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MSP steps up enforcement for holiday period

Impaired driving — whether due to alcohol, drugs or both — is a year-round danger on the roadways. However, late summer and the Labor Day holiday period are among the deadliest times of the year for crashes and fatalities involving impaired drivers, the Michigan State Police advises. Over the Labor Day holiday weekends from 2019 to 2023, there were a total of 44 driver fatalities in traffic crashes in Michigan. In those crashes, 43.2% of the drivers killed were alcohol- and/or drug-impaired, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, or UMTRI. ...

Scammers never run out of ideas

Scammers, it seems to us, never run short of schemes to part people from their money. The police agency involved in one of the latest is the federal Drug Enforcement Agency. According to the agency, the scammer will inform the target that their name was used to rent a vehicle which was stopped at the border and contained a large quantity of drugs. The scammer then has the target verify their Social Security number or tells the target their bank account has been compromised. In some cases, the scammer threatens the target with arrest for the fictional drug seizure and instructs the ...

State home-heating assistance available

We’d like to underscore the importance of the message in a recent Mining Journal story about what’s known as the Home Heating Tax Credit, which helps eligible residents manage heating costs during the colder months. Qualified Michigan renters and homeowners have until Tuesday, Sept. 30, to claim the credit and those who don’t file by the deadline will miss out. State officials tell us that last year, for example, the average qualifying household received $180 in assistance, which is most often applied directly to residents’ utility bills. Some energy providers automatically ...