About 200 attendees came to Lansing to hear stories of climbing rents, unsafe living conditions and organized efforts to tackle the growing cost of living in Michigan. Nationally, experts say wages are remaining stagnant as rents skyrocket.
Lansing
Since The Fledge began offering free Narcan about eight months ago, Jerry Norris, The Fledge founder, has witnessed an increased demand for the spray that’s helping to address an opioid epidemic that in 2022 killed close to 83,000 people in the United States and at least 2,532 people in Michigan.
The tone at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing was as defiant as it was celebratory, with more than 200 members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community gathering Sunday for a Pride rally on the seventh anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage
A small group gathered outside the state Capitol on a rainy Wednesday afternoon for the Michigan Poor People’s Campaign “Moral Witness Wednesday” rally to demand that the state’s elected officials support basic human needs from minimum wage increases to reproductive freedom to prison reform.
Hundreds gathered in Lansing Tuesday to protest SCOTUS draft decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Emme Zanotti, the Third Vice Chair of The LGBT and Allies Caucus of the Michigan Democratic Party and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion specialist, joined Alek and Doug in early March to discuss her column about the recent barrage of anti-gay and trans legislation adopted in the United States, and her personal journey as a trans woman.
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.
A Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission (MICRC) meeting Wednesday was postponed after the commission received a death threat, according to spokesperson Edward Woods.
Rick Haglund writes, “[…] At a time when most new jobs paying a living wage require a certificate or degree beyond high school, Michigan is falling far short of needed support for higher education. The result is a state economy that lacks enough skilled and highly educated workers needed to attract technology and other knowledge-based employers.”
The Michigan Senate passed on Tuesday a new $2.3 billion supplemental funding bill for COVID-19 relief that also contains what Democrats referred to as a “political poison pill.”
During their first month in office, members of the 101st Michigan Legislature have introduced 275 bills, and several more resolutions, addressing topics ranging from gun control to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Never in a million years could you have told me that there would be a day when I’d be walking through an angry mob with nooses, Confederate flags and folks dancing around in blackface,” Rep. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) said of the armed protest at the State Capitol on April 30, 2020.
In a marathon session, complete with ongoing negotiation between the GOP legislative leaders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the state House and Senate on Wednesday finalized bills to address COVID-19 policies centering on unemployment benefits and business liability.