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As Michiganders struggle to afford health care, leaders push lawmakers to act
Michiganders are having trouble accessing and paying for both physical and mental health care and want their state and federal lawmakers to prioritize driving down health care costs, including by capping insurance deductibles and curbing what insurers can charge patients, according to a new survey. Lansing-based EPIC-MRA, a survey research firm, in June asked 609 […]
‘It provided hope’: Michigan advocates look ahead after abortion rights vote in Kansas
After the U.S. Supreme Court in June struck down Roe v. Wade, Mary Wehrman called the reproductive rights group Kansans for Constitutional Freedom. She was enraged. A resident of Pittsburg, Kan., a small city near the Missouri border, Wehrman wanted to volunteer with the organization fighting a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution that would […]
Will a Republican’s vote to impeach Trump cost him in Tuesday’s primary?
Three days after U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids) took office in 2021, he found himself pulling a smoke hood over his head and running for safety as supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. A week after that, Meijer became one of 10 House […]
How Trump’s footprint is all over Michigan’s race for governor
Days before Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump made an announcement some of his supporters had begged him not to do: He just might endorse right-wing media personality Tudor Dixon for governor. “Giving Tudor Dixon a good, hard look,” Trump wrote Friday morning on Truth Social, the social media company he […]
Transphobic attacks, calls for voter restrictions dominate final GOP gov. debate
From election conspiracy theorists pushing voter restrictions to a barrage of transphobic comments and the idea that “if we don’t get back to our “Judeo-Christian principles, we’re going to lose our country, we’re going to lose Western civilization as we know it,” the eighth Republican gubernatorial debate Wednesday night was a whirlwind of far-right talking […]
Nonprofits, election officials launch voting resources in Arabic, Bangla and Spanish
In an effort to dismantle language barriers at Michigan’s polls and ensure citizens who speak languages other than English can vote, a coalition of nonprofit organizations and election officials this week launched an array of voting resources in Arabic, Bangla and Spanish. MichiganVoting.org – a group that includes the ACLU of Michigan, the Anti-Defamation League, […]
Misogyny is fueling the country’s gun violence epidemic, experts say
Dawn Gillard’s life revolved around her children. Everyone who loved her knew that. The rest of the world would read about it in her obituary. On May 27, Gillard was shot and killed at age 40 alongside her three young children: Katelynn, 6; Ronald, 4; and Joshua, 3, at a home in Austin Township, a […]
More than 1,000 University of Michigan nurses set to picket as they fight for new contract
Renee Curtis has seen a lot in her two decades working as an emergency department nurse at the University of Michigan’s hospital in Ann Arbor. But she never expected to be where she is now: fighting for Michigan Medicine to address what she called a staffing crisis that has prompted an exodus of both longtime […]
U of M study: Women, Hispanics and low-income Michiganders hit hardest by Long COVID
About one in five Michiganders infected with coronavirus develop “Long COVID,” and the often debilitating chronic illness that leaves people struggling with fatigue, cardiac issues and breathing problems. And it is more prevalent among women, Hispanics, people with lower incomes and those over the age of 75, according to a new report from the Michigan […]
Black homeowners are being overtaxed in Detroit and Wayne Co., complaints allege
Government officials in Detroit, Inkster, Highland Park and Wayne County have for years allegedly violated the federal Fair Housing Act by overtaxing primarily Black and low-income homeowners, according to complaints filed Thursday with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR). “This problem of overtaxation is […]
Michigan GOP prosecutors are ‘scaring’ abortion patients, Planned Parenthood says
While Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel, reproductive health groups and physicians emphasize that abortion remains legal in Michigan, some Republican county prosecutors are arguing otherwise. Those statements could create a “chilling effect” on patients and health care providers navigating a post-Roe landscape, a Planned Parenthood of Michigan spokesperson said Tuesday. “We […]
‘We are fighting back’: Michiganders push for state constitution to protect abortion rights
After the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, ending the constitutional right to an abortion that has existed in the U.S. for nearly 50 years, reproductive health care advocates are determined to ensure abortion remains legal in Michigan. “I am heartbroken for the millions of people across the United States who […]