Local News

In Michigan, apprenticeships are a necessary part of the licensing requirements for many occupations, including electricians, plumbers and boiler operators.  On Monday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined twelve other Attorneys General in submitting comments to the U.S. Department of Labor urging it to revise its proposed apprenticeship rules thereby strengthening protections for apprentices. There were three main concerns that officials highlighted regarding those rules. They said the rules don’t include specifics about what an apprenticeship program must include in order to be certified. They also don’t adequately protect apprentices from low-quality programs. Lastly, they believe that the USDOL doesn’t provide proper enforcement when apprenticeship programs fail to provide quality training and education. Nessel said, “With more than 1,000 apprenticeship programs in the state and more than 18,000 active apprentices, Michigan absolutely has a stake in strengthening this rule.” 

Students in early grades in the State of Michigan have test scores that are improving. The 2019 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress or M-STEP test is used by the Michigan Department of Education to gauge how well students are mastering state standards. The Michigan Department of Education reported that 3rd, 4th, and 6th grade English language arts scores have shown gains for the second straight year. Math scores also increased for 3rd, 5th, and 6th-grade students. State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice said, “Focus and attention on early childhood education and early literacy are beginning to bear fruit, and continued efforts in these areas will keep Michigan moving forward.” Dr. Rice also noted that despite a significant number of snow days, test scores in many places increased or remained consistent, even with fewer instructional days. Deputy Superintendent Venessa Keesler added that the 2018 and 2019 assessments are the first time during the past five years where there is a relatively clean comparison across years from M-STEP. She also said that changes and systematic improvements to Michigan’s state assessment system have been made each year since the M-STEP began in 2015. Those frequent changes make it difficult to make data comparisons or interpret long-term data trends.

Taking a stroll along the Black River can be a learning experience as much as an enjoyable one.  St. Clair County Community College and the Friends of the St. Clair River are leading a series of free, public tours of the river on Wednesday, September 4th. The tour is called Swale Stroll and Rain Garden Ramble, and each 45-minute tour will attempt to showcase the campus’ green projects and how they protect water quality and provide wildlife habitat. The tours will begin at the College Center Atrium and will be offered at 10 AM, 1 PM, and 4 PM. Each tour is going to begin indoors with a brief introduction as SC4 staff highlight the many green initiatives on campus. Friends of the St. Clair River Stewardship Director Kirsten Lyons said, “This is a great opportunity to learn about what’s going on with SC4’s green infrastructure projects like their rain gardens, permeable pavers, and green roof.”  Lyons went on to say that they will be showing off the bioswales and rain gardens, and they will share how their habitat stewardship work gets accomplished.

For the past several months, high water levels have been an issue around the area affecting property and structures.  One such structure is the Huron Lightship. Commissioned in 1921 as Lightship Number 103, the Lightship sees many visitors each year and is one of four sites operated by the Port Huron Museum.  Veronica Campbell, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Port Huron Museum said on ebw.tv’s Live and Local that the seawall is a little bit lower in front of the ship, and water has been coming over and eroding the sand next to the ship.  She said that the situation became desperate this past week. Campbell met with Port Huron City Manager James Freed and was told that the city is going to help by building up the wall and filling in the eroded sand. She went on to say that the Lightship is not in danger of being washed away. City Manager James Freed said the City of Port Huron has a team of engineers reviewing the situation to identify a long term solution. The Huron Lightship was the last operating lightship on the Great Lakes and served for over 50 years when she was retired in 1970. In 1990 it was dedicated as a National Historic Landmark.

In Blair Township, a community just south of Traverse City, a family exited their home safely this month after recently installing carbon monoxide detectors. The family was at home one evening when one of the detectors indicated high levels of carbon monoxide. At that point, they left the home and avoided the escalating buildup of carbon monoxide from a faulty stove. The carbon monoxide detector was one of the thousands installed by local fire departments over the last several months through a grant coordinated by MI Prevention. NI Prevention is a statewide fire safety campaign organized by the State Fire Marshal, the Bureau of Fire Services and Michigan’s fire safety organizations. 

The effort to install detectors has resulted in more than 21,000 smoke alarms and­­­­ almost 6,500 carbon monoxide detectors added to homes throughout the state. Funding for the initiative came from a competitive, one-year, $525,000 Fire Prevention and Safety grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security along with a five percent match from the state of Michigan. If local residents need updated carbon monoxide or smoke detectors, they can check with their local Fire Department to see if they are eligible to participate in the program. As a reminder, carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas that causes “flu-like” symptoms in low amounts and can kill people and animals who breathe it in large amounts. 

Unwanted robocalls have become a common occurrence for many Michigan residents and beyond. This week, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel recently entered into an agreement with twelve major telecom providers to fight illegal robocalls.  Nessel said Verizon Wireless immediately began automatic protections for eligible users through its free robocall-blocking software. Nessel explained that “Verizon’s swift action is a step in the right direction.” She encourages the company to further its commitment by automatically enrolling all of its customers in the already-available technology to help further efforts to end to the public nuisance of robocalls once and for all. She also stated that protecting consumers from robocalls shouldn’t have to be an opt-in benefit, it should be an automatic service. The same group also sent a letter to the FCC urging the agency to encourage telecom providers to implement anti-robocall technologies including default robocall blocking.