Northern Michigan legislator Ray Franz, who often talked about repealing a Michigan law requiring that 10 percent of the state’s energy come from renewable sources tells the Michigan Land Use Institute he will no longer pursue the matter.
Eneliko “Liko” Sean Smith, the Las Vegas boxer-turned-businessman who allegedly sought to acquire Sugar Loaf resort last spring — but found he had neither the money, nor the local support, nor the clean business record to open the long-shuttered ski resort in the middle of Leelanau County — has resurfaced.
Courtesy of the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service — A newly elected state representative who says he doesn’t believe in man-made climate change and supports building a nuclear power plant in northern Michigan is standing by his recent claims about wind power, despite fact checking that indicates most of his assertions were incorrect.
Michigan Land Use Institute: A proposal by the nation’s largest energy company to erect more than 100 utility-scale wind turbines in Benzie and Manistee Counties holds the promise for an economic boost to the rural region, experts say, and will further the state’s efforts to become a leader in the nation’s emerging clean energy sector.
Residents in the village of Honor have banded together to form the Honor Area Restoration Project (HARP) to restore their home to the magical place they once knew. Formed only seven months ago when three local businesswomen decided to hold a meeting to stop the decline of what they saw as a dying town, HARP has big plans for the small village’s future. HARP knows that in order to get the entire area on board, they have to show villagers they can get things done. And that first step towards a brighter future is putting in a sidewalk that will connect the downtown to the shopping plaza, making the short trip safe to walk or cycle.
Circle of Blue: By siding with the Anglers of the Au Sable in a long-running lawsuit over a state permit that threatened the celebrated trout stream, the Michigan Supreme Court has strengthened protection of all state waters in the process, according to lead attorney Jim Olson.
Leelanau County’s “elephant in the room”, the long-shuttered Sugar Loaf ski resort, is back in the news following a quiet autumn season after the eccentric Las Vegas boxer-turned-businessman Liko Smith returned to the West Coast empty-handed. Resort owner Kate Wickstrom has been courted in recent months by at least two suitors, including David Skjaerlund, from Owosso, near Grand Rapids.
State representative-elect Ray Franz favors cutting “Pure Michigan” funding by as much as 80 percent, the soon-to-be legislator from the 101st District told the Leelanau Enterprise last week. Franz said he would reduce funding from $25 to $30 million down to $5 to $6 million, while comparing Michigan’s tourism economy to keeping the books at the Onekema grocery store he owns.
Avian botulism returned to Lake Michigan this year, killing more species and lasting longer than other recent outbreaks, according to state wildlife officials and researchers. The increase came after a two-year lull. The outbreaks first hit Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Benzie and Leelanau counties in 2006. The die-offs rapidly spread across northern Lake Michigan shorelines and killed an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 birds in 2007.
Late last month, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff refused to throw out a lawsuit filed against Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf. The lawsuit was filed last year by several current and former members of the sheriff’s department who accuse Oltersdorf of listening to conversations on what employees believed to be private lines starting in 2006.