Ferndale
Program awards $60,000 for arts, culture field trips
FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) — A nonprofit says its 2015 Arts & Culture Trek Grant program has provided a total of $60,000 to more than 160 Michigan elementary, middle, and high schools.
Ferndale-based Michigan Youth Arts announced the update Monday.
The program is funded by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. It awards individual grants of up to $500 to cover transportation costs associated with an arts- or culture-related field trip. The trips will take place in Michigan between Jan. 5 and May 29.
Since 2012, the Arts & Culture Trek Grant program has helped about 62,000 students travel to more than 200 arts and cultural institutions.
East Lansing
Women make cards for gun violence victims
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) —€” About 30 people have decorated cards at an East Lansing home to support gun violence victims and their survivors.
The Lansing State Journal reports the Sunday party was one of many events staged around the country by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The group aims to prevent gun violence by bringing about stricter records checks for potential gun owners.
The card-decorating event marked the two-year anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut, school shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The group of mothers and children made 53 cards that the organization will distribute.
Hudson
Michigan farm, regulators defend manure spraying
HUDSON, Mich. (AP) — A large southeastern Michigan dairy farm and the state’s environmental regulators say the farm’s practice of spraying manure on croplands is OK.
The Detroit Free Press reports the response from Hudson Dairy and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality comes after Environmentally Concerned Citizens of South Central Michigan recorded video of a truck spraying liquid manure this month.
The environmental group says it worries runoff from the farm will make its way into Lake Erie, where toxic algae blooms this summer tainted Toledo, Ohio’s water supply.
The farm owned by Wisconsin-based dairy company Milk Source says the manure spraying is following accepted agricultural practices.
The farm is regulated as a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO. Michigan DEQ spokesman Brad Wurfel called the environmental group’s actions a “PR stunt” that “muddies an important conversation” about how to safely accomplish large-scale food production.
Rachel Koleda of the DEQ’s water resources division says the farm’s permit prohibits manure application to frozen or snow-covered ground, but the ground was unfrozen at the time of the video. Manure spreading also is prohibited on the farm between Dec. 15 and March 15.
Milk Source’s director of public affairs Bill Harke says the manure is turned into the soil “so when it’s time to plant in the spring, the nutrients have been working already.” The farm near Hudson has about 3,400 cows. It’s located about 40 miles from Toledo.
