Local News

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. 

The Michigan Legislature created The Library of Michigan to guarantee the people of Michigan and their government one perpetual institution to collect and preserve Michigan publications, conduct reference, and research and support libraries statewide. Through the organization, the St. Clair County Library System will soon receive assistance from the Improving Access to Information grant. The fund supports public and academic library programs designed to increase access by improving literacy. The program also hopes to provide broader access to special or historic collections or improve digital access and inclusion. The St. Clair County Library system will be receiving just over $22,000 which will be used to integrate technology into the countywide services for blind and physically handicapped patrons, allowing real-time descriptions of written and digital text.  

Port Huron schools will have 18 new employees this school year including classroom teachers, social workers, and special education providers to serve across the district in their new roles.   One of the new hires now joining the district is Raynard Caldwell, who will be the Principal at the Literacy Academy at Cleveland. After spending his career, to this point, in Indiana, Mr. Caldwell is returning home to Port Huron. He is a former Port Huron Northern graduate who also attended Fort Gratiot, Thomas Edison, and Garfield schools. His teaching experience includes 11 years as a third-grade teacher in Elkhart, Indiana, as well as brief periods of time teaching first and sixth grade. Administratively, he has worked in an urban high school in South Bend and as an elementary assistant principal in Goshen, Indiana.  Earlier this month, Mr. Caldwell participated in the district’s annual administrator retreat to prepare for the upcoming school year.