News

Your connection to northern Michigan news.

Bill to penalize operation of a medical marijuana facility without a license passes House committee

By • Apr 10, 2019
Max Pixel

State lawmakers want to put in place a final deadline for medical marijuana facilities to get a license, or not be able to stay open.

A state House committee unanimously passed a bill Wednesday. It gives a June 1st deadline for facilities – and if they stay open without a license, the facility can’t get a license for a year.

Simon back in court for second day of critical hearing

By • Apr 9, 2019
Cheyna Roth / Michigan Public Radio Network

The state Attorney General’s Office is trying to show that the former Michigan State University president lied to investigators to protect the university.

Lou Anna Simon was in court Monday for the second day of a hearing to determine whether Simon should stand trial for charges that she lied to law enforcement.

Walking on the Moon: this week on the Storyteller's Night Sky

By Mary Stewart Adams • Apr 8, 2019

July this year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, the first space mission to put a human being on our only natural satellite. But 60 years ago this week, the first step took place that would lead to that historic step, ten years later.

Essay: Giving Your Gifts

By karen anderson • Apr 5, 2019

When people ask me how I became a writer, I tell them about Mrs. Goudzwaard, my tenth grade English teacher.  She gave me an A+ on a paper once and read it to the class.  I was embarrassed, of course, but also amazed.  I didn’t know I could write!


Points North, Ep. 7: Harnessing wind

By • Apr 4, 2019
Kaye LaFond / Interlochen Public Radio

This week on Points North, a renewable energy company wants to build a wind farm in a forested part of the Upper Peninsula, but there’s resistance. Plus, the last coal plant providing electricity in the U.P. shuts down.


Plan to put wind farm in Upper Peninsula forest gets community pushback

By • Apr 4, 2019
From the top of a mountain, a snowy landscape with trees reveals a view of Lake Superior in the distance.
Kaye LaFond / Interlochen Public Radio

Most wind energy projects in Michigan are on farmland in the southern part of the state. They are often controversial even there, but one company wants to put a wind farm in an Upper Peninsula forest. Many community members don’t feel that’s the right place either.

Large scale U.P. coal plant closes

By Taylor Wizner • Apr 4, 2019
WEC Energy Group

 

The Presque Isle Power Plant in Marquette is now closed. The plant had been the biggest producer of coal-fired energy for the Upper Peninsula.

 

The change is part of a state-wide trend away from coal over the last decade.

 

Amy Jahns is a spokesperson for WEC Energy Group, which owns the Presque Isle plant. She says the utilities in the U.P. couldn’t provide enough reliable electricity to customers, including their coal plant.

 

 

Advocacy group asks Coast Guard to show Line 5 anchor strike findings

By Taylor Wizner • Apr 3, 2019
Gregory Varnum

Stateside: MI economy and border closing; new uses for closed big box stores; Spic and Span history

By Stateside Staff • Apr 3, 2019

 


Today on Stateside, what would a closure of the U.S.-Mexico border mean for Michigan's economy? Plus, how two Saginaw women in the 1930s designed a product to make keeping the house "Spic and Span" a little easier. 

Cross Fisheries charged with illegal lake trout sales

By • Apr 3, 2019
MDNR

A popular fishery in northern Michigan was charged with illegally buying and selling lake trout. John Cross of Cross Fisheries in Charlevoix was sentenced to a year in prison and will pay a fine of more than $1 million.

Lake trout is heavily protected by state, tribal and federal agencies. A press release says Cross bought almost 50,000 pounds of the fish that was harvested by a trap net, but he reported that he got it via gillnet.

Fisheries Biologist Mark Ebener says what Cross did is more common than you would think

Stateside: Cardiologists sue the DMC; Flint residents inspire new play; why local news matters

By editor • Apr 2, 2019

Today on Stateside, three cardiologists are suing the Detroit Medical Center, citing alleged fraud and concerns over quality of care. We get the latest from the Detroit News reporter who has been following this story. Plus, we talk to staff at two small-town Michigan newspapers about what communities have to lose when local news sources go out of business. 

Coyotes survive Michigan winters. Could your dog?

By Cheryl Bartz • Apr 2, 2019
Cheryl Bartz

Coyotes have an unmistakable howl that you’ll be hearing more and more as the weather warms up. They might have been quiet during the winter, but they weren’t hibernating. They can survive even a polar vortex. 

Domestic dogs share DNA with coyotes. That inspired Cheryl Bartz of Red Pine Radio to investigate whether dogs could also make it through a winter outside. 

Stateside: Whitmer, lawmakers clash over Line 5 tunnel; unearthing Spinosaurus; MSU in Final Four

By editor • Apr 1, 2019

Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer last week ordered state agencies to stop working on a proposed tunnel intended to house replacement pipelines for Enbridge's Line 5. We hear about the legal opinion from Dana Nessel that prompted that order, and how Republican lawmakers are reacting to the news. Plus, a conversation with the paleontologist who worked to unearth Spinosaurus, the largest predatory dinosaur ever discovered. 

Mars as god of love and compassion: this week on the Storyteller's Night Sky

By Mary Stewart Adams • Apr 1, 2019

Mars is the only evening sky planet this month, visited by the crescent Moon this weekend, but then returning to its solo journey through the stars for the rest of the month.

Michigan Attorney General calls Mackinac Straits pipeline law 'unconstitutional'

By • Mar 29, 2019

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says a law passed last year to build an oil pipeline tunnel beneath the Mackinac Straits is unconstitutional.

One of the first things Gov. Gretchen Whitmer did when she took office in January was to ask for an attorney general’s opinion on the law, which former Gov. Rick Snyder pushed through in the waning days of the legislature.

NMU brings high-speed internet to more of the U.P.

By Taylor Wizner • Mar 29, 2019
Educational Access Network/NMU

 

High-speed internet access is reaching even more communities in the Upper Peninsula.

Northern Michigan University plans to double the number of communities its Educational Access Network serves over the next few years.

Ten years ago, NMU received a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission to use public broadband airwaves. Before that, some students who lived off campus couldn’t complete their online homework because they didn’t have high-speed internet. 

Essay: Forgiving My Father

By karen anderson • Mar 29, 2019

“On the way to the hospital, we didn’t have a name picked out for a girl,” my father liked say. “We were so sure it was going to be a boy.”


Points North, Ep. 6: Cops in schools

By • Mar 28, 2019
Benzie Central Schools got a cop in the district in January. The position is funded by a county millage and will last four years.
Morgan Springer / Interlochen Public Radio

This week on Points North, learn about how one northern Michigan county tackled school safety by putting police officers in their schools. Plus, head out to Lake Leelanau to watch ice boaters enjoy the final days of the season.


Benzie gets school cops, but some residents expected more

By • Mar 28, 2019
Morgan Springer / Interlochen Public Radio

After 17 students were shot and killed in Parkland, Florida last year, Benzie County wanted to make their schools safer. They decided to address that by putting cops in their schools, and taxpayers agreed to pay for it. That sounds like a good thing but it turns out it was more complicated than it seemed.

 

Benzie County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Miller started in the schools in January. He serves 1,400 students in the Benzie County Central Schools district and deals with any criminal activity.

Ice boating: 'The most fun you can have with your clothes on'

By Jacob Wheeler • Mar 28, 2019
Jacob Wheeler / Interlochen Public Radio

Even though Spring is here, the ice on is still 12 inches thick on some inland lakes. Because of this, you can see ice boats cruising along the ice on West Grand Traverse Bay or Lake Leelanau on a clear, windy day. 

VanderWall says no evidence linking deer baiting and spread of CWD

By • Mar 28, 2019
A new bill introduced by State Sen. Curt VanderWall (R/Ludington) would reverse Michigan's ban on deer baiting and feeding.
Michigan DNR

A bill introduced in the State Senate earlier this year would reverse the ban on deer baiting in Michigan.

 


Impaired Driving Commission: Don't use THC levels for marijuana OWIs

By Max Johnston • Mar 27, 2019
TheraCann

Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the chemical in marijuana that gets you high. For a long time in Michigan, you could face criminal charges for driving with it in your system.

Study will track Isle Royale moose after wolves introduced

By Taylor Wizner • Mar 27, 2019
Credit Seth Moore

Researchers are studying moose on Isle Royale to learn the impact of predators on the island.

Stateside: MI's guardianship system; measles outbreak; exhibit on "open graves" at US border

By Stateside Staff • Mar 26, 2019

Today on Stateside, we speak with two Oakland County public health officials about the measles outbreak there, and what residents can do to protect themselves and their children. Plus, a look at proposed reforms to Michigan's guardianship system for elderly and incapacitated adults. 

Reservations required at all Sleeping Bear campsites starting April 1

By • Mar 26, 2019
Morgan Springer / Interlochen Public Radio

Reservations will be required for all campsites in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore starting April 1.

Most of the sites at Platte River Campground already took reservations, but D.H. Day Campground was entirely first-come first-serve, leading to long lines overnight as people waited to nab a site. The National Park Service says the change to reservations will fix those long lines.

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