Former U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg, 84, who served Oakland County in Congress for 16 years, died today from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease, a longtime family friend, Mike Murray informed MIRS today. Knollenberg is the father of current state Sen. Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy).
Knollenberg served in Congress from 1993 to 2008. Prior to that, he chaired the Oakland Republican Party from 1978 to 1982. Knollenberg had agreed to serve as former U.S. Rep. William Broomfield’s campaign manager in 1992, but Broomfield ultimately decided not to see re-election after 18 terms and asked Knollenberg to run in his place.
An insurance agent by trade and a U.S. Army veteran, Knollenberg ended up losing his position in Congress in 2008 during the Barack OBAMA-induced Democratic landslide to now-U.S. Sen. Gary Peters.
Sources :
MIRS News Release, February 6, 2018.
Joe Knollenberg wikipedia entry
, “Former U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg dies after battle with Alzheimer’s“, Detroit Free Press, February 6, 2018; updated February 12, 2018.
Ex-U.S. Rep. Knollenberg dead at 84“, Detroit News, February 6, 2018; updated February 7, 2018.
Andrew LaLonde poses with his 60-inch sturgeon, the final fish taken during the two-hour sturgeon season on Black Lake. Kelly House, “Long odds, short season: Michigan sturgeon a zany conservation success“, Bridge, February 8, 2021.
Additional Info About Sturgeon Fishing
The lake sturgeon – Latin name acipenser fulvescens – is one that biologists sometimes call a “living fossil.” Sturgeon go back 136 million years or more. Compare that to salmon, a mere 5 million years in existence.
“A fish like the sturgeon is closer to the dinosaurs. They’ve been around a lot longer than bluegill land perch and bass,” said Tim Cwalinski, fisheries biologist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Caught lake sturgeon wait to be weighed on Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 near Black Lake in Cheboygan County.
(Photo: Julia Nagy/Lansing State Journal)
It’s likely that females hatched during the administration of President Ulysses Grant still swim in the Great Lakes. Female sturgeon live up to 150 years; males up to 80. It takes 12 to 20 years for males to mature and up to 25 years for females to do so.
Dinosaurs are what came to Archambo’s mind the first time she ever saw a sturgeon, ice-fishing with her grandfather on Burt Lake when she was six years old.
“We heard this ruckus going on, and everybody was running over to the shanty,” she said. “There was this big, huge fish that I’ve never seen on the ice. I remember looking into the eye of the sturgeon. The pupils were shaped like diamonds, like pictures of dinosaurs I had seen before.”
The lake sturgeon lives in all five Great Lakes as well as large inland lakes and rivers, including Black Lake and nearby Burt and Mullet lakes, the Kalamazoo River, Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River. Overfishing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries combined with loss of habitat and the sturgeon’s irregular spawning habits caused their numbers to dwindle.
Kathleen Lavey, “On a lake full of living fossils, the state’s shortest fishing season:On the first Saturday of February, hundreds gathered to celebrate the traditions, the season and each other.“, Lansing State Journal, February 16, 2017.
Update on 2018 Season
Anglers caught seven sturgeon in two and a half hours, ending the Black Lake sturgeon season for 2018, the Department of Natural Resources announced Wednesday. The season started at 8 a.m. on Saturday and four fish were taken before 8:30 a.m., the department said. The quick season exceed the quota the department had set of six fish, but met the allocation for the season. The quota has been set low to avoid exceeding the allocation. The largest was 72 inches and 99 pounds.
The New Madrid earthquake, centered in New Madrid, Missouri, was felt in Michigan and all along the East Coast.
For more information, see New Madrid Earthquakes 1811-1812 wikipedia entry.
What’s It Like to Live on the New Madrid Fault? Donald Bradley, “New Madrid quake disaster was exactly 200 years ago”, Kansas City Star, February 7, 2012.
More anecdotes from the City of New Madrid.
Zlati Meyer, “Detroiters felt the famed New Madrid quakes in Missouri”, Detroit Free Press, January 31, 2015.
On February 7, 1976, Detroiter Sheila Young became the first American to win three medals in one Winter Olympics. Her medals — one gold (500 meters), one silver (1500 meters), and one bronze (1000 meters) — came in speed skating at the Innsbruck games.
Source : Detroit Historical Society Facebook Page
For more information, see Sheila Young wikipedia entry
On February 7, 1994, satellite images showed that Lake Superior had completely frozen over, although the lake’s center showed a very thin layer of ice that covered the water. The pictures appeared to settle the debate about whether the largest lake in the Great Lakes could ever completely freeze over.
Three consecutive days in which temperatures never broke 0 degrees combined with a 1.3-degree average daily temp in Marquette for January set the stage for a 50-day cold snap.
However, high winds the next day broke up the thin ice over the middle of the lake, quickly exposing open water.
Source: Michigan Every Day
Gov. Rick Snyder today congratulated 13 Michigan athletes competing in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia:
“I congratulate all of Michigan’s Olympians competing in this year’s winter games for the tremendous honor they have earned to represent their country at the pinnacle of athletic competition,” Snyder said. “You are among the finest athletes our state and nation has to offer, and on behalf of all Michiganders, I join your families and friends in wishing you the best of luck as you compete to bring home Gold.”
The 13 athletes who call Michigan home will be competing for medals in men’s ice hockey, ice dancing, snowboarding and speed skating. In addition, 10 members of the Detroit Red Wings will be competing for their home countries at the games.
Michigan’s 2014 Winter Olympians are:
Ice Hockey
Cam Fowler, of Farmington Hills
Ryan Kesler, of Livonia
Ryan Miller, of East Lansing
Ice dancing
Evan Bates, of Ann Arbor
Meryl Davis, of West Bloomfield
Alex Shibutani, of Ann Arbor
Maia Shibutani, of Ann Arbor
Charlie White, of Bloomfield Hills
Snowboarding
Nick Baumgartner, of Iron River, competing in snowboardcross.
Danny Davis, of Highland, competing in halfpipe.
Karly Shorr, of Milford, competing in slopestyle.
Speed skating
Jilleanne Rookard, of Woodhaven, competing in long track speed skating.
Jessica Smith, of Melvindale, competing in short track speed skating.
Source: USOC
President Barack Obama will visit Michigan State University today to sign the $956 billion farm bill and highlight agriculture’s importance to the economy after it received Senate approval Tuesday, the White House confirmed.
Obama is expected to see MSU agricultural research in action and deliver a speech about how agriculture creates jobs and feeds the country before signing the legislation, according to the White House. The announcement followed the Senate’s 68-32 vote Tuesday approving the farm bill.
Michigan State President Lou Anna Simon hailed the farm bill’s passage because it “not only provides strong support for new research enterprises, but it also strengthens and grows Michigan’s agriculture economy and helps sustain America’s global competitiveness.
“As the pioneer land-grant institution in America, we are honored and pleased that President Obama will be signing the farm bill on MSU’s campus.”
Obama’s visit is also expected to shine a light on Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, chairwoman of the Agricultural Committee, who was a driving force in winning agreement with House Republicans on the compromise measure — working on weekends and weeks Congress was out of session in recent months to win agreement. The president is expected to sign the legislation in a Friday afternoon ceremony at a university performance center.
Source : David Shepardson and Marisa Shultz, “Obama to sign farm bill at MSU, White House confirms”, Detroit News, February 4, 2014.
Obama Visits MSU Photo Gallery from the Lansing State Journal.
Michigan native Betsy Devos is now the U.S. Secretary of Education after being confirmed by the tightest vote for a presidential cabinet nominee in U.S. Senate history — 51 to 50. Vice President Pence cast the tie-breaking vote.
This was the first time in U.S. history that a Cabinet nominee’s confirmation was decided by the vice president’s tiebreaking vote
As expected, the approval drew commendation from Republicans and school choice groups and condemnation from Democrats and progressives.
The United States Mint and the National Park Service launched the “America the Beautiful” Quarters Program coin honoring Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Michigan on Wednesday, February 7, 2018.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore of Michigan is the first national site commemorated on a U.S. quarter for 2018.
The coin represents the forty-first release from the series of United States Mint America the Beautiful Quarters™, an eleven-year coin program that runs from 2010 to 2021.
Some important dates and events for Michigan’s Pictured Rocks quarter include:
- its release into general circulation on February 5, 2018;
- its availability in U.S. Mint-branded rolls and bags at www.usmint.gov, also on February 5, 2018;
- a U.S. Mint-hosted coin forum held at Munising Township Office (E9630 Prospect Street, Wetmore, MI 49895) on February 6, 2018 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. EST; and
- its official launch ceremony hosted by officials from the U.S. Mint and the National Park Service at Mather Elementary School Auditorium (411 Elm Avenue, Munising, MI 49862) on February 7, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. EST.
Right after ceremonial launches and in the same location are coin exchanges where attendees can swap cash for $10 rolls of new quarters. Coin forums are hosted by U.S. Mint officials who discuss current and upcoming products.
Designs on Pictured Rocks Quarter
Thirteen candidate designs for the quarter were developed by the U.S. Mint in consultation with representatives of the national site. The Treasury Secretary selected the winning design after the Commission of Fine Arts and the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee reviewed them.
Created by Paul C. Balan and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso, the design depicts Chapel Rock and the white pine tree that stand upon it. The rock formation is a main point of interest within the park. Around the design are inscriptions “PICTURED ROCKS,” “MICHIGAN,” “2018” and “E PLURIBUS UNUM.”
All quarter obverses (heads) share John Flanagan’s portrait of George Washington.
Both obverse and reverse designs are also featured on a series of U.S. Mint bullion and collector 3-inch diameter, 5-ounce silver coins.
Information about Michigan’s Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore of Michigan was initially created on October 15, 1966 by an Act of Congress. It marked the first such designated site in the National Park Service system, but would not be the last.
The national lakeshore runs along the shore of Lake Superior on the upper peninsula of Michigan for 42 miles. Fifteen of those miles consist of colorful sandstone cliffs which rise up to 200 feet above sea level and for which the lakeshore takes its name — Pictured Rocks.
Almost half a million visitors come to the lakeshore annually. They can enter the park from either end on paved roads, but must use a county road if they wish to drive from one end to the other. Unfortunately, the road only comes close to the shoreline at two locations, making a hike or a cruise the only viable option to really take in the pictured rocks scenery.
Sources :
Michigan History, March/April 2018, p. 9.
Former U.S. Rep. John David Dingell Jr., who was one of the U.S. House’s most powerful chairmen and helped write and pass some of the most consequential legislation in the nation’s history, died Thursday. He was 92.
Dingell, of Dearborn, served nearly 60 years in the House, making him the longest-serving member in Congress’ history.
He is survived by his wife, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell
Source : Todd Spangler, “Michigan’s John Dingell, longest-serving member in Congress, dies at 92“, Detroit Free Press, February 7, 2019.