With the passage of Proposal 3 in 2018, Michigan is seeing a significant increase in voters taking advantage of voting by absent voter ballots. In Ingham County, we have held three elections under the new law, and now know firsthand of the need for updates in Michigan Election Law and Bureau of Elections’ promulgated rules and required procedures as a […]

With the March 2020 Presidential Primary Election right around the corner, county, city, and township clerks are making preparations. We are also seeing an increase in voters utilizing the opportunity to vote via absent voter (AV) ballot (also known in some states as “Vote at Home”) since the passage of Proposal 3 in 2018. Local clerks are sending out Absent […]

We’ve been writing about Line 5, Enbridge’s 67-year-old twin pipelines under the straights of Mackinac for 5 years now: June 23, 2015 — Enbridge Line 5 pipeline beneath Straits of Mackinac – too old, unsafe, and a threat to the Great Lakes September 10, 2015 — As protesters call for Straits of Mackinac oil pipeline to be shut down, Enbridge […]

The following opinion editorial was written by Cayley Winters, the West Michigan Communications Organizer for Progress Michigan. She is from Battle Creek and shares her perspective on Donald Trump and Mike Pence holding a rally there today, in the Congressional District of Congressman Justin Amash, an ardent opponent of Trump who left the Republican Party over his opposition to Trump’s […]

Michigan, allegedly, does not permit for-profit charter schools. And yet one of the largest for-profit charter management corporations, National Heritage Academies (NHA), is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And they take the “for profit” part seriously: NHA funds itself partly by charging its schools high rates. For example, the New York Daily News reported that NHA owned property in Brooklyn […]

We are excited to share this guest post from Dr. Ryan Shaw, assistant professor of music education at Michigan State University. Dr. Shaw received his Ph.D. in Music Education from Michigan State University and earned master’s and bachelor’s degrees in music education from the University of Michigan. His scholarly interests include arts education policy and the ways that policy affects […]

Every time the Republicans who run Michigan do some new incredibly regressive thing, I hear it from several people: “WHY DON’T YOU JUST LEAVE?” When Republicans imposed the most draconian, anti-democratic law on our state — our infamous “Emergency Manager” Law — I heard it. When Republicans passed a huge tax cut for corporations and paid for it by raising […]

I have always had special disdain for former Michigan governor John Engler. He was the grandfather of the corporatist right’s attacks on organized labor while he was in office and his repugnant legacy is something that we still deal with today. So I was shocked, dismayed, and outraged that the Michigan State University Board of Trustees chose Engler to be […]

I don’t know how to describe this exactly. It may be the most insulting thing anyone in the Trump administration or campaign has done to Jewish Americans. Mike Pence invited “Rabbi” Loren Jacobs to give the invocation at his Michigan campaign stop today. Jacobs is actually a Christian who leads a group who call themselves Messianic Jews. He spent eight […]

Think about the last time you got a call from Senate or Congress at the federal level asking for money. You either gave little or hung up the phone. Then think about that time you asked for yard signs and volunteered – there is a high probability that someone complained about the fact that the campaign office does not have […]

This weekend, Michigan Republicans dutifully nominated U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ choice for Secretary of State, Mary Treder Lang. The billionaire DeVos family has already padded Lang’s campaign account with more than $40,000 so far. Republican pundit Bill Ballenger, best known for declaring the Flint water crisis to be “overblown,”* gave us some insight into another reason for Lang’s nomination […]