Auburn Hills votes to opt out of SMART bus service

For the past two years, Christina Cowart has relied on the bus to get to and from her retail job selling baby clothes at the Great Lakes Crossing mall in Auburn Hills. The Pontiac resident takes the bus from the Phoenix Center to a bus stop on Baldwin on the west side of the massive mall, a 20-minute, 5-mile ride. "I come out here and catch this bus to make money for my family," she said. "And I'm not the only one." Cowart and other carless commuters like her may have no way to get to work nex

Activists sound alarm on proposed changes to monitoring lead found in rental properties

Activists sound alarm on proposed changes to monitoring lead found in rental properties Landlords and tenants across Detroit could see less stringent monitoring of lead under proposed changes to city rules governing lead paint inspections in rental properties. The proposal, which the city's Public Health & Safety Standing Committee approved Monday, loosens requirements on how often landlords must test for lead in rental properties known to contain lead, while also increasing penalties for land

Is housing an environmental justice issue? In Detroit, yes.

Outlier Media’s The Dig has published this story in partnership with Planet Detroit. Nora Rodriguez has lived three places in her life, all in Southwest Detroit. Nearly everything she needs is nearby—her job, friends and family, grocery stores, restaurants and more. But every house is also close to factories or highways. Where she lives now, on Dragoon Street, is just blocks from I-75 and a frequent route for truck traffic. It’s also less than two miles from Zug Island, an industrial site on th

MPSC considers requiring utilities to account for public health costs of future electricity generation

Electricity generation from coal and gas-fired power plants exact an inequitable health cost that utilities should account for when planning for the future. That’s according to testimony submitted on April 28 to the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) by the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center on behalf of 23 individuals and organizations. MPSC opened the docket in August of 2020 as part of an effort to better integrate resource planning with planning for distribution and transmission.
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