Schools through Michigan must test for lead in water and install wall-mounted water filtration systems after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed three bills into law.
House Bill 4341, HB 4342 and Senate Bill 88 establish the new mandates, and installation of new filter systems is covered by an $600 million state budget appropriation dedicated toward clean water access and rebuilding sewage lines.
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A Michigan State University (MSU) employee was suspended Sunday after allowing an image of Adolf Hitler to be shown on the university’s scoreboard, according to The Associated Press.
The video was shown prior to Saturday’s rivalry football game between MSU and the University of Michigan, according to the AP. Alan Haller, MSU’s vice president and director of Athletics, released a statement Monday confirming that the employee had been suspended without pay and was under investigation, noting that the MSU athletics department failed to check the entire video before it was approved.
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In September of 2020, then-Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett proposed cutting 120 police officers from about 1,800 budgeted positions in the 2021 budget.
Barrett proposed the cuts, in part, due to budget constraints amid a national and local clamor to divert resources from policing just four months after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police.
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Hennepin Healthcare has employees participate in a yearlong “journey” so they can reflect upon alleged racial disparities within healthcare.
“Training is for one year with monthly mandatory assignments, videos, meetings, and discussions that, whether by design or by chance, remind you that you are inherently racist,” a whistleblower who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation told Alpha News.
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Republicans and Democrats each question the plan to change the state’s indefinitely confined voter rules at the Wisconsin Capitol.
Rep. Cindi Duchow, R-Town of Delafield, presented her plan to tighten the state’s indefinitely confined voter law by defining what indefinitely confined means, requiring people apply for a separate indefinitely confined absentee ballot, clarifies a public health emergency does not allow people to claim indefinitely confined status and would ban people from voting indefinitely confined if they vote in person.
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Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan paid rent to a company linked to a donor to her 2024 Senate bid, according to campaign finance data and business records.
Slotkin, who raised roughly $3 million during the third fundraising quarter, paid $2,000 in rent in September to “Ghandi Properties LLC,” registered to 26222 Telegraph Rd., Southfield, Michigan, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. “Ghandi” appears to be a typo for “Gandhi,” as Gandhi Properties LLC is registered to that same address in business filings with the Michigan state government.
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Seventeen Democrat legislators from Minnesota have attached their names to an amicus brief last week that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that would roll back the public’s access to mifepristone, an abortion-inducing medication.
The DFLers joined a group of more than 600 Democrat legislators from 49 states in signing onto the brief, which asks the nation’s highest court to reject the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ August ruling in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that concluded several decisions the FDA took in 2016 to make mifepristone more broadly available to women were illegal.
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The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday about whether the government can use drones to surveil private property without a warrant and use that evidence in court for zoning disputes.
For two years, Long Lake Township zoning officials flew a drone over Todd and Heather Maxon’s property in northern Michigan near Traverse City, taking photographs and videos as part of a zoning dispute that he was running an illegal junkyard.
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Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature withheld pay raises for employees of the University of Wisconsin System (UW) over its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) funding, according to the Associated Press.
Wisconsin Republicans voted in June to cut the UW System’s budget by $32 million, which is the estimated amount it spends on DEI over a 2-year period. Wisconsin Republicans denied the raises Tuesday in a bid to pressure the system to cut the spending, according to the AP.
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About 3,700 casino workers in Detroit walked out on strike at noon Tuesday after failing to reach a new contract.
The strike affects operations at the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Hollywood Casino at Greektown and workers including dealers, cleaning staff, food and beverage workers, valets, engineers, and more.
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A third DFL-aligned candidate has emerged for what is expected to be a hotly contested special election this spring for Hennepin County commissioner.
Carolyn Jackson, an attorney and a first-term Edina City Council member, officially announced on Monday that she will seek the vacant District 6 seat on the Hennepin County Board.
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Few at the Wisconsin capital is happy about the University of Wisconsin’s decision to end in-person classes at two regional campuses, though they are not shocked.
University president Jay Rothman announced the university will end face-to-face classes at UW-Milwaukee Washington County and UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac.
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New court documents expose the “extreme pressure” prosecutors faced in Hennepin County to charge Derek Chauvin and three other former Minneapolis police officers in the death of George Floyd.
Several attorneys opposed charging the “other three” officers and withdrew from the case due to “professional and ethical rules.”
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Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ announcement he will give $170 million to child care providers in the state is not going over well with the Republican leader of the Wisconsin Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu accused the governor of misleading families across the state.
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Three Michigan lawmakers introduced a bipartisan plan to heighten sentencing recommendations for various narcotic drug crimes.
Reps. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, Ann Bollin R-Brighton Township, and Angela Witwer, D-Delta Township, introduced a bipartisan plan to increase drug sentencing recommendations for heroin and fentanyl dealers.
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More than 200 voter registration forms that the Muskegon Police Department in Michigan received from the city clerk during the 2020 presidential election were suspected to be fraudulent, with incorrect or phony addresses and some names signed in reverse order.
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Wisconsin Right to Life state Director Dan Miller has filed a second round of complaints with the Wisconsin Medical Examining Board demanding that the agency investigate Wisconsin doctors illegally performing abortions in defiance of state law.
Miller filed his first complaints late last month after Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced it would resume abortions at its Madison and Milwaukee clinics.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. unveiled “You Can in Michigan” — a new talent attraction marketing campaign launching nationally.
The campaign follows reports of population loss and an estimated more than 270,000 more people will leave the state by 2050. Michigan has lost more than 40,000 residents since 2020.
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Wisconsin lawmakers passed a series of bills on Thursday that ban doctors from performing sex change surgeries on minors and bar male athletes from participating in women’s sports, according to the Cap Times.
The package contains three bills, two of which prohibit biological men from competing in girls’ K-12 sports and women’s collegiate sports, while the third would cause a physician to lose their medical license if they perform a sex change surgery or administer puberty blockers to a minor, according to the texts. The Wisconsin Assembly passed the package, sending the bills to the Senate for final approval before heading to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ desk, who has said he would veto the legislation, the Cap Times reported.
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The University of Minnesota’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) called Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Israel the “only option left for the oppressed and colonized.”
The registered student organization objected to the description of “Palestinian resistance” as “terrorism,” calling this an “unfair” label.
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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in the crucial battleground state of Wisconsin following a series of similar findings in other key swing states, according to a Thursday poll.
Trump is beating Biden 42% to 40% among Wisconsin voters with 11% choosing someone else and 8% remaining undecided, according to an Emerson College survey. The poll comes after several other recent battleground state surveys found Trump ahead of Biden, including in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
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Some administrators and teachers intentionally deceive parents, and those who don’t go along with the district’s political agenda are bullied or threatened, according to an Anoka-Hennepin public school teacher.
Alpha News spoke with that teacher, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of being retaliated against, in season two of “Trapped!: Chaos in the Classroom.”
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As state spending will reach a record $82 billion, a Michigan lawmaker wants to create a new government agency.
Sen. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing, introduced Senate Bill 519 to create a new government agency to help people who lose their jobs as Michigan transitions from fossil fuels to clean energy.
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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in the key battleground state of Michigan by 7 points, according to a poll reported by The Detroit News on Wednesday.
In the state that Trump won in 2016 but lost to Biden in 2020, he beat the president 42% to 35%, with 20% saying they’d vote for someone else and 3% opting not to pick a candidate, according to a Marketing Resource Group (MRG) survey. When the Democratic candidate was changed to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, she beat Trump 46% to 40% — a 13-point swing from the matchup with Biden.
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Though many celebrated expanded Amtrak service for Pittsburgh, critics cry foul, pointing to long-term trends that work against train travel in western Pennsylvania.
The Allegheny Institute for Public Policy warned the $200 million state investment announced in September to bring twice-daily service from Pittsburgh to New York City was a misuse of taxpayer dollars, benefiting Norfolk Southern and Amtrak more than residents.
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DFL Rep. Brion Curran was charged with two gross misdemeanor DWI counts Tuesday after she was arrested in Chisago County for driving twice the legal limit.
According to the charging document, a Chisago County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a report around 2:05 a.m. Monday of an SUV “off the road” on I-35 in Harris, Minn.
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Nearly 60% of students in Wisconsin’s Public Schools continue to be unable to read, write or do math at grade level.
The State’s Department of Public Instruction released the latest standardized test scores Tuesday, and they show 39.2% of public school students are proficient or better in reading, while 41.1% are proficient or better in math.
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A federal judge has found the owner of the Edenville Dam responsible for widespread flooding in May 2020, that together with heavy rain, forced the evacuation of more than 10,000 people from 3,500 homes in mid-Michigan.
U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney granted Attorney General Dana Nessel a summary judgment against Boyce Hydro. Nessel had filed the motion on behalf of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy and the Department of Natural Resources.
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U.S. Rep Ilhan Omar took to social media on Monday imploring Americans to “oppose the Israeli military response” to the surprise attack that Hamas orchestrated on Israeli civilians over the weekend that is estimated to have killed more than 900.
“As the world is condemning Hamas’s attacks, we must also oppose an Israeli military response that has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinians, including nearly two dozen children,” Omar said as part of a 12-tweet thread she unfurled on Monday mid-afternoon.
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The showdown over Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz and the state’s redistricting process continues after Protasiewicz announced she would not recuse herself from two challenges to Wisconsin’s electoral maps.
“I will set aside my opinions and decide cases based on the law. There will surely be many cases in which I reach results that I personally dislike. That is what it means to be a judge,” she said in a statement.
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The Democratic Socialists of America, a political organization with a growing influence in Minnesota politics, was widely condemned over the weekend when it blamed “Israel’s apartheid regime” for Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s (DSA) New York City chapter promoted an “All Out for Palestine” protest that took place in Times Square Sunday, just a day after Hamas invaded Israel, targeting civilians, taking women and children hostage, and killing hundreds at a music festival.
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Wisconsin voters may be able to ban “Zuckerbucks” — the injection of private money into public election administration — from their elections next year, before the 2024 general election.
The Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) poured nearly $350 million into local elections offices managing the 2020 election, with most of the funds donated to the nonprofit by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. The nonprofit has claimed its 2020 election grants — colloquially known as “Zuckerbucks” — were allocated without partisan preference to make voting safer amid the pandemic.
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Wisconsin’s governor says he doesn’t want to see new security measures at the state capitol after an armed man entered the statehouse.
Gov. Tony Evers told reporters Friday he doesn’t want metal detectors and other shows of force to be installed at the statehouse.
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A chapter of the Catholic Medical Association at the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Duluth campus is facing criticism because of its support of traditional Catholic beliefs.
The Star Tribune recently published a story on the “divisive” and “controversial” group that is “fracturing” the Duluth medical program. The article quoted two students and noted that Interim Regional Campus Dean Kevin Diebel wasn’t aware of any complaints made about the group.
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The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, wrapped up its seventh week on Friday, with more testimony from Kari Lake’s attorney Kurt Olsen, and Eastman resuming the stand briefly at the end. Olsen discussed several laws he said he believes were violated by state election officials in Wisconsin, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
Olsen began testifying about a Motion for Leave to File a Bill of Complaint that he and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking to stop Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin from certifying their 2020 election results due to multiple violations of state law and constitutional problems. One of the reasons he said he brought the complaint was that signature verification was halted in the 2020 election in Detroit.
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The plan to use more than $600 million in taxpayer money to pay for work in American Family field and keep the Brewers in Milwaukee until 2050 is not done, but the pitch for the funding package is set.
State Rep. Rob Brooks, R-Saukville, told lawmakers Thursday at the first public hearing in the stadium funding package that only Milwaukee and Milwaukee County will be paying for the stadium.
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Dario Anselmo made it official on Thursday when he announced he’s running for what’s expected to be a closely watched special election this spring for a recently vacated Hennepin County commissioner seat.
The business leader and former legislator represented Edina in the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2017 and 2018 after he ran and won as a moderate Republican against long-time incumbent Ron Erhardt.
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The Citizens Research Council of Michigan released its final paper on how to make Michigan prosper by increasing population.
The five-part series found Michigan is losing ground in the nationwide competition to attract and retain residents, counting statistics from demographics, economy, workforce, health, infrastructure, environment and public services.
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A discussion on black conservativism that took place on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and was broadcast live on Zoom on Saturday, Sept. 30 was interrupted by what appeared to be a coordinated protest when someone hacked into the online portion, insulted speakers with vulgar language and was joined by a handful of others who exposed themselves onscreen nude or masturbating.
They did not show their faces.
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A new coalition called the Great Lakes Growth aims to boost Michigan’s economy and population by opposing what it calls “anti-growth” bills introduced in the Legislature.
GLG’s founding members include the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Manufacturers Association, Detroit Regional Chamber and Grand Rapids Chamber.
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Senate President Chris Kapenga is urging the Assembly to take up the impeachment of rogue Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe, who was ousted by the Republican-controlled Senate nearly a month ago but refuses to step down.
In a letter to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Kapenga wrote that it is unprecedented for a state appointee to refuse to obey the Senate through its advice and consent powers, as Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Administrator Meagan Wolfe has done.
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Michigan House Republicans want an investigation into potential conflicts of interests for House Appropriations Committee Chair Angela Witwer, who was instrumental in forming the state’s record $82 billion budget.
On Sept. 5, a Detroit News report disclosed Witwer’s business connections involving a company she co-founded in 2007, Lansing-based public relations firm Edge Partnerships. Witwer was mentioned as an owner of the firm in a social media post in 2021. Company clientele include the Michigan Department of Education, Farm Bureau Insurance and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
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In a major victory for parental rights, a Waukesha County judge has ruled the Kettle Moraine School District’s policy of affirming students’ preferred gender identities without notifying guardians is a violation of basic constitutional rights.
Judge Michael P. Maxwell, in what is expected to be a nationally watched ruling, found the southeast Wisconsin school district violated parents’ constitutional rights to raise their own children by allowing minor students to change gender identity at school without parental consent, and even over their objection.
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Lawmakers and Gov. Josh Shapiro find themselves at odds once again over the amount the administration deposited into the state’s Rainy Day Fund.
The Office of the Budget said Thursday it transferred $411.6 million into the savings account, or about 10% of the $4.1 billion revenue surplus left over on June 30 – the end of the prior fiscal year.
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A years-long, convoluted battle over new standards for social studies education in Minnesota’s public schools is nearing its end.
The public will have one last opportunity to weigh in on the standards before final adoption, the Center of the American Experiment explained, providing a link to where public comments can be submitted as well as instructions on what those comments can address.
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A group with ties to national Democrats filed a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s requirement that someone sign off on absentee votes in the state.
The Elias law firm filed lawsuit on behalf of four Wisconsin voters that claims the state’s witness requirement violates both the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Voting Rights Act of 1970.
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Eleven Michigan Republican lawmakers filed a federal lawsuit challenging election changes voters approved in 2018 and 2022.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, the plaintiffs say election officials violated state legislators’ rights because the U.S. Constitution and the Michigan Constitution require state legislatures to regulate the times, places, and manner of federal elections.
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The state’s largest police association sent a letter to its members last week saying a “legislative fix” is the only way to address concerns with a new law impacting school resource officers (SROs).
This comes after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty sent a letter Wednesday to the police chiefs in her county that reignited confusion with the new law.
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The League of Women Voters in Wisconsin is taking a stand on the fight between Republican lawmakers and the University of Wisconsin over diversity, equity and inclusion money.
The League encouraged Republicans to release $32 million that’s being held in an effort to get the university to move away from diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
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The beginning of Wisconsin’s new task force on human trafficking is coming with a warning.
Lawmakers on Wednesday held the first meeting of House Speaker Robin Vos’ Task Force On Human Trafficking, and while the group said the focus will be on victims, it will also delve into the details of the trafficking of children and other young people.
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