Report: State Doing Well Collecting Child Support Payments
A new Auditor General’s report says about 70 percent of Michigan children who are eligible for child support do receive the payments. About $3 billion in child support payments were collected over the last two years, Laura Weber reports. Marilyn Stephen, Director of Child Support with the Department of Human Services, told Weber the state’s child support program is a great return on investment for taxpayers, with more than $6 in child support collected for every dollar spent.
Enbridge: Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Cost Half a Billion Dollars
Enbridge Energy says last July's oil spill of at least 800,000 gallons of oil into the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Michigan cost the company $550 million in 2010. The figure comes from an Enbridge report. The $550 million does not include insurance recoveries, fines and penalties. In addition to the spill in Marshall, the Kalamazoo Gazette reports, Enbridge spent $45 million on a spill in Romeoville, Illinois in September. Public officials say they don't know when the Kalamazoo River will reopen for public use.
Residents Learn More About DPS Reorginization
The Detroit Public Schools held the first in a series of parent meetings about a radical plan to close some schools and turn others into charters, Sarah Cwiek reports. From Cwiek:
Most parents who attended the first meeting at Priest Elementary school in southwest Detroit expressed concern and even anger about Bobb’s plan. Many worry what it will mean for their neighborhood schools, student transportation, and special needs students.
Robert Bobb, the Emergency Financial Manager of the Detroit Public Schools, has proposed closing six schools and turning up to 45 others into charters. Two more meetings are scheduled for April 12th and 13th.
