Focus West Michigan 8-14-26: National Breastfeeding Month

This is Focus West Michigan for Friday, August 14, 2026. I'm Joe Balecki with your local news. A West Michigan hospital is highlighting the benefits of lactation support groups during National Breastfeeding Month, WGVU's D. Morrison reports. When Amanda Brown gave birth to daughter Lois in April, she faced unexpected breastfeeding challenges when her newborn lost weight. I heard breastfeeding is the most unnatural, natural thing. I mean, our bodies were designed and made to do that, but there can be a lot of coming. complications and it is hard. Brown credits Holland Hospital's breastfeeding connections support group with helping to turn things around. You know, tell you like latch is good, everything's good. She just needs more time. Very much their expertise was invaluable at that time. Specialists like lactation consultant Sarah Mulker offer guidance on common concerns like cluster feeding, milk supply, and infant weight gain. We can assess what are their feeding goals in help with baby's latch, different positioning, or anything. that they're really struggling with. Mulker says peer connection is just as valuable as expert advice. Mothers encourage other mothers. They'll be sitting next to each other and they will say, oh, I'm going through the same thing. This is what helped. A community is formed. Both women encourage others to tap into their local region's network of breastfeeding and lactation support groups and resources. I'm Dee Morrison. Michigan is lagging other states in college degrees and technical certificates, but there's a tuition-free community college guarantee available to thousands of residents that can close that gap. WGVU's David Limbaugh has the details. What many people don't know is that Michigan is falling behind in the level of post-secondary attainment. Kevin Stotz is president of Talent First, a Grand Rapids-based workforce pipeline, and a member of Level Up Michigan, a nonpartisan coalition of business labor. education, and civic leaders looking to close that gap. It's the degree to which we're filling the in-demand good-paying jobs that require some sort of a credential, be it a technical certificate or a degree. Level up is spreading the word about Michigan's community college guarantee, which covers tuition for recent high school grads, and Michigan Reconnect, subsidizing adults 21 or older who have not yet earned a degree. Both programs pay for two years tuition at any community college in the state. For the employer community in West Michigan, making sure that people know about these programs, know that the cost should not be a barrier, and that there are many good paying jobs that require some sort of technical education or a degree that they can get funding for is really kind of essential to our work in West Michigan. You can learn more online at level upmi.org. I'm David Limbaugh. Art prize leaders are revealing some of the big surprise. is coming to Grand Rapids September event. WGVU's DeMorson has the preview. Those are musical notes produced by the Earth Harp. Recognized by Guinness World Records, it's the world's longest playable stringed instrument. Creator William Close will open Art Prize 2026 with an hour-long performance. We're actually turning Pearl Street Bridge into a musical instrument. The strings are going to go over the top of the bridge and people will actually be inside of the harp. It's going to light up. Art Prize executive director Tyler Loftus believes the Earth Harp sets the proper tone for the event's 15th year.

It now has more than a thousand artists competing. We have four different weekends, and we have dance, music, the visual arts and fashion. And on each one of those weekends, we're highlighting those art forms and really trying to create this inclusive, well-rounded arts experience. Loftus aims to end art prize with another record breaker for the world's largest attended fashion show. The free event features local designer R.C. Kalin at the Acresher Amphitheater. We're going to have the symphony there, the ballet, and the opera all performing alongside our... sees fashion show. That should be really fun and let's break a record together. Art Prize 2026 runs September 12th through October 3rd. I'm Dee Morrison. Coming up soon, WGVU Scott Vanderwerf has the preview of this weekend's new films, but first, news from around the state. Republican Congressman John James announced his running mate on Thursday and his campaign for governor. Colin Jackson has more. Two-term Republican State Representative Jay DeBoyer will join James in the race for the governor's mansion this November. DeBoyer chairs the Michigan House Oversight Committee and previously worked as St. Clair County Clerk. Republican strategist Kristen Combs says it's a smart pick since DeBoer has experience with both. legislating and elections. As a former clerk, he can talk to that. I think chairing the Oversight Committee, he's gotten a really good glimpse into the administration and maybe some things that I think Republicans are looking to improve on. Democrats are criticizing DeBoyer as two in lockstep with President Donald Trump and his policies. I'm Colin Jackson. This summer's wildfire smoke from Canada that blanketed Michigan and nine other states caused more than $38 billion in economic losses. That's according to a study by economist Richard Melstrom for the Anderson Economic Group. Melstrom says the wildfire smoke can make people ill or stay home from work to reduce their exposure, and it can also cause business closures and event cancellations. It had the labor market impact. That affects productivity, and it affects how much people earn and how much they're able to spend. Melstrom says federal environmental data indicated Michigan was the most affected by the smoke. He says the state also had the largest economic loss at more than $6.5 billion. Focus West Michigan is brought to by listeners like you. To support the show and everything we do here, visit wgvunus.org and click the donate button. And for a weekly dose of news right to your inbox, sign up for the WGVU newsletter. The End of Oak Street opens this week, starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, a sci-fi dinosaur movie with Jurassic Park vibes. Paw Patrol the Dino movie adds more dinosaur action for the kids. The Brink of War is a historical drama with Jeff Daniels portraying President Ronald Reagan and Jared Harris as Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. And Matthew McConaughey stars in the neo-Western crime thriller The Rivals of Amzaya. WGVU Scott Vanderwerf and Zach Regetti from Studio C, Break It Down in our weekly movie.

movie talk. And we have the end of Oak Street with Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, which is a weird sci-fi. dinosaur movie. And have you had an opportunity to see this, Zach? Or if not, what have you heard? Yeah, I haven't seen it yet. I'm very excited to. David Robert Mitchell directed this movie. He directed It Follows and Under the Silver Lake. Oh, wow. Okay. So It Follows was a big zeitgeist film that really captured the horror movie-going audience. Yeah. And I would say is arguably, I think a lot of horror fans, like it's in their top five of horror movies of all time. time. So he directed that and is directing this movie. And I think from what I've heard, you know, either wrote most of it or had a writing partner as well. And then at some point, J.J. Abrams kind of entered the picture and began producing the film alongside him. And so I don't know. It feels like a really cool concept. So there's essentially, you know, this family, you know, I'm McGregor and Hathaway. They're married. They've got kids. And they live in suburbia. They live in a cul-de-sac, which is the end, you know, sort of Oak Street. And mysteriously and randomly one night or one day, the whole street of Oak Street sort of like very much like. cosmic event almost just sort of transports into the middle of this new place and there happens to also be dinosaurs. And so it is kind of this fun, you know, dinosaur flick. It feels very reminiscent of like what we love about Jurassic Park. And, you know, I think, you know, David Mitchell definitely like probably pulled from a little bit of, you know, his probably experience watching Jurassic Park and all that stuff. But yeah, the, my concern for this is that, I don't know what that third act looks like. And it feels like a really cool concept. And I just really hope that it delivers in the end. And that's my only worry that it won't. But it's currently, it's 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. So we've got that going for it. And, you know, again, JJ Abrams also, you know, he, you've got. A lot of his films that are very similar, you know, Cloverfield, if you will, and, you know, and the additional Cloverfield movies that are these, like, very mysterious, like, what's going on. And End of Cloverfield Lane. is probably my favorite one of those. But the other ones, I kind of feel like the third act is very, like, missing in those movies. And so that's where I feel like maybe that's, you know, where I'm comparing this one too. Well, and tell me if I'm wrong, but hasn't JJ Abrams been missing in action for about five or six years? He has. He's got another movie coming out, I think, either later this year or early next year as well. But, yeah, and I think, you know, he as a director...

I've always said, you know, he does things in threes, but usually drops the third movie. Like he did Star Trek one and two, and they didn't do the third. He'd Star Wars one and didn't do the second, came back for the third. So he's got this weird way of, like, coming in and out of movies. But, I mean... It just looks like a fun time. And Anne Hathaway is also having a hell of a run this year. I mean, we're still talking about her in Odyssey. She was in Devil Wars Prada earlier. She was in Mother Mary. She's in Verity later this year. She's on a historical run this year. And so just to have her also in the mix in this movie, that's not the Odyssey, but it is a fun, you know, again, dinosaur flick is a good time. Also for the kids, we've got Paw Patrol, the Dino movie, more dinosaurs. Yeah, I've been calling this the Dino Double Weekend, which, you know, you can, if you want to watch both dinosaur movies, feel free. But Paw Patrol is a very well-known, you know, kids franchise. They've got, you know, TV episodes. They've had a few movies in the past. This is like the third Paw Patrol movie. And so, yeah, very similarly almost to Envoke Street, but the Paw Patrol will essentially find some dinosaurs. dinosaurs on some sort of island and, you know, befriend them and realize that I think, you know, the dinosaurs maybe aren't as scary as they think they are, which is also kind of hilarious when you do just straight up compare that to End of Oak Street because, you know, those dinosaurs will be as scary as you think they are. But anyway, yeah, it's, you know, this fun, there's sort of a dormant volcano that they've got to be worried about and the people that live around the volcano and dinosaurs as well affected by that. So, yeah, if you, you know, if your kids love Paw Patrol, you're probably going to like this movie. And Angel Studios has a new film out, and they began as a pretty much a faith-based production studio for film. But they've been branching out. And now they've got a historical film called The Brink of War from the Cold War era with Jeff Daniels playing President Ronald Reagan and Jared Harris playing Gorbachev from the Soviet Union. And what are you hearing about this movie? Yeah, this is, it's a two-hour PG drama. So that's sort of, you know, I think PG to the sake that Angel Studios, obviously, you know, as you said, came from that faith-based background. They're doing a lot more. historical dramas. It feels like we just had Young Washington on July 4th weekend. But yeah, this essentially takes place, I believe, mostly at the one cottage where the two of them met and sat and talked about, you know, nuclear war. And there's a line in the trailer, right, which is like, I'm not, you know. I'm not trying to win the war. I'm trying to stop one from happening. And I think, you know, it's kind of, it's one of those ones where I feel like, again, you watch it and you're going to maybe do some more research after you walk out of the theater. But, yeah, sort of a biopic drama thriller, if you will, of just sort of the two of them sitting down and having this conversation, nation to nation, and just sort of.

you know, figuring it out together. And obviously we know what happens. Well, you know, with Ronald Reagan, it was interesting because I came of age politically during the Reagan era. He was in that election, 1980 was the first presidential election that I voted in. He was somebody that was looked upon as being actually a warmonger and who there was this sort of buzz in the opposition that he was somebody that actually was looking. for a way to have war against the Soviet Union. And then ironically, he was the one who reached out to the Soviet Union and to Gorbachev, who was looked at as a, who was a reformer within that system. And we actually got nuclear treaties, disarmament treaties, and disarmament as a result of Reagan. So that was kind of interesting. We've got J.K. Simmons, also playing George Schultz in here, who was a... very much a historical figure as well. And he's one of the great actors that we have. So this is kind of intriguing to me. Jeff Daniels is having his latter half of his career here. He's doing a lot of things that are very interesting. I totally agree. And even just, you know, Michigan guy, but also just I also, I feel like a lot of. Jeff Daniel's early career was all the, like, very comedy, like, focused, you know, and the longer he's moved into his career, the more serious he's gotten. But, like, he still delivers incredible performances. And so, yeah, it'll be fun to watch. Well, he's grown into the, he's grown into this sort of gravitas, you know? Although I know what you're talking about, about comedic roles, but then you look at something like the squid and the whale where he is just, just amazingly abrasive as well. We also have the rivals of... Amaziah King? Yeah, Matthew McConaughey is in here. It's coming from Black Bear, just sort of this, you know, small little fun B movie, but it's 89% on Rottenameda. Yeah, this is totally flown under my radar. Yeah, so it's, it's, McConaughey is the Amazia King, but it sort of doesn't even focus really much around her or him, sorry, as much as it focuses around sort of the young girl in the story who she. is, you know, sort of loses her parents, goes through the foster system, is, you know, brought in by McConaughey and Amazai King, and then eventually she kind of goes her own way and sort of finds her own life. But then, you know, she ends up coming back to sort of the city that she grew up in. And, you know, he... finds out that she's back and they start, you know, talking again, and she sees what's up with, you know, what's going on in his life. And he's a beekeeper, and they grow like a very specific, you know, very expensive clove honey. And Kurt Russell is in this movie as well, but he's sort of basically the antagonist, but essentially at some point, a lot of the honey is either stolen through the shipping process or the bees straight up. the honeybees are just taken. And so she, in her relationship with Emma Zy King, sort of goes on this, not revenge, but sort of this journey to try and hunt down the people who, you know, robbed and stole all of, you know, all of his work and his livelihood and all that stuff. So, yeah, sort of this like, again, dramatic thriller, but it looks super fun. All right. Well, thank you very much for joining us, Zach. Yeah, thanks, Scott.

This has been Focus West Michigan from WGVU for Friday, August 14, 2026. I'm Joe Balecki. Our audio operations manager is Rick Beirling and our news and public affairs director is Patrick Center. Don't forget to like and subscribe and we'll be back with more news and events in West Michigan on Monday. Thanks for listening.