Banks and credit unions are reluctant to work with medical marijuana-related businesses in Michigan. A Michigan Attorney General opinion says Kalamazoo County can't dissolve its veteran services department and veterans oversight committee. WMU takes two out of three games in a weekend baseball series with rival Central Michigan.
The state is trying to help entrepreneurs going into the medical marijuana business find an alternative to banks. The problem is many banks and credit unions won’t open accounts for marijuana-related businesses. That’s because pot remains illegal under federal law. Medical marijuana purchases are mostly cash transactions, and without a bank account, the businesses are unable to conveniently write checks or make electronic transfers. The State Medical Marijuana Licensing Board is looking at alternatives.
An opinion from the Michigan Attorney General says Kalamazoo County does not have the authority to dissolve its veteran services department and veterans oversight committee. In November, the county board voted to pursue a transfer of veterans services to Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. State Senator Margaret O’Brien and Representative Jon Hoadley asked Attorney General Bill Schuette to weigh in on questions about the legality of that move. The Kalamazoo Gazette says the opinion written by Chief Legal Counsel Eric Restuccia says the county lacks the authority to dissolve a county veterans committee and its veterans services department.
A bill environmentalists say could endanger the Great Lakes has run into trouble in the U.S. Senate. The Detroit Free Press says a budget bill for the Coast Guard failed on a procedural vote last week. It would set a single standard for ballast water discharges by ships. It would also prevent states from passing their own rules. Environmental groups say that would let the Coast Guard enforce rules that are weaker than those now set by the Environmental Protection Agency. And they say that could allow more invasive plants and animals into the Great Lakes.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources says the state needs to focus on prevention, early detection and restoration to manage invasive species. The DNR says its Terrestrial Invasive Species State Management Plan covers land-based invasive plants, animals, insects and tree diseases. The plan also calls for greater collaboration among local, state and federal agencies.
Students at Michigan State University are once again ramping up calls for its Board of Trustees to step down if the aftermath of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. The student newspaper The State News published an editorial last week, saying nothing has changed since President Lou Anna K. Simon stepped down 4 months ago. State News Editor-in-chief Rachel Fradette told WKAR that MSU’s trustees
“don’t seem prepared to be handling this and that’s why we were kind of proposing that there should be a change in leadership.”
In baseball, Western Michigan beat Central Michigan Sunday 5-2. The Broncos took two out of three games during the weekend series with the Chippewas. Western will begin a three game series at Eastern Michigan on Friday.