Statewide Education Conference
State officials and educators will gather today in East Lansing for the 17th annual Governor’s Education Summit. “Last year, Governor Rick Snyder called for an overhaul in how students are educated. This year, organizers say they’ll examine ways to build an education system that begins with pre-school and continues to college or post-secondary job training,” Rick Pluta reports. Lt. Gov. Brian Calley will address the conference this morning.
Budgeting Detroit
Detroit’s budget process gets started in earnest this week. Sarah Cwiek reports:
The Detroit City Council will dig into a detailed version of Mayor Dave Bing’s proposed budget for the first time today. Everyone acknowledges it will be a painful, multi-year process of cutting city spending – as outlined in Detroit’s consent agreement with the state. State and city officials have said Detroit needs to focus on delivering its “core services” effectively – and slashing or even ending most others. The proposed budget would eliminate the city’s health, human services, and workforce development departments.
Frost Damage to Cherry Crops
Northern Michigan's tart cherry growers are starting to report serious damage from a hard freeze that followed a late-winter heat wave, the Associated Press reports. From the AP:
A week-long hot spell in mid-March triggered widespread budding well ahead of normal. Then typical cold weather returned, with temperatures dipping into the 20s on the night of March 25th. Longtime Leelanau County fruit farmer Dave Alpers has 550 acres of tart cherries and 100 acres of sweet cherries in Leland and Suttons Bay townships, about 15 miles north of Traverse City. He tells the Traverse City Record-Eagle that he's finding 80 to 90 percent of the buds on the area's tart cherries have been killed, as have about 40 to 60 percent of the apple buds. The northwestern Lower Peninsula produces about four-fifths of U.S. tart cherries.
