Today on Stateside, rising water levels in the Great Lakes could threaten historic buildings in Leland’s Fishtown. Plus, there’s been another setback in a years-long effort to improve mental health care in Michigan.
Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below.
Flooding in Leland threatens Fishtown’s historic buildings
- Fishtown, with its historic fishing shanties and smokehouses on the west shore of the Leelanau Peninsula, is one of Northern Michigan’s travel gems. But this spring’s heavy rains could lead to record-high water levels on the Great Lakes.
- Amanda Holmes, executive director of the Fishtown Preservation Society in Leland, says the high water levels haven't hurt Fishtown's tourism industry in the short-term, but its historic buildings could be at risk long-term.
Years-long effort to improve Michigan’s mental health care system postponed again
- Private health plans in Michigan have argued that they can deliver better mental health care at a lower cost than the public system. That controversial claim is at the center of a years-long effort to improve mental health care in Michigan. But state health officials announced last week that pilot projects to test new models for delivering care will be delayed by another year.
- Kevin Fischer is the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He talks about attempts in other states to let private health plans take more control over mental health care, and what this latest setback says to him about the proposed changes to Michigan's system.
Stateside offered the Michigan Association of Health Plans, which has been lobbying for funding changes, an opportunity to join us, but did not hear back before the show aired.
Gypsy moth boom unlikely to kill many trees, but very likely to gross you out
- Three consecutive years of drought have created ideal conditions for the gypsy moth, an invasive pest that targets hardwood trees. James Wieferich is a forest health specialist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He tells us how the state has responded to larger-than-usual numbers of gypsy moths in the past, and how you can protect your local trees from an outbreak.
How UM scientists are helping the Tigers get a data-driven edge on the competition
- For years now, analytics have dominated baseball. Now, researchers at the University of Michigan have partnered with the Detroit Tigers to look into how “baseball analytics” could improve the team's performance.
- Jay Sartori is senior director of baseball analytics and operations for the Detroit Tigers, and Stephen Cain is an assistant research scientist in mechanical engineering for the University of Michigan. They describe exactly what the term “baseball analytics” means, and how it’s changing the sport.
How Detroit is trying to bridge the digital divide and get residents online
- Forty percent of Detroit households lack Internet access. In a world where more and more of daily life happens online, that’s a massive problem. Joshua Edmonds, Detroit’s new Director of Digital Inclusion, is working to bridge that digital divide. He breaks down some of the major ways that not having internet access is holding Detroiters back, and how he plans to bring them into the “digital fold.”
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