Gloomy News Bits from the Great Lakes Information Network: New rules would allow power plants to pollute more, Michigan's park system is sinking fast, legislature raiding Michigan's Harbor Development Fund.

Michigan Food Banks and Efforts to Aid Katrina Victims
Agencies that collect and distribute food for the hungry say emergency food needs are increasing in Michigan amid a tough economy and are encouraging gardeners to donate extra produce to their local food bank. The LSJ reports on a massive relief effort with the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and the Lansing School District to bring up to 1,500 victims of the hurricane to Lansing and Detroit,
Read Gardeners help fill need at food banks in Michigan in the Detroit Free Press
Also see Michiganders offer shelter to survivors in the Freep
Read Recently closed Lansing schools could house hundreds of refugees in the Lansing State Journal
Visit KatrinaHousing.org

Lansing Group Works to Develop Media Center
The Lansing City Pulse reports on efforts to organize a media center to take over Comcast's public access duties in Lansing, East Lansing and Meridian Township and serve individuals and non-profits. The center would capture and broadcast significant local cultural events such as the Great Lakes Folk Festival, allow neighborhood groups to host programs and produce teen talk shows and other shows.
Visit Capital Area Community Voices

Unclear if Fish Stocking Helps Reproduction
Detroit Free Press outdoor writer Eric Sharp says that although Michigan spends a lot of money and effort putting trout, salmon, walleyes and other species into our waters for anglers to catch, fisheries biologists can't say for sure whether or not stocking helps reproduction. Several experiements are underway to find an answer.

UP Town of Curtis Settled Late, Has Centennial This Weekend
The Mining Journal has an article on the history of the Upper Peninsula village of Curtis (on the Manistique Lake chain) and their Centennial celebration that begins today (Sep 2) and features Bill Haley's Comets. Although Chippewa and others used the area as a summer encampment for growing wild rice and fishing, few Indians were in the area when homesteaders arrived in the late 19th Century.
Also see Centennial bash: Curtis celebration begins Friday in the Mining Journal

Cell Phone Users, Obnoxious Drivers Targetted
The Detroit Free Press reports that Sen. Buzz Thomas (D-Detroit) has announced plans for legislation to prohibit drivers from talking on cell phones while in the left or passing lane and to make obnoxious driving (speeding, tailgating, failing to yield and passing on the shoulder) a crime.

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