July 15, 2026
Contact: John Pepin, 906-226-1352

 GW:  Should never have been an issue.  Cutting off the Upper Peninsula would have had drastic consequences.

DNR permit requires Enbridge to mitigate impacts to plant and animal habitats

Today, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources issued a permit for the Great Lakes Tunnel project, intended to house a proposed replacement for the existing 73-year-old Line 5 dual pipelines currently located on the lakebed in the Straits of Mackinac.

The DNR issued a permit needed for the tunnel project under Part 365 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act. The permit requires several measures by Enbridge to reduce impacts on rare plants and animals.

The DNR evaluated the project’s effect on rare plants and animals and determined the tunnel project would adversely impact Houghton’s goldenrod and dwarf lake iris growing in the area, as well as several bat habitats. The plants impacted by this project are federally and state listed as threatened.

The DNR then engaged in two Tribal consultations and considered the Tribes’ research, expertise and concerns about the project.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service considered the project impacts, because the species are federally protected, and concluded that the tunnel project would not jeopardize the continued existence of these species. After carefully weighing all the available data, the DNR agreed and concluded that the impacts at this site are unlikely to prevent the overall recovery of either plant species.

To lessen impacts on state listed plants and animals, the DNR developed a set of permit requirements. Specifically, the applicant must follow these requirements:
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July 10, 2026
Contact: 1st Lt. Mark DePew, 989-275-5151

 

A 33-year-old man from Flint who was tubing the Au Sable River through Roscommon Thursday afternoon was located later that evening in good condition walking through the woods after family members reported him missing. The visiting family rented tubes from Campbell’s Canoe, Kayak & Tubing Livery to enjoy a float down the Au Sable River. When everyone got off the river at Meads Landing, the man decided to stay on a bit longer. After several hours passed and the man did not arrive at the next landing, the family contacted 911 at 7:23 p.m. Around 9 p.m., Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Ben McAteer joined the search and located footprints that matched the man’s description about 1 mile downriver, near Willows Road – about an hour’s travel time on the water. McAteer tracked the footprints in this area for a mile until they went back into the water. Read more

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is reconstructing the aging Net River Dam in southern Baraga County, a collaborative project that will restore water levels and improve the wetland habitat.

Work started in late June and is expected to be completed in the fall.

The dam, built in the early 1960s, and the 200-acre wetlands impoundment it creates are part of the DNR-managed Net River Flooding State Wildlife Management Area. During construction, the parking area and boating access site will be closed; anglers and other visitors should plan accordingly. Read more

Exclusive promotions from Rost Martin, Savage, and a Custom Colt Python Benefit Auction Headline Nationwide Sale

Guns.com announces its July 4th Fuel Your Freedom sale celebrating the enduring spirit of liberty and freedom that have defined the nation since 1776. Starting today through Sunday, July 5, millions of gun owners will find huge savings and exclusive deals on firearms, suppressors, ammo, magazines, optics, gear, and more to celebrate the red, white, and blue.

Powered by industry partners including Henry Repeating Arms, Rost Martin, Burris Optics, and Meta Tactical, the holiday sale is part of a larger summer-long campaign delivering exclusive promotions on firearms, suppressors, ammo, optics, and range gear — everything gun owners need to fuel their freedom.

July 4th Promotions Include:

• Doorbuster deals on select products
• All new Rost Martin firearms ship free
• All new Savage firearms ship free
• 10% Off all Certified Used firearms
• 10% off all accessories
• Buy nine boxes of ammunition and receive one free

In addition to these limited-time deals, customers can continue to enjoy ongoing promotions, including:

• Free shipping on all Burris, EOTECH, and Holosun optics
• A $100 instant rebate on all new Colt King Cobra revolvers
• Up to $75 instant rebate on Bond Arms firearms
• “Buy a Gun, Get a Free Can” promotion in partnership with Outlier
• Free shipping on every in-stock suppressor available through Guns.com‘s nationwide Dealer Network Read more

 

SilencerCo celebrates 250 years of American independence with a money-saving summer promotion built to celebrate America, American manufacturing and American trigger time.

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — Some things don’t translate. The European mind simply cannot comprehend why Americans spend their weekends at the range and in the woods, spend small fortunes on ammo, and long to hear the unmistakable sound of freedom as that ammo clangs against steel targets.

They probably can’t comprehend why we’d insist on designing, machining, assembling, and supporting every suppressor right here in Utah, either.

But, hey, America wasn’t built on doing things the easy way.

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of American Independence, SilencerCo is launching its ALWAYS AMERICAN. 250 FOR 250. promotion, which runs from June 23, 2026, to August 15, 2026. Anyone who purchases a qualifying suppressor and submits the required documentation will receive $250 in SilencerCo Web Store Credit, valid until October 31, 2026. The promotion applies to several of SilencerCo’s most popular suppressors, including the Velos Series (Velos LBP 556, Velos LBP 556K, Velos LBP 762), Hybrid Modular Series (Omega 36M and Hybrid 46M), and Scythe Series (Scythe Ti and Ti Black).

For complete promotion details and qualifying products, visit silencerco.com/always-american/.

The ALWAYS AMERICAN. 250 for 250. promotion celebrates more than America’s milestone birthday. It celebrates the values that have driven SilencerCo since its founding in 2008: American manufacturing, American innovation, and the belief that shooters deserve products built by people who actually understand what happens when a trigger is pulled.

“America has spent 250 years proving that independence, self-reliance, and hard work still matter,” said Mike Aland, Chief Marketing Officer of SilencerCo. “We’re proud to build suppressors in Utah with American Workers, American materials, and American craftsmanship. ALWAYS AMERICAN is our way of celebrating that legacy while giving something back to the shooters who continue to support American manufacturing and want to let freedom ring downrange.” Read more

Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) issued the following statement in response to the United States Supreme Court granting review in FPC’s Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois lawsuit challenging the County’s ban on so-called “assault weapons” as unconstitutional under the Second Amendment:

“Moments ago, the Supreme Court granted review in an FPC case challenging Cook County’s ban on semiautomatic rifles. This is not the end of the fight to eliminate bans on so-called ‘assault weapons,’ but it marks the end of the beginning. For years, the FPC Grassroots Army has fought hard to bring this question to the Supreme Court, and now the time has come to march forward and reclaim the rights that were immorally taken from us. And as we approach Independence Day—as our nation celebrates 250 years—we embrace our movement’s next challenge: securing a historic Supreme Court victory that protects the right to keep and bear arms for generations to come. The FPC Grassroots Army will continue to Fight Forward until every ban on constitutionally protected arms is eliminated, full stop.” Read more

NSSF^®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is elated over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision today to hear petitions challenging state restrictions on the possession of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). Petitions challenging the constitutionality of these state-based restrictions have endured a tortuous legal path to the nation’s highest court.

The challenges, Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, will be heard by the Supreme Court in the next session. These petitions were relisted several times before the Supreme Court ultimately decided to grant cert. Viramontes and Grant challenge Cook County, Illinois and Connecticut’s respective bans on MSR possession, the most-commonly sold centerfire rifle in America, of which there are over 32 million in circulation. NSSF believes that the Heller and Bruen precedents clearly hold that firearms in common use are protected by the Second Amendment.

NSSF contends that review of these challenges by the Supreme Court is long overdue. NSSF was frustrated with the Court’s decision in June 2025 to deny cert in Snope v. Brown and the NSSF-funded Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island petitions challenging on Second Amendment grounds Maryland’s MSR Ban and Rhode Island’s ban on standard sized magazines, respectively. NSSF respectfully disagreed with Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s statement then that the Court should wait a “Term or two” before taking action to stop the lower courts from misapplying the Court’s holdings in Heller and Bruen, effectively denying the Second Amendment rights of millions of law-abiding Americans living in the states that have enacted laws banning MSRs and standard capacity magazines.

Rhode Island’s ban on the sale of MSRs will take effect July 1, 2026, and Virginia has since enacted into law a similar ban, which is currently being challenged in courts, including one funded by NSSF.

NSSF continues to monitor the Duncan v. Bonta and Gator’s Customs Guns, Inc. v. Washington petitions, which were held over by the Supreme Court. Both cases challenge state restrictions on standard capacity magazines. NSSF contends that magazines are arms, protected by the Second Amendment and states that ban standard capacity magazines are violating the civil rights of law-abiding citizens of those states. Read more

FPC firmly believes that the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) must be strengthened to robustly protect the constitutionally guaranteed rights of peaceable American gun owners and the critically important firearms ecosystem that serves them. Unfortunately, Senator John Cornyn’s SHOT Act (S. 4775)—in the form presented to FPC—badly misses the mark.

FPC has spent months engaging with congressional offices—including Senator Cornyn’s—various stakeholders, and leading legal experts, including our Supreme Court counsel, to help inform and shape reforms that would provide badly needed protections for the Second Amendment community. To that end, FPC developed a proposed PLCAA amendment that advances the real mission: protecting the People’s rights and ensuring that frivolous litigation cannot be used to redline the Second Amendment out of existence. Read more

GW: I wonder how many NRA members were lost because of this man’s stealing!  Count me as one after years of dedicated contributions.

The recently redrawn maps pitted two incumbent Democratic lawmakers against each other in a primary.

And, for Democrat Texas Representative, Al Green, that meant the end of his bombastic tenure in the House of Representatives.