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Bill honoring Detroit educator clears Michigan Senate
A bill that would rename a portion of the John C. Lodge Freeway (M-10) in Detroit after legendary educator Violet T. Lewis last week unanimously cleared the Michigan Senate. The measure, Senate Bill 1137 sponsored by state Sen. Ian Conyers (D-Detroit), is now being considered in the House of Representatives. In 1929, Lewis, an African […]
Longtime colleague says former Robertson aide is being ‘railroaded’
A former chief of staff for state Sen. Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc) is the target in an ongoing Michigan State Police embezzlement investigation. But Erika Farley’s former colleague says she’s innocent. “I have the utmost respect for her,” Matt Marsden, who worked with Farley for years in the Michigan Senate, told the Advance today. […]
Coleman A. Young sworn in as Michigan senator on this day in 1964
On Dec. 10, 1964, Coleman A. Young was officially sworn in as a member of the Michigan Senate. During his nine-year tenure, Young, who had previously been an elected to the Michigan Constitutional Convention of 1961 and 1962, championed civil rights and collective bargaining issues. While in Lansing, Young served as minority floor leader and […]
Educators converging on Lansing to protest Lame Duck bills this week
Marcus Walton said he didn’t knock doors this summer and fall to elect Democrats, only to have Republicans shove through an aggressive Lame Duck agenda that hurts teachers and students. “We lobbied and fought to get [Gov-Elect] Gretchen [Whitmer] and the Democratic slate elected and we accomplished that goal,” said Walton, a Detroit Public Schools […]
Michigan State Police is a long way from true diversity, critics say
Only two of the current Michigan State Police 128-member training class — the first in several years — call Detroit home. What’s more: only one of them is a person of color. The NAACP argues that is a clear indication the agency continues to lack ethnic and gender diversity, cultural sensitivity and understanding — […]
Michigan’s Lame Duck action makes news nationwide
Michigan’s Lame Duck session has been a popular topic around the nation. More than a dozen major news outlets, including CNN, NBC and The New York Times, have reported on state GOP lawmakers and their frantic attempt to strip authority and decision-making from incoming Democratic statewide officials. Michigan’s end-of-the-year session also has attracted the attention […]
Michigan part of a growing trend of Lame Duck power grabs
Michigan isn’t alone when it comes to frenzied Lame Duck activity. As the legislative session comes to an end, Republicans in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania are poised to carry out accelerated, and, in some cases, hyper-partisan and historic votes. In a few states, GOP majorities are exercising power grabs before Democrat executive branch officials […]
Michigan Senate swiftly passes campaign finance bills before new SOS takes office
The GOP-led Michigan Senate today passed a set of bills stripping campaign finance oversight from Democrat Jocelyn Benson, the incoming secretary of state. The package, Senate Bills 1248, 1249, 1250, 1251 and 1252, were adopted mainly along party lines. The lead bill, SB 1248 sponsored by term-limited Sen. Dave Robertson (R-Grand Blanc), would shift campaign […]
Unions fight GOP effort to seize power over schools
As the frenzied-pace Lame Duck session continues, state GOP lawmakers are looking to maximize their power and influence over schools before Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is sworn in. But teacher unions are fighting back.
Detroit groups work to prepare kids for new 3rd grade reading law
Fewer than half of Michigan third-graders earned a proficient score or higher on the English language arts test, according to results from the 2018 Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress, better known as M-STEP.
Former lawmaker leading economic opportunity nonprofit slams GOP-led Lame Duck assault
A former longtime state lawmaker who now leads a nonprofit policy institute focused on economic opportunity is dismayed by the frenetic Lame Duck session.
Fish out of water: ‘Soapy’ Williams was an environmentalist before it was cool
G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams, the lanky, bow-tied, Michigan governor of the late 1940s and 1950s, is generally remembered as a progressive who supported civil rights and fought for the “little guy.”