WASHINGTON, March 4 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that it expects to award up to seven cooperative agreements for flood hazard identification and risk assessment programs in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. The estimated total program funding available was cited as $23.3 million. The agency said the grant was associated with disaster prevention and relief. The funding is open to state, county, city, townsh  more

CHICAGO, Illinois, March 6 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Midwest Regional Information Office issued the following report on the alternative measures of labor underutilization in Michigan for 2019: In 2019, the broadest measure of labor underutilization, designated U-6 (which includes the unemployed, workers employed part time for economic reasons, and those marginally attached to the labor force), was 7.5 percent in Michigan, not significantly different from the  more

CHICAGO, Illinois, March 4 -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics - Midwest Regional Information Office issued the following report on the employer-reported workplace injuries and illnesses in Michigan for 2018: Michigan's private sector employers reported 90,900 nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses in 2018, resulting in an incidence rate of 3.0 cases per 100 full-time equivalent workers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. (See table A.) Assistant Commissio  more

SPRINGFIELD, Virginia, March 7 -- The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a rule, published in the Federal Register on March 6, entitled: "Air Plan Approval; Michigan; Second Limited Maintenance Plans for 1997 Ozone NAAQS". The rule was issued by Kurt A. Thiede, Regional Administrator, Region 5. DATES: This final rule is effective on April 6, 2020. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Rau, Environmental Engineer, Control Strategies Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), Environmental   more

DETROIT, Michigan, March 7 -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Detroit District issued the following news release: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, announces that despite a dry month of February across the Great Lakes basin, water levels on each of the Great Lakes remain very high going into the spring. Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie set new monthly records for February 2020. The records were previously set on lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron in 1986, and in 1987  more

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Virginia, March 7 -- The U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command issued the following news: Six months after seeking industry proposals, Marine Corps Systems Command awarded an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, firm-fixed-price contract to Trijicon, Inc., of Wixom, Michigan, Feb. 21 to produce Squad Common Optic systems. The contract has a maximum ceiling of $64 million, and Trijicon is slated to produce approximately 19,000 units. The purchase also includes spare   more

WASHINGTON, March 7 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service announced that it intends to award a $260,000 cooperative agreement to the Michigan State University, a member of the Great Lakes Northern Forest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, for the evaluation of the relationship of community gravel beds in Lake Huron and Lake Erie. The agency description of the grant states: "Tree canopy cover in the United States is declining. Nowak and Greenfield (2012) documented that  more

EAST LANSING, Michigan, March 6 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency - Michigan Field Office issued the following news release: Farmers and ranchers may apply to enroll grasslands in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) Grasslands signup beginning March 16. The signup runs through May 15. "Through this CRP Grasslands signup, farmers and ranchers can protect grasslands, rangelands and pastures, while maintaining the land as working grazing lands," said State Executive D  more