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National Safe Boating Week

Many Michiganders and visitors will unofficially launch the boating season this holiday weekend. Whether you’re a boater, angler or other water sports enthusiast, safety and common sense in and around the water are a must. The DNR is proud to promote National Safe Boating Week, May 17-23, and safe boating practices all year long. Where the cause of death was known, U.S. Coast Guard statistics show that drowning was the reported cause in 75 percent of recreational boating fatalities in 2023, and that 87 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets. Before leaving ...

Finding balance key to cell phones, learning

Florida was the first state to pass a law regulating the use of cellphones in schools in 2023. Just two years later, more than half of all states have laws in place, with more likely to act soon. Bills have sprinted through legislatures this year in states as varied as New York and Oklahoma, reflecting a broad consensus that phones are bad for kids. Connecticut state Rep. Jennifer Leeper, a Democrat and co-chair of the General Assembly's Education Committee, on May 13 called phones "a cancer on our kids" that are "driving isolation, loneliness, decreasing attention and having major ...

State’s spring Click It or Ticket campaign runs through June 1

To emphasize the importance of wearing seat belts, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning will have its spring Click It or Ticket enforcement campaign through June 1. During that period which includes Memorial Day weekend, the Michigan State Police, along with officers from city and county police departments across the state, will be actively conducting seat belt enforcement, according to a news release from the state OHSP. The state in 2023 had 223 people killed while not wearing seat belts, which accounted for 39.5% of all fatalities for which seat belt use was known in ...

Professional Trades Month points up in-demand careers

As high school graduations begin this week in the region, it’s worth noting that May is Professional Trades Month, highlighting the career opportunities available in these much-needed positions. Michigan alone has nearly 518,300 positions and about 40,600 annual openings in the professional trades projected by the year 2032, according to a news release from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. “The hardworking Michiganders in professional trades careers build and maintain the infrastructure that ensures we all have clean water, ...

Father Marquette is a historical giant and not just for his name

Father Jacques Marquette, the man who gave Marquette its name, made an incredible mark not only on the Upper Peninsula, but throughout North America as well. The French Jesuit Missionary built an indelible legacy during his 17th century missions around the Great Lakes. From founding St. Ignace, to being the first European to explore and map the northern part of the Mississippi River Valley region, Father Marquette changed the world as we know it today. Marquette died on one of his missions at the young age of 37. Sunday marks the 350th anniversary of his death. On Monday, Northern ...

Camp helps to encourage young women’s future in tech

This summer marks the return of Camp Infinity, a week-long summer camp that gives girls a chance to learn about different types of technology and help them to get interested in a field which finds women represented at a much lower percentage than in other fields. In fact, women hold roughly 30% of all jobs in the tech sector in the United States, compared to just under 50% in all other areas of the workforce. The camp is five days long and has two courses: one for girls in fifth and sixth grade that will see girls program a robot and build a multi-page website, the other is for ...