One Hundred and TwenTy Five years OF ediTOrial FreedOm
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Ann Arbor, MI
Weekly Summer Edition
MichiganDaily.com
INDEX
NEWS ...................................
OPINION ..............................
ARTS .....................................
CLASSIFIEDS.........................
SUDOKU................................
SPORTS................................
ARTS
Mayer Hawthorne
returns to A2
Artist performs
homecoming concert at
Power Center
>> SEE PAGE 6
NEWS
Clinton adds to college
affordability plan
New proposals echoe
rhetoric of Bernie Sanders
>> SEE PAGE 2
NEWS
Hospital opens new
mental health center
Facility will use cutting-
edge ECT therapy
>> SEE PAGE 3
OPINION
Hashtag
Activism
Columnists discuss
the perils and pitfalls
of activism in the age of
social media.
>> SEE PAGE 5
SPORTS
Bottom named to
coach team U.S.A
Swimming coach will be
assistant coach in Rio
>> SEE PAGE 12
inside
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4
6
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Vol. CXXVI, No. 123| © 2016 The Michigan Daily
michigandaily.com
County calls for EPA
action on groundwater
‘U’ professor
wins grant
of $500,000
for research
LAURA MEYER/Daily
Ann Arbor Township Supervisor Michael Moran speaks at the Washtenaw County Board of Commisioners Wednesday
City of Ann Arbor
still undecided
on superfund site
position
By BRIAN KUANG
Summer Daily News Editor
Citing
more
than
three
decades of disappointment with
state environmental regulators,
local authorities in Washtenaw
County are increasing their
support for the designation of a
toxic plume of groundwater as
an Environmental Protection
Agency superfund site — a federal
designation for areas in need
of major clean up of harazdous
substances. Such a move would
prompt
federal
intervention
that
would
largely
bypass
the Michigan Department of
Environmental Quality, though
other
local
officials
have
expressed
reservations
that
doing so would merely hurt local
property values and undermine
the DEQ’s efforts.
Improper
wastewater
disposal by the Ann Arbor-
based company Gelman Sciences
from 1966 to 1986 created a
large plume of the carcinogenic
toxin 1,4-dioxane underneath
Ann Arbor, as well as Scio and
Ann Arbor Townships. The
gradually expanding plume has
contaminated
groundwater,
forced the closure of more than
100 private residential wells and
is expected to reach the Huron
River in the coming decades and
potentially
contaminate
Ann
Arbor’s water source at Barton
Pond.
Wednesday
evening,
the
Washtenaw
County
Board
of
Commissioners
voted
unanimously for a resolution
supporting a petition to the
EPA for superfund status. The
Commission
joins
the
Scio
Township Board of Trustees,
which voted in favor of a
superfund petition June 20, and
Ann Arbor Charter Township —
a separate municipality from the
city of Ann Arbor — that passed
its own resolution of support in
March.
Despite the outcome of the
vote, the Ann Arbor City Council
has not formally voted on a
superfund petition, and Mayor
Christopher Taylor — as well
as several councilmembers —
told the Daily in March that a
premature petition could bring
unintended harm to property
values.
Wednesday, Taylor told the
Daily the city is still unsure of
whether or not it will back a
petition for superfund status
— though he didn’t rule out
eventually supporting such a
petition — and that he doesn’t
expect City Council to debate
the issue in the immediate
future.
“The question of whether or
not to seek superfund status
is a complicated one,” Taylor
said, pointing out that city
staff members are continuing
to work with other county
stakeholders
to
understand
the issue. “If we were to seek
Dus’ work looks
at obesity and the
relationship between
sugar and the brain
By ALEXA ST. JOHN
Daily Staff Reporter
The Rita Allen Foundation
Scholars program — which invests
in innovative biomedical research
—
recently
awarded
Monica
Dus,
University
of
Michigan
progessor of of molecular, cellular
and
developmental
biology
$500,000 for her research on the
relationship between sugar and
the brain — an important factor in
obseity research.
The
Foundation
has
been
awarding candidates since 1976,
requiring each to exhibit attention
to innovation and global issues,
focus on creating lasting solutions
and a dedication to leadership.
The grant has previously been
awarded
to
professors
and
researchers nationwide, including
those
from
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, Harvard
University and the University of
California system.
The grant will got toward Dus’
research on how the environment
shapes one’s eating habits.
Dus’ grant began July 1, and she
will receive a $100,000 payment
annually over the next five years.
Dus said the application process
for the grant was extensive. Only
a select number of universities
can apply for the Rita Allen
Foundation’s
grants,
which
significantly reduces the pool
of eligible candidates; however,
Dus
had
to
first
participate
FUNDINGS
See OBESITY, Page 8
See GROUNDWATER, Page 9