Today on Stateside, Governor Whitmer issued emergency rules making Michigan the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes, which are popular among teenagers. Plus, the story of a Bay City teacher who took a trip over Niagra Falls.
Listen to the full show above or find individual conversations below.
How health experts, vaping industry, are reacting to Michigan’s flavored e-cigarette ban
- Governor Whitmer today made Michigan the first state to ban flavored e-cigarettes. She invoked the emergency rules after the state's chief medical executive declared that young people using e-cigarettes was a public health emergency. We hear what health experts and vaping industry leaders think about the ban.
- Richard Miech is with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research. He has researched the issue of teens and vaping, and says that vaping has increased rapidly among teens in the past few years. Miech says the ban on flavors could potentially reverse that trend.
- We also hear from Michigan Radio's Lansing bureau chief Rick Pluta. He breaks down the details of the ban and talks about the pushback from the vaping industry.
The Bay City school teacher who went over Niagara Falls and lived to tell the tale
- As students and teachers plunge into a new school year, let’s stop to remember a Bay City teacher who took a different sort of plunge: right over Niagara Falls. In 1901, on her 63rd birthday, Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to survive taking a trip over the falls in a barrel. We hear from Rachel Clark of the Michigan History Center about what motivated Taylor to take the dangerous trip.
This segment is produced in partnership with the Michigan History Center.
Ragatz: Most undergraduates are “nontraditional” students. High schools should do a better job preparing them.
- The college freshmen of movies and TV are usually 18 years old, living in a dorm, and partying on the weekend. But that doesn't actually reflect the reality of student demographics in higher education today. Around three-quarters of the undergraduates enrolled at colleges and universities meet at least one criteria of a "non-traditional" student.
- Stateside’s education commentator Matinga Ragatz says there’s value in taking your time figuring out what you want to do in life, and she thinks schools could do a better job of preparing students who aren’t going straight into college and career.
Consumers Energy head wants customers to use less of what she’s selling
- How often do you hear the head of a company ask customers to use less of its product? The CEO of Consumers Energy is doing exactly that: calling on business and residential customers to use less energy to combat climate change.
- We talk to Patti Poppe, CEO of Consumers Energy, about her plan to reduce customers’ energy usage. And we also hear from Margrethe Kearney, senior attorney with the Environmental Law and Policy Center, about what she thinks is missing from that plan.
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