I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Yesterday, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a plea to prevent the spread of invasive Asian carp by closing the locks that connect the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal to Lake Michigan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that DNA from the carp had for the first time been detected in Lake Michigan near Chicago.
The Detroit Free Press reports that federal officials tried to downplay the latest DNA findings.
“We don’t know where the fish are,” said Maj. Gen. John Peabody, commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River district of the Army Corps of Engineers, which ordered the DNA testing. “The DNA shows us where they may be.”
Asked how many live carp would have to be found before federal agencies would change their current plans on dealing with the invasive species, Charles Wooley, deputy regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said several hundred.
“We would have to be talking about a couple hundred fish that would start to indicate that reproduction could occur,” he said.
Peabody said federal agencies in charge of the canal and locks around Lake Michigan plan netting and electrofishing in areas with positive DNA results.
He said that the DNA testing methodology is new and has not been scientifically validated.
In early December officials poisoned a sectioned of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal in an effort to kill the carp after DNA from the carp was detected beyond an electrical barrier that was supposed to contain them.
The fish can grow up to four feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds and threaten to dominate the Great Lakes if they become established there.
Michigan politicians from both parties are urging swift action against the carp on the grounds that they threaten the state’s multi-billion dollar sport fishing industry.
Yesterday Gov. Jennifer Granholm called for an emergency White House summit on how to address the spread of the invasive fish.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
Sign up for our email newsletter