George James

Port Huron DDA Wants to Know What You Thought of This Year’s Boat Weekend

Did you go to downtown Port Huron during this year’s Boat Weekend? Planners want to hear from you with a short survey about your experience.

The yearly celebration that serves as a kickoff to the Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat race had to improvise a bit this year as major construction closed down the usual venue.

City of Port Huron Downtown Development Authority Director Natacha Hayden said that she thought the event went extremely well. Hayden said that the new layout due to the ongoing construction at the Zebra Bar parking lot “caused some last-minute changes, but it still allowed festival goers to enjoy festival favorites”.

Hayden said that there is always something that can be improved, and feedback is essential to do that. She is looking forward to gaining insight into the participants’ experiences.

The survey asks for a rating for various experiences and also asks some open-ended questions for general comments.

A link to the survey can be found below.

Boat Weekend Survey

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

State Budget Allocates $555 Million to Address Teacher Shortage

Teachers are in short supply in Michigan, but that could change with substantial state investment in teacher recruitment and retention. Having students pay to student teach could be a thing of the past, along with other changes to the traditional way that students have embarked on teaching careers.

The Michigan legislature allocated $555 million to support the educator workforce in the fiscal year 2023 state budget. 

The Future Proud Michigan Educator Staff program supports employees who are working on teacher certification and creates education career exploration programs.

The Michigan Department of Treasury is getting involved with the Future Educator Fellowships and Student Teacher Stipends to the tune of $355 million allocated for the compensation and scholarship programs.

There is also a program to recruit military veterans to become teachers and an investment in recruiting technical education educators.

Funds will be available after October 1st.

Future Proud Michigan Educator webpage 

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

August 2nd Election is Near: Still Time to Register, But Too Late to Mail Absentee Ballots

It’s really too late to mail in an absentee ballot. With the August 2nd election less than two weeks away, it is best to hand deliver absentee ballots to the local clerk’s office or to put them in a local drop box.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said, “Drop boxes continue to be among the safe options that voters have to return their ballot securely this year, in addition to hand-delivering their ballot to their clerk’s office, voting early at their clerk’s office, or voting at their polling place on Election Day.”

While it’s too late to mail in a ballot, it’s not too late to register to vote. Registering needs to take place in person at the local clerk’s office and can happen right up until the end of election day. Online and mail registration is not permitted within 14 days of an election.

You can check the status of your ballot or absentee application online at Michigan.gov/Vote or by calling your local clerk.

The Michigan primary election requires voters to vote for only one party’s candidates. Voting for candidates in multiple parties on the same ballot will cause the ballot not to be counted.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

Don’t Fall for the Latest Text and Call Scam

There’s another scam to look out for. This time it involves imposters who pretend to be representing banks or utilities. They fraudulently request personal information or payments.

Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services Director Anita Fox said, “Even if your phone’s caller ID displays a legitimate business’s name, you should be wary of anyone calling you asking for payment or personal information of any kind. If you think the call might be legitimate, hang up and call the number on your billing statement or other documentation from the company before giving out any information or making a payment.”

A recent version of the scam had criminals saying they work for DTE and contacting victims via text and then with a phone call. The scammers ask customers to make missed payments through a website and use a cash transfer app like Zelle. The real DTE doesn’t contact customers like that.

Don’t give personal account information to anyone who initiates a call, even for “verification purposes”. If the caller says an issue must be resolved immediately, its probably a scam. Never reply to an unsolicited text message.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

Giant Wind Turbines Could Be on Their Way to Southern Sanilac County

Fifty wind turbines could be coming to southern Sanilac County, and residents have mixed feelings about the potential drastic change to the landscape.

Riverbend Wind Energy, LLC, also known as Liberty Power and Algonquin Power and Utilities Corporation, of Canada, is in the process of acquiring land for 50 wind turbines in Buel, Elk, Fremont, and Speaker Townships.

Some residents who will be living near the turbines have formed a grassroots effort to impose a moratorium on moving forward with the project. They are considering legal action, citing concerns about conflict of interest with local government zoning boards and about the effect on the quiet, peaceful country landscape in which they live. Turbines could be as high as 700 feet, and are lit up at night.

According to Fremont Township Supervisor Jeff Furness, who owns property where turbines could be placed, the project could have “good economic value to the townships, schools, and county”. Furness said there have been test towers up for the past twelve months, but he did not yet know the results of the study.

Furness said that at this point the project is moving forward.

Furness said that wind zoning has been in place since 2016 when Nexterra, an energy company, was showing interest in the area for wind energy. There are currently power transmission lines owned by ITC that can handle the power generated by the wind turbines, according to Furness.

Residents of Speaker and Fremont Townships have voiced strong concerns about the effects on their property values, along with health and safety concerns for humans, livestock, and wildlife, and the safety of the turbines near their property.

Those opposed to the Riverbend Wind Energy project have also cited concerns regarding conflict of interest among the planning commissions that would permit construction of the supersized windmills. Many of those decision-makers stand to profit from allowing the turbines on their property.

When asked about the potential for conflict of interest, Furness pointed out that due process has been followed all along and it has been proven that there is no conflict of interest. He said that “everything that was supposed to have happened, has happened.”

Furness said that when there is a direct conflict of interest, such as voting on one’s own parcel, that Planning Commission member abstains from the vote. The Planning Commission voting is done on a parcel-by-parcel basis.

Liberty/Algonquin has a target date for starting the construction of the turbines in 2023 and is targeting generating electricity in 2024.

To see the map of the location of the proposed Riverbend Wind Energy project, go to https://riverbendwind.com/?page_id=36.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland