Pink salmon have maintained a small population in the Great Lakes for 70 years, but recent growth in their numbers both here and abroad has scientists asking new questions.

In 1956, Canadian fisheries managers wanted to introduce pink salmon to Hudson Bay. To do so, they were raising the fish at a hatchery near Thunder Bay, Ontario, on Lake Superior, before transporting fingerlings.

But on one stocking flight, 21,000 extra pink salmon fingerlings didn't fit, so they were discarded into a sewer. That sewer emptied into the Current River, which flows into Lake Superior.

Pink salmon have been in the Great Lakes ever since, maintaining low but slowly expanding populations. No one had really been monitoring the species closely.

But when fish biologist Joseph Langan started a new position in Michigan and began asking local resource managers about pink salmon, he got some surprising answers.

"Folks were saying, 'We haven't thought about them a lot, but, you know, we're seeing a lot more of them all of a sudden.'"

Langan is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said in parts of Lake Huron and Lake Superior, especially, pink salmon populations have been growing over the last 25 years.

"There's a bunch of elements of pink salmon biology that makes them really good at colonizing new habitats and increasing their abundance really quickly," said Langan.

Despite that, Langan said, there's no cause for concern yet about pink salmon in the Great Lakes. Their numbers are still low and they don't seem to be affecting other species. But that's not the case in other parts of the world.

"Pink salmon are causing management concerns or challenges right now, in three oceans simultaneously," said Langan.

In the Pacific – their native habitat – they're starting to outcompete other salmon and certain marine animals for food. In the Arctic, as waters warm up, they're expanding their range. And in the Atlantic – where pink salmon are invasive – growing numbers are causing big problems, especially when they run up rivers to spawn.

"You can see big numbers of pink salmon splashing around. You see their dorsal fins sticking out of the water. And when they die, they start to die in August here … then you start to see dead pink salmon around," said Eva Thorstad, a fish biologist with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.

Thorstad said Norway only began monitoring pink salmon in 2017, when anglers noticed a population explosion. By 2023, just six years later, pink salmon numbers had increased 50-fold in Nordic nations.

"It's the big numbers that [worry] us — that they both will outgrow the native fish by sheer numbers, compete with them [and] impact ecosystems when they die in the rivers," said Thorstad.

So researchers across the world want to know more about pink salmon. That's where Thorstad and Langan are hoping the Great Lakes can come in: they recently published a paper, along with several other scientists, calling for more research on pink salmon in the lakes.

"It's useful for us as an example to see what might be our future. They have adapted to freshwater life in the Great Lakes," Thorstad said.

For example, their life cycles here are longer than almost everywhere in the ocean: three years, instead of the typical two. And they've survived despite the lakes' intense seasonal temperature changes.

"They're doing some different things [here] than they are in the ocean that are really important for us to try to nail down, because it changes some of the calculus of what we think might be possible for the species," Langan said. "My dream is to get more of those lines of communication going to try to do some more of this cross comparison."

Langan and Thorstad's paper, which was published at the end of April, aims to get more researchers studying a species that may demand more attention soon.

Copyright 2026 IPR News

LANSING – A new book, “The Great Lakes Ships of Frank E. Kirby,” explores the life of a prolific Midwestern naval architect whose vessels once carried passengers who are still alive today.

Kirby was a naval architect in the early 20th century who designed steamboats such as SS Milwaukee Clipper, SS Columbia and SS Ste. Claire. Though no longer operational, these three ships are the only Kirby boats still remaining today.

As of today, the SS Columbia can be found in Buffalo, while the SS Ste. Claire is at Detroit’s Riverside Marina after a 2018 fire that consumed its wooden decks. The ship’s current owner hopes to refurbish the vessel. The Milwaukee Clipper is docked on Muskegon Lake and is presently a ship museum.

Another famous Kirby boat, the SS City of Detroit III, was scrapped in 1956, but its English Gothic Room – a part of the ship located on the upper deck and used as a men’s smoking room –was preserved and located on Belle Isle in the Dossin Great Lake Museum.

In the book, author Richard Gebhart describes a profile of Kirby as “long overdue.”

That’s because no one has gotten around to writing about him, said Gebhart, a former director of the White River Light Station lighthouse museum in Whitehall.

Still, Gebhart, a Great Lakes History lover and writer, took on the challenge and began authorship of a book recounting some of the most famous naval architectural contributions of the 20th century.

Gebhart said the idea for the book came about after he repeatedly noticed Kirby’s name scattered throughout maritime documents. He had been combing through those materials while working on novels.

Curious, Gebhart asked friends in the maritime history world if anyone had written about Kirby.

The answer came back from Jay Bascom, the editor of “Scanner,” the journal and newsletter of the Toronto Marine Historical Society.

“In our correspondence while I was gathering information about Kirby, I asked him if he was aware of any biography about Kirby, and he said he wasn’t. When he was working on something relative to a Kirby boat, he said all he had were notes and crib sheets [cheat sheets students used when taking written exams] in his ship profile folders.”

Gebhart explained that Kirby was a designer who rose during a major shift in shipbuilding history.

Moving from wooden hulls to iron and steel – all steam-powered – Kirby worked on almost every type of vessel on the Great Lakes and beyond.

“He became an international figure because of his great prowess,” Gebhart said.

While researching and writing about Kirby, Gebhart was contacted by Kirby’s great-grandson, Nick Kirby, who visited and brought family treasures, troves and interviews that Nick’s grandmother conducted with Kirby before he died in 1929.

“I was floored, and it was really emotional when they came too,” Gebhart said. “It was like we had blood that we didn’t know, and it was just a soul-touching moment for both of us.”

“The thing that I’m most amazed about is that it’s taken so long for somebody to write about him because the entire light he shot on Great Lakes shipping history over a half-century is just astonishing.”

Gebhart said he hopes someone with money stumbles across the book and can use it the right way to restore these boats to their former glory.

“There couldn’t be a better place right now than the Detroit Riverfront with all the renovations,” Gebhart said, adding, “it’s screaming to get those things back there.”

Lily Cole writes for Great Lakes Echo.

Questions about this story? Contact Capital News Service editor Eric Freedman at freedma5@msu.edu

Last year, an ice storm swept through northern Michigan leaving hundreds of miles of debris scattered across the region. Officials now say it could lead to an elevated risk of wildfires this spring as a large portion of the debris hasn't been fully cleaned up. The ice storm impacted approximately 3 million acres across the region, according to MLive.

Many land owners WCMU has talked to over the last several months have said it will take years to finish cleaning up all the debris left on their properties.

"It looks like we're okay on moisture, but again, that can quickly change with the type of soils and stuff we have up here," Nicole Sprinkles, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said. "There is kind of, more of an elevated concern and we are talking with our partners and emergency managers about that."

The Michigan DNR said it responded to 31 wildfires across the state on Monday, ranging from small brush fires to one that was 124 acres near Mio in the Huron-Manistee National Forest.

On April 29, the U.S. Department of Agriculture released a new Secretarial Memorandum. It directs the U.S. Forest Service to heighten national wildfire readiness and accelerate community-focused risk reduction. Michigan is home to three national forests, including the Ottawa, Huron-Manistee and Hiawatha national forests.

"This memorandum ensures the entire Department is aligned, prepared and focused on responding quickly and effectively to protect communities and the natural resources Americans depend on," Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a press release.

Most of Michigan's wildfires occur in the spring, between April and June, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Some residents may resort to burning their debris, but this can lead to dangerous outcomes, the DNR said. Nearly 27% of wildfires are caused by debris burning.

"If there is an elevated fire risk, maybe consider burning for a different day because the winds could be elevated and that could potentially create a spreading kind of fire," Sprinkles said.

Sprinkles said Michiganders can stay aware by checking the NWS website to be aware if there's any warnings or burn restrictions.

The potential risk has lead to some already making plans. Patrick King lives in Gaylord and has two wildfire escape plans, if needed, one by car and another by canoe.

"If we can drive out, that would be good," King said. "On the other hand, we are also on a small lake so if we have, say, a wind direction from the northwest, bringing the fire from that direction towards our house, we can jump in our canoe and get across the lake."

King said his house is surrounded by trees and that debris in the area from the ice storm would be "easy fuel."

The National Park Service says 85% of wildfires are started by humans.

For years, farmers have needed potatoes that could be stored longer and didn’t scab to meet the needs of the chip industry. After two decades of work, researchers at Michigan State University developed five new potato varieties they say meet growers’ needs.

Michigan is the leading state for growing chipping potatoes in the country.

According to the Michigan Industry Potato Commission, one in four bags of chips contain Michigan-grown potatoes.

Kelly Turner, is the executive director for the Michigan Industry Potato Commission. She said the potato industry generates $2.5 billion per year for Michigan and supplies 21,700 jobs.

“I've always been proud to say that we're no small potatoes,” Turner said. “We know we're big potatoes.”

Turner says growers across the state need potatoes that can withstand weather as the climate changes.

The five new potato breeds – Manistee, Mackinaw, Petoskey, Huron Chipper and Blackberry – were designed by researchers at MSU to be resilient in unpredictable weather, resist viruses and be stored for longer.

Turner said the new potatoes will help farmers lower input costs.

“The more resistant or resilient that plan is to catching potato diseases, the less chemicals and chemistries and pesticides that growers need to us," Turner said. "That's good for the grower, that's good for the environment, that's good for everybody."

David Douches is the lead potato researcher at MSU. Douches said he started breeding potatoes at the university in 1987.

“What the potato industry said to me is, we need potatoes that are resistant to scab and we need potatoes that will hold their sugars better and store longer,” Douches said.

As years went by, farmers’ needs only grew.

“The secret to agriculture is through plant breeding that we develop resilient varieties,” Douches said. “Ones that can handle the vagaries of the weather that hit the farmers every year when they grow their crops.”

Douches said growers also wanted potatoes that absorbed less oil during the chip-making process.

The Petoskey variety of spuds does just that – all while resisting scabbing and holding chip color in storage.

Douches says it’s difficult to breed potatoes – especially when combining so many traits – because potatoes have twice as many chromosomes as humans.

“Every year we make hundreds of crosses,” Douches said. “We grow 40,000 to 60,000 seedlings every year and any one of those thousands of seedlings could potentially be variety because everyone is genetically different from one another.”

In recent years, Douches said MSU started testing their breeds in states around the country so the spuds could thrive in different climates.

There will never be the "perfect" potato, according to Douches. But farmers in Michigan and across the country are growing the five new varieties of potatoes.

Douches says MSU is already working to develop an even better breed.

After nearly three decades, the Michigan Sentencing Commission is officially up and running again.

The nonpartisan advisory body held its first meeting since 1997 on Thursday, May 7, 2026.

The commission said it's resuming the work of modernizing Michigan's criminal justice framework and advising lawmakers on critical adjustments to sentencing guidelines.

The commission, formed under Public Acts 273 and 274 of 2024, was originally established in 1994 but ceased operations in 1997 after the Legislature enacted its initial recommendations. At the time, officials believed the work was finished; however, officials said, its absence has left the state without a formal mechanism to address defects or evolving data for 27 years.

Christopher Yates, a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals who was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer to chair the commission, emphasized that the legal landscape has shifted dramatically since the 1990s.

"You can have offenders who have nearly identical crimes and criminal histories who could wind up with vastly different sentences," Yates said. "And that, of course, is completely antithetical to the purpose of a guideline system".

According to Yates, the commission's primary goals for its first year include clarifying confusing language like "offense variables" that lead to conflicting decisions in courts, and updating criminal history scores to better account for repeat offenders. He said current categories often set the bar too low.

The group also plans to adapt to modern standards to reflect changes in how the state handles drug offenses and the decriminalization of marijuana. That's along with improving guidelines for criminal sexual conduct cases, which leaders said currently present some of the most difficult challenges for trial judges.

The commission consists of representatives from the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives, prosecuting attorneys, criminal defense attorneys, individuals with prior incarceration experience, and more.

Yates said success is defined by creating a system that is easier for judges to apply, leading to fewer appeals and more consistent treatment for similarly situated offenders across the state.

"Today's meeting provided a window into how robust and sophisticated the discussion will be," Yates said, expressing optimism about the talent gathered to solve long-standing issues.

The commission is required to submit an annual report to the Legislature, the governor, and the Michigan Supreme Court by December of each year.

Copyright 2026 Michigan Public

Benton Harbor-based home appliance company Whirlpool had bad news for investors on Wednesday, with the company saying demand for its products fell in 2026's first quarter.

During an earnings call on Thursday, Whirlpool said US appliance industry demand declined 7.4% in the first quarter, with demand declining by 10% in March.

"This level of industry decline is similar to what we have observed during the global financial crisis and even higher than during other recessionary periods," Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said during the call.

The company cited the war in Iran and historically low consumer confidence for the decline. Whirlpool shares dropped by about 20% on Wednesday after it published a statement on its quarterly results, which called the decline "recession-level."

"Consumer sentiment collapsed into record lows due to the war in Iran, prevented the recovery of the volume loss during the winter storms, and resulted in recession-level industry contractions with discretionary demand down approximately 15%," said Executive President of Whirlpool North America and Global Strategic Sourcing Juan Carlos Puente during the call.

Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.

Copyright 2026 WMUK

U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett introduced legislation Thursday that aims to set an end date for military action in Iran.

Barrett (R-MI 7) put forward an Authorization for Use of Military Force, or AUMF, to place limits on United States military action in Iran.

The legislation sets a deadline for the war in Iran to cease by July 30, followed by a 30-day wind-down period to withdraw personnel and end all engagement.

Barrett said a primary reason for this deadline came from his own military experience.

"Having spent more than 20 years in the Army, my entire career was really spent during that 20-year-long Global War on Terror," he said Thursday. "I felt this was an important protection to have, that we go forward with a clearly defined objective, prevent or degrade the Iranians ability to develop or use a nuclear weapon, but not an endless conflict that will take another 20 years and another generation of Americans to go fight for."

In addition to placing a deadline on the war in Iran, the AUMF sets parameters for what military action can and cannot take place.

"It also has a prohibition against the use of ground troops, because I feel like that's something that we need to guard against," Barrett said. "It would also prevent any kind of nation building or other things that we've seen in the failed outcomes of what we witnessed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The AUMF would only allow ground troops in specific circumstances, such as rescue missions or intelligence gathering.

The legislation would also require the president to report military actions to Congress every 30 days. This would include an assessment of civilian and military casualties.

Barrett said the legislation would "reinstate Congress's authority on the use of force."

"We have to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon," he said. "But we also have to be guarded against the history that we've seen of these endless wars that have taken so long and not resulted in the outcome that we need to have happened."

In the past, President Donald Trump has denied that he required congressional approval for military action in Iran and said people claiming he did were "not patriotic."

Barrett's legislation would need to pass in both the House and the Senate to take effect.

Copyright 2026 WKAR Public Media

The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether legislative leaders have the discretion to decide whether bills will or will not go to the governor’s desk once they are adopted by the House and the Senate.

The arguments in the first-of-its-kind case are a step toward determining the fate of nine bills passed by both chambers but were still being reviewed by clerks when Republicans took control of the House in January 2025. The bills have languished since then in the House clerk’s office on the orders of House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township).

Senate Democrats want the Supreme Court to enforce a lower court decision that the bills should go to the governor to sign or veto, but stopped short of issuing a formal order.

“If the House’s anti-majoritarian tactic is allowed to succeed, it will unilaterally and drastically change Michigan’s bicameral legislature, its separation of powers, our checks and balances, and the majoritarian principles which underlie everything we do in state and local government in this state,” the Senate Democrats’ attorney Mark Brewer told the court. He said no legislative leader should have unilateral power to stop a bill once it has been approved by both the House and Senate.

But House Republican attorney Kyle Asher said the leaders of the House and the Senate do have that power because the Michigan Constitution leaves them wide latitude, even if that power has not previously been used.

“Nothing in the constitution says who must present the bills, nothing in the constitution says every bill must be presented, nothing in the constitution says when a bill must be presented,” he said. “That’s all left to the Legislature through the Legislature’s rules. It’s always been left to the Legislature.”

He argued language in the Michigan Constitution’s presentment clause is often misinterpreted as a requirement, but he said it merely states the fact that a bill cannot become a law without first being presented to the governor.

“It’s a mere predicate step that has to occur before a bill can become law,” he said. “It’s not a requirement that every bill must be presented.”

Lower courts have held the House Republicans acted unconstitutionally by refusing to forward the bills to Governor Gretchen Whitmer. The Senate Democrats want the Supreme Court to order the House to comply with that determination. Whitmer has not weighed in on the case.

The nine bills in limbo would require public employers to pick up a larger share of employee health insurance costs, exempt public assistance payments from debt collection, move corrections officers into the Michigan State Police pension system, and allow Detroit historical museums to seek a millage.

A southeast Michigan businesswoman at the center of a scandal over a state budget earmark is now facing felony charges.

Michigan’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget set aside $20 million for a grant to bring international business to the state. Global Link International Accelerator, a nonprofit Fay Beydoun founded shortly after the budget passed, received that grant.

Global Link received $10 million of its grant on the front end.

The state Attorney General’s office accuses Beydoun of spending over a million dollars of that funding on personal bills, luxury items, and hosting political events. During a press conference Wednesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Beydoun used her connections to get that grant money, tailored for her, put in the budget.

“These glass-slipper grants are a dedicated appropriation, referred to as a grant and modeled as such in law, written so specifically, so acutely, and in such granular detail as to whom may qualify to receive it that they could only possibly be awarded to one intended recipient,” Nessel said.

A state affidavit explaining the charging decision alleges Beydoun spent less than $20,000 on legitimate costs for her nonprofit. Prosecutors claim the efforts brought in no new businesses.

In all, Beydoun faces 16 felony counts, including for allegedly conducting a criminal enterprise, forging invoices, and embezzling the grant money. The most serious charge could carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.

The law firm Flood Law represents Beydoun. In a written statement, attorney Vincent Haisha maintained her innocence.

“For the last six months, our firm has attempted to demonstrate the illogical nature of the allegations against Ms. Beydoun to the Michigan Department of Attorney General. Despite those efforts, it is evident that certain parties felt the need to further this very public spectacle in a way that is neither supported by the evidence that we have seen nor the investigative materials we possess," Haisha said.

"As always, we will save our best arguments for the court room and pursue every avenue available for our client,” Haisha’s statement read.

The case has been a matter of public attention for years now, with the Detroit News first digging into the matter in 2023.

Beyond Beydoun’s alleged spending, the process through which she received the money has also attracted criticism.

The grant was overseen by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. And Beydoun sat on the MEDC’s board while she sought it.

Nessel told reporters the investigation is ongoing, and that MEDC director Quentin Messer Jr. is among the potential targets.

“We have so many documents that we are still going through and some of those documents pertain to MEDC, some of those documents pertain to Ms. Beydoun. But I think, at this point, it would be irresponsible for us to rule him out before we have finished completing that review,” Nessel said of Messer.

In general, Nessel said the MEDC doesn't have enough safeguards in place to ensure money is being spent responsibly.

A timeline the MEDC provided shows it began hearing from Beydoun about winding down her grant and operations in the spring of 2024. The agency eventually ended the grant officially and asked for its money back in March 2025.

Danielle Emerson is the agency’s spokesperson.

“From the beginning, MEDC has cooperated with the Attorney General’s office on their investigation and will continue to do so. At this time, MEDC will have no comment on these charges. Our priority remains implementing our Make It in Michigan economic development strategy focused on people, places and projects,” Emerson said in a written statement.

Still, Nessel argues the MEDC needs stronger oversight. She said lawmakers shouldn’t continue spending money through the agency until that happens. 

Michigan Congresswoman Kristen McDonald Rivet (D-MI 8) has introduced legislation to give new parents a $5,500 dollar tax credit per child under the age of 4.

Parents with an income up to almost $100,000 would qualify for the tax credit proposed in the Working Parents Tax Relief Act, McDonald Rivet said.

The mid-Michigan Democrat said her bill would help lift hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. At a news conference in Saginaw, she said this kind of tax break is common sense.

“Everyone can recognize how expensive the first three years of parenting can be,” McDonald Rivet told reporters after meeting with working parents at a school in Saginaw, “Everybody recognizes that the cost of childcare is skyrocketing in a way that most families can’t afford it.”

McDonald Rivet said her legislation is attracting bipartisan support in Congress. Her office also said the bill is getting support from various business groups, including the Detroit Regional Chamber, and child welfare groups, including the Children’s Foundation of Michigan.

McDonald Rivet stressed that, while having similar goals, her tax credit proposal is not the same as Michigan’s Rx Kids program.

Rx Kids is a cash assistance program for new mothers and young children that is expanding to communities across Michigan.

While that program has been credited with improving prenatal and postnatal outcomes in Michigan cities where it is operating, some Republican state lawmakers have raised concerns about the potential for misuse of the cash assistance.