Rina Miller

Record rainfall in the Chicago area has heightened concerns that invasive Asian carp will escape electronic and physical barriers along the Des Plaines River, and make their way into the Great Lakes.

If Asian carp were to get into the Great Lakes, it's feared they could seriously impact the fishing and recreation industries.

However, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokeswoman Felicia Kirksey says crews stationed along the 13-mile barrier have seen no evidence of the fish breaching the structure.

The ACLU of Michigan claims Detroit police have a practice of taking people who appear to be homeless and dumping them miles away from downtown.

A yearlong investigation by the ACLU asserts that officers approach people in the Greektown area and offer them a "ride."

ACLU attorney Sarah Mehta says the homeless people are forced into police vans, ordered to empty their pockets and then taken to remote areas of the city or even across city limits.

The University of Michigan is set to lead a national trial in the use of stem cell injections to study their effects on the symptoms of ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

U-M will collaborate with Emory University in the Phase II clinical trial, pending approval by  the Institutional Review Board, which could take about a month. The FDA has approved the trial.

It's estimated between 30,000 to 50,000 people in the United States have ALS.

This week in review Rina Miller and Jack Lessenberry discuss the possibility of repealing a tax on pensions, how Michigan's home foreclosure rate is no longer the worst, and how the international trade crossing has a presidential permit to move forward.

Michigan workers are losing their health-care coverage at a greater rate than any other state.

In 2000, about 78 percent of Michigan workers got insurance through their employer.

By 2011, that fell to about 63 percent.

Lynn Blewett is a University of Minnesota professor who took part in the national study funded by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Michigan schools could soon change how they teach science.

The idea is to provide more depth in the curriculum. That's according to Linda Forward, who directs the Office of Education Improvement and Innovation at the Michigan Department of Education.

She says 26 states worked to create the Next Generation Science Standards.

The plan blends certain subjects, such as chemistry and biology. It also ties engineering into science.

Babies spit up -- a lot. It often happens when they eat too quickly  or too much. It's normal, but it sure can scare parents.

A University of Michigan study says doctors should be careful about using labels to describe babies with upset stomachs.

Dr. Beth Tarini, an assistant professor of pediatrics at U-M, says when doctors use terms like gastroesophageal reflux disease -- or GERD -- the only thing most parents hear is "disease."

"It can transform the way the parent views the child's health. It can take a parent who has a healthy child, and have that parent start to believe that that child is actually sick," Tarini says."Parents come into the office, understandably distressed that their baby is spitting up."

Tarini says sometimes physicians, in trying to help the parents, will reach for anything they can do to help, which can lead to the overuse of antacids, like Zantac.

Michigan Radio's Rina Miller spoke with our Political Analyst about the big news stories this week.

Beginning in October, people can sign up to get help paying for health coverage under of the Affordable Care Act.

In Michigan, some 745,000 people will qualify, according to Families USA, a national non-profit organization for health care consumers.

Executive director Ron Pollack says in Michigan, 91 percent of those who will qualify for the tax credit are working families.

The University of Michigan Health System has begun training teams of palliative care specialists. The Adult Palliative Medicine Program puts more focus on helping patients manage the physical and emotional pain from chronic disease and dying. 

U-M Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine Dr. Raymond Yung  is guiding the program. He says some patients think suffering is just the way it is -- that they're supposed to be tough. Some people may worry about addiction.

"This is not a reason for anyone to withhold pain medication that they need," Yung says. "In this patient population, actual issues with addiction is not a big problem at all."

Michigan  already has a law requiring parental consent for minors to use tanning beds, but a new law would prohibit teens' use of the beds altogether.

West Bloomfield dermatologist Dr. Kay Watnick says indoor tanning can increase the risk for skin cancer -- including melanoma.

"It's a very serious kid of skin cancer," Watnick says. "It's most prominent in young Caucasian females."

Watnick says melanoma and other types of skin cancer have increased dramatically over the past three decades.

More Michigan communities may consolidate their police and fire departments because of the unstable economy.

Cross-training police, fire and paramedics isn't a new idea. Some places have operated that way since the 1950s.

Jeremy Wilson is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Michigan State University.

He's also director of the Program on Police Consolidation and Shared Services at MSU. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

This “week in review” Rina Miller and Jack Lessenberry discuss a state house subcommittee’s rejection to expand Medicaid, how Michigan will be run under a federal health exchange, how universities are going under scrutiny for negotiating new, long term contracts before Michigan’s right to work law goes into effect, and how a city pension attorney in Detroit and a former trustee were indicted for bribery.

The founder of a pizza company launched in Taylor 40 years ago has died.