The Glen Arbor Sun conducted the following interviews (via email) with U.S. Congressman Dan Benishek (a Republican who was elected during the Tea Party wave of 2010) and his challenger this November, Democrat Jerry Cannon.
The following are interviews conducted via email with Leelanau County Commission incumbent Peachy Rentenbach (Democrat) and her challenger Bob Hawley (Republican). Rentenbach, the lone Democrat on the current Commission, also beat Hawley in this election two years ago.
On August 21, scientist Lukas Bell-Dereske gave a public presentation to a packed house at the Sleeping Bear Dunes Visitor Center in Empire that offered a window into how climate change will affect our cherished National Park.
Fifteen-year-olds Annabel Skrocki and Annie Lively, both sophomores at Glen Lake School, stood in complete silence with more than 400,000 other climate activists at the People’s Climate march on Sept. 21—mourning, for the melting glaciers, the rising oceans, the dryer mid-continents, the stronger storms, the disappearing islands and the paralyzed politicians.
At the moment these words were put to paper, somewhere around 287,000 people in Michigan were barred from marriage. About 44,000 of these people have created a life together anyway. Some of them share in the task of raising children. We’re talking, of course, about gay Michiganders.
Immigration reform would be a job creator for Northern Michigan, says Congressman Dan Benishek. But the Republican-controlled House of Representatives won’t move on immigration reform, following the Tea Party defeat of Majority Leader Eric Cantor in June.
When dolphins wash up on shore in significant numbers, we suspect there’s something wrong happening in the ocean. It’s just not what we expect. It’s not a natural phenomenon. We may not know what it is exactly, but we guess that, whatever’s happening, however unknown or unknowable to us, it’s got to be about more than dolphins simply taking a notion. Why don’t we have the same common sense intuition about the children at the U.S.-Mexican border?
The Glen Arbor Township Board is working on a new Master Plan for Glen Arbor. Faced with burgeoning summer tourist crowds, national media attention, and a popular new bike trail, the time seems right for Glen Arbor to reexamine its identity, in what direction the town is going, and what changes are needed to keep the community safe, sustainable, beautiful and profitable.
Do you want to learn how your favorite beach may respond to predicted climate change? Then join researcher, Lukas Bell-Dereske for a special public program entitled “Climate Change in the Great Lakes Dunes: Responses of the Plant Community at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore” on Thursday, August 21 at 9 a.m. at the Philip A. Hart Visitor Center auditorium in Empire.
Leelanau County has long been known as “the land of delight,” but for many of its people, the terrain leading to a place called home appears more difficult. For at least the past 25 years, homes and land have been bought and sold dearly, but a confluence of circumstances has brought the issue of affordable housing to a crisis state today. These include the start of the Great Recession in 2008, a severe tightening of lending practices, a lack of permanent, full-time jobs in a growing tourism and service region, and the refusal of government and some community leaders to recognize and act on long-term solutions to the county’s housing challenges.