WCMU News

Mammogram debate hits Midland

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:01:04 -0500

BY MARY FINN

Earlier this week, a federal panel suggested women wait until age 50 to start getting mammograms.

As CMU Public Radio's Mary Finn reports, the recommendation created a strong reaction from the medical community and patients alike...

The new recommendation is causing a lot of confusion among the medical community.

At MidMichigan Medical Center in Midland, officials are working with radiologists and physicians to evaluate the new guidelines.

Carole Calvert- Baxter is the director of MidMichigan's women's health program.

She says they are still trying to understand the proposals....

"We recommend however that women work with their physicians on an individualized plan that's based on their individual medical history and risk factors to determine the frequency and the type of screenings they should receive."

For years, the standing recommendation has been for women to get mammograms annually, beginning at age 40.

Technological advances in education made possible by grant

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:27:53 -0500

BY MARY FINN

Students in Farwell High School were looking forward to their weekend today. But first they had to make it through math class...

As teacher Lynette Leslie talks about factoring Samantha Donaldson says - and this is good news - she understands the material.

"I have struggled with math and I believe with the new electronics the smart board and the document camera I have the highest grade in this math class and I think it's because of the new electronics."

The grades aren't the only improvement that the school is seeing. Over 50 school districts applied for Michigan's Project Re-Imagine program. Farwell was one of only 13 recognized through the program. The award also brings grant money to the district.

Deanna Yarger Farwell High school principal says she doesn't know yet much they'll be receiving, but it's still good news.

"This is huge its very exciting this will be implementing a lot of technology taking some of our initiatives that have currently been started but advancing them in a lot faster pace."

A faster pace and sometimes in a different way for students like David Akans.

"My family doesn't have a computer at home but it really helps when you're at school and you can use the internet to look stuff up."

Yarger says the school plans to improve technology by having laptops for every classroom and clickers for students to answer questions on the board from their desks.

The school also wants to expand its dual enrollment program. Under it; students receive a college degree before they've even gotten their high school diploma.

"We'll start doing some testing in their sophomore year and potentially they could take all of their courses 5 classes in the first second and third trimester and again their senior year and earn hopefully an associates degree before they graduate."

That's Ivy Whitmore: a senior who will have sixteen credits by the time she graduates. She says she thinks the dual enrollment program will catch on with other teens in her school

"I think they appreciate it and looking at us and seeing that we're getting ahead and we don't have to pay for the classes and we have all this help and the whole online experience I think people are going to try to make into these classes their senior year."

The part that parents will love is that all of the classes are free. A normal college class costs hundred of dollars and thousand for a full semester.

All 13 of the school districts a part of Program Re-Imagine will learn more about how much grant money they'll be receiving December 8th in Lansing.

For now Farwell and the other districts will carry on with their regular days.

For CMU Public Radio News, I'm Mary Finn.

Dow shingles among best inventions of 2009

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:39:36 -0500

The Dow Chemical Company has been nationally recognized for its work in solar energy.

Dow has received the honor of having one the best inventions of 2009 according to TIME Magazine. The Dow Powerhouse Solar shingle was named as one of the fifty top inventions of the year.
Experts say the shingle's ability to easily be integrated with normal asphalt shingle materials is what sets it apart from the rest. Aside from its durability the shingle is also easy on people's wallets. Dow says contractors save money with these shingles because there are no special skills or knowledge of solar technology needed to install them.
Dow says consumers can expect the shingles to be more widely available by 2011.

Michigan roads deteriorating faster than they can be fixed

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:47:31 -0500

Nearly a third of Michigan roadways were in poor condition in 2008, according to a statewide transportation report released this week.

The report evaluated federal-aid eligible roads, which consist of most major thoroughfares in Michigan.

Keith Ledbetter, Director of Legislative Affairs for the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, said some of the worst roads are in the northern part of the state.

He says some of the worst roads are in the northern part of the state.

"Eight of the top 10 counties in the state, in terms of percentage of poor roads, was in northern Michigan or the UP," said Ledbetter.

Overall, 32 percent of federal aid eligible roads were in poor condition last year. That's up from 25 percent of roads in 2007.

According to Ledbetter, the picture gets even worse when local roads are factored in.

"Local roads are doing far worse than even on the federal aid system," he said. "And so, when we say that a community, for example, has 100 miles of bad road on the federal aid system, it probably means they have closer to 200 miles of bad roads."

Some of the state's worst roads are in Genesee County, where more than 1,200 miles of roads are in poor condition. Within Genesee County, Flint has 165 miles of roadway in poor condition. Mt. Morris Township has 114 miles of poor quality roads.

Some of the state's best roads are in northwest Michigan's Antrim County, where only 5 percent of roads are in poor condition.

The Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association estimates it would take $7.2 billion to bring all of the state's poor or fair quality roads up to good condition.

November is lung cancer awareness month

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:49:01 -0500

BY MARY FINN

November is National Lung Cancer Awareness month.

State health officials say despite the bad economy, many people are still smoking. And too many are developing lung cancer.

Health officials are using this month to help smokers quit.

CMU Public Radio's Mary Finn has more.

Just 20 minutes after you quit smoking, your heart rate and blood pressure will begin to drop. This is just one among many statistics the MDCH has posted to raise awareness about lung cancer.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in Michigan, killing nearly 6,000 people this year.

The main cause of lung cancer is smoking.

James McCurtis is with the MDCH.

"What we want to do is help making those numbers go down and with hopefully smoke free legislation that will work".

McCurtis said Michigan ranks 19th in the nation when it comes to lung cancer deaths.

An exhibit at the Dennos Museum makes bank

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:23:27 -0500

BY MARY FINN

Remember that Burl Ives song back in 1964 that painted a picture of silver and gold? Well the Dennos museum in Traverse City is bringing it to life with one of their exhibits.

River of Gold is the name which comes from the story of children playing marbles with gold beads found in a river of central Panama.

The exhibit features more than 120 pieces of Pre-Columbian gold work found during an excavation by the University of Pennsylvania in 1940.

Eugene Jenneman is the executive director of the museum.

"It is a completely unique opportunity for this region to see an exhibition of this caliber."

The exhibit will run through March 2010, the longest it will be at any museum.

For more information visit www dot dennos museum dot o-r-g.

MidMichigan home care awarded grant

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:20:38 -0500

BY MARY FINN

Mid Michigan Home Care will be bringing better technology to rural areas.
The improvements are being paid for with a four hundred sixty thousand dollar Federal grant.

The money will be used to enhance tele-monitors; little machines used to send vital signs of patients at home to field offices.

With the expansion of the tele-montoring system into hospice care, terminally ill patients will benefit from better symptom management.

Christie Kanitz is the operations direction for MidMichigan Home Care.

"The whole goal of the telemonitoring system is to keep the patient out of the hospital and in the home. So the whole philosophy of home care is to help the patient recover at home where they are most comfortable."

Kanitz said that this is the third grant they have received from the rural development office in the past ten years.

For CMU Public Radio News, I'm Mary Finn.

State says request for home heating assistance are already rolling in

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:05:28 -0500

Residents in Mid-Michigan are wasting no time in making sure they have heat this winter. The Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency says they've already received several hundred requests for heating assistance and more are on the way.
Jill Sutton is the Executive Director of the Mid-Michigan Community Action Agency.

"Yes we've definitely seen an increase, in fact this is the first year we've actually had funding going into our new fiscal year in October where we could actually help people this time of year. So for us we'd rather get to them now before the cold weather starts."

Sutton says last year they helped 1,600 people with heating while 2,300 did not receive assistance. She says this year may the same way or worse.

State says more H1N1 vaccine is on the way

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:39:30 -0500

The Center for Disease Control has allowed the state close to one million doses of the vaccine. So far the state has ordered over 765,000 doses and will distribute that to people with the highest priority.

James McCurtis is with the Michigan Department of Community Health.

"We're at about 77 percent of the allocated doses that have been ordered so the state is going to be getting more and vaccinein and that's a good thing. We want to be sure that we're able to get all the people that fall into the priority groups and those who don't fall into the priority groups later on in the flu season.

McCurtis says more doses of the killed vaccine have been ordered than the live nasal spray vaccine. They say the live vaccine will be distributed in schools and universities, where better health is usually present. This would leave the killed inject able vaccine for health centers and hospitals.

Two passenger plane crashes on highway near Vanderbilt

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:44:08 -0500

The investigation of a plane crash last night on 1-75 near Sturgeon Valley Road, Vanderbilt continues.

Last night at around 6:30 a two seater plan crashed on I-75 near Sturgeon Valley Road. Two Gaylord men died in the crash, and police are trying to figure out the cause of the accident.

Seagent Dennie Reynolds is with the Gaylord Post of the Michigan State Police.

"The investigation continues to move forward. At this point the damaged plane has been secured in a facility and the F.A.A has been notified and they will continue the investigation by doing the work that they do and investigating a possible cause of this crash."

Reynolds says the road where the crash occurred is now reopened

DNR Proposes ban on Walleye fishing in Mullet Lake

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:57:23 -0500

Photo by www.travelsd.com

The Department of Natural Resources says the Walleye population has gone down in Mullet Lake, so they've proposed a ban on walleye fishing. Mullet lake is the third largest lake in the state and attracts a lot of tourism and revenue to Cheboygan County.

Kim Pappas is the Director of the Cheboygan area chamber of commerce.

"We have several tournaments throughout the year that bring in thousands of dollars, not to mention the people that come in to visit on an annual basis. This is what they come up and plan their vacations around walleye seasons off walleye season. They plan their participation in these types of venues and tournaments. This could have a dramatic effect on over a million worth of industry for our area for our tourism.

A meeting is scheduled in Lansing November 5th to discuss the ban. Pappas says it's a shame that the DNR is considering the ban.

H1N1 vaccine supply expected to increase by end of year

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:24:47 -0500

BY LAURA WEBER

Michigan Public Radio Network

State health officials say H1N1 flu vaccinations are hard to find because the supply sent by the Centers for Disease Control is much smaller than was promised.

The state House Health Policy Committee held a hearing about the H1N1 virus Tuesday.

Doctor Greg Holzman testified with representatives from the Department of Community Health. He says manufacturing of the vaccine is going slower than anticipated.

"It's put us in an awkward situation because we really thought we were going to be a lot further along right now," he said. "We were continuously told by mid-October around 45 million doses and we're not anywhere close to that."

But Dr. Holzman says vaccines will continue to come into the state throughout the flu-season.

Janet Olszewski is director of the Department of Community Health. She says about 1,200 new doctors in Michigan registered to administer the H1N1 vaccine.

"We have more doctors providing H1N1 vaccine in this state than we've ever had doctors providing vaccine previously," she said. "So then we get to a supply issue - ultimately the supply will get to us, but every week the Centers for Disease Control has provided us with estimates of how much vaccine we can order and receive in this state and they've not met any of those goals.

Olszewski says she expects there will be much more H1N1 vaccine available by the end of the year.

She says parents should keep any children with the flu at home for five to seven days.

The health officials say people should check the state Department of Community Health website for vaccination availability in each county.

On the web:

Michigan Department of Community Health

www.michigan.gov/mdch

Governor expected to sign vetoes late this week

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:09:09 -0500

BY LAURA WEBER

Michigan Public Radio Network

LANSING - Governor Jennifer Granholm is expected to make additional line-item vetoes to budgets by the end of the week. And she's calling for Senate Republicans to approve new revenue plans designed to fill cuts to K-12 schools, Medicaid and local governments.

But Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop says the Senate has approved its revenue plan, and Democrats can "take it or leave it."

[Audio]

Democratic House Speaker Andy Dillon unfolds a piece of paper outlining the Senate plan for new revenue.

"This is what they sent me - I mean this may be 10, 11 million dollars that they sent over. I'll send that back, but we've still got a problem," said Dillon.

The problem lawmakers are facing is how to restore hundreds of millions of dollars cut from the K-12 schools budget. Dillon says he's concerned that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop's "rhetoric is becoming firmer" against new revenue proposed by Democrats. Bishop says that Democratic "new revenue" really means "tax hikes."

Governor Granholm says all parties have to make compromises.

"People have to be willing, semantically, to get away from the notion that any revenue is a tax," she says.

But Bishop says Senate Republicans will not vote to fill any additional cuts to budgets made by the governor.

CMU Public Broadcasting to acquire Flint station

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:54:39 -0500

Management at CMU Public Broadcasting has announced it will move forward to purchase WFUM - TV in Flint from the University of Michigan. The purchase was approved unanimously Tuesday by the CMU Board of Trustees.

The million dollar purchase price will come from university reserves and then be re-paid by CMU Public Broadcasting. CMU Public Broadcasting General Manager Ed Grant says is move is critical to the long term viability of the station.

"Right now with the four digital transmitters that we have, we reach approximately two-point-four-million potential viewers. With the addition of the Flint station, that number will rise to approximately eight-million people."

Grant says the purchase of the Flint station is also important to people who live in the Greater Flint and Genesee county area because they'll continue to receive high quality local public television service. Under an interim management agreement, WCMU could begin broadcasting from the Flint station as early as next month.

WCMU General Manager Ed Grant talks about announced purchase of WFUM - TV, Flint

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:16:07 -0500

The CMU Board of Trustees announced today plans to purchase WFUM-TV in Flint from the University of Michigan. The board voted unanimously to allocate one-million dollars from university reserves to purchase the station. The money will be repaid by CMU Public Broadcasting.

The aquisition means local public television programming will continue to remain available to people living in the Greater Flint and Genessee County area. The move increases the potential television audience for WCMU from its current 2.4-million viewer to over 8-million people.