Schools in the Kalamazoo district will mark the one month anniversary of the shooting at a high school in Florida. A Democrat enters the race for state Senate in Van Buren and Allegan Counties. WMU advances to the semi-finals of the MAC women's basketball tournament.
The Kalamazoo Public School District says its students will mark the one-month anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, mass shooting March 14th. Seventeen students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were killed last month. Kalamazoo Superintendent Michael Rice says each school will take 17 minutes to remember the victims. He says it will be up to each school to decide how to do that. Rice says the Florida shooting, and events remembering the victims, are - in his words "A learning moment in our nation's history." Students or parents who don't want to participate can opt out. (Kalamazoo Gazette)
A Democrat has entered the race for state Senate in Van Buren, Allegan and part of Kent County. Garnet Lewis is currently chairwoman of the Saugatuck Planning Commission. She is also a former Northern Michigan University trustee. Lewis announced yesterday she is running for the state Senate seat currently held by Republican Tonya Schuitmaker. She can’t run again because of term limits. Allegan County clerk Bob Genetski is the only Republican so far to announce he’s running for the 26th district state Senate seat. Genetski also served three terms in the Michigan House.
Allegan County has a new prosecutor. MLive says the county's chief circuit judge appointed Myrene Koch to the position on Tuesday. Koch has been one of Allegan County's assistant prosecutors since 2002. She became the chief assistant last year. Koch replaces former prosecutor Rob Kengis. Governor Rick Snyder recently appointed him to fill an open judge's position in Allegan County.
A planned potash mine could pump 725-million gallons of groundwater in northern Michigan every year. MLive says that's three times as much as a Nestle water-bottling plant in the same area near Evart in Osceola County. The mining operation proposed by a Colorado businessman would also be in the middle of a wetland area. The water would be pumped with waste into deep injection wells after its used. The mine already has won permits from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The State Department of Environmental Quality will hold a public hearing on the project March 12th. Environmental groups say the mine could contaminate drinking water and damage wetland habitats.
Michigan’s prison system has a new plan for feeding its inmates, but the state Legislature might not be on board. The Department of Corrections wants to move away from the outsourced food service vendors they’ve used for several years. The department has run into problems with vendors. Those include inappropriate relationships between workers and inmates and maggots in the food. Some lawmakers are concerned the department may not be ready to take back the food service operations after so many years of using outside vendors. The department also estimates it will cost about $2-million dollars more than the current vendor would charge.
Western Michigan has advanced in the Mid-American Conference women’s basketball tournament. The 6th seeded Broncos beat the third seed Ball State Wednesday night 65-54 in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament. Western will face second seeded Buffalo in the semi-finals Friday afternoon in Cleveland.
In softball, Western Michigan picked up two wins Wednesday in Clearwater, Florida. The Broncos beat Penn 5-2, and then got a 2-1 victory over Niagra. Western has two games on Friday. They will face Delaware State and Central Connecticut.
In baseball, Western Michigan’s five game winning streak ended with a 9-5 loss to Georgetown in Port Charlotte, Florida. The Broncos are now 6-5 this season, they will face the Hoyas again on Friday.