kalamazoo

Kalamazoo rallies to pressure EPA to remove hazardous paper mill waste

Lindsey Smith — Thu, 16 May 2013 13:33:12 +0000

More than a hundred people, a dozen strollers and a few dogs lined up and marched about halfway around the Allied landfill site in Kalamazoo Wednesday night chanting – “What do we want? Cleanup! When do we want it? Now!”

It isn’t a typical landfill. It’s where a paper mill dumped decades-worth of waste that’s laced with cancer-causing chemicals.

Everyone here wants the pile gone. They don’t care if it’s the most expensive option and the company that owned the site went bankrupt.

Kalamazoo residents struggle with EPA over "Mount PCB"

Lindsey Smith — Tue, 14 May 2013 12:11:14 +0000

People in Kalamazoo are rallying to get rid of a major dump site that contains cancer causing waste.

Imagine decades’ worth of wood pulp and grey clay waste from the paper mill industry. There are 1.5 million cubic yards of it and it’s laced with polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs.

Now, plop it in the middle of a neighborhood.

Sarah Hill lives a little more than a mile away from what neighbors have dubbed "Mount PCB."

Kalamazoo Promise executive director stepping down

Steve Carmody — Tue, 07 May 2013 00:31:18 +0000

One of the founders of the Kalamazoo Promise is stepping down after five years with the education scholarship program.

Janice Brown has served as the Kalamazoo Promise’s executive director since 2008. Before that, she was the superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Michigan voters will be casting ballots on Tuesday

Steve Carmody — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:09:00 +0000

Michigan voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

School bond issues dominate the ballot in most of Michigan.

For example, Kalamazoo voters are being asked to decide on a $62 million bond request. If voters give their OK, the district would spend most of the money on maintaining city school buildings.

There are a few elected offices on the ballot of note.

In Genesee County, voters are picking a new state senator. Former senator John Gleason stepped down after winning the Genesee County clerk’s election last fall.

Kalamazoo mayor blasts EPA's Superfund cleanup plan

Mark Brush — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:49:29 +0000

Kalamazoo officials say they're not happy about a federal plan for dealing with contaminated soil in the city's Edison neighborhood.

The site is part of an 80-mile-long area included in the Superfund cleanup program. Paper mills that occupied the site for a century left behind 1.5 million yards of soil tainted with toxic PCBs, some of which are already in a local landfill.

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed spending $36 million to dig up more soil, add it to the landfill and cover it.

MLive.com's Emily Monacelli covered a public meeting held on the cleanup plan last night. Kalamazoo's Mayor, Bobby Hopewell, says the EPA's plan isn't enough:

Kalamazoo Mayor Bobby Hopewell told the crowd the Kalamazoo City Commission would stand behind them and protect them. The waste doesn't belong in a neighborhood, he said.
"The bottom line is we stopped them once and we're going to stop them again," Hopewell said of the EPA, referencing a past plan to dump PCB-laden soil from Plainwell on the Allied site.
"This is unacceptable," Hopewell said. "It's poison in the middle of the neighborhood. It's unacceptable."

Public Services Director Bruce Merchant says more should be done to protect an aquifer beneath the site that supplies 40 percent of the city's drinking water.

The EPA says removing all contaminated soil and taking it to another landfill would cost $336 million.

Kalamazoo leaders unhappy with EPA plan to clean toxic chemicals from old paper mills

Lindsey Smith — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:40:30 +0000

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is working to clean up toxic chemicals along an 80 mile stretch of the Kalamazoo River. But Kalamazoo city leaders aren’t happy with the federal agency's proposed plan.

The effort is focused on cleaning up toxic chemicals, known as PCBs, left behind from several paper mills.

The EPA wants to consolidate the material and cap it so water cannot get in.

With winter caps, Michiganders celebrate the tapping of a summer beer

Mark Brush — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:33:50 +0000

It might not feel like it outside, but warmer temperatures are around the corner.

MLive has A LOT (including live coverage from Bell's Brewery) on the release of one of Michigan's favorite brews:

At least 64 Oberon kegs are ready to be tapped at Bell’s and at least four ‘Oberon Kings and Queens’ were crowned at midnight keg-tapping parties across the state. The brewery opened early on Monday for the event.
Oberon is a seasonal ale in most markets, but is sold year-round in Florida, Arizona and Puerto Rico. The summer beer is fermented with Bell's yeast, spicy hops and fruity aromas, giving it a light malty taste, most commonly complemented with an orange peel.
The opening day is held at the end of March every year, to coincide with the start of the baseball season and more sunshine.

Is the Kalamazoo Promise worth keeping?

Stateside Staff — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:57:23 +0000

Students who attend a public Kalamazoo high school for their entire high school career and live in the district during those four years have the opportunity to attend a Michigan college or University for free.

This, of course, is old news.

The Kalamazoo Promise was announced in November 2005 and has since proven to be one of the most groundbreaking educational programs in the state.

Kalamazoo city commission will trim list of search firms hoping to find the city's next city manager

Steve Carmody — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:28:00 +0000

Kalamazoo’s search for a new city manager takes another step this evening.

The city commission is expected tonight to narrow the list of search firms that have applied to aid Kalamazoo in finding a new city manager

Kalamazoo’s current city manager, Kenneth Collard, is among dozens of city employees taking an early retirement package.

11 search firms applied to the city to conduct the search for Collard’s replacement.

Kalamazoo City Commission approves new city budget, including fee increases

Steve Carmody — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 05:20:00 +0000

Kalamazoo city residents will be paying a little more to the city.

The city commission approved a new city budget last night that includes significant fee increases.

Last night, Kalamazoo city commissioners voted 5 to 2 to approve the 144 million dollar city budget.

Vice Mayor Hannah McKinney voted for the budget. She called the budget plan “scary”, as the city continues to reduce its workforce.

Kalamazoo City Commission votes on budget plan tonight

Steve Carmody — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:20:40 +0000

The Kalamazoo City Commission is scheduled to vote this evening on the city budget.

The 144 million dollar budget plan includes fee increases, most notably a one percent administrative fee on city tax collections.

The city has also been trimming its workforce through early retirements and eliminating other positions.

The changes are intended to help off-set a drop in city property tax revenues.

City commissioners gave tentative approval to the budget plan last month.

New blood test can determine paternity before birth

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:39:31 +0000

Pregnant women in Michigan can now use a simple blood test to identify the father of their unborn child.

Three labs across the state now offer the noninvasive prenatal paternity test. The Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Lansing sites are part of the ArcPoint Franchise Group.

With only a blood sample from the mother and a cheek swab from the potential father, paternity can be determined as early as five weeks after conception.

At that time, the pregnant woman's blood starts carrying fragments of the fetus' DNA.

The labs send the mother's blood samples and potential father's cheek swab to a different lab in Columbia, Md., where technicians compare genetic markers to determine paternity.

Stateside: Kalamazoo's Promise of lifelong learning

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 21:18:27 +0000

Graduate from public high school in Kalamazoo and go to college for free.

It’s a rare offer- one that strives to show students that college is something crucial and attainable.

In a recent New York Times feature, Ted C. Fishman examined the Kalamazoo Promise and its effect on both the city and the state of Michigan.

Seven years ago, anonymous donors started The Promise, hoping to encourage more Kalamazoo students to attend college.

During his time writing the piece, Fishman was personally impacted by the stories of the students with whom he spoke.

More protests at Secretary of State related to "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program

Lindsey Smith — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 01:12:24 +0000

More people are protesting against a decision to deny Michigan driver's licenses to immigrants granted work permits under a new federal deferred-action program.

President Obama announced the "Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals" program in June. It provides work permits and Social Security cards to young people brought to the United States without legal permission.

But Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson will not issue those in the program driver’s licenses because she says they don’t have legal status.

Study will determine if racial profiling a factor in Kalamazoo traffic stops

Lindsey Smith — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 04:18:06 +0000

Kalamazoo’s Public Safety Department is conducting a study to see if its officers unfairly target racial and ethnic minorities.

The study is not being court ordered, the city isn’t being sued, and there hasn’t been any big incident that sparked the study. Kalamazoo Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley says that’s a good thing.

“These types of issues can bring a lot of emotion… and it makes it a lot more difficult to talk reasonably and to talk productively and constructively in how we move forward,” Hadley said.

Hadley says the department wants to try to avoid problems and they’re hoping the study will help.

“Spending money on this type of study I think is really an investment into our relationship with the community; and how important they are in how we operate as a public safety department and how we keep this city safe,” Hadley said.