Cheryl Fritze, director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, explained how an elementary school in Michigan is teaching students about pronouns through a book called They She He Me: Free to Be!, a picture book about “busting gender stereotypes and assumptions one pronoun at a time.”
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Michigan Democrats have regained the House after a Tuesday special election.
The wins give Democrats a 56-54 House majority from the victories of Peter Herzberg and Mai Xiong in the 13th and 25th state House districts.
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A new report found Michigan school districts spent their COVID-19 funds similarly to their general budget, with nearly half spent on employee compensation and benefits.
A Mackinac Center for Public Policy report shows how school districts have spent $2.5 billion of the $6 billion in federal pandemic aid between the 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years.
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House Republican Leader Matt Hall asked Michigan’s Office of the Auditor General to audit a Gov. Gretchen Whitmer administration program that offers up to $500 in monthly rent assistance to certain people for up to 12 months.
The letter from Hall, of Richland Township, urged Auditor General Doug Ringler to examine eligibility determination.
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Cheryl Fritze, director of News Operations for Michigan News Source, said former President Donald Trump must “stay on message” in order to win the state of Michigan in the November general election.
In the 2020 general election, incumbent President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by 2.78 percent.
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A Michigan report says up to 700,000 people could leave the state by 2050.
An April report, which does not measure inbound migration, from the Michigan Center of Data and Analytics says Michigan’s population has shifted to mostly older people and more residents are dying than being born.
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Twenty-five Michigan lawmakers oppose President Joe Biden administration’s electric vehicle mandate through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA rules for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles phased in from 2027 through 2032 will require about 67% of new car sales to be electric by 2032.
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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a report Thursday arguing that a Michigan law requiring parental consent for abortions harms minors.
The law, which became effective in 1991, requires all Michigan residents under the age of 18 to obtain parental consent before getting an abortion or receive a waiver from a judge. The ACLU of Michigan chapter, alongside Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health (MOASH), however, argued that the law “undermines the safety, health, and dignity” of minors and that the process to waive parental consent is “traumatizing.”
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Over 10 years, the city of Detroit went from the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy to investment-grade status.
Moody’s Investors Services gave Detroit a rare two-notch bond rating increase from Ba1 to Baa2 with a positive outlook, returning Motor City to investment-grade status for the first time since 2009.
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State Rep. Tom Kunse wants reform within the Michigan Liquor Control Commission after an audit found more than 62,000 liquor bottles were missing.
The audit from the Office of the Auditor General marked three “material conditions” – the most severe rating – for the group composed of five unelected governor appointees that oversee liquor distribution through authorized agents using 11 state-owned warehouses.
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Stefanie Lambert, an election integrity attorney in Michigan, was arrested on Monday in Washington D.C. for failing to appear at a court hearing in Michigan involving charges against her for allegedly breaching voting machines. After agreeing to surrender to authorities in Michigan, Lambert was released on $10,000 bond. Lambert said in court filings and a statement that she failed to show up for the hearing due to a miscommunication with her former counsel, who told her the meeting was canceled.
Lambert was arrested after taking part in a hearing Monday representing her client, former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, against a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit Dominion Voting Systems filed against him in 2021. Dominion sued Byrne for predicting months before the 2020 election that there would be illegal election activity to change the results of the election, and named Dominion as one of the actors involved.
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A company taking $715 million of taxpayer subsidies is suing the local government for revoking vital water infrastructure for its electric vehicle plant.
In October 2023, the Green Charter Township board approved the water line for Gotion, which bought 270 actors of land in Mecosta County in August 2023.
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A jury found James Crumbley, the father of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley who killed four students in 2021, guilty of manslaughter.
The jury decided Crumbley was negligent when he bought a 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol four days before the shooting for the 15-year-old with mental health problems who claimed he was seeing “demons.”
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House Republican Leader Matt Hall urged House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, to pass reform to records requests during Sunshine Week, which celebrates government transparency.
Sunshine Week, observed this year from March 10-16, highlights the need for transparency and accountability at all levels of government.
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Despite more spending on public education, test scores remain flat in Michigan, according to a recently released report.
The free market-focused Reason Foundation released its Public Education at a Crossroads study, analyzing the lack of correlation between increased spending and improved test scores in American schools between 2002 and 2020.
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Michigan Democratic lawmakers want mass transit between Grand Rapids, Detroit and Ann Arbor but don’t know how to pay for it.
State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, majority caucus chair & Education Committee chair, posted on social media that mass transit would prevent young people from leaving the state.
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by Carly Moran Michigan plans to send $219 million in tax credits back to taxpayers over the next few weeks, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently announced. Whitmer said a supplemental Working Families Tax Credit will be sent to Michigan families who already received a 2022 tax year Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit for Working Families. The checks should arrive over the next few weeks. Once sent, qualified Michigan households will have received an average of $550 each, totaling more than $219 million statewide. “With the Working Families Tax Credit check now making its way into the mailboxes of Michiganders, many families will feel a great sense of relief,” Whitmer said. The Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit is a tax benefit for those below a certain income level. Since 2022, it represents a 30% match of the federal income tax credit. “My team is working hard to ensure that 700,000 Michigan households receive their supplemental checks while simultaneously processing tax returns,” State Treasurer Rachael Eubanks said. “These checks are being sent in batches due to seasonal mailing demands. We anticipate this mailing will be completed in the next few weeks and ask eligible taxpayers to be patient as we work as…
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The White House and Biden 2024 reelection campaign are concerned that President Joe Biden is hemorrhaging support from voters in Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan amid his support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, Politico reported Tuesday.
Biden has publicly backed Israel’s war effort against Hamas even as many of his supporters and voters demand he call for a ceasefire in favor of protecting the Palestinian population in Gaza. Multiple uncommitted voter campaigns have sprung up against Biden as he continues to lose support from Arab and Muslim communities threatening not to back him in the state’s Tuesday primaries, according to Politico.
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Days before Tuesday’s primary election, more than 700,000 Michiganders have already cast a ballot thanks to new voting laws.
More than 18,000 votes were cast in the first three days of in-person early voting statewide over the holiday weekend.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Sidney Powell, a lawyer aligned with former President Donald Trump who challenged the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan.
The nation’s top court included no comment with the Tuesday rejection.
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A voter-led petition seeks to repeal a Michigan law that allowed the state to seize local control of large-scale wind and solar projects.
The Michigan Farm Bureau and the Michigan Townships Association say Public Act 233 of 2023 strips local siting authority in 1,240 townships and gives it to the Michigan Public Service Commission – three people appointed by the governor.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says the proposed 2025 budget wouldn’t raise taxes but it would dump a 1,200% increase in trash fees onto local taxpayers.
The budget aims to raise the landfill tipping fee rate for state landfills from 36 cents to $5 per ton – a 1,288% increase.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2025 budget includes $5 million for a car repair program.
The program would fund vehicle repairs, purchases and other services to obtain and retain employment not to exceed $2,000 in the past year – the same cap as last year’s budget but more than double from the $900 cap in the year prior.
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The mother of a shooter who killed four students at a high school in Oxford, Mich., in 2021 was found guilty Tuesday on all charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Jennifer Crumbley, 45, had pleaded not guilty to four involuntary manslaughter counts, and the jury found her guilty after 10 hours of deliberation, per CNN.
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Michigan Senate Republicans on Thursday announced their plan to improve childhood learning and support teachers in the K-12 schools.
They proposed a MI Brighter Future plan they said would help students gain access to additional resources and learning opportunities, require proven training methods for educators, give parents more control over their child’s progress, reinstate accountability in teacher evaluations and provide for performance-based bonuses.
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A letter urges an investigation into suppliers of a Ford electric vehicle plant in Marshall, Michigan.
Republican U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisconsin, chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, signed the letter.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer proposed expanding the Michigan government by at least new five programs costing an unknown amount.
In a video talking to a potato, Whitmer proposed that taxpayers fund two years of community college for all high school graduates.
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Michigan’s Growing Together Council was funded partly by private groups – a detail omitted in the final report which one lawmaker called an “abuse of the pubic trust.”
State Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, told The Center Square in an email Republican concerns continue to grow.
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Former Michigan GOP Rep. Justin Amash said Thursday that he is considering running for Senate in 2024.
“Today I’m launching the Justin Amash for Senate Exploratory Committee as I consider entering the race,” Amash wrote on the social media platform, X, on which he cites himself as a libertarian.
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School districts in Detroit, Lansing and Pontiac will each receive $5.9 million in federal funding to buy 15 clean-powered school buses apiece.
The funding flows from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s Clean School Bus Program grants.
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A Michigan couple has sued Brooks Township for refusing to allow them to open a cemetery on private land.
Peter and Annica Quakenbush filed a lawsuit against Brooks Township in Newaygo County, challenging its blanket ban on opening any new cemeteries.
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The University of Michigan’s (UM) spending on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) increased about 66% from the 2022-2023 school year, according to an analysis by Mark Perry, a senior fellow at Do No Harm.
The school’s DEI payroll for the 2022-2023 school year came in at $18 million, but increased to over $30 million for the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Perry’s analysis. UM’s DEI department had 132 full-time diversity employees in the 2022-2023 school year and now has over 300.
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Since the pandemic began, Michigan has embarked on an “unsustainable” spending spree, says James Hohman, the Director of Fiscal Policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy,
“Michigan lawmakers will spend every dollar that they receive in revenue and state taxes have increased faster than residents’ ability to pay since the pandemic began,” Hohman said in a statement. “This is fundamentally unsustainable and lawmakers should practice restraint. Spending less would protect taxpayers, stabilize the budget and ensure that lawmakers have flexibility to meet unexpected needs.”
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Michigan State Police have given 1,563 citations and written warnings for the new distracted driving law over about five months.
From July through late November 2023, MSP issued 720 citations and 843 verbal warnings for the law to keep drivers focused on the road to prevent distracted driving and road deaths, according to documents obtained through records requests.
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Detroit has become overwhelmed by a surge in migrants needing shelter, according to The Detroit News.
Shelters supporting migrants in Detroit say they’re working long hours with little resources to help, according to The Detroit News. The city is experiencing a surge amid record encounters of migrants crossing the southern border illegally.
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A fifth and final audit of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency found the agency “undercounted fraud penalties by at least 49.4%” because it didn’t fix programming issues with the Michigan Integrated Data Automated System.
The audit from the Office of Auditor General Doug Ringler marked two “material conditions” – the most severe rating finding that the agency didn’t protect agency funds.
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A new law in Michigan means that inmates leaving prison will be registered automatically to vote, among other election-related measures signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat.
Michigan is one of 23 states that already allow those with felony convictions to reclaim their voting rights, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
However, under the new law inmates will be preregistered while still incarcerated, so that they will be on the state’s voter registration rolls upon release.
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A lawsuit claims a Michigan school district began treating a middle-school daughter as a boy for more than six months without their knowledge or consent.
The lawsuit, filed this week by Dan and Jennifer Mead, claims Rockford Public School District employees secretly treated their 13-year-old daughter as a boy, referring to her by a new masculine name and male pronouns and tried to conceal these actions from the parents.
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The Satanic Temple (TST) unveiled a new display at the Michigan State Capitol Monday, just days after its statue in Iowa was torn down, according to a post on X.
TST’s display of Baphomet in the Iowa State Capitol building was destroyed after a Christian veteran beheaded the statue, claiming that he would not stand by as Christians continue to “submissively accept the legitimization of Satan.” TST unveiled a new display that can be found outside Michigan’s capitol building on the lawn, according to a post on X.
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When the city of East Lansing excluded someone from a farmer’s market because of his religious beliefs, they violated his right to free speech and freedom of religion.
The exclusion of Country Mill Farms owner Stephen Tennes from the farmers market because he refused to play host to same-sex wedding ceremonies at his farm, detailed in a 2017 lawsuit, will cost East Lansing $825,000 in damages and attorney fees.
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Authorities have charged a man with the murder of Detroit synagogue President Samantha Woll, who was found stabbed to death on Oct. 21 outside of her home.
Detroit man Michael Jackson-Bolanos was charged with Woll’s murder, along with counts of lying to the police and home invasion, the Associated Press reported. Detroit police announced they had arrested a person of interest in the case earlier this week, though it remains unclear whether Brown was that individual.
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A Michigan-based energy group says recent layoffs and leadership changes don’t change plans to build a $1.6B battery factory in Van Buren Township called ONE Circle.
Michigan taxpayers bet $200 million on Our Next Energy Inc., a technology company that laid off 25% of its staff amid leadership changes.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order to transition the state’s fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
Whitmer says the move will reduce air pollution, help boost demand for Michigan-made electric vehicles and lower fuel and maintenance costs.
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Ford Pro, the commercial division within Ford Motor Co., and Xcel Energy, a clean energy company, will deploy 30,000 electric vehicle charging ports in Xcel Energy service territories nationwide by 2030.
Ford Pro and Xcel Energy are launching the 30×30 initiative within Xcel Energy’s broader Electric Vehicle Supply Infrastructure program to scale EV adoption and increase access to charging infrastructure.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law a commitment that the state will have 100% of electricity generation coming from carbon dioxide-free sources by 2040.
The Clean Energy and Jobs Act, according to NBC News, contains bills to increase energy efficiency and expedite the permitting process for wind and solar projects, in addition to mandating 100% greenhouse gas-free electricity generation by 2040.
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Nine Michiganders face chargers of unemployment insurance fraud and operating as unlicensed builders in a sweep that involved the attorney general’s office, along with several local agencies.
The Michigan Department of the Attorney General, alongside the Detroit Police Department and other law enforcement agencies arrested nine on charges of operating as unlicensed builders and unemployment insurance fraud.
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Is the Line 5 pipeline an essential source of energy or is it an environmental hazard?
Since 2019, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel have sought to shut down Line 5, which has been pumping about 540,000 gallons of hydrocarbons daily across the lakebed of Lake Michigan since 1953. Whitmer and Nessel say they fear a spill similar to the 2010 oil spill near the Kalamazoo River – the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Reproductive Health Act into law.
The bills include Senate Bills 474, 476, and 477, and House Bills 4951, 4953, 4954, 4955, and 4956.
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After 34 days, strikes have ended at two of three Detroit casinos after union members at Hollywood Casino and Motor City voted to ratify five-year contracts.
The strike continues at MGM Grand Casino where members rejected a tentative agreement.
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University of Michigan police arrested 40 people on campus Friday after breaking up a pro-Palestinian protest of hundreds, some of whom had forced their way into an administrative building.
“At least 200 people gathered Friday, calling for the university to divest from Israel,” Michigan Live reported Saturday. “Around 4 p.m., the demonstrators moved from the central campus Diag area to the Ruthven Administration Building.”
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