Paw Paw schools are closed due to a threat. January unemployment rates in the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek labor markets were down slightly, compared to last year. WMU baseball ends the weekend with a loss.
Paw Paw schools are closed Monday. A message on the district’s Facebook pagesays schools are closed due a threat. Update: The Van Buren County Sheriff's Department says a Paw Paw High school student has been arrested in connection with the threat, and investigators have determined that there is not an ongoing threat.
Michigan schools superintendent Brian Whiston says he wants to let local districts experiment with student testing. He says the state will apply for a federal waiver to let five percent of the state’s districts opt out of the M-STEP and try something different. Whiston says he wants to file for the waiver from the U.S. Department of Education before he retires in the next month or two to focus on his battle with cancer.
Unemployment rates in the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek labor markets were down slightly in January, compared to a year ago. The Michigan Department of Technology, Management and Budget says the seasonally unadjusted jobless rate in the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolitan Statistical Area was 5% in January. It was 5.2% in Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties at the same time a year ago. Unemployment in the Battle Creek MSA, which includes all of Calhoun County, was 5.4%. It was a tenth of a percent higher in January of 2017.
A new bill in Lansing would allow public access to a missing persons database. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System gathers information from medical examiners, and law enforcement. Under the bill, the general public would be allowed to contribute information as well. The bill passed unanimously through the house and is on its way to the senate floor. (WCMU)
Soybeans are the second most planted crop in the United States with more than 80 million acres planted. Michigan has about a million-and-a-half acres of the crop. An effort is underway to help famers save the pollinators that frequent soybean fields. The Honey Bee Health Coalition unveiled a management plan for growers this month. Recommendations for farmers include spraying fields at night when bees are less active, avoiding pesticide application during bloom time and determining where hives are located around the farm.
The National Park Service plans to re-introduce wolves to Isle Royale National Park. The park in Lake Superior would get 20 to 30 new wolves in the next three years. Isle Royale once had around 50 wolves, now it’s down to just two wolves because of disease and inbreeding. Park officials say more wolves will help keep the island’s moose population in check. The park service is waiting 30 days for public comment before they make the final decision.
In baseball, Western Michigan lost to Butler Sunday 13-3. The Broncos are 9-8 so far this season, and will play Michigan on Wednesday in Ann Arbor.