Must-see: The MLive video team and political reporter Jordyn Hermani spent weeks tracking the impact and spread of efforts to ban the books from libraries across Michigan. Their efforts resulted in a project that is well worth your time to see. This is your guide to Michigan politics.
The 14-minute documentary focuses on the books, librarians, parents and activists who have found themselves on both sides of increasingly heated debates about what materials should be available to patrons in Michigan libraries .
You can also read Jordyn’s write-up of her report and her interview with the author of the graphic novel “Gender Queer,” Maria Kobabe. The coming-of-age memoir drew national attention, and widespread ire from conservative parenting groups, for its focus on the author’s non-binary identity and brief passages with sexual themes. It has since become one of the most banned books in the US
As a bonus, here is a list of books that have recently been banned from Michigan schools.
The budget has the green light (mostly).
Policymakers got a mixed but largely positive message from Friday’s Consensus Revenue Estimates Conference, a meeting of a fiscal triumvirate to decide how much money they think the state will have to put to work in a near future.
After the latest forecast in January, analysts said the tax cut and extended credits by Democrats would reduce revenue by about $1 billion by the end of this year and by $2 billion this year Next. Democrats have been able to craft the outlines of an initial budget under the premise of a record $9 billion surplus, but Friday’s news means some of the long-running projects that have defended
It also showed that more economic turmoil may be on the horizon: University of Michigan economists noted that an economic recession is likely to occur later this year, but continued demand for new cars means the The state’s automotive industry could help soften the impact. if a recession comes.
Fired for having an abortion? This is now illegal.
The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act was expanded last Wednesday to include workplace discrimination protections for Michigan workers who obtain abortions, under legislation signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last Wednesday.
Michigan’s civil rights law already provided protections for employees struggling with “pregnancy, childbirth, or a medical condition related to pregnancy or childbirth,” but had an explicit exception for people receiving elective abortions .
The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Erika Geiss, D-Taylor, eliminated that exception and included “termination of a pregnancy” as a category protected from discrimination for any employment-related purpose.
A new alternative for conservatives
Since the Michigan Republican Party embraced new leadership in February, there have been grumblings and rumblings behind the scenes about how some Republicans, turned off by the new turn, could stay politically involved.
Consultant Jeff Timmer, a former executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, wants to offer one by launching the Common Sense Party.
“We are concerned about the rise in extremism and the attack on free and fair elections,” Timmer told MLive’s Ben Orner. He has long been an antagonist of former President Donald Trump and has consulted Democratic candidates since leaving his old party.
They do not intend to present their own candidates. Timmer would like to bring the merger vote to Michigan so the Common Sense Party can endorse candidates, Republican and Democratic, for the ballot.
Construction of binational electric vehicle infrastructures
Whitmer has made the promotion of all electric vehicles, from attracting factories that produce electric vehicle parts to offering tax credits to buy them, a key part of the governorship. That campaign took on another facet last Tuesday, when he joined US and Canadian officials to announce a line of electric vehicle charging stations for cross-border travel without exhaust emissions.
The corridor consists of 860 miles of freeway stretching from Kalamazoo to Quebec City, Justin Hicks reports.
“As we all know, there’s nothing more Pure Michigan than accidentally driving into Canada,” Whitmer said in the announcement. He promised that charging options will be “abundant.”
Legislative action
The Senate passed a bill to make Juneteenth, a holiday marking the end of slavery in the US, an official state holiday 37-1. The only dissenting vote was from Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake,Democrats are using their legislative minorities to undo a law passed in the twilight of Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration. It prevents Michigan from adopting stricter environmental regulations than those set by the federal government. The Senate approved a repeal along party lines on Wednesday.Game fishing and hunting guides in Michigan’s backcountry would be required to obtain a license and file species harvest reports under resurrected legislation that conservation groups have been pushing for years.Rep. Helena Scott, D-Detroit, announced that a task force is being established to further investigate what can be done to bolster the reliability of the state’s power grid, following another series of extended outages following the ice storms earlier this year. Lawmakers did not go into detail about what might be on the table in terms of policy interventions.
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