Tagged: memorial day

Ah, the summer road trip.   Packing up the family and heading to the beach, a campground or the Upper Peninsula. 

AAA Michigan predicts 1.1 million Michiganders will travel more than 50 miles by car or truck between Thursday evening and Monday night.

That’s about the same number as the past two summers.

Nancy Cain is with AAA Michigan.   She says many Michiganders are forgoing the summer road trip this year.

“They’ll be traveling,” she says, “but perhaps not as much.”

Gasoline prices have risen sharply during the last few days.

"GasBuddy.com" pegs Michigan’s average price per gallon at $3.85. That's up ten cents from a week ago, and it's 20 cents higher than the national average. Many gas stations are already charging $3.99 a gallon, with a few charging more than four dollars. 

Gregg Laskoski is a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. He says prices are not rising because of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.

Laskoski blames refinery problems in Indiana and Illinois for prices pushing four dollars a gallon. 

This Memorial Day, Michigan Radio spoke with veterans who have served overseas about how today’s veterans might be remembered.

Brandon Van Wagoner of Flint served in the Navy from 2004 to 2008, including two deployments to Iraq.

He thinks it's still too soon to know how his generation of service members will be remembered on Memorial Day.

“I really think the way we're actually going to see the Middle Eastern combatants isn't going to be completely formed or shaped until later on,” he says.

This Memorial Day, Michigan Radio spoke with veterans who have served overseas about what the day means to a new generation of service members.

Kelli McKinstry of Flint joined the air force in August of 2001. She served in Iraq, and got out in 2007. Now she’s a student at the University of Michigan, Flint.

“I think people are just adapting to the fact that our generation is now war victims, versus Vietnam,” she says.

This Memorial Day, Michigan Radio spoke with veterans who have recently served overseas about how they observed the holiday.

Jeremy Suckow of Flint served in the Navy for six years. His memorial day looked a lot like everyone else's. For him, the beer and barbecuing is all part of it.

“We did our time and it's no big deal, and then other guys have gone there and paid the ultimate sacrifice, and why not toast to that, celebrate that,” says Suckow.

Drowning is the leading cause of injury related death among children less than 4 years of age.  That's according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control.

Angela Minicuci is with the Michigan Department of Community Health.  She says young children should be supervised around all sources of water both inside and outside of the house: