The acquisition of the Detroit Medical Center group of hospitals by the Vanguard System will mean several hundred million dollars in new construction and renovation work across southeast Michigan, with some of those millions coming to Commerce Township. The DMC is expected to begin about $300 million in renovation and construction projects, of which more than $60 million in work will begin immediately. According to the DMC, Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital in Commerce will benefit from [...]

Lakes area residents will have the opportunity later this month to lend a hand in monitoring sites in three area river watersheds for the presence of stoneflies. Considered a good indicator species, checking west Oakland river sites for stoneflies will help advocacy groups track water quality trends along the Huron, Clinton and Rouge rivers. Because each of those rivers flows through multiple area lakes, the upcoming stonefly searches can indirectly benefit those lakes by pinpointing [...]

As the managing director of the largest county road system in Michigan for the last 17 years, Brent Bair continues to steer the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC) despite being faced with flat revenues since 1998 and declining revenues for the past five years. Bair heads up the second largest system of adaptive traffic signals in the nation, is widely respected as a leading expert on road funding in Michigan, and has been an [...]

Most bugs are usually seen during the spring and summer months, not at the end of January. However, three local watershed advocacy groups — the Clinton River Watershed Council (CRWC), the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC), and the Friends of the Rouge (FOTR) — will be searching their respective river watersheds for a particular insect this month. According to Michele Arquette-Palermo, education and stewardship director at the CRWC, the winter stonefly has “very stringent water [...]

A recent ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court has restored the public’s right to file suit against the state over permits that could result in actions that contaminate the environment. During the last few days of 2010, the Michigan State Supreme Court reached a 4-3 decision in the Anglers of the AuSable, Inc. vs. Merit Energy and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) case, essentially reversing the court’s 2004 ruling in the Preserve the [...]

The 6th annual Huron Valley Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. Day celebration will be held on Monday, Jan. 17, beginning at 1 p.m. with a “March on Main Street” from Prospect Hill, located at 516 Highland Ave. in Milford Village, to Central Park. The road will officially close at 1 p.m., but spectators and participants can start lining up around 12:15 p.m., when music and the National Anthem will commence. During the free-of-charge event, light [...]