This Week's File

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Sept. 12, 2008—Week 2

to: CNS Editors

from: Eric Freedman & Vic Rauch

 MUCC AHEAD: Your correspondents will interview Dennis Muchmore, executive director of Michigan United Conservation Clubs, on Monday, Sept. 15. Likely topics include environmental enforcement efforts; public lands policies related to hunting, fishing, boating and camping; a possible expanded beverage container deposit law; and wildlife habitat preservation.

HERE'S YOUR WEEKLY FILE:

SMOKINGBAN: The owner of a smoke-free Ludington restaurant favors a proposed state ban on smoking in the workplace, as does the manager of a local restaurant that now permits smoking in its bar.  The House and Senate have yet to agree on details of a possible ban, despite 10 years of discussion and debate.  One hang-up is a House provision to exempt non-tribal casinos. The Small Business Association of Michigan frets that a ban may drive the public to shop across the state borders. By Brittany Kinstle. FOR LUDINGTON, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, MICHIGAN CITIZEN, SOUTH BEND, MONROE & ALL POINTS.

GREENRECOVERYENERGY. An ambitious national plan to promote green energy could pour $3.1 billion of federal funds into Michigan, create about 60,000 jobs and cut the state's unemployment rate, a new study claims.  The Michigan Energy Council favors the plan, and a think tank expert says it could benefit such urban areas as Detroit, Lansing & Flint. By Alison Costello. FOR LANSING, MICHIGAN CITIZEN & ALL POINTS.

BENEFITS: A GOP lawmaker from Grandville predicts Attorney Gen. Mike Cox will torpedo Grand Valley State University’s policy of providing health benefits for unmarried couples, including same-sex couples. He also plans to seek to cut state aid to universities with similar policies, including Wayne State, U-M, Michigan State, Michigan Tech and Central. The West Olive legislator who requested Cox’s opinion said the policy violates a state constitutional provision defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but GVSU insists it isn’t breaking the law and the governor’s office says trustees should be free to set institutional policies. A Chelsea Democratic representative accuses her GOP colleagues of creating an irrelevant wedge issue. By Ryan Secord. FOR HOLLAND, GREENVILLE, LUDINGTON, LANSING, MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN CITIZEN & ALL POINTS.

ENERGYPACKAGE. A compromise state energy plan that might pass the Legislature the fall  is likely to have a strong economic impact on Northern Michigan, but it’s uncertain whether it would create a significant number of new jobs there. Aides to the Democratic governor and a Traverse City GOP senator talk about the legislation now under negotiation in the House and Senate. By Nico Rubello. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, LEELANAU, PETOSKEY, UP NORTH, LUDINGTON, CADILLAC, MARQUETTE & ALL POINTS.

GREENRECOVERYJOBS: A national “green recovery” proposal to pump federal funds into alternative energy, energy conservation and mass transit would create tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan, advocates say. A Greenville business owner  explains the benefits of energy efficiency in construction. By Charles Roltsch. FOR GREENVILLE, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS & ALL POINTS.

MACOMBCLOUT: Political eyes around the country are focused on Macomb County, which candidates Obama and McCain have already visited and where partisan media spending is expected to be high. Already, one political action committee  aired 1,000 anti-Obama spots in a single week. The presidential contest could impact two state House races as well. We hear from a Macomb Community College political scientist and from party leaders. By John Hudson. FOR MACOMB, ROMEO, MICHIGAN CITIZEN & ALL POINTS.

UNIONELECTION: Like most unions, the Michigan AFL-CIO and Michigan Education Association are pushing to elect Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates. An Alpena UAW retiree and the president of the state AFL-CIO say the Democrats understand worker needs and the economy better than the GOP. But a Republican legislator from Farwell says some union members do support his party’s candidates, and the Fraternal Order of Police recently announced its endorsement of McCain at a Detroit meeting. By Courtney Bowerman. FOR ALPENA, CLARE, GLADWIN, MICHIGAN CITIZEN & ALL POINTS.

HISTORYICONS Few images of American nostalgia are as iconic as the one-room schoolhouse or the lighthouse – the schoolhouse with its spinsterish schoolmarm in the front, children from 5 to their mid-teens arrayed at rows of wooden desks before her, the lighthouse with its lore of narrowly averted shipwrecks amid howling Great Lakes gales. Most of those schoolhouses have closed and many lighthouses have fallen into disrepair. Two new books chronicle those important symbols of heritage and history, one by a Macomb County photographer and the other by a Frankfort historic preservation activist. By Eric Freedman. FOR TRAVERSE CITY, ROMEO, MACOMB, LUDINGTON, HOLLAND, PETOSKEY, SOUTH BEND, ALPENA, UP NORTH, MARQUETTE, OAKLAND & ALL POINTS.

CNS

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