Wildlife

Michigan officials seek to regulate carrier pigeons

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by Lacee Shepard

Local officials could restrict ownership of carrier pigeons on a community—by-community basis under a new Michigan proposal. Sen. Hoon-Yung Hopgood , D-Taylor, introduced a bill that would allow cities and townships to decide their own restrictions on carrier pigeons. The bill began after Hopgood received a constituent complaint about a neighbor owning too many carrier pigeons. “We thought we should give the cities the ability to do what make sense for a given community,” Hopgood said. “Then they can look out for the health and welfare of local residents.”

The proposal wouldn’t allow a local ban on the bird but would allow local governments to impose a limit on ownership if they see fit, Hopgood said.

Waste

Green Gridirons: University of Michigan

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A football stadium may have green grass but does it have green habits? Each week, Great Lakes Echo highlights a Big Ten football stadium’s attempts to do the most to impact the environment the least. All schools have information on the stadium’s diversion rate – the amount of waste recycled instead of put in a landfill. Stadium: Michigan Stadium (“The Big House”)

School: University of Michigan

Built: 1927

Capacity: 107,521

2012 diversion rate: 22.7 percent. Scouting report: Recycling efforts at the stadium began almost 20 years ago in 1994, and the University of Michigan currently has the biggest stadium recycling program in the nation.

Energy

Smart meters are easier to read but spark privacy concerns

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Smart meters are easy to read and an accurate way of measuring how much electricity is used by utility customers.

The Michigan Public Service Commission recently approved rules to control how data collected by the meters is used.

But some customers worry that the meters are a technological invasion of privacy.