Tell Me More: News, Info & Resources

05/31/2026

The fuller the drum, the harder the dryer works for less.

A dryer works by tumbling clothes through hot, moving air. When the drum is overstuffed, clothes stop tumbling and start pressing against the walls. Moisture has no path out. The heater keeps cycling on, the motor keeps running, and the load that should have finished in 45 minutes stretches past 75. The motor in a residential dryer is rated for a typical load weight, so overloading also wears the drive belt, bearings, and motor faster than the manufacturer expects.

ENERGY STAR recommends filling the drum no more than three-quarters full. You should be able to see empty space at the top when the door closes. The official guideline is that clothes need room to tumble freely. If you watch through the glass and see laundry barely moving in a wet mass, the drum is too full. The visual rule: clothes should fall, not just rotate stuck to the drum wall.

Two right-sized loads also use roughly 15 to 20% less electricity than one crammed load that needs an extra run to finish. On a household running 5 loads a week at high heat, that adds up to around 100 to 150 kWh per year, or about $20 to $30 off the electric bill. Over a typical dryer's 13-year lifespan, that's $260 to $390 in saved electricity from one small habit change.

Sort by fabric weight too. Towels and jeans dry slower than t-shirts, and mixing them forces the entire load to keep running until the heaviest item is done. Towels with jeans together is fine. Towels with cotton blouses wastes 15 to 20 minutes every time. Dry like with like, leave a third of the drum empty, and you spend less time and electricity for the same result. The lint screen also stays cleaner when fibers from heavy items aren't mixing with delicate fabrics across one long cycle. One last visual check: if clothes come out hot and twisted into a tight ball at the bottom of the drum, the load was too heavy and too wet for the cycle to balance. Split it in half next time and you'll get faster, more evenly dried laundry and a quieter dryer too. The drum bearings and belt last longer when they aren't fighting overloaded weight every single load. [ZSOF1]

05/31/2026

Shrey Parikh felt the pressure of arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee as a favorite, but his confidence showed every time he got a word he knew. And when the bee came down to a lightning-round tiebreaker against Ishaan Gupta, Shrey left no doubt.

Shrey turned a tense, high-quality final into a blowout Thursday night, racing through the 90-second “spell-off” and getting 32 words right to be crowned the best young speller in the English language. Ishaan spelled 25 words correctly in the tiebreaker.

A 14-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California, Shrey finished third in 2024 but lost his school bee last year when he was battling a fever. He has dominated the bee circuit since.

Read more: nbcnews.to/4vg7GQE

05/31/2026

The "open a window" instinct is the one that can blow up the house.

When natural gas reaches its explosive range in a room, the trigger isn't a flame. It's an arc. Standard light switches, thermostats, electric ovens, and motorized appliances all produce small electrical sparks during normal use, far too small to notice and more than enough to ignite a gas-air mixture. That's why fire departments tell you not to operate any electrical device, including the switch you'd reach for on the way to the window.

The correct sequence, according to gas utilities nationwide: don't light matches, don't smoke, don't use phones inside, don't turn lights or appliances on or off. If a door or window is right next to you on your way out, you can open it, but don't go searching the house to ventilate. Leave the building. Then call 911 or the gas emergency line from outside, well away from the house.

It feels backward. Your gut says air it out. But ventilation is the gas company's job once the area is safe. Yours is to be somewhere else. A house can be rebuilt. [YQGE8]

05/30/2026

25+ Bucket-List-Worthy June Events & Festivals Across Michigan
👉 awesomemitten.com/june-events

05/29/2026

05/24/2026

🚶‍♀️ Most people think walking is “too simple” to matter… until they realize it improves energy, mood, sleep, digestion, heart health, and even stress levels. 👟
This chart breaks down the difference between GOOD vs BETTER vs BEST walking habits — and honestly, even small upgrades make a huge difference over time.
Which level are you at right now? 👀

05/24/2026

🛞🛞🛞

Plenty of tread left. That's not the same as safe.

The number you want is the DOT date code stamped into one sidewall: four digits in an oval. The first two are the week, the last two are the year. "2823" means the 28th week of 2023. A tire built more than six years ago is on borrowed time, even if it's been sitting in a garage on a spare wheel barely touched.

Here's why tread depth lies to you. Rubber is held together by oils and bonding agents that slowly evaporate and oxidize. The tire gets stiff and brittle from the steel belts outward, and the bond between the tread and the casing weakens. You can't see it. Then on a hot highway, the tread peels off the body of the tire in one piece. NHTSA and most major manufacturers, including Ford, Nissan, and Mercedes-Benz, publish a six-year inspection window and a ten-year hard stop.

So next time you buy tires, ask the shop to show you the date codes before they mount them. A "new" tire that's been in a warehouse for two or three years is legal to sell and a worse deal than it looks. And if you've got a low-mileage car or a camper that sits, the calendar matters more than the odometer.

Spare tire under the trunk floor? Check that one too. It's usually the oldest rubber on the vehicle. [ZHKRB]

05/23/2026

SW Michigan residents….

This June, your Binder Park Zoo membership goes even further! The Southwest Michigan Cultural Membership Exchange is a collaborative partnership between regional museums, attractions, and cultural institutions designed to give members more value and more places to explore. When you’re a member at one participating organization, you’ll receive special admission benefits at other participating cultural destinations throughout the region during the month of June.

PLUS: Be sure to pick up your Southwest Michigan Cultural Membership Exchange punch card. Visit 3 organizations in the month of June and enter to win prizes from the organization of your choice!

Which organization are you looking forward to checking out the most?

05/23/2026

💸College support could be closer than you think!

The Michigan Achievement Scholarship can help eligible students pay for community college, four-year college, or career training programs. 🎓

✅Tuition-free at your local community college
✅Up to $5,500 per year at a four-year college
✅Up to $2,000 per year for a career training program

📄Fill out the FAFSA to see if you qualify and learn more at go.mi.gov/8otz22519