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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Warming Climate Brings Greater Numbers of Bugs and Outdoor Pests

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Thursday, August 21, 2014   

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - It's been an itchy few months for Michiganders, with the state experiencing a bumper crop of biting bugs. Experts say the abundance in bugs is the result of climate change, along with a host of other issues.

Dr. Doug Inkley, a senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation and a Michigan State University alum, authored a new report which finds populations of mosquitoes and ticks are exploding due to the rise in extreme weather events and shifting timing of seasons. He says climate change is even making invasive species like poison ivy more poisonous.

"That toxin with higher carbon dioxide changes its chemical formula to some extent," said Inkley, "and becomes more toxic."

Inkley points to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s proposed limits on carbon pollution as a good step toward reducing the impact of climate change and preserving Michigan's rich outdoor legacy.

B.J. Baule, a Michigan-based climate research associate with Great Lakes Integrated Sciences and Assessments, says if nothing is done the typical Michigan summer won't be the only thing at risk.

"If winters change as projected, activities and experiences that we typically associate with winter, snow machining, ice fishing, skiing, will become less feasible," says Baule. "It can result in a loss of identity with the we location exist in."

Inkley notes outdoor recreation has major economic implications for Michigan.

"In 2011, according to the national hunting and fishing survey, some 4.4 million people in Michigan participated in wildlife-associated outdoor recreation," says Inkley. "In Michigan alone they spent some six billion dollars."

The report, Ticked Off: America's Outdoor Experience and Climate Change, is online at the National Wildlife Federation website.


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