Criminal Justice
EGLE requests significantly tightened cleanup rules for Ann Arbor dioxane plume
A state department and a long-polluting manufacturing company on Friday filed for new, strengthened cleanup standards at an Ann Arbor site that has been a source of underground contamination since the 1960s. The chemical compound known as 1,4-dioxane has plagued northwest Ann Arbor’s water for more than 55 years, since Gelman Sciences — once a […]
Rick Haglund: Whitmer says ‘bigotry is bad for business.’ Is it true?
It was a clever phrase designed to grab headlines, and it did. “Bigotry is bad for business,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in her January State of the State speech, imploring lawmakers to add anti-discrimination protections based on gender identity and sexual orientation to the state’s civil rights law. They ultimately obliged and Whitmer signed the […]
Michigan GOP’s Holocaust post shows growing far-right extremism in the party, experts say
There is a phrase that political experts, Jewish leaders and elected officials repeatedly used when responding to Michigan GOP Chair Kristina Karamo’s vehement defense of the party’s social media posts linking the Holocaust to gun reform bills introduced in the wake of the Michigan State University mass shooting: “I am not surprised.” Disgusted, yes. Outraged, […]
MSU shooting survivor Troy Forbush speaks at gun reform rally in Lansing
“This is more than being at the wrong place at the wrong time. This could happen anywhere, at any time in this country. This has to end.” With those words, Troy Forbush began to tell his story on Thursday at the March for Our Lives rally at Michigan’s Capitol. Forbush was among the five students […]
Stop dumping toxic train-derailment waste in metro Detroit, lawsuit says
A Wayne County man is suing Norfolk Southern Corp. for exposing communities to “potential significant harm” when it transported and disposed hazardous waste from the Ohio train derailment to Wayne County facilities last month. The lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court alleges the company endangered the community by not properly monitoring the toxic waste before […]
Lapeer District Library latest target for campaign against LGBTQ+ book
The book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” is described by author Maia Kobabe as an “intensely cathartic autobiography” that charts a “journey of self-identity.” But to Republican Lapeer County Prosecutor John Miller, the book borders on child pornography. Caught in the middle is Lapeer District Library Director Amy Churchill, who Miller had reportedly threatened to charge […]
House passes safe storage bills as gun reform package makes way through Legislature
The Democratic-led Michigan House on Wednesday passed legislation requiring the safe storage of firearms. The legislative package, which consisted of four Senate bills and four House bills, passed with varying support from Republicans. The House and Senate have passed other gun reform bills in recent weeks in the wake of the Feb. 13 mass shooting […]
What plaintiffs targeting abortion pill want might not even be possible
At the center of the federal anti-abortion lawsuit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is the abortion drug mifepristone and the regimen that reportedly accounts for the majority of abortions in post-Roe America. That’s why the whole country is bracing itself for a ruling from a notoriously anti-abortion judge in Amarillo, Texas. The attention […]
Michigan GOP Chair Karamo repeatedly defends linking Holocaust to gun reform bills
The Michigan Republican Party garnered widespread condemnation and pushback Wednesday after a social media post explicitly linked the Holocaust to gun reform legislation introduced by legislative Democrats in the wake of the Feb. 13 mass shooting at Michigan State University. The House bills received the backing from a wide variety of individuals and groups, including […]
Judge gives final stamp of approval on $626M settlement for Flint water crisis victims
Nearly a decade after the water crisis began to devastate Flint in 2014, leaving thousands of people to drink lead-contaminated water in the Black-majority city, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday the state’s historic Flint water settlement totaling about $626.25 million has been formally approved. Genesee County Circuit Court Chief Judge David J. Newblatt […]
Ending a pregnancy in 14 states leaves few options. Some are looking to Europe and India for help.
The pills came in a dark salmon-colored envelope sealed with a plastic covering that traveled more than 7,000 miles, over a dozen time zones from Nagpur, India, in almost exactly one week. They were placed partially under the doormat of a home in a state with one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the […]
As opioids overdose deaths keep rising, report urges lawmakers to develop new approaches
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers should view America’s staggering opioid crisis, including the rise of illicit fentanyl, through an “ecosystems” approach, argues a massive RAND Corporation report published Thursday. That means they should examine the gaps and interconnections among emergency response, data collection, education, treatment, housing and law enforcement, the report advises. The 600-page volume — which the authors […]