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 [...]