power outages

Winds hitting 60 mph black out 195,000 in Michigan

The Associated Press — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 19:19:06 +0000

DETROIT (AP) - Winds that gusted to 60 miles per hour have swept across Michigan, knocking down trees and power lines and cutting off electrical service to at least 195,000 homes and businesses.

Detroit-based DTE Energy Co. says 120,000 of its southeastern Michigan customers lost power in the overnight storm, and about 110,000 remain blacked out at midday Sunday.

Jackson-based CMS Energy Corp. says the storms knocked 75,,000 of its customers off line, and about23,000 were without service at midday Sunday across Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

37,000 without power after storms pound Michigan

The Associated Press — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 15:38:39 +0000

Overnight storms have left about 37,000 Michigan utility customers without power.

DTE Energy spokesman Scott Simons says Thursday that 16,000 outages include 13,000 scattered customers and 3,000 in South Lyon and Lyon Township.

Consumers Energy spokeswoman Debra Dodd tells MLive.com that nearly 21,000 of the Jackson-based company's statewide customers are blacked out. County outages include 2,900 in Bay, 3,300 in Genesee, nearly 2,700 in Gladwin, and more than 1,200 in Montcalm.

In this morning's Michigan news headlines...

Rebecca Williams — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 11:32:40 +0000

Power outages continue

In this morning's Michigan news headlines...

Rebecca Williams — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 12:06:51 +0000

Thunderstorms cause power outages

Utilities say more than 200,000 homes and businesses across Michigan are without power following several days of thunderstorms and hot weather, the Associated Press reports. From the AP:

DTE Energy Co. says about 175,000 of its customers were without power Thursday morning after a new round of damaging thunderstorms made its way across the state, knocking down trees and power lines. Since Tuesday, DTE says about 300,000 of its customers have been affected. The National Weather Service says wind gusts above 60 mph were reported as storms crossed the state Thursday. The Flint Journal reports 23,800 Consumers Energy customers without power in Genesee County. WSGW-AM reports 5,500 without power Midland and Gladwin counties.

Appeals court reinstates Blackwell case

The state Court of Appeals has reinstated an embezzlement case against the former emergency manager for Highland Park. Sarah Hulett reports:

Arthur Blackwell II is accused of taking $264,000 in payments that were not authorized by state officials. The appeals court decision reverses a lower court ruling - which had dismissed the case. The lower court agreed with Blackwell - who said as the city's emergency manager, he had the authority to sign the checks to himself. The appeals court says there's enough evidence that Blackwell acted improperly to try him. Blackwell was appointed to fix Highland Park's finances in 2005, by then-governor Jennifer Granholm. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says she's pleased with the appeals court decision.

Debate over sand dune development

Governor Snyder signed legislation recently allowing Great Lakes property owners to use tillers to dig up plants on the shoreline, as long as they get a federal permit. But another fight is brewing over relaxing environmental rules to make it easier for developers to build on sand dunes. Rick Pluta reports:

Michigan has very stringent rules that prohibit building on environmentally sensitive dunes. Developers say it is possible to build on dunes set back from the shoreline without harming the view, or causing other environmental damage. The measure to relax those rules stalled just before the Legislature took its summer break, but negotiations continue in an effort to break the impasse. James Clift is with the Michigan Environmental Council. He says there may be some room to relax the rules, but he says the state needs to ensure the Great Lakes shoreline is protected.
“So if the state of Michigan isn’t stepping up, these are dunes that are globally rare resources that are going to be under development pressure.”
Clift says the dunes are a draw for tourists, and also serve as habitat for rare or threatened species.

Planned power outage leaves thousands without light, heat in Detroit

Sarah Cwiek — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:04:13 +0000

Households and businesses in one section of Detroit lost power for a few hours Wednesday morning.

That’s because DTE Energy was performing what it calls “routine maintenance” on some underground power lines.

Mid-morning, generators were still humming at Holbrook Auto Repair in Highland Park. Manager Jeff Worthy bought them this week, when he found out DTE planned the temporary power outage.

Power outages plague Oakland County communities

Sarah Cwiek — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 01:57:21 +0000

DTE Energy says about 12,000 customers were still without power on Tuesday, after Saturday’s strong storms. Many were clustered in southeast Oakland County, especially in the Detroit suburbs of Ferndale and Oak Park.

The utility had restored power to about 90% of its customers who saw it knocked out during the weekend storms.

Power restoration nearly done after Monday storms

The Associated Press — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:51:12 +0000

DETROIT (AP) - Utilities say they're working to complete power restoration after severe thunderstorms hit southern Michigan earlier in the week.

About 9,000 homes and businesses were without power around midday Wednesday. Thunderstorms on Monday blacked out about 218,000 customers.

CMS Energy Corp. says about 5,700 of its 136,000 customers affected Monday still were blacked out late Wednesday morning. DTE Energy Co. says that about 3,000 of its 82,000 affected customers remained blacked out around midday Wednesday.

The storms were linked to two deaths in Michigan.

The Detroit Free Press reports high winds also blew bricks from the David Whitney Building in Detroit onto part of Grand Circus Park, damaging a People Mover station. Service by the elevated train system was limited Monday and Tuesday, and was being shut down Wednesday for repairs.

In this morning's news...

Mark Brush — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 12:49:20 +0000

Parts of Detroit without power this morning

Power outages are affecting many of Detroit's main buildings today. Workers at Detroit's city hall were told not to report to work this morning. From the Detroit News:

Numerous municipal buildings throughout the city's downtown area remained without power this morning after the city's antiquated public power system failed because of high demand for air-conditioning following a stretch of 90-degree weather earlier this week.
One of the city's five power lines at the Misterky Power Plant failed Wednesday and two others went down on Thursday, leaving the Coleman A. Young Municipal Building, the Detroit Public Library, Wayne State University, the Detroit Institute of Arts, several federal buildings and Detroit Public Schools without electrical service, officials said.
The city hoped to have the problem fixed this afternoon.

Group wants American Indian casino in Lansing

After failing to get enough signatures to put the issue on the August ballot, the Associated Press reports that a group is still moving ahead with a plan to bring an American Indian casino to Lansing:

Ted O'Dell, chairman of Lansing Jobs Coalition, tells the Lansing State Journal for a story Friday that he'll ask City Council members to approve his request before trying a ballot issue. He wants to gather enough signatures to get it on the city's November ballot.

O'Dell's group did not submit the number of signatures needed to put the issue on the August ballot.

In April, a group aiming to build casinos in Lansing and six other Michigan cities launched a process that could put the measure before state voters this fall. "Michigan is Yours" needs more than 300,000 signatures from registered voters across the state.

The effort failed to make the 2010 state ballot.

Pit Bull ban tabled

A bill to ban pit bulls in the state won't see any action in the state legislature. From the Detroit Free Press:

A legislative attempt to eventually ban pit bull ownership in Michigan has been leashed.
State Rep. Tim Bledsoe, D-Grosse Pointe, introduced the legislation to make it illegal to own a pit bull after a 10-year phaseout.
But the chairman of the Regulatory Reform Committee in the state House, Rep. Hugh Crawford, R-Novi, said he's not planning to move on the bill, effectively shelving it.

This is Michigan. And this is what we do. (Dig out after storms).

Tracy Samilton — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:39:31 +0000

The state's three main airports report business has returned almost to normal, after crews spent the evening clearing runways of snow and ice. Up to ten inches fell overnight. In many cases, that was more snow than fell during the so-dubbed "Snowpocalypse," a few weeks ago.

Detroit Metro Airport spokesman Mike Conway says the big problem last night was the roadways leading to the airport. He says it took a long time for taxis to return from outlying suburbs, and there was congestion as cars and taxis lined up outside terminals.