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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, Nov. 114, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 125 ~ 29 of 66
Rouge River,” said company spokesman Jamal Kheiry.
The company said it doesn’t currently have plans for another buyout program.
The re nery was built in 1930 and bought by Marathon in 1959. Those who live around the facility have
long complained about pollutants and raised concerns about health problems they believe are associated with it.
“They’re not doing anything to understand where the people are coming from,” said Rachel Cabell, who has lived near the facility for more than 30 years. “If you live it every day, you can relate.”
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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
South Dakota public schools to oppose ‘school choice’
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s public schools want to shut down “school choice” discussions in the state before they begin.
Statewide public school groups are preparing to oppose bills that would expand school choice more than two months before legislators convene in Pierre for the 2018 session, the Argus Leader reported .
The Associated School Board of South Dakota added the new resolution to its priorities this year in re- sponse to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, said Todd Thoelke, president of the group and member of the Sioux Falls school board. The U.S. Education Department plans to increase spending for charter schools and voucher programs under DeVos, who is a vocal advocate for school choice.
“It’s a scary road to go down,” Thoelke said.
He and other Sioux Falls school board members met Wednesday to look at legislative priorities for both the Associated School Board of South Dakota and the Large School Group, an organization that lobbies for public schools.
In addition to opposing using federal funds to expand school choice, the groups also gave early support to an effort to repeal the state’s existing school choice program. State lawmakers approved a program last year that diverts tax dollars to cover private school tuition in the form of sizable tax credits for insurance companies who give money for private school scholarships.
It’s unclear whether state legislators will take on school choice expansion. But Thoelke said that won’t stop schools from getting ahead of the issue.
“It’s going to be really interesting to see who shows up in Pierre,” he said. “Either they’re being really quiet, or we’ll see a group that comes ready to ght.”
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Information from: Argus Leader, http://www.argusleader.com
Oklahoma cattle producers reject fee increase
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry says that a ref- erendum to increase the drop-off fee for cattle by $1 per head has been defeated.
Oklahoma Agriculture Secretary Jim Reese announced Thursday that the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Associa- tion rejected the measure, which would’ve raised the fee and generated an additional $3.2 million to be used to promote beef sales.
Some ranchers opposed the measure and requested the Montana-based Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund and the Organization for Competitive Markets le an injunction to stop the vote.
The Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association supported the measure.
Richard Thorpe is the association’s president. He says he was disappointed the measure didn’t succeed. Thorpe says that cattle raisers in Texas “have seen an immense bene t from their state-level checkoff
program.”