The National Grange

State Legislative Round Up March 2010

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Wisconsin State Grange
The Wisconsin State Grange Supports Improved Telecommunications

The Wisconsin State Grange recently wrote to members of their state legislature in support of legislation aimed at maintaining and improving telecommunications services in rural Wisconsin. The bill will encourage additional investment in broadband and other advanced telecommunications services in rural Wisconsin. Wisconsin State Grange members are concerned that failure to modernize their laws will hinder additional, vital telecommunications investment in rural parts of the state. The bill would bring regulations governing many rural telecommunications providers into line with the levels of regulation their competitors face while at the same time retain the many important consumer protections in place at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection. They want rural telecommunications providers to invest in new infrastructure and equipment rather than spend their resources on complying with outdated regulations.

Michigan State Grange
Help Stop Invasion of Asian Carp
By Jeff Swainston, Michigan State Grange Legislative Director

As you may know, MI Attorney General, Mike Cox, is fighting Illinois and the Federal Government in the U.S. Supreme Court to force the closure of locks in Chicago waterways infested with Asian Carp. We’ve been joined by New York, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Ontario. This invasive species could decimate our Great Lakes-based economy, valued in the billions, by ruining the ecology of our lakes and rivers. Anyone who has watched videos on Illinois rivers knows exactly what I am talking about.

Despite the clear evidence of an impending crisis, federal and state authorities in charge of the locks refuse to close them and are fighting us in court.

While we don’t know what the outcome of the suit will be, we can mobilize folks in order to send a message to the federal and local authorities in charge that they must act now to protect Michigan and the other Great Lakes states. Illinois accounts for only 63 of the 10,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, yet today they control the fate of the entire Great Lakes basin.

Attorney General Cox has created a website, www.stopasiancarp.com, for citizens to sign an online petition, the results of which will be used to show Illinois and federal authorities that they must look at the needs of the entire Great Lakes basin.