Michigan news roundup

For the undocumented aging, medical care is challenging: An increasingly aging population of undocumented immigrants in Michigan is facing health care challenges. Many lack health insurance and access to health care.

Group pushes repeal of restaurant smoking ban: A group of Michigan business owners and residents pushing to repeal the state’s ban on smoking in restaurants say a recent poll shows support for easing the 2010 law. They want to allow smoking in outdoor areas of restaurants and indoors where people must be at least 21-years-old. We talk to a Kent County health official.

Coldwater bacteria threatens Great Lakes salmon: A bacterial disease is threatening both wild and raised in captivity popular sports fish such as lake and rainbow trout and Coho and steelhead salmon in the Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior watersheds, according to a new study. We hear from a DNR hatcheries expert and a member of the MSU research team.

Court: Cities can lease drilling rights under parks without citizens’ vote: The Court of Appeals says cities can lease rights to drill for oil and gas under their parks and cemeteries without a public vote by residents. The decision in a Rochester Hills case brought by a local citizens group has statewide implications.

State ups efforts to recruit for jobs in math, science: A shortage of qualified workers for good-paying information technology jobs is harming Michigan businesses.

Michigan government purchasing scores high in national survey: Michigan ranked ninth in a recent survey of how well state governments buy stuff. The study of government procurement processes assessed how well Michigan spends some $4 billion a year in revenues.

Great Lakes ports open their docks for cruise lines: Muskegon and Duluth are expected to see a boom in summer tourism as more people opt for Great Lakes cruises. The ships cross the U.S.-Canadian border, but cruising will become easier now that there’s a smoother federal security screening process.

Bills would make it illegal to coerce a woman to have an abortion: Supporters of legislation to make it illegal to force a woman to have an abortion say that refusing to have one often leads to violence.

Legislator wants law to solve school bathroom issue: A Republican Senator from Escanaba wants to make it a law that students must use school bathrooms and locker rooms that match the sex they were born with. He is responding to guidelines from the state Department of Education that would allow schools to make case by case decisions otherwise. But the guidelines are optional.

Spiny water flea clouds lake and its future: A tiny crustacean may harm the clarity of inland lakes in Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes region. It’s an infestation that could be a blow to tourism and cost millions of dollars to mitigate the excessive algae growth allowed by the spiny water flea.

Book explores famous and forgotten authors of Michigan: One was named Hemingway. The others weren’t. A few are still widely remembered. Most aren’t. They hailed from Grand Rapids and Detroit, from Mackinaw City and Ludington, from Traverse City and Mecosta, from Adrian and De Tour and East Lansing and more spots in the state. A new book looks at 18 Michigan writers, novelists, critics and poets who shaped American literature, culture and entertainment.