Selah Butterfield & Kara Kaercher Young Artists in Michigans Thumbcoast

Young Artists Making Their Mark wsg. Kara Kaercher & Selah Butterfield

 

How do young artists share their work and build community? Kara Kaercher and Selah Butterfield join us this week to talk about how they are building their businesses and sharing their art with the community.

Kara Kaercher, Kara’s Arts & Crafts, specializes in acrylic pour and painting along with teaching classes and creating jewelry. She shares how leading classes at Foundry and working on the public mural downtown Port Huron help her connect with her community.

Find Kara here: https://m.facebook.com/KarasArtandCrafts/?_rdr

As a digital artist, Selah Butterfield has built a 50,000+ person following on social media platforms where she shares and demonstrates her digital drawing skills.

Find Selah’s work here: https://selahsketches.carrd.co/

Listen to the WGRT Local NEWS podcast on your favorite podcast app every Friday for in-depth interviews with people from around Michigan’s Thumbcoast!

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The WGRT Local News Podcast is part of the WGRT 102.3 FM Podcast Network. For the latest episodes of all of our featured podcasts, visit our website here:

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The WGRT Local News Podcast is produced by the following team members:

Executive Producer: Jessie Wiegand

Audio Engineer: George James

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Most DNR Centers Resume Pre-COVID Hours May 1st

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is moving most of its field offices and customer service centers around the state back to their pre-COVID hours on May 1, 2022.

DNR Customer Service Centers in Bay City, Detroit, and Lansing will be open to the public Monday – Friday from 8 AM – 5 PM.

State parks, state campgrounds, state game and wildlife areas, state forests and many other places are open, as most have been throughout the entire COVID-19 pandemic.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services says that even during a post-surge recovery phase, face masks remain an important tool in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Anyone who feels sick, may be at higher risk of infection, or who feels better protected when masked should choose when they feel comfortable masking.

Blue Water Sturgeon Festival Needs Volunteers to Help Inspire Sturgeon Protection

The Blue Water Sturgeon Festival is right around the corner, scheduled for June 4th at the Fort Gratiot Light Station in Pine Grove Park. Volunteers are needed to help at the event. Hours can be given for NHS and other service groups.

Why are Sturgeon such a big deal around here? Friends of the St. Clair River President, Sheri Faust, said, “There are fewer Lake sturgeon today than a century ago because they’re a threatened species in Michigan, but of the sturgeon still roaming the Great Lakes, most of them can be found in Port Huron. Over 10,000 Lake Sturgeon call underneath the Blue Water Bridges home, which makes it possible to see these gentle giants at our Blue Water Sturgeon Festival.”

Port Huron really is home to the mighty sturgeon. The stock here is helping to restock sturgeon elsewhere in places like Saginaw Bay, the Flint River, and the Toledo River.

Faust said that the point of the Festival is to inspire people to want to protect an animal that they can not see, the Sturgeon. “Sturgeon Squad” volunteer information can be found at the link below.

Email info@scriver.org to sign up. Event details can be found at www.SturgeonFestival.com.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland

MDHHS Raises Awareness of Child Abuse Prevention, Continues Improving System

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is working to improve the child welfare system and to raise awareness of preventing child abuse and neglect.

If you see pinwheels around town, they are part of a campaign to remind people that child abuse is preventable. There were over 16,000 child abuse and neglect cases confirmed in Michigan last year. The Children’s Trust Fund, a part of MDHHS, serves as a voice for Michigan’s children and uses April as a time to raise awareness.

MDHHS has been under court monitoring since 2008 to address problems with their child welfare management. Judge Nancy G. Edmunds referred to the oversight, saying she saw “hard work with still more to come.” She said, “But we’re starting to see at least flags toward the finish line down the road sooner than we may have anticipated in January.”

Some of the new strategies of the child welfare system include improved collaboration, quicker family reunification, keeping siblings together in foster care, limiting use of emergency or temporary facilities, and ensuring that placements with relatives are safe.

Reporting for WGRT – Jennie McClelland