Stateside: Line 5 tunnel negotiations; Detroit origins of spiral cut ham; sex ed in the #MeToo era

 Stateside for Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer reopens talks with Enbridge about a tunnel to house replacement pipelines for Line 5. But environmental groups want the current Line 5 shut down before moving forward on plans for its replacement. Plus, park officials say the thousands of shards of glass found on a beach at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore were likely placed there intentionally. 

Listen to the full show above or find individual interviews below. 

Criticism arises as Gov. Whitmer reopens negotiations on Enbridge tunnelStateside's conversation with Mike Shriberg

• Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reopened talks with Enbridge about the proposed tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac for its Line 5 pipeline, the Detroit News reports. This comes after Whitmer issued an executive order in late March that stopped all state agencies' work on the tunnel plan.
• Joining Stateside is Mike Shriberg, executive director of the National Wildlife Federation's Great Lakes Regional Office. He talks about why he wants the governor needs to shut down the pipeline before continuing talks with Enbridge.
• Ryan Duffy is the spokesman for Enbridge, which is one of Michigan Radio's corporate sponsors. He sent us this statement: 

• We also reached out to Governor Whitmer's office for comment, but did not hear back.

Thousands of glass shards purposely scattered at Sleeping Bear Dunes, says park official

 Stateside’s conversation with Scott Tucker

• It was a shocking moment when staff at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore found pieces of broken glass strewn along the beach. Thousands of dangerous shards of glass appear to have been carefully and deliberately placed on the beach. We get an update on the clean up effort from Scott Tucker, superintendent of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

Getting a spiral cut ham for your Easter dinner? You can thank this Detroit salesman.

 Stateside’s conversation with Kim Severson

• Along with baskets of chocolate bunnies and plastic eggs, many families' upcoming Easter Sunday will include a spiral cut ham on the dinner table. You can thank the Detroit ham salesman Harry J. Hoenselaar for that.  
• Reporter Kim Severson wrote about the ham world's "equivalent of pop music" for the New York Times. She joined Stateside to tell us about the Michigan roots of this holiday classic. 

Ragatz: High-stakes evaluations do little to help teachers, or students, improve

 Stateside’s conversation with Matinga Ragatz

• Tying teacher evaluation to student growth and assessment scores is controversial: critics say it's unfair and doesn't account for factors outside the classroom. Backers say  data is the best way to hold teachers accountable for progress — or lack of it — in their classrooms.
• We discuss the good and bad of teacher evaluations with Stateside education commentator Matinga Ragatz, and hear what teachers and administrators around the state have to say about the yearly review.

How schools are rethinking their sex ed curriculum in the #MeToo era

 Stateside’s conversation with Wendy Sellers and Emma Davis-Rodak

• The #MeToo movement put a bright spotlight on how sexual harassment and violence has permeated American culture. Many believe that changing that culture means changing the way schools teach about sexuality and consent.
• We talk about what those changes might look like with Wendy Sellers, a sexual health education consultant and the author of Puberty: The Wonder Years, as well as Ann Arbor high school senior Emma Davis-Rodak, who sits on the district's Sexual Health Education Advisory Board.

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