Focus West Michigan
Focus West Michigan for 7-2-24
[music] Today on Focus West Michigan, the Ford Airport is seeing record-breaking holiday travel. Grand Haven has a new public safety director. The state wants your help combating invasive species and more state and West Michigan news. For WGBU, I'm Joe Bilecki. Today is Tuesday, July 2, 2024. [music] Focus West Michigan is brought to you by listeners like you. To support this show and everything we do, visit wgbonews.org and click the donate button. [music] What's expected to be a record-breaking holiday travel week is already underway at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids. WGBU Steam Morrison reports. 100,000 passengers are expected to travel through the Gerald R. Ford International Airport this week from Sunday to Sunday. This is tracking about 12% above our 2023 Fourth of July travel level, which 2023 was a record-breaking year for us. Marketing and Communications Manager Haley Abbas says top destinations this week include Orlando, Nashville, Clearwater, and Washington, D.C. Under way at the airport are $600 million in capital expansion projects to support West Michigan as the fastest-growing region in the state. Abbas says passengers should arrive at least two hours before flight time to allow extra time for parking and unexpected delays. Construction is ongoing at the airport. Ford was recently broken on the $135 million terminal enhancement project. We are able to then consolidate all of those ticketing counters and we're able to add in some more baggage-claimed care ourselves. She reminds summer travelers liquids are restricted to 3.4-ounce containers, noting top items that have to be left at checkpoints now are bottles of sunscreen, tanning lotion, aloe vera gel, and liquid makeup. Of course, with the Fourth of July holiday this week, be sure to leave all those fireworks at home or wait until you get to your destination to a purchase though, because TSA does not allow those through the checkpoint. I'm Dee Morrison. The City of Grand Haven has a new public safety director, and for the first time WGBU's Phil Dawson reports, it's a woman. And that I will discharge the duties of public safety director to the best of my ability. I do. I will. Thank you. Thank you. Applause and cheers at the Grand Haven Council meeting after Nicole Hudson is sworn in as the City's new director of public safety. Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and really everybody here, friends, family, co-workers. I can't say thank you enough. Chief Hudson is a 2006 graduate of Grand Valley State University, joining the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety is a cadet over 20 years ago. It's been a great almost 22 years, and I'm excited for what the next chapter brings. Hudson replaces Jeff Hawk, who served as Public Safety Director for 12 years. We've got a great City, a great department, and this is a true testament, so I just want to say thank you very much. An open house is planned Wednesday, July 10th, from 5 until 7 in Grand Haven Central Park Place to introduce the new public safety director. I'm Phil Dawson. The City of Grand Rapids is expecting thousands of visitors to converge downtown for this weekend's fireworks display, and Grand Rapids police say they want to ensure everyone is safe during this time. They're offering a few guidelines if you plan to be in the area, WGBU's Jennifer Moss has more. Grand Rapids police officials say they have a solid operational plan for safety as they've worked the massive crowds of 200,000 or more during the annual fireworks display for years. Here's GRPD Captain Vincent Riley. And the goal of the plan is for everybody to have a safe event, but also we want it to be an enjoyable one, so that's our other goal, and because of that we have some rules. And Riley says to start, they have festival boundaries, which include Sixth Street to the North, Fulton to the South, Scribner to the West, and Ottawa to the East. And within those boundaries, we ask people to respect the rules and the most important ones of those fireworks. Leave your personal fireworks at home, leave it to the professionals, so don't bring sparklers or firecrackers or any of that stuff and have them in. It's just too dense with people. In addition, Captain Riley says you should leave your pets and alcohol at home if you plan on going within their perimeter. He says bikes, scooters, and skateboards are also not allowed in. He suggests if you're coming downtown to use the city parking ramps or use the dash shuttle. Fireworks for the city will be held Saturday, July 6th, with live entertainment starting at Anabuan Park at 6 p.m. while the fireworks are set to start at 10.30. I'm Jennifer Moss. The Kent County Health Department has launched an enhanced online portal. WGVU's David Limbaugh explains how the revamped website will make things easier for Kent County residents. Kent County Health Department's new online portal has been redesigned to provide the public with easy access to inspection reports for food establishments, body art shops, and public swimming pools. The site also offers guidance on how to interpret those reports and answers frequently asked questions. Director of Kent County's Environmental Health Division, Sarah Simmons, says the portal is a valuable resource, ensuring transparency and ease of access to important health and safety information. A key feature of the upgraded portal is an interactive map, allowing users to find inspection reports for specific establishments by name, address, or municipality. Routine and follow-up inspection results are also displayed reflecting conditions observed at the time of the inspection. Simmons says the health department is committed to continually evolving the portal with plans to include access to well-inceptic permits, online licensing applications, and other features to streamline processes and improve public accessibility. You can view the new site at inspections.kentcountyhealth.org/hashtag/home. I'm David Limbaugh. Grand Rapids Police say they want to talk to five children who witnessed a murder downtown last month and are releasing surveillance video to find them. WGVU's Dean Morrison reports. Grand Rapids Police Monday shared a six-second video of five young people walking by a surveillance camera, saying they believe the group had just witnessed the shooting of 15-year-old Lechaija Williams. Williams was with friends riding a scooter on Ottawa Avenue, south of Studio Park, just after 11.30 p.m. on May 18th when she was shot and killed. Police Chief Eric Winstrom says there is video evidence showing the two boys and three girls were within feet of the murder, saw what happened, and who pulled the trigger. He asked the adults in their lives to bring them to police headquarters to share what they saw. He encourages others who may know the kids to contact police or silent observer. Winstrom stated investigators do not believe Williams was the intended target of the shooting, and there were multiple shots fired from a distance. The surveillance video is posted in this story at WGVUNews.org. I'm Dee Morrison. Governor Gretchen Whitmer continues to insist that President Joe Biden can win in Michigan in November, despite a poor showing in the first debate with former President Donald Trump. We have more from Rick Pluto. The Democratic governor is in an awkward position, as there are calls for the president to step aside following his Thursday night debate performance. Whitmer is a big Biden booster and a national re-election campaign co-chair, but is also frequently mentioned as a possible alternative. A piece in Politico magazine says a Whitmer rival alleges she told the president's campaign chair the swing state of Michigan is no longer winnable. A Whitmer spokesperson says no such conversation ever took place, but the governor has consistently said Michigan is always close in presidential elections. Recent Michigan polls show Biden lagging Trump, but within the margin of error. I'm Rick Pluto. Michigan's top elections officials say the U.S. Supreme Court got it wrong on Monday in a ruling involving presidential immunity and the 2020 presidential race. Allen Jackson has more. The Supreme Court found former President Donald Trump had absolute immunity as he allegedly pushed the Justice Department to pressure states to award him their electoral college votes. The court left it to lower courts to figure out if that immunity extended to Trump's alleged behavior around vote certification on January 6, 2021. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson says the ruling demonstrates the importance of voting. This is also a reminder to every citizen in our state and nationwide that they have not just power in our democracy to hold bad actors accountable, but a responsibility to do so. Michigan Republicans say the charges against Trump were politically motivated. I'm Colin Jackson in Lansing. Living West Michigan celebrates the vibrant people, captivating places, and remarkable things that define our community's unique lifestyles. Through engaging storytelling, we are showcasing the diverse community, breathtaking natural beauty, and rich cultural heritage that make this region truly exceptional. Vibrant people, captivating places, remarkable things. Living West Michigan Wednesday evenings at 6 on WGVU public television. Summer is an important season for early detection of aquatic invasive species, and Michigan Invasive Species Program officials are asking for your help in keeping certain culprits out of the state. WGVU's Jennifer Moss had a chance to talk to Billie Kuiper, who is an aquatic biologist with the Michigan Department of Great Lakes and Energy about their program and why they need your help. Tell me about the Invasive Species Watch List. You said summer is an important season for early detection of aquatic invasive species. Let's start with why summer is important to recognize and have early detection. The point of that article, we wanted to put an article out there, just kind of get folks attention. Our work is focused exclusively on aquatic invasive plants, obviously they're not growing in the wintertime. Whether it's becoming nicer, people are starting to get on the water more, so it was just kind of an awareness to be familiar with what the watch list is and any species that look concerning as you're outrecreating the summer. Our watch list is a list of species that we have in the state that across the different agencies, the Department of Ag and the Department of Natural Resources and EGLE, we identify as the highest risk. So these are the species that we don't want to become established in Michigan. So these are species that are either not yet here or if they are here and they're really limited on it. So these are kind of like the worst of the worst species, the ones we're most concerned about. But for those who do not know various species of plants, you're wanting people to call in or recognize, A, what are some of those species and then how we might be able to help and recognize. Because if we're not experts like yourself, we might walk right by it or boat right by it. Yep, yep, absolutely. So the biggest thing with that, I guess I start with, look for something out of place. You don't need to become a species expert by any means. You just need to look for something that looks, something that you've never seen before or looks out of place, it's always a good starting point. Take a picture of it, email it over and we'll take a look at it. But in general, for the aquatic plant side of things, we have 10 species that we recognize on our watch list as being the most critical. They're either here or really limited abundance or not yet here yet. Often these plants and a lot of species and invasive species tend to be tied to like ornamental trade or water gardens from the plant world. So they tend to be really showy, they're mostly pretty obvious, they produce pretty flowers or they have a really unique growth form that stands out. So generally, most of them aren't that cryptic. So if people see something really out of place, you know, definitely submit that into awesome thing we can follow up. Okay. So basically people just need to take the photos, give me a couple of names. I know there's 10, but give me a few of the names that we're looking for. So there's, there are 10, there's 10 aquatic invasive plants that we're concerned about. Seven of them we found here in Michigan. So the ones that we most commonly see are yellow floating hearts. So this is a little floating willy path that really big yellow flower or pretty bright yellow flower on it, parrot feather, milfoils, another one's a really showy plant that grows out of the water. Pretty easy to distinguish, water lettuce and water hyacinth, they're really common in the trade. It's still a lot for sale on Michigan, so you see lots of those. Other ones would include a more cryptic one like hydrilla, which is a new detection we have in Michigan. You know, we also have European water clover, which is like a floating for leaf clover. So tend to be pretty unique plants in that sense and that they stand out. Most look don't have a lot of native lookalikes, typically they, you know, they're just a lot different than what you normally see. And so you want people to take pictures of them, but what are you guys going to do about them because you don't want them here. Some are currently here, obviously, as you said, and you've got descriptions of those, you want people if they notice them to take pictures of them. What are you guys doing to eradicate or keep these dangerous plants from continuing? Great question. And you nailed it right there. We aim to eradicate these species when they do show up. That's generally our goal, unless we get a really rare circumstance where there's a lot more of a species present than expected, but generally we're dealing with really small populations. So the report is often like a person's backyard pond or in a neighboring, you know, like a county park pond or something like that. So typically we'll go in and do some type of response action that's either usually hand pulling the plant. If it's like a floating plant like water lettuce, or if it's a rooted plant, like parrot feather or yellow floating heart, what does an herbicide treatment with our goal of eradicating species? We do not want these species establishing in Michigan. And so if people see them and they want to send you a picture, or they want to get in touch about more information so they know what they're looking at or need some help with anything, who do they contact and through what are we looking at a website or where can they go? Yeah. So you'll see in the article that we just released, there's an email address at the end there. It's E-G-L-E, so EGLE-W-R-D, so water resource division dash AIP, so aquatic invasive plant at Michigan.gov. So that's the best way to do it, there's several of us that monitor that email daily. So if a report comes in, you'll get a response from us, you'll be pretty quick. You know, when we do find these species, we obviously want to respond pretty prudently, efficiently. I mean, we have a program in funds in place, so there's no cost to land owners, there's no, you know, we're not out there issuing violations or anything like that. Like, you know, we want to get these species off the landscape, so we typically respond pretty quickly, and there's no cost or anything, and we cover all treatment costs and monitoring and all that stuff. So it works out. It's a pretty unique program in that sense, and it's been very successful. We've been eradicated several populations already, and have this a lot nearing eradication. Wonderful. So you may have a busy summer, sort of, maybe? I've always been a busy summer. Always. I bet. Well, when we're not dealing with reports, we're out monitoring, you know, in addition to just responding to reports, we do a lot of surveillance, too, for higher risk water bodies. You know, always looking for the next species that's going to show up. Absolutely. Is it fun? I mean, do you enjoy your job, though? I do. There's stressful times, certainly, but I like what we do. I feel like what we do makes a difference, you know, trying to protect our waterways. Absolutely. Well, thank you for the work that you do, and I'd certainly, again, appreciate your time. Okay. Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Take good care. Bye-bye. This has been Focus West Michigan from WGVU for Tuesday, July 2, 2024. I'm Joe Bilecki. Our audio operations manager is Rick Bierling, and our news and public affairs director is Patrick Center. We'll be back with more news and events in West Michigan tomorrow, wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. (gentle music)