Great Lakes Month in Review: Ice cover, Asian carp and Federal funding

A coalition of labor and civil rights groups calling itself Raise Michigan has announced its intention to form a ballot campaign committee. It’s a procedural step that could lead to a statewide vote this November on raising the minimum wage, which in Michigan is currently $7.40 an hour.

Last week, Gov. Rick Snyder offered a proposal he thinks will jump start Detroit’s struggling economy. At a company in predominantly Hispanic southwest Detroit, the Governor said he wants the Federal government to increase the number of skilled immigrants in Michigan to reach 50,000 over five years. The only condition is that they have to live and work in Detroit.

A long hike or bike ride on a warm Michigan spring day may seem like a long way off right now. However, plans are in the works to build a new trail line in mid-Michigan north of Lansing. Bids could go out as soon as next month to build a 42-mile trail on the site of an abandoned rail line from Owosso to Ionia. The project is part of a much larger plan that would create a sweeping 125-mile trail that would loop through parts of  five counties.