Tag: Michigan

Gov. Whitmer Will Deliver Dem Response to State of the Union from Daughters’ Public School

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address from East Lansing High School, where her two daughters attend school.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in January that Whitmer would deliver the Democratic response to the annual address, which is scheduled for Tuesday night.

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Michigan Bill to Make Public All Executive Branch Salaries Clears First Hurdle

Anthony Gockowski

  A Michigan bill that would require every executive branch department and division to post the salary and benefit information of their employees unanimously cleared its first hurdle Thursday. House Bill 5015 easily cleared the House Oversight Committee and is now on its way to the House Ways and Means Committee for consideration. Under the bill, the Department of Technology, Management and Budget would be required to make public on the state’s website the “function, contact, and employee salary information for each executive branch department and each major division or sub-unit within the department.” “This information must be accessible to the public at no cost,” the bill adds. According to Rep. Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Township), sponsor of the bill, residents seeking to obtain salary information “must go through a burdensome Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process in order to receive it.” “Having this information readily available up front removes the response time and effort needed to fulfill these individual requests and will free up government departments to serve people more efficiently,” he said in a statement. Berman believes that his bill would “make state government more accountable to the taxpayers who fund it,” pointing out that the Michigan House already…

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Green Ooze Clean Up in Madison Heights Could Cost Millions

Jordyn Pair

  Fully cleaning up the source of the toxic green ooze found on Interstate-696 last month could cost taxpayers millions, according to officials. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emergency response team has been vacuuming contaminated groundwater for more than three weeks, fully cleaning up the site includes removing contaminated soils from beneath the former Electro-Plating Service business, according to the Detroit Free Press. Doing so comes with a hefty price tag. “I could throw out a number just to be dramatic. Is it $2 million? Is it $10 million? I don’t know,” said Tracy Kecskemeti, Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) southeast Michigan district coordinator, during a Michigan House Appropriations Committee hearing in Lansing on Wednesday. Kecskemeti called removing the contaminated groundwater a “short-term Band-aid” to the real issue. “As the groundwater moves through, we’re going to be perpetually generating contaminated groundwater if we don’t address the source of the contamination, which is underneath that building,” she said. EPS owner Gary Sayers is currently serving a one-year sentence for illegal storage of hazardous waste. Sayers was ordered to pay the federal government nearly $1.5 million for a cleanup at the same location in 2017. Restitution has…

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Michigan A.G. Nessel Joined Two Legal Actions Against Trump Immigration Rules in December

Anthony Gockowski

  Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel joined legal actions against two immigration-related rules from President Donald Trump’s administration in December. According to a statement from Nessel’s office, Michigan’s chief law enforcement officer has joined Democratic attorneys general from around the country in challenging Trump’s effort to revoke Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals and a rule that will divert asylum-seekers to different countries. In regards to the latter, Nessel said the rule will send asylum-seekers to South American countries that have signed asylum cooperative agreements with the U.S., such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. “This interim final rule ignores the vital economic contributions of immigrants throughout our state and this country and blatantly disregards the fact that asylum-seekers are already seeking protection from dangerous circumstances,” Attorney General Nessel said in a statement. “Forcing them into countries with some of the highest homicide rates in the world and providing no safeguards against family separation is not only counterproductive but pushes asylum-seekers further into the danger they’ve fought so hard to flee.” Her office joined 19 other state attorneys general in submitting a comment letter to the Department of Homeland Security to oppose the new rule. She also expressed concern…

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