WATZ Today's Country

Tuesday News Summary 08-23-22
Tue, 23 Aug 2022 11:00:43 EDT

(Stories Courtesy of Michigan News Radio)

FIGHTER JETS
People living in Monroe County and other parts of southeastern Michigan may be hearing fighter jets in the sky much of the week. The Ohio Air National Guard's 180th Fighter Wing is scheduled to conduct nighttime training flights through Thursday night. The flights could be canceled if the weather is bad. The F-16 fighter jets will be flying until about midnight each night. The nighttime flights are needed as part of the overall readiness training for pilots and maintenance workers.

WATER MAIN UPDATE
Plans are on track to replace a 48-foot piece of water pipeline that ruptured more than a week ago near Port Huron. The Great Lakes Water Authority says the broken ten- foot wide pipe was removed from a hole by a crane Sunday. The new piece of pipe is scheduled to arrive at the site today. Over the weekend, authority leaders lifted the boil water advisory that affected more than 130-thousand residents in Macomb, Oakland, Lapeer and St. Clair counties. The cause of the break hasn't been determined.

EV CHARGING STATIONS
Were about to see more EV charging stations in what are called under-served communities. In this case its communities that didnt have a lot of EVs already. Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist says people need to make sure they can change their vehicles. The announcement was made at a Volta charging station in Detroit. The company will put new chargers at Krogers in Westland, Southgate, Roseville and Lapeer.

PRISON PHONE FEES
A bill has been introduced that would fully eliminate the fees and charges friends and families of incarcerated people pay to speak with their loved ones inside state prisons and county jails, potentially saving Michigan families tens of millions of dollars annually. In addition, eliminating the cost of phone calls would encourage families to stay engaged with their loved ones who are in jail or prison, which is proven to correlate to a higher likelihood of success when they return home and a lower chance of recidivism. Michigan families with incarcerated loved ones have historically paid some of the highest phone costs in the nation.

TC CANNABIS APPLICATIONS
The Traverse City Clerk's Office is now receiving applications for people interested in opening an adult-use cannabis store. Applications were available June 13 for retailers interested in recreational use licenses. The applications are being accepted through Friday, August 26. Each application being turned in also needs to be submitted with the $5,000 permit fee.

FORD JOB CUTS
About 3,000 white-collar workers at Ford Motor Co. will lose their jobs as the company cuts costs to help make the long transition from internal combustion vehicles to those powered by batteries. Leaders of the Dearborn-based automaker made the announcement in a company-wide email, saying that 2,000 full-time salaried workers would be let go along with another 1,000 contract workers. The salaried worker cuts are about 6% of the work force of 31,000 in the U.S. and Canada. Ford's 56,000 union factory workers are not affected. The cuts will come across the company in the U.S., Canada and India. Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley said in the email that Ford will provide benefits and significant help for workers to find new jobs.

ARP FUNDS
The Michigan State Housing Development Authority Board has approved a plan to use more than $63 million in funds allocated by the federal government through the American Rescue Plan to provide homelessness assistance and supportive services to at-risk individuals and families across the state. The HOME-ARP allocation plan will use the funds, which total nearly $64 million to develop affordable rental housing, offer financial assistance to qualified renters to prevent evictions, provide support to local homeless service agencies and acquire and/or rehabilitate existing structures for non- congregate sheltering.

DELTA ENERGY PARK
The Lansing Board of Water & Light will celebrate the grand opening of its new, cleaner and more efficient $500 million natural gas-fired combine cycle generating Delta Energy Park and the pending retirement of the coal-fired Erickson Power Station later this year at an event today. Delta Energy Park generates 250 megawatts and officially began operating on March 16, 2022. Located at the Erickson Power Station in Delta Township, DEP is BWLs second natural gas-fired plant. The new plant replaces BWLs coal-fired Eckert Power Station which retired in 2020, and supports the utilitys increased renewable portfolio.

MARIJUANA USE
A new study shows that more people than ever in the U.S. are getting high on marijuana. And it's not just Marijuana use that hit an all-time high last year - so did the use of hallucinogens - according to the new study supported by the National Institutes of health. Drug used soared among particularly those between the ages of 19 and 30 compared to five and ten years ago. 43-percent said they has use cannabis over the past year - compared to 29 percent a decade ago. Eight percent had dabbled in things like Molly, LSD and mushrooms, compared to just 3-percent a decade before. Alcohol is still the most used substance among adults in the study, and although daily drinking have been decreasing over the past decade, binge drinking rebounded last year.

DRUG BUST
A million dollar drug bust near the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron. The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department says members of the Drug Task Force along with the Homeland Security's Border Enforcement Security Team worked together last week to confiscate 348 pounds of marijuana and 24 pounds of ecstasy that was being loaded from a semi truck that just crossed the border into a van. Investigators say the drugs have a street value of one-million dollars. Two suspects, including a 27-year old Detroit man, were arrested. As part of the investigation authorities searched a home in Detroit and seized other evidence including 36-thousand dollars in cash, a gun and ammunition.

BRIDGE BUNDLE PROJECT
The Michigan Department of Transportation bridge bundling pilot project continues to move forward, with an Ingham County bridge reopening to traffic Friday, August 19. The Linn Road bridge over Deer Creek reopened after about 60 days of major repair work. The bridge near Williamston, built in 1968, was in serious condition before the repairs. Eleven local agency bridge bundling projects are now largely finished, with work on seven others ongoing. Work on the final structure, the Nottawa Road bridge over Prairie River in St. Joseph County, is starting today and is expected to be completed within 90 days. This will bring the pilot program to a close. This year's bridge bundling pilot project, the first of its kind in Michigan, is repairing 19 bridges in serious or critical condition that are owned by local agencies.

BEEF PRICES
There is ONE bright spot these days at the grocery store. Prices of beef, typically among the costliest grocery store purchases, are falling after more than a year of increases. Experts say that prompted Americans to buy less beef and switch to less expensive protein like chicken and pork. So, beef supplies are improving and there is better staffing at meat plants. bringing prices down. Overall, prices for food and consumer products have been rising across grocery aisles due to higher costs of transportation, ingredients and labor.

LANSING COUPLE EMBEZZLEMENT
A Lansing couple will go to trial on multiple felony charges after embezzling from a local car dealership. A judge found there is enough probable cause to send charges against Amanda Root and Justin Root to Ingham County Circuit Court. Amanda Root was employed at Glenn Buege Buick GMC in Lansing in accounts receivable and accounts payable. The Department of Attorney General alleges that Root embezzled more than $400,000 from the dealership between 2016 and 2019 and primarily used the money to gamble with her husband. Neither Ms. Root nor her husband claimed the additional income on their taxes. The Michigan Department of Treasury and the Michigan State Police both collaborated with the Department of Attorney General in the investigation.

Jury deliberations are scheduled to resume this morning in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids in the trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr face up to life in prison if convicted. Their attorneys say the men were entrapped by FBI agents. Prosecutors have urged the jury to focus on what the two men were saying months before the FBI placed undercover agents and informants inside the group.
Negotiations are set to resume today in a labor battle at one of Michigan's biggest hospitals.

Over six-thousand registered nurses at the University of Michigan say the school is engaging in unfair labor practices including assigning too many patients per nurse, which the nurses union says threatens patient safety. While talks resume, nurses will start voting this weekend to determine if they want a work stoppage. The University says it has been bargaining in good faith and has offered a 21-percent pay raise over four years.

Former President Trump is endorsing Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon's choice for Lt. Governor, Shane Hernandez. Trump calling on Michigan Republicans to "work together" with the party's convention this weekend. The endorsement came shortly after former gubernatorial candidate Ralph Rebandt from Oakland County announced he was running for Lieutenant Governor. Meantime, another gov candidate, Garrett Soldano, announced yesterday he was not seeking the Lieutenant Governor seat.

Detroit police say a seven-year old boy has died after a shooting late last night. Investigators say the boy may have shot himself at a home last night. The boy was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. This is at least the fourth child who has been shot this month.

New research from the University of Michigan shows marijuana use by young adults increased significantly last year. The Monitoring the Future report released yesterday shows nearly 30-percent of young people between 19 and 30 years old smoked pot. Researchers say the daily marijuana use reached the highest levels ever recorded since these trends were first monitored in 1988. The report also shows vaping continued an upward trend last year. Marijuana vaping, which had significantly decreased in 2020, rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in 2021. The report also shows alcohol remains the most-used substance among adults in the study, but the number of people who drink daily has been decreasing over the past decade. Binge drinking-- which is five or more drinks in a row-- rebounded last year from a historic low in 2020 during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charges are pending for a drunk man who crashed his car into the gate of Selfridge Air National Guard Base. Michigan State Police say the driver hit the yellow poles at the gate yesterday afternoon and was arrested after twice refusing to put his hands behind his back. A breath test showed the man was three times over the legal limit. It's not clear what prompted the man to show up at the base.

An eight over standoff in Eaton County ends last night with one person in custody. It's unclear what led to the standoff that forced an emergency Shelter in Place order in an Eaton Rapids neighborhood. People were told to stay in their homes until the situation was resolved around eight o'clock. The Sheriff said the situation was not random. More details could be released today.

The Michigan State University Veterinary lab is helping to determine what is killing dozens of dogs in northern Michigan. The outbreak that involves parvovirus-like symptoms has killed at least 30 dogs in Otsego County alone. The Michigan Agriculture Department and U.S. Ag Department along with the state Association of Animal Control Officers are alos involved in the investigation. While the dogs that died had parvo-like symptoms, they tested negative for the virus. Unvaccinated puppies younger than four months old are the most at risk.

A two-headed cat? The Jackson County Animal Shelter is going viral with a tongue-in- cheek photo of a two headed cat. The picture is actually an optical illusion of two cats lying on each other - with two heads visible. Officials at the shelter say the attention the post has gotten has surpassed their expectations. They are hoping to adopt the two sister cats together. Despite the popularity of the post, the cats are still available. Their names are Sour Cream and Onion.

A new twist on the Big Mac. McDonald's will be testing a new chicken Big Mac later this month. The Chicken Big Mac will be on the menu in Miami, but it's unclear if it will make its way to Michigan. The move to bring the new Big Mac to the U.S. comes after McDonalds received a lot of positive feedback from those in the U.K. who were the first to try out the chicken Big Mac. The company's CEO has said chicken is a significant opportunity for the restaurants.