| FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2024 |
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In today's newsletter, Michigan isn’t using its power to revoke nursing home licenses, cuts to school retiree costs could put $600M a year back in Michigan classrooms and judge halts atomic bomb waste shipments to a Wayne County landfill. |
Let's get ready for the weekend |
We have finally made it to the end of another week. From football games to a psychedelic festival, here are a few fun ideas to jumpstart the weekend. Head to Ann Arbor for the city's fourth annual Entheofest, which celebrates psychedelic plants and fungi, or to Saline Main Street’s Oktoberfest. While you are in the area, venture over to Brighton (about 30 minutes from Ann Arbor) as the town transforms into the iconic Gilmore Girls’ fictional town on Saturday. The Petoskey Wine Region’s Harvest Showcase Wine Festival also kicks off on Saturday at the Boyne Mountain resort. The ticketed event runs concurrently with the resort's own Chalet Wine Weekend. Before hitting the road, be aware of these road closures that are happening across the state. |
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The Wayne Disposal Landfill in Van Buren Township, Mich. on Sept. 4, 2024. Residents are angry about a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to use the landfill for disposal of lightly radioactive waste leftover from a Manhattan Project cleanup site in New York. (Garret Ellison | MLive.com) |
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Despite horrific conditions, Michigan isn’t using its power to revoke nursing home licenses |
Deeper dive: After publishing an investigation into one of the worst nursing home companies in the country, MLive began looking into how Michigan regulators dealt with the state’s most dangerous, understaffed and poorly managed facilities. Nursing home enforcement is split between the states and federal government, but Michigan has stopped using its power to shut down dangerous nursing homes by revoking their licenses. Here are five important takeaways from MLive's investigation. Healthcare: Michigan adults without health insurance will have the chance to access free virtual care through the remainder of the year. The new program offers text-based, virtual care to an estimated 400,000 uninsured residents through a partnership between Priority Health and Curai Health. In case you missed it: Holly Area Schools is beginning to rollout a parent outreach program that will connect the district’s students, families, and staff with the mental health services they need. |
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Cuts to school retiree costs could put $600M a year back in Michigan classrooms |
More resources: More than $600 million could be freed up for Michigan school districts to put back into classrooms and school operations under a retiree cost reduction bill green-lit in the Michigan Senate along party lines on Tuesday, Sept. 17. Senate Bill 911 would make a permanent rate reduction in the retirement contribution cap for schools. Higher ed: University of Michigan's Ross School of Business seeks to establish a foothold in Southern California with a multi-million proposal. The university’s Board of Regents will consider a $12-million lease and building improvement project at The Grand development in downtown Los Angeles, according to a document prepared for the board’s Sept. 19 meeting. Restrictions: A new proposal would require social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and others to implement a usage curfew for minors, get parental consent for minor accounts and provide parents tools to limit their child’s daily social media use. |
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Many Michigan areas pacing toward top-5 driest September on record |
Feeling dry: Most Lower Michigan cities will have a top-five driest September on record if next week's rain is skimpy. Northern Lower Michigan is the driest part of Michigan right now. Houghton Lake only had .02 inches of rain since September 1. Traverse City sits at .07 inches in September and Alpena has only had .13 inches. The western Upper Peninsula is the only part of our state with adequate rainfall this month. Marquette is at nine-tenths of an inch in September. Sault Ste. Marie has had .63 inches of rain. Weekend weather: Our weekend temperatures are going to be very warm to hot for this time of year. Saturday is going to warm into the low-to-mid 80s for almost all of Michigan. Some parts of northern Lower and the Thumb will only get to the high-70s. Much needed rain showers are also expected on Sunday into early next week. Fall color outlook: The ongoing dryness and warmth across Michigan may impact the length of our fall color period. The warm temperatures will shift the peak color later by a week or two. We should expect the peak colors at any one spot to last only a few days rather than a couple of weeks. |
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Judge halts atomic bomb waste shipments to Michigan landfill |
Paused for now: A Wayne County judge has approved a temporary restraining order that halts pending shipments of lightly irradiated material from a Manhattan Project waste site to a hazardous waste landfill in southeast Michigan. The shipments sparked outcry among Detroit area residents and local officials in Wayne County who are upset with hazardous waste disposal in their figurative backyards. Crunching the numbers: The state’s largest electric utility, DTE Energy, has arrived at its initial estimates of how much it would cost to meet Michigan's new, aggressive renewable energy targets. The company expects $124,169,158 in incremental costs to comply with the renewable standards by 2030. Hidden gem: As construction crews broke ground on a $50 million expansion at the Grand Rapids Public Museum last fall, nobody foresaw the over 100-year-old foundations and the nation’s first municipal hydroelectric equipment that would later be discovered. |
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Freddy Krueger actor coming to Michigan for ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ screening |
Scary scenes: Robert Englund, the actor who played Freddy Krueger, will first attend Motor City Comic Con as one of its celebrity guests. That event takes place Friday, Nov. 8, through Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Englund is scheduled to be at the event all three days. He will also attend a pre-movie introduction of “A Nightmare on Elm Street” on Saturday, Nov. 9, at Emagine Theatre in Novi. Spooky season: Dominic Naffie, owner of the Muskegon-based Halloween Store, says he prepares all year for the holiday by hunting down exclusive merchandise from vendors and searching for the perfect store location. This season, the Halloween Store is open in three locations in Big Rapids, Holland Township and Michigan City, Indiana, on top of its warehouse in Muskegon and its online store. A different type of thrill: Cedar Point announced Thursday that a new roller coaster, Siren’s Curse, will open in 2025. The amusement park says it will be the tallest, fastest and longest “tilt” roller coaster in North America. |
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Another week is in the books. We'll be back on Monday with more top news. Until then, you can catch the latest Michigan news at MLive.com. While you're there, consider becoming a subscriber. Be safe and have a great time this weekend! — Cara Hackett |
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