The Mining Journal (Marquette). Nov. 5.
Deer Lake delisting good news for area, region
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced late last week that Deer Lake in Marquette County and White Lake in Muskegon County were removed as areas of concern from the binational toxic hotspots list.
The EPA said Great Lakes Initiative funding has been used over the past five years to accelerate clean-up of sites.
Since the funding was provided, Deer Lake is among three sites now delisted. Under the 1987 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, 43 Areas of Concern were designated.
Deer Lake was contaminated by mercury leached into water flowing through abandoned mine workings and other sources of pollution.
An $8 million grant of GLRI funds was used to complete the final work to allow delisting.
The delisting process began in 2013.
“This announcement is the capstone on years of work to clean up our Great Lakes shorelines,” said Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant in a written statement. “We appreciate the support from federal partners through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to make this happen, and we appreciate the continued support and hard work of local groups to restore Michigan’s natural resources in our Areas of Concern. We look forward to more good news from this program in the years ahead.”
We couldn’t be happier to see this lake delisted. Very often, it seems like government is incapable of accomplishing much of anything.
With gridlocked legislatures filled with politicians more interested in pandering than progress, we’re happy to see that hardworking state employees can still get the job done.
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The Detroit News. Nov. 4.
Peters a fresh face for U.S. Senate
This January will be the first time in 20 years that Michigan is sending a fresh face to the U.S. Senate, Senator-elect Gary Peters. Peters will be part of a larger group of freshmen to join the Senate.
The deliberative body has rarely been more setback by gridlock and dysfunction than it is today under Majority Leader Harry Reid’s rule. Americans throughout the country are frustrated - even angry - with the way Washington politicians have handled partisan disagreements.
Peters has a chance to help change that and to effectively lead his colleagues. He should bring a new attitude about governing with him to the Senate.
He should start it off with a can-do attitude and willingness to work with colleagues who will also lead, regardless of party. The moderate decision-making and bipartisan attitude Peters has demonstrated in some ways during his time as a representative - and that he brought to his editorial board meeting with The Detroit News - is the kind of approach he should bring as a senator.
It will be critical he maintain a middle-road stance on energy, the backbone of much of Michigan’s industry, and embrace all options moving forward.
It’s also important for Michigan residents that Peters be a pro-patient, pro-business voice on the ever-changing conditions of the Affordable Care Act, which he’s stated before he will be.
Picking up a legacy of Sen. Carl Levin, Peters must also be a strong champion of Michigan’s bread-and-butter automotive industry.
Peters has already worked across the aisle in the House to increase the automotive caucus in Congress, bringing in members from other states where foreign automakers are starting to expand. He must continue that kind of leadership in the Senate.
And with so much turnover in Michigan’s delegation to Congress this term, it’s particularly important Peters stand up for the industry which employs so many in the state.
It’s a challenging time to be an elected official in Washington, but also a time of great opportunity. Peters should take advantage of it by helping change the dynamics of a do-nothing Congress.
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The Saginaw News. Nov. 3.
Two weeks of violent prison incidents show need for swift review, prompt action
Three incidents of violence at one prison making headlines in less than two weeks indicate to us something is seriously amiss at the Saginaw Correctional Facility - even as the Michigan Department of Corrections maintains that attacks on officers in the state’s correctional systems are down significantly from 2009 to 2013.
Members of the state corrections officers union rallied last week in front of the Freeland prison after fellow officer Kevin Ott was attacked, beaten and stabbed a few days before.
Downsizing and cutbacks have touched many occupations, to varying degrees of consequence. We’ve become accustomed to claims of understaffing in all walks of life. But few, if any, of those complaints carry the life or death implications like which those corrections officers warn.
Protestors last week pointed to budget cuts endangering the safety of their colleagues, and they made the correlation between Ott’s injuries and a safety and security crisis caused by a lack of officers.
Hopefully the ensuing investigation will accurately - and swiftly - indicate what adjustments are needed, both in staffing and procedure. And hopefully those tweaks are decisively and effectively executed. It seems those corrections officers and their union compatriots are being proven correct again and again with inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-guard violence in Freeland.
Although it’s easy to armchair quarterback without fully knowing each incident’s particulars, it’s also easy to recognize that after three such violent episodes, the investigation should include a review of staffing levels. The situation requires analysis of whether inmates are adequately protected from each other, and whether guards are safe.
Perhaps this violence was an indirect result of redistribution of the prison population following the closing of the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility. Maybe it justifies a review of the security levels of inmates being assigned to the Freeland prison site, or simply a hard look at population size in that facility.
Corrections officers work in an inherently dangerous environment; they know that going in. But they deserve safeguards as well. The problems illustrated by two weeks of violent incidents are obviously much bigger than just food service in the prison mess hall.
This is an issue that needs swift and affirmative action. If the prison exists primarily to rehabilitate and keep violent offenders out of the general population, then appropriate staffing and security is needed to execute that mission.
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The Alpena News. Nov. 4.
Much work still needed to improve relations with China
Moundsville, W.Va., native John Berisford is back home in the United States, finally. His situation makes it clear this country has much to do to improve our diplomatic relationship with China.
Berisford was teaching English at a Chinese university when, apparently because of an attack in his apartment, he was injured so badly he slipped into a coma. That was about eight months ago.
Since then, the Chinese hospital treating Berisford had refused to release him until his bill was paid in full. Finally, after community fund drives and a gift of about $60,000 by an anonymous donor, the money was raised. Berisford was brought home and is in a Cleveland hospital.
Why were U.S. diplomats not able to work out a deal to get him released sooner? Why did Chinese officials not send him home as a humanitarian gesture?
Obviously, the State Department should answer those questions - and Americans should be aware that for all the talk of the “westernization” of China, enormous differences still block any genuine thawing of relations between our two countries.
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