Civil Rights
State police trooper workforce continues to lack diversity
Of the 61 Michigan State Police (MSP) graduates on Nov. 22, 56 of them were white, according to MSP data. The results have upset some leading people of color. Colonel James F. Grady II, a 25-year police veteran in Michigan, was appointed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to lead the agency in September. He is the […]
Haley draws fire from rivals in GOP presidential debate, as Christie calls Trump ‘unfit’
Half of the four Republican presidential candidates on a debate stage in Alabama on Wednesday night focused their attacks on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who’s vying for the prized second place in the nominating contest. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy teamed up early in the debate to repeatedly hit […]
Resolution of the abortion issue will be a seminal test for our democracy
Shrouded in hypocrisy, entangled by complexity and ensnarled in a battle for control, the abortion issue will be a real test of the structure of our democratic form of government. Will there be a new overarching federal law along with specific state laws governing abortion? It is a central focus in the 2024 presidential election, […]
Filing: Trump and supporters encouraged violence in Detroit to try and subvert the 2020 election
Special Counsel Jack Smith submitted the government’s plans to introduce evidence to outline the actions taken by former President Donald Trump and his supporters to violently and criminally undermine the 2020 election process and attempt to keep Trump in office “at any cost”, referencing a protest at Detroit’s TCF Center on election day. The court […]
Susan J. Demas: How Michigan became the progressive powerhouse of the Midwest
For years, Michigan was a national laughingstock, as bad news stalked the state like the villain in a bad ‘80s horror film. There was the one-state recession of the early aughts, thanks to the bruised auto industry that almost collapsed during the Great Recession that followed, and two partial state government shutdowns. Then came Republicans […]
As acting governor, Benson signs bill codifying online absentee ballot requests
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson on Friday signed into law, as acting governor, legislation codifying her office’s practice of allowing registered and qualified voters to apply for an absentee ballot online. The Michigan constitution allows for an “acting governor” to sign legislation, in the event the governor and lieutenant governor are away on business. […]
Sandra Day O’Connor, who made history as the first woman on the Supreme Court, dies at 93
WASHINGTON — The first woman to serve on the nation’s highest court is dead at 93. Sandra Day O’Connor, a groundbreaking justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix, Arizona of complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness, according to an announcement from the court. President Ronald Reagan nominated […]
Michigan cities rank above national average on annual LGBTQ+ scorecard
More than one-third of the Michigan cities ranked in a national survey of LGBTQ+ rights, including Detroit, received perfect scores. The 12th annual Municipal Equality Index, released Nov. 14 by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, in partnership with the Equality Federation, ranked 506 cities across the nation based on criteria in five areas; non-discrimination […]
Businessman Sandy Pensler joins jammed GOP field for Michigan U.S. Senate seat
Saying he wants to take the “Senate back from the morons,” Grosse Pointe Park businessman Sandy Pensler is making another run for U.S. Senate, announcing via a video Friday morning that he has joined the race for the Republican nomination to replace Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Lansing, who announced earlier this year she would […]
DeSantis and Newsom clash in TV debate, charging each other with lies and bullying
Ron DeSantis of Florida and Gavin Newsom from California, two of the nation’s most well-known governors who sit on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum, engaged in a fiery 90-minute debate on Thursday night from Alpharetta, Georgia, which was broadcast live on the Fox News Channel. The stakes were undoubtedly higher for DeSantis, 45, who […]
Column: Studies, class-action suit link hair relaxers to cancer. Black women are at risk.
When I saw reports about a National Institutes of Health study that found women who used chemical hair straighteners known as relaxers were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer than those who didn’t, a sulfur-scented flashback zapped me back to my first experience getting my hair relaxed. I was 10 or 11, […]
Whitmer makes first appointments to newly established LGBTQ+ Commission
After issuing Executive Order 2023-5 in June to create Michigan’s LGBTQ+ Commission, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced the statewide commission’s first appointed members. The commission was created to ensure representation for Michigan’s LGBTQ+ community at all levels of government, including its executive branch, according to a statement from the governor’s office. Whitmer on Thursday announced […]