Stateside

Stateside for Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Stateside Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:04:19 +0000

All this week, we've been digging into the causes, and perhaps solutions, to the financial troubles facing our schools. As Michigan Radio has been reporting, some 50 public school districts across our state are facing deep deficits. And, for the first time in Ann Arbor history, the school district may have to lay off 50 teachers.

Today we focused on teacher salaries. Just what should determine teacher pay in Michigan?

And, Daniel Howes talked with us about the business community in Detroit.

Preventative agricultural technology: a farmer's best friend

Stateside Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:15:11 +0000

All over Michigan farmers are keeping fingers tightly crossed and their eyes fixed on the weather forecast.

Most Michigan farmers are struggling to recover from 2012, the worst growing season in our state in more than 50 years. That combination of extremely warm weather in March, followed by a hard freeze in April, and then a hot summer full of drought crushed farmers, especially fruit farmers.

It's something that hits all of us, because agriculture is the second biggest industry in Michigan. Agriculture pumps 37 billion dollars into the state's economy, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Preventative agricultural technology is giving farmers some creative weapons in their battle to save their crops from Mother Nature.

Don Armock of River Ridge Produce is one of these farmers. He joined us in the studio to talk about the 2013 growing season.

Listen to the full interview above.

Fighting to save an Irish Hills landmark

Stateside Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:14:03 +0000

If you grew up in southeast or southcentral Michigan any time from the 1920s right through the 20th century and into the early part of this century, chances are you and your family visited or at least passed through the Irish Hills.

Driving along US-12, it's impossible to miss the major landmarks of the Irish Hills, the twin observation towers. Generations of Michigan families have climbed these towers to get a good look at the surrounding countryside.

But the clock is ticking on those landmark towers.

Donna Boglarsky, the president of the Irish Hills Historical Society and former owner of the towers, joined us in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.

Is teacher merit pay what's best for Michigan?

Stateside Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:13:13 +0000

As the 2012-2013 school year winds down, one of the issues occupying the attention of state lawmakers is teacher pay. In essence: what should determine teacher salaries in Michigan?

A state House panel has approved a plan to tie teachers' pay to student performance. But, as Michigan Public Radio's Jake Neher told us, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they're worried the bill would strip away local control.

Detroit businesses give back to the community

Stateside Staff — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:39:23 +0000

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for our weekly conversation with Daniel Howes, the Business Columnist at the Detroit News.

This week, he focused on the business community in Detroit, where companies like General Motors are trying to give back through programs like the GM Student Corps. From Howe's column:

By itself, the pilot program unveiled in the Wintergarden of GM’s Renaissance Center, isn’t front-page news in a city bursting with the good, the bad and the financially ugly on a weekly basis. What GM Student Corps signifies, however, is another example of a key player in the business community seeing a communal need and moving to fill it, quickly.

He joined us today to discuss the business in Detroit as well as the health of the auto industry.

Listen to the full interview above.

Stateside for Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

Stateside Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:45:25 +0000

There's a three story pile of black petroleum coke big enough to cover an entire city block piling up in Southwest Detroit. It's a by-product of oil sands drilling from Alberta, Canada.

On today's show: we asked why is this high-sulfur, high-carbon waste piling up along the Detroit River?

And, the Board of State Canvassers met today in Lansing. We got an update on ballot initiatives that you could be voting on.

Where poverty lives in Michigan

Stateside Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:43:12 +0000

When one thinks of poverty in America, or in Michigan, what image comes to mind? Where are poor people living?

Chances are, an image of an inner-city neighborhood flashes in your mind.

Well, that would be wrong.

The Brookings Institute this week released its study called "Confronting Suburban Poverty in America."

Bottom line: poverty is moving into the suburbs.

Both here in Michigan and across the country, the suburbs are home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country.

Scott Allard is an associate professor at the University of Chicago and a research affiliate of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan.

He joined us in the studio to talk about what this study means in terms of how we think about poverty in our state.

Listen to the full interview above.

Fitting a liberal arts education into our future

Stateside Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:40:55 +0000

Here's a question that colleges and universities across the country are grappling with: how does "liberal arts" fit into our futures?

We hear more and more talk about stem courses and careers: science, technology, engineering and math.

There's lots of talk about the fact that the U.S. needs people with these degrees to compete in a global economy.

So what will it take for liberal arts programs to matter to students who want to graduate with degrees that will secure a job that pays?

Those are some of the questions being tackled this week at a major conversation involving more than 50 deans at large research universities around the country coming to the University of Michigan for an unprecedented national conversation.

The focus -"The Liberal Arts and Sciences in the Research University Today: Histories, Challenges, Futures."

The Dean of the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at the University of Michigan, Dean Terrence McDonald was kind enough to join us in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.

The latest on abortion coverage and wolf hunting

Stateside Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:29:07 +0000

The Board of State Canvassers met today in Lansing. They took up two controversial issues: one involving abortion coverage and another about wolf hunting in Michigan.

The Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network, Rick Pluta, was at the meeting earlier today. He joined us in the studio to talk about these two issues.

Listen to the full interview above.

Can the Red Wings keep winning against the Blackhawks?

Stateside Staff — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:13:29 +0000

Tomorrow night will bring Game Four in the Western Conference semifinals between the Detroit Red Wings and archrivals Chicago Blackhawks.

The Wings handed the Blackhawks a pair of stinging losses in Games Two and Three, so tomorrow night’s game at the Joe finds the Wings up two games to one.

John Keating covers the Red Wings for Fox Sports Detroit, and he has done so for many years, so he’s seen this team through its ups and downs. He joined us today in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.

Stateside for Tuesday, May 21st, 2013

Stateside Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:54:44 +0000

It took an intense campaign in Michigan in 2008 to get voters to approve proposal 2, allowing embryonic stem-cell research.

On today's show we talk to a neurologist leading the nation’s first clinical trial of stem cell injections in patients with the deadly degenerative disease ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

And, there is no shortage of articles, quotes, and news stories telling us what politicians, business titans and other leaders think of Michigan and its future.

But what about what tomorrow’s leaders think?

Shifting attitudes about domestic violence

Stateside Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:52:42 +0000

University of Michigan researcher Rachael Pierotti took a closer look at the global attitudes about domestic violence. What she's discovered seems to point to a major shift in the way people around the world think of domestic violence.

Pierotti is a graduate student in sociology at U of M and a PhD candidate. Her study was published in the American Sociological Review. She joined us today in the studio to discuss her findings.

Listen to the full interview above.

New online community spreads 'Mitten Pride'

Stateside Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:51:19 +0000

Once a Michigander, always a Michigander, even if you've moved away from the Mitten State.

That's the idea that underpins a new website and social network called "Mitten Stretcher," designed to bring Michiganders together, no matter where they may now be living.

Mark Serra is the founder of the Mitten Stretcher Community and MittenStretcher.com, and he joined us today in the studio to talk about the website.

Listen to the full interview above.

Central Michigan University students work to reinvent Michigan

Stateside Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:49:54 +0000

There is no shortage of articles, quotes, and news stories telling us what politicians, business titans and other leaders think of Michigan and its future.

But all too often their view are from 35,000 feet up.

What about the view from the ground, from tomorrow's leaders? From college students?

That's the idea behind a website launched by business journalism students at Central Michigan University.

It's called "Reinventing Michigan: The Rebirth of Michigan, Hopeful Solutions for Moving Forward."

The students are being guided in all of this by their professor Micki Maynard, who, among many credits, was the Detroit Bureau chief for the New York Times.

She joined us in the studio along with one of the students: Austin Stowe of South Lyon. Austin is a junior at CMU.

Listen to the full interview above.

New unified school district superintendent in Ypsilanti speaks

Stateside Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:44:35 +0000

The litany of school districts in serious money trouble is long and growing longer: Buena Vista, Benton Harbor, Detroit, Pontiac, Albion.

Now we hear that Hazel Park schools are broke, according to the Superintendent, who blames an "unexpected drop" in student enrollment.

Close to fifty public school districts across our state are facing deep deficits. Buena Vista actually closed down for two weeks while scrambling to find enough money to keep things running.

Other districts have implemented layoffs and program cuts.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. And some say Michigan has too many school districts, and that consolidating some of these districts is a prudent choice.

Last year, the state encouraged Ypsilanti and nearby Willow Run schools to consolidate.

After tough decisions regarding layoffs, staff restructuring and closing buildings, the consolidation will happen July 1.

Scott Menzel is the superintendent of the Washtenaw Intermediate School District and, come July 1, he will be the superintendent of the new unified district: Ypsilanti Community Schools.

He joined us today in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.