The following post was written by Jonathan Sharp. Jonathan is the CFO of the Birmingham, Alabama-based, Environmental Litigation Group, PC, a law firm specializing in toxic exposure cases that helps individuals injured by hazardous chemicals on US army installations. Over the past hundred years, the US army has dealt with the lasting consequences of its negligent handling and disposal of […]

Cultural conservatives are trying to make the 2022 midterm elections about education in general, and the (phantom) issue of “parental rights” specifically. As someone who has been involved in education at various levels for the past 40+ years, I’ve not seen any evidence of a widespread lack of parents’ abilities to guide and influence their children’s schooling. To be sure, […]

For many years, I have been an unquestioning supporter of Ranked Choice Voting. In its purest form, it’s a way to have a multi-party political system that gives third (and fourth and …) parties a shot at getting their candidates elected into office and helps mitigate some of the worst parts of a two-party system like the one we ostensibly […]

Man, that’s GOTTA hurt… While there have been a few rational actors in the Michigan Republican legislative caucus who have refused to subscribe to The Big Lie that Donald Trump won more votes than Joe Biden in Michigan and, in fact, across the entire country, most have been vocally all in on it. The only the way The Big Lie […]

I recently became aware of two programs being offered by Michigan Women Forward (MWF), a community development nonprofit group that is dedicated to empowering women and girls of all ages. The programs are being offered specifically to middle school and high school girls in Michigan. Both programs are being presented virtually (though they hope to go back to in-person in […]

There is a common convention that sunshine is the best disinfectant. While that does not apply to the COVID-19 pandemic (wearing a mask, washing your hands, using hand sanitizer, and getting vaccinated when you are eligible are the answers there, not sunshine), it does apply to another scourge that has plagued Michigan for decades; one that will hopefully be rectified […]

As news of Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers finally certifying Michigan’s 2020 election results sinks in, it’s worth drawing attention to the antics of hyper-partisan Board member Norman Shinkle in the process. While his Republican colleague Aaron Van Langevelde acted honorably, following Michigan’s law that requires the Board of State Canvassers to certify the election and voting YES to certify, […]

Let’s face it, waiting for the election returns on Election Day after the polls close is going to be excruciating. Painful. Anxiety-ridden. Heart-stopping. So why not do it in a fun way by joining your progressive friends at a drive-in “theater”?! Our pals at Progress Michigan are doing just that. Starting at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3rd, you can […]

To date, over 398,000 Americans have contracted COVID-19 and almost 56,000 have passed away. Trump has shown that he is incapable of protecting Americans during a crisis. He has continued to engage in racist rhetoric during his press briefings and makes claims that hydroxychloroquine will be a “game changer”, despite there being no medical evidence. He has even suggested that […]

With the passage of Proposal 3 in 2018, and 2020 being a Presidential Election Year, there has been increased attention on absentee voting, and, as a result, there are more questions from those first-time and seasoned voters as well as from campaigns and the media.   First, the envelopes that absentee ballots, directions, return envelopes and secrecy sleeves have changed so […]

Editor’s note: Since they took control of the state government in 2010, Republicans in our state legislature and executive branch have made voting for students unnecessarily difficult and complex. That’s a feature for them, not a bug. I asked Barb to explain the process so that students living in Michigan have all of the facts on how they can vote […]