A Single Mother Pleads With the State, a Couple Gives Millions, a Snowpocalypse?, and a Gutsy Woman
The Latest From Marquette, MI by Brian Cabell
“I DID EVERYTHING right. I provided them all my business records, and they determined how much I would receive. It was a big help to me and my son…But now they tell me I have to pay it all back!”…The words of a local, single mother, a potter by trade, a self-employed businesswoman who’d prefer to stay anonymous…Over a five month period last year, she received $11,000 from the government under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program…It helped her get by when her business had slowed to a trickle.
However…Michigan, after sending out the checks, said “Sorry! You gotta return the money!” because it had apparently used the wrong criteria in determining who was eligible to receive support. Their mistake, a huge one…And now, apparently hundreds of thousands of claimants—mostly self-employed and moderate or low income--are facing the same problem.
Our local single mother, without the resources to pay it back, has been calling the state office to appeal her case…“I call every week. They just tell me my case is pending,” she says. She’s worried. Anxious. Confused.
Some hope, perhaps. State Representative Sara Cambensy’s office (517-373-0498) has been taking calls from other constituents, mostly self-employed, who are facing the same payback demand. Her office has been able to help them. They’re welcoming calls—helping constituents is what they do.
CPA BOB COWELL earned a very nice living in Marquette before retiring about fifteen years ago. But unlike some wealthy folks who gather up their cash and belongings and leave for a sunnier climate once their working days are over, Cowell and his wife, Kathleen Olivier, stayed in Big Bay…They love it here and they love NMU hockey. So much so that they made a $1 million multi-year contribution to the program a few weeks ago…“My belief is,” Cowell says, “you leave it in the community where you earned it.”
Bob and Kathleen have only rarely missed an NMU game over the last few decades…Oh, and there’s more. They made a similar million dollar gift to the Marquette County Community Foundation a few years back…Makes you think about your own contributions to this community.
WONDERING WHY HOUSING costs have been soaring recently both here and nationally? Here’s one of the reasons: Investors, not homeowners themselves, bought more than 18% of all available homes in the fourth quarter of 2021. That’s a record high, according to the real estate firm Redfin…Combine that with the problems that homebuilders have had in getting building supplies, and you begin to understand why prospective homebuyers are struggling to find any homes at reasonable prices.
SURE SEEMS LIKE an exceptionally snowy winter in Marquette County. But, not really…According to NWS meteorologist Evan Kutta, the weather station in Negaunee had received 142 inches of snow as of Monday. Very close to the 30 year average of 139 by the same date…Last winter, the comparable figure was a measly 89 inches…Kutta says we should expect more of the same for the rest of the winter. It’ll be average. And snowy.
ON THE OTHER hand. The American West continues in a megadrought, the worst in 1,200 years. This, according to the journal, Nature Climate Change…No signs of the megadrought easing in the near future…According to the study cited in the journal, 42% of the megadrought can be attributed to human-caused climate change…Gosh, maybe one of these days, we oughta make some changes.
HALLELUJAH, NOW WE can gamble in the comfort of our homes! If you weren’t aware of that, then you haven’t been watching TV where online gaming commercials air…oh, roughly every 30 seconds…The problem? More of us are getting into gambling trouble. Debts we can’t pay…The state registered more than 4000 calls to its gambling hotline last year, triple the amount from the year before…Of all people with a serious gambling disorder, only an estimated one in ten seeks help…The rest of them just keep gambling and hoping and racking up debt…Which leads to depression, bankruptcy, divorce and suicide.
THE PANDEMIC HAS thankfully eased over the last month, and so, too, will the restrictions at the UP Children’s Museum in March…Until now, it’s been a maximum of 20 people over a two hour period at the museum. Come March, it’ll be All Welcome again. Masks still required, though, at least for now…Attendance understandably plummeted during the pandemic, but the museum has held its own, even without layoffs. “Bottom line, we’re doing okay,” says Museum Executive Director Nheena Ittner. “We’ve gotten by with philanthropy and some government help.”
ANNA DRAVLAND IS one helluva woman…She’s now promoting her fifth annual Spread Goodness Day—a day for people to do good with projects big or small, or just a simple, personal gesture. This year, it’s March 11th…Seemed like an earnest but naïve project years ago, but no more…She says communities in 20 states now have plans to spread goodness on that date.
All this is happening while Anna, still a young woman, struggles to recover from a stroke and several other, serious medical problems. She’s now awaiting “gut reconstruction surgery” at Cleveland Clinic…“I’m managing,” she says. “There’s a lot of pain. It’s scary sometimes.”….Guts and goodness. Yep, Anna’s got plenty of both.
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Thank you Brian. Always great info you find & share.