A pair of Michigan burial sites are among the new National Park Service’s 16 listings to the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
Author: Michigan Advance
“Central Michigan University has long been known for giving low-income, middle-class and first-generation college students the opportunity to earn a four-year degree and lead a fruitful life. But the Mt. Pleasant university, like many other higher-education institutions across the country, is facing hard times.”
“With this plan, we’re building on our work to improve our roads, water, and high-speed internet,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday. “I’m particularly proud of the fact that this plan makes the single largest investment in Michigan history in our state and local parks, empowering hundreds of local economies.”
Julie Cassidy writes, “Michigan has suffered from a crisis-level shortage of affordable homes for years and housing programs have been underfunded for decades, but our policy choices in this brief moment will have an impact for generations. By focusing these unprecedented federal resources and our political will on safer, accessible, and inclusive housing for people with disabilities and older adults, we will ensure that all individuals and families are valued.”
Calvin University LGBTQ+ alumni are rallying now to call on the university to end their anti-gay policies and to help raise money to better support current LGBTQ+ students at Calvin.
By April 2020, 792,669 households with 1,498,658 family members received more than $234 million in food assistance. That’s an increase of nearly 164,000 households and $97 million from February 2020, just two months prior.
A Republican candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives announced that, if elected, he would introduce legislation modeled on a Florida measure known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill
The U.S. Department of the Interior is expected to begin releasing information next month from its investigation into federal boarding schools and their impact on Native American communities.
A $2.5 billion tax relief plan put forward by the Republican-led Legislature drew out the veto pen Friday from Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who said it would “blow a recurring, multi-billion-dollar hole in basic state government functions from public safety to potholes.
House Democrats reintroduced legislation Thursday to expand protections for Michigan’s freshwater supply and close a loophole in state law allowing corporations to bottle Michigan’s water and ship it elsewhere.
A coalition of education groups launched a new ballot question committee, For MI Kids, For Our Schools, Wednesday to oppose the Betsy DeVos-led proposal to create a school voucher-style system that would use public tax dollars to fund private education.
Monique Stanton writes, “Broad tax cuts, such as the Legislature’s move to reduce the personal income tax rate from 4.25% to 3.9%, are inequitable and funnel most of the benefits to the wealthiest Michigan residents.”
With the midterm elections looming, tax cuts are shaping up to be a major fight this year between Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the GOP-controlled Legislature.
In Michigan, Sunshine Week is often marked by promises of more transparency from our lawmakers in Lansing. But if the past is an indicator of the future, the Michigan Legislature won’t get too far past the talking phase.
The Michigan House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to pass a bill suspending the state’s “gas tax” until Sept. 30 in an effort to combat skyrocketing gas prices amid inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
From people who have lost those they love most in the world to COVID-19 to health care workers once hailed as heroes and now being spit on by patients angry over mask requirements and those known as “essential workers” who made poverty wages while having to endanger their own well-being to work in-person when others were isolating during the stay-home orders, people have dealt with a lot over the past two years.
A ballot committee seeking to alter the state’s term limits laws and bolster financial transparency in the Legislature launched last week with the help of a bipartisan array of political leaders as well as business, labor and community leaders in the state.
With just four days left before government funding expires, Democrats and Republicans are trying to reach agreement on $1.5 trillion in federal spending as well as billions more in assistance to Ukraine and COVID-19 relief.