported to various sawmills who would determine a price and pay Titan Timber.”
But that’s not what actually happened, the indictment charged. Instead, he used proceeds from one investor to repay others and spent their money for his own personal expenses and lifestyle. 
The defense offered a somewhat different spin on events:
In a sentence memorandum, defense lawyer Ryan Maesen of Walker said, “For a time, the business went as planned and investors were paid off.

Wildlife

Robins may be a predictor of dangerous lead levels in soil, study finds

By |

 

By Eric Freedman
Capital News Service
Remember the canary in the coal mine? If the caged canary died, that was an urgent early warning for miners that the air was too dangerous to breathe and to get above-ground as quickly as possible. Now there’s evidence from Southeast Michigan that the American robin can provide an early warning about dangerous lead levels in the soil. A new study in the journal “Urban Ecosystems” found that high blood lead levels in robins can accurately predict where soil is contaminated. 
Exposure of children to lead is linked to damage to their nervous system and brain, learning and behavioral problems, and speech and hearing problems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There is relatively little knowledge about the health impacts of blood lead levels on songbirds such as robins.

Waste

Minnesota debates what counts as carbon-free energy

By |

By Ruth Thornton
A recent decision by Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission could mean that wood and trash will be considered “carbon-free” energy sources under the state’s new climate law. The law, passed in 2023, requires all electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2040, with interim goals defined for 2030 and 2035. However, it did not define which energy sources meet that definition and instead tasked the PUC to make that decision with public input. At first glance, the definition of carbon-free energy seems straightforward. But there is disagreement over the details.