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On this edition of Michigan Writers on the Air: Aaron Stander will talk with Mardi Link about the new edition of her true crime book, When Evil Came to Good Hart. Then Cari Noga will read from and give some background on her new novel, The Orphan Daughter. Finally, poet Fleda Brown will provide an audio essay about the life and work of the late Donald Hall. 

The planet Venus moves close to the star Spica this week, where the star is held in the arms of Virgo, the maiden. What can it mean?

Environmental groups say the U.S. Coast Guard is not ready for an oil spill in the Great Lakes.

The Coast Guard is required by law to have a plan for a spill.

Old dams are being removed from the Boardman River. That’s because they are costly to maintain and harmful to the river’s wildlife.

But not everyone is excited about losing the dams. The Gibbs family has been here for generations and their ancestors helped build the dams.

On Sunday the planet Mercury completed its retrograde and resumed its direct, or eastward motion. This coming weekend, the planet Mars will do the same thing when it completes its apparent retrograde.

Ottawa Indians have been in Northern Michigan for centuries. They witnessed the Ottoway River become the Boardman River when it was renamed by settlers.

When a series of dams was proposed for the river, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians was against it. So when word got out that the city might remove the dams, the tribe jumped at the opportunity to help.

But things didn’t go as smoothly as they expected.

On a sunny summer morning, Jim Munoz is on his charter boat, the Carol Dee. It's a 31-foot Tiara that Jim calls "the pride of the Great Lakes." Jim is wearing a fishing hat – one of those bucket hats that he’s got clipped up on each side. 

He's in his late 70s and has been fishing lake trout and salmon out of Leland for over 40 years. In the summer, he fishes every single day.

“I can’t view this as work,” Jim says. “It is hard physically because of the pace that we keep through the summer.

Traverse City will rely entirely on renewable energy by the year 2040, according to Traverse City Light & Power. TCL&P’s board of directors approved the energy plan at their meeting Tuesday night.

Executive Director Tim Arends says all the city’s non-renewable energy contracts will expire by 2040.

“We’re feeling pretty assured that by then, based on comments from Consumers Energy and DTE that the coal plants we’ve invested in will be shuttered,” Arends said. “The thought is to replace those contracts with renewable energy.”

Traverse City musician Jonathan Timm moved back to the area from Nashville recently. The 34-year-old northern Michigan native says he was missing out on too much at home. 

Update 8/3/18, 6:30 p.m.: In a written response provided to IPR, the Traverse City Film Festival writes, "In December 2017, after a unanimous vote by the Traverse City Film Festival Board of Directors, the executive committee of the board met with Deb Lake in-person to inform her that her employment was terminated."

The former executive director of the Traverse City Film Festival says Michael Moore is lying regarding her termination last year. 

Update 8/3/18, 6:30 p.m.: In a written response provided to IPR, the Traverse City Film Festival writes, "In December 2017, after a unanimous vote by the Traverse City Film Festival Board of Directors, the executive committee of the board met with Deb Lake in-person to inform her that her employment was terminated."