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Local News

How to Keep Kids Safe From Adult Ads on Apps

The ProtectMiChild Registry is a Michigan Secretary of State program that allows parents and educational institutions to protect children from adult-themed advertisements on their electronic devices and email accounts.

Parents can register their child’s cell phone number, email address, and social ID to prevent ads from reaching their children. ProtectMiChild blocks ads for alcohol, tobacco online gambling, and pornography.

Registration for the service is online at protectmichild.com, and once parents register the addresses, phone numbers, or Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram usernames, advertisers for adults-only services will be required to remove them from their sending list within 30 days.

Educational institutions including public and private schools and libraries can also register their domains with the Michigan Children’s Protection Registry. This prevents adult content from being emailed to any address in that institution’s domain.

The service is provided through Unspam, the same company that provides the do-not-contact registry for the government. The company recently expanded their protection beyond email and phone numbers to include the social apps Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram. Blocking adult ads from these social media apps does not affect the way the apps work.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

 

Several Local Christmas Parades Planned

Mark your calendars! Plenty of Christmas parades are in the works.

Santa Claus is coming to town this Friday. Downtown Port Huron’s annual Sperry’s Santa Parade is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 26th.

The community parade features local school bands and floats from various community groups. The parade goes right through the heart of downtown.

The Parade will go from North to South this year, ending with Santa lighting Downtown Port Huron’s Christmas Tree in front of Michigan Mutual.

The Marysville Lighted Christmas Parade is scheduled for December 4th at 5:00 p.m. Marysville’s parade starts at the Village Green Plaza and heads to the Marysville Park Bandshell, ending in a tree lighting ceremony.

December 4th is also the date of the Sandusky Lighted Implement Parade, starting at 7:00 p.m.  This parade features farm equipment lit up for the season and is themed as “Bigger, Brighter, Stronger” for 2021.

The City of Yale will be hosting their Lighted Christmas Parade on Saturday, December 11th, at 6:15 p.m. This year’s theme is A Dr. Seuss Christmas.

So bundle up and catch a hometown parade with your family and friends during this holiday season.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

EGLE Teaches About Effective Recycling

“America Recycles Day” is celebrated in November and draws attention to the importance of household recycling. Not all recycled items are equal. There needs to be a market for recycled items, particularly plastics, for them to actually get recycled.

Matt Flechter, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s (EGLE) Recycling Market Development Specialist said, “Containers such as shampoo bottles, milk jugs and yogurt cups or similar food tubs are the easiest to recycle and are in highest demand by recycling centers and U.S. manufacturers.”

Most people look at the number on the bottom of plastic containers and assume that means it is recyclable. That’s not always the case, according to EGLE. The shape of the item is the most important factor.

Generally, soft drink, juice, and water bottles, usually with a #1 on them, are easily recycled back into bottles or used to make carpet, luggage, and polyester. Laundry and shampoo bottles, #2 plastics, can also be recycled back into high-density plastic, and yogurt and margarine tubs, usually #5 plastics, are easily recyclable.

https://www.epa.gov/recyclingstrategy/america-recycles-day

RecyclingRaccoons.org

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

United Way Announces Early Bird Winners

On November 16, 2021 United Way of St. Clair County announced they had 40 companies submit their Employee Giving Campaigns along with several individuals. This year’s 2021 Early Bird Campaign has increased the thermometer to 36% of the campaign goal of $1.1 million. United Way recognizes the generosity of our loyal and new supporters. The annual Early Bird drawing was shared live through Facebook and one lucky united way supporter of each company will win a gift card:

  • 1st Place – $250 Gift Card: Community Enterprises of St. Clair County
  • 2nd Place – $150 Gift Card: Sanborn Gratiot Memorial Home
  • 3rd Place – $100 Gift Card: Council on Aging, serving St. Clair County

In addition to the traditional Early Bird Campaign, the Cabinet offered an additional incentive through a drawing for the Campaign Coordinators who turned in their United Way Campaigns by November 15th. Winners of these drawings were Blue Water Community Action and Sanborn Gratiot Memorial Home.

United Way thanked and recognized the 2021 Sponsors for funding the gift card drawing:

  • AFL-CIO
  • Amerifirst Home Mortgage
  • Cargill
  • DTE Energy
  • Eastern Michigan Bank
  • Farm Bureau- Danny Negin
  • Lake Huron Medical Center
  • McLaren Port Huron
  • SEMCO Energy Gas Company
  • Xtreme Powerline and Construction

If you would like additional information on giving, or volunteer opportunities, please call the United Way office, 810.985.8169 or visit www.uwstclair.org/2021Campaign.

Submitted by United Way of St. Clair County

Derek Hough Port Huron Town Hall

Derek Hough from Dancing With the Stars Coming to Town Hall

Port Huron Town Hall is welcoming its next guest to McMorran Place Theater on December 13, 2021 at 10:30 AM. The featured guest is Derek Hough from Dancing With the Stars, and tickets are selling fast.

Derek Hough is a six time champion of Dancing with the Stars, and has been performing as a dancer, actor, and stage performer since he was a child. He has most recently been performing in Las Vegas as the star of his own show, Derek Hough: No Limit.

Derek is an Emmy Award Winner and a New York Best-selling Author, and he will be sharing part of his story at Port Huron Town Hall. According to a press release, Hough will open up about “his transformation from a bullied little boy to an accomplished performer, coach, and judge who lets nothing and no one stand in his way.”

Tickets to the event are on sale now at the McMorran Box Office or by phone at 810-985-6166.

Future Town Hall guests for the 2021-22 season are Amy Dickinson, Syndicated Advice Columnist, on February 14, 2022, and Lara Logan, Former CBS News Chief Correspondent, on March 14, 2022.

Reporting for WGRT – Jessie Wiegand

 

November is Adoption Month with 200 Kids Looking for Families

It’s Adoption Month in Michigan and November 23rd has been proclaimed as “Adoption Day”. Courts statewide are hosting special adoption ceremonies.

Michigan has 11,000 children in foster care. There are 200 of those children awaiting permanent adoption.

Demetrius Starling, executive director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Services Agency said, “MDHHS believes that every child deserves a forever family. Our goal is to find permanent homes for children as soon as we can. Adoptive families from teens in foster care are especially needed.”

MDHHS has focused on keeping families together as part of their policy over the past three years, which has resulted in 3,000 less children in foster care since 2018. They report that more than 1,650 children were adopted from Michigan’s child welfare system over the past fiscal year.

Anyone interested in adopting from foster care can contact the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange at 800-589-6273, or see biographies and photos of children available for adoption at www.mare.org.

Reporting for WGRT- Jennie McClelland