This Week's File

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March 2, 2007 – Week 7

To: CNS Editors

From: Eric Freedman & Vic Rauch

CORRECTIONS INTERVIEW AHEAD: CNS correspondents will interview state Corrections Director Patricia Caruso on Monday, March 12. With prisons and the prison budget prominent in the news lately, we expect interview topics to include security, crime and punishment, staffing and ways to control escalating costs.

MICHIGAN JOURNALISM HALL OF FAME CEREMONY: On April 14, the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame will induct four new members:  Cheryl Pell, executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association and an MSU journalism faculty member; Jeanne May, a legendary journalist at the Detroit Free Press before her death in 2005; Gene Fogel, one of WJR’s best known reporters; and Susan Carter, an MSU journalism professor, ex-broadcaster and former gubernatorial press secretary. Tickets for the reception and dinner at East Lansing’s Kellogg Center are $55. For details and reservations, call (517) 355-1520 or e-mail hartwigl@msu.edu.

SPRING BREAK: Your correspondents will be on spring break the week of March 5. Our next regular file will be Friday, March 16.

HERE’S YOUR FILE:

STATETROOPERS: A Lansing-based motor carrier officer is frustrated because he and his 167 colleagues don’t have the same authority as state troopers and local law enforcement officers, especially in handling traffic incidents. The largest numbers are based in Bridgman, Monroe and Jackson. A Southwest Michigan lawmaker wants to equalize the powers of motor carrier offices on one hand and troopers and local police on the other. The State Police insist the officers’ priority would remain the safety of commercial vehicles like semis and busses if the law passes. We also interview a Shiawassee County legislator. Other sponsors include representatives from Battle Creek, North Branch and St. Joseph. By Brian McVicar. FOR LANSING, SOUTH BEND, MONROE, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, LAPEER & ALL POINTS.

LAPEERLEAD: Too few children on Medicaid are being tested for lead paint poisoning, the Lapeer County Health Department warns. A funding shortage is impeding efforts to expand testing, outreach and public information to the low-income families whose children are at the greatest risk of learning disabilities, violent behavior and other ramifications. By Hannah Northey. FOR LAPEER.

CLASSSIZE: The House speaker says an educational priority should be state support for smaller class sizes, especially in grades K-6, because research shows that smaller classes improve learning. The school superintendents in Clare and Greenville agree—if there’s money to accomplish that goal. We also hear from the MEA, which supports the idea, and the Mackinac Center, which says smaller classes are more costly than other approaches to improving education. By Brooke Meier. FOR CLARE, GREENVILLE, MICHIGAN CITIZEN, LANSING & ALL POINTS.  

ORVBILL: Counties north of M-46 stretching between Port Sanilac and Muskegon would get the option of allowing ORVs on the shoulders of their roads under a House bill. Road commissions, including Manistee County’s, say that’s a bad idea and could cause safety and maintenance problems. Sponsors, including a Manistee representative, say the change could lure more tourists to northern Michigan. For news and outdoors desks. By Nick Pelton. FOR LUDINGTON, CADILLAC, UP NORTH, PETOSKEY, LEELANAU, TRAVERSE CITY, BAD AXE, ALPENA, CLARE, GRAYLING, MARQUETTE, GREENVILLE & ALL POINTS.

UNSAFEFOOD: Motivated by recent incidents of food-borne illnesses, legislators from Gibraltar, Detroit, Flint Township and Taylor want tougher penalties for unsafe shipment of food. They cite recent incidents, including the recall of contaminated peanut butter and a truck carrying an unrefrigerated load of meat products. By Alex Scott. FOR MONROE, MICHIGAN CITIZEN, LANSING & ALL POINTS.

ENERGYOUTPUT: Michigan faces a shortage of electricity generated within in the state, and high construction costs are deterring proposals for new plants. A top House Democrat from Detroit and the Eastpointe representative who chairs the  Energy and Technology Committee talk about the issue. We also interview a Grand Ledge lawmaker and the head of Michigan State’s Institute for Public Utilities about the connection between energy and jobs. For news and business desks. By Justin Kroll. FOR MACOMB, LANSING, MICHIGAN CITIZEN, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS & ALL POINTS.

EMERGENCYLIGHTS: A gasoline tanker truck spill in northern Ottawa County drew sheriff’s deputies, as well as emergency services volunteers. The deputies handled the crash while those volunteers, who arrived in their own vehicles, redirected traffic. County officials and a Holland senator want to authorize such volunteers to use flashing red emergency lights while on the scene of such incidents. By Erik Adams. FOR HOLLAND & ALL POINTS.

SCHOOLAUDIT. College students are fronting more of the bill than five years ago as state aid to the 15 public universities has dropped. Yet a new audit show that their tuition and fee revenue has increased. Universities have continued to hike fees in a legal end run around a legislatively imposed ceiling on annual tuition increases, There was no illegality or wrongdoing found. The organization representing campus presidents calls the Auditor General’s report overblown and questions some of its comments. By Michael Carney. FOR OAKLAND, LANSING, HOLLAND, SOUTH BEND, MARQUETTE, GREENVILLE, STURGIS, THREE RIVERS, GRAND RAPID BUSINESS, MICHIGAN CITIZEN & ALL POINTS.

DAYCARERATINGS: A Dundee lawmaker says Michigan should follow the lead of other states and create a ratings system for daycare centers and preschools, providing parents with more information about the quality of facilities. Michigan Community Coordinated Child Care and Early Children Investment Corp. back the idea. Co-sponsors include legislators from Monroe, Farmington Hills, Warren, Southfield and Detroit., By Tanya Bigham. FOR MONROE, MACOMB, MICHIGAN CITIZEN, OAKLAND & ALL POINTS.

CNS

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