Advertisement

Author

Michigan Advance

Advertisement

Michigan's Latest Articles

Anti-poverty advocates urge Congress to act on voting rights, minimum wage, filibuster

The Poor People’s Campaign announced on Monday the beginning of a weeks-long push calling on Congress to end the Senate filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.

EPA knew fracking fluid can degrade into toxic PFAS, but approved it anyway

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2011 knew that chemicals used in fracking fluid can break down and form PFAS — potentially contaminating groundwater and drinking water — but approved them anyway, even though agency scientists acknowledged they could be toxic.

Here’s how democracies die

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, both professors at Harvard University, said that even after the tumultuous Donald Trump presidency, democracy is in a recession that started before and will last until after the forty-fifth president. Levitsky and Ziblatt are the authors of the best-selling work, “How Democracies Die,” and they presented “How Democracy Could die in 2024 and How to Save It,” on Friday as part of discussion with the group, Protect Democracy.

Here’s how the new, expanded federal child tax credit will work

The most ambitious part of the pandemic stimulus package signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year is about to hit the bank accounts of millions of U.S. parents. Starting this week and ending in December, the vast majority of U.S. households with children will begin receiving monthly payments as a result of changes in that law expanding and reworking the federal child tax credit. Here's how it will work.

LGBTQ rights group ready to file suit after state rejects petition signatures

Fair and Equal Michigan, the group behind the ballot drive to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people, is prepared to file a lawsuit against the Michigan Bureau of Elections (BOE) after determining the petition failed to clear a hurdle to get on the 2022 ballot.

Stabenow touts child tax credit boost as ‘tax cut for working people’

Starting next week, many Michigan families will receive monthly payments from the federal government through the new child tax credit expansion, benefiting nearly 2 million children in the state.

Trees: The critical infrastructure low-income neighborhoods lack

American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation nonprofit, released a nationwide analysis last month showing that low-income neighborhoods and communities of color have significantly less tree canopy. Those areas also are more likely to suffer from the urban heat island effect caused by a lack of shade and an abundance of heat-absorbing asphalt. Heat islands can be as much as 10 degrees hotter than surrounding neighborhoods.

Susan J. Demas: National parks are America’s best idea. Here’s how we can make sure they survive.

Michigan Advance's Susan J. Demas writes, "We’ve rethought a lot of our ideas about conservation since Yellowstone was established as the nation’s first national park in 1872. Roads were built everywhere to accommodate travelers, often with little regard for the lands that were supposed to be protected. Wildlife was fed for visitors’ amusement, but we’ve sadly learned the toll that’s taken on the parks’ first inhabitants. Stemming the flow of visitors in our busiest parks is a win-win for the environment and weary travelers who will have more space to revel in their majesty."

Bills you may have missed, from retail worker schedules to banning nooses as an intimidation tactic

Using nooses as an intimidation tactic would be banned and third-party sales of appointments at Secretary of State offices would be banned under bills recently introduced in the Michigan Legislature.

Republicans push back against federal approval for changes in state voting laws

Republicans during a U.S. House Judiciary panel hearing on Tuesday argued that a bill that would reinstate a preclearance section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is unnecessary because there is no discrimination in voting.

A NOTE FROM OUR EDITOR

Become a monthly donor today

A monthly donation of $5 or more can make a difference.