Michigan

Advocates for reproductive freedom gathered on the 51st anniversary of Roe Versus Wade - the US Supreme Court ruling that protected a woman's right to have an abortion - the ruling that was overturned in 2022. It left states to decide to ban abortions - or support them.

Pro-abortion advocates fear that re-electing Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers would ultimately lead to a national ban in all states.

"The number of patients traveling to Michigan because they can no longer access abortion in their home state has tripled," said [Dr. Sarah] Wallett. [Lookin' at you, Ohio! 👀 -- rr]

[Says our Gov. Gretchen Whitmer,] "We've expanded rights with the Reproductive Health Act, but the fight is not over and that's the point - we've got to continue to fight like hell."

When will the Anti-Choice learn? It was never about being forced unwillingly to terminate a pregnancy, nor abortion as contraception. Does anyone in their right mind (you define that yourselves) think that a woman in that position at any time takes that decision lightly? We're not talking about getting your ears pierced here! It was always about that if the situation should arise, regardless of how it arises, you have the choice to manage the situation as you see fit.

I'm done. Peace.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2024 State of the State address is
7 p.m. Wednesday, January 24, 2024.
Yes, there will be a quiz afterward. Pay attention, take notes.

The "scorecard" according to BridgeMichigan's Lauren Gibbons…

- [X] Make headway on gun reforms: Yes
- [X] Targeted tax relief: Yes
- [ ] Repeal abortion restrictions: Incomplete  
  * At least we're not Ohio -- rr
- [X] Expand LGBTQ rights: Yes
- [ ] Fix the damn roads: Incomplete
- [ ] Economic development: Incomplete
- [ ] Universal preschool: Making progress
- [X] More money for child care: Yes  
  * Michigan was once one of the stingiest
- [ ] Free community college tuition: Incomplete
- [X] Clean energy: Yes

(When, oh, when will Lemmy support complete Markdown instead of this half-assed implementation?! Lemmy: the Kalashnikov of social media 🤦‍♂️)

Do you see eye to eye with Ms Gibbons' assessment? I think for the most part Gov. Whitmer is doing an excellent job.

As WJBK news director Bob McBride used to say before signing off, "What do you think?"

“This guaranteed income pilot is about celebrating residents who do much to strengthen our community but are still struggling to make ends meet,” said Kristin Seefeldt, Poverty Solutions assistant director, during an announcement of the program. “Pilot participants are vital to the success of the research study, which will allow other communities across the country to learn from Ann Arbor’s approach to guaranteed income.”

Me? While I wouldn't exactly spit on an extra $528 monthly, I feel this is small potatoes. The idea is valid — yes, I am a proponent of UBI — and will become moreso the more LLMs create more unemployment, but there's something about A^2^'s execution and their wobbly eligibility requirements that bother me. Well, I suppose ya gotta start somewhere, though.

Further reading:

• Ann Arbor program to start accepting applicants
• Over 1,000 apply for Ann Arbor’s new guaranteed income program

Ford company official: “How are you going to collect union dues from these guys [Ford factory robots]?”

Walter P. Reuther: “How are you going to get them to buy Fords?”

Power failures like the one that left 150,000 Michigan homes without electricity during this past weekend’s cold have increased in Michigan over recent decades, according to a new report by the nonprofit news organization Climate Central.

But while Michigan has been hit by many severe storms in recent years, including several that caused outages in 2023, ratepayer advocates say the state’s poor performance compared to neighboring states shows a failure by state regulators to ensure that utilities adequately invest in and maintain the grid to prevent power failures.

According to the Climate Central report, neighboring states like Ohio and Indiana experienced 79 and 59 outages between 2000 and 2021, compared to 132 in Michigan. Only Texas, with four times more land area than Michigan and three times the population, experienced more power failures during this period, with 180 outages.

If you need reminding…

Good news for those of you who enjoy threatening people's lives! Death threats by SMS/MMS[^1] cost only 30 days in Federal prison![^2] Act now!

A New Hampshire woman [Katelyn Jones, 26, formerly of Olivet, Michigan] was sentenced to 30 days in federal jail Tuesday for texting threats to a Detroit-area election official after a November 2020 meeting to certify local results in that year’s presidential race.

Investigators say Jones sent photos of a dead body and threatened Palmer on Nov. 18, 2020, apparently because she was upset that Palmer and another Republican on the four-member Board of Canvassers initially refused to certify Wayne County’s election results on Nov. 17. The certification is typically a routine step on the way to statewide certification.

Of course, the poor thing was…

[…] was coping with unspecified physical and mental health issues, The Detroit News reported.

Aren't we all?

Alternate links for your convenience…

• "To The Wayback Machine, Sherman."
• 1ft.io
• archive.is

[^1]: Photos were involved, hence my MMS designation -- Raoul "Mr Accurate" Raoul [^2]: Your attorney's mileage may vary.

We now bring you an article coordinantly opposite from the usual southwest Michigan link sausage served here. Let's go to Traverse City and a new, much-needed community program that surely affects many of us all over the state and beyond…

There are roughly 50 million Americans serving as caregivers to a family member. For many, it's a full-time job they do for free, out of love. But that doesn't make it easy, and over time it takes a toll on the caregiver.

That's where this new program being launched through Northern Health Care Management may be able to help. "The program [A Day Out in the Community] is… an opportunity for [the caregivers] to get a respite," [NHCM's Darryl] Washington explained.

Space is limited so caregivers should call by February 1 to reserve a spot for the person you care for. Call 1-800-640-7478 to get more information and reserve a spot.

The Porcupine Mountains Artist-in-Residence program is accepting applications from artists whose work is influenced by the northern wilderness setting of Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, or "the Porkies," as it is familiarly known.

[Joan Hawley, president of the nonprofit Friends of the Porkies, says,] "At the cabin, they have time to work on their art ... and then within one year, they submit to us one piece of their work. This piece of work ... we display in the visitors' center at the park and then every other year we've started an exhibition," Hawley said. "Our goal would be to raise enough money to build something where we could have a permanent exhibition for this really incredible art work."

The program is open to all art forms, and artists may be asked to demonstrate their art at the Porcupine Mountains Music Festival in August.

Applicants! Don't be fooled! Like the US state of Wyoming or Tasmania, Michigan's Upper Peninsula doesn't exist! You'll be sent to the cornfield! You have been warned!

Alternate links for your convenience…

• "To The Wayback Machine, Sherman."
• 1ft.io
• archive.is

It's 2024, it's MLK Day and yet we still read articles like the following…

The Race for Results index standardizes scores across 12 indicators that represent well-being milestones from infancy to adulthood, with indicators across four areas: early childhood, family resources, neighborhood context, and education and early work experiences.

No group came close to the index’s maximum score of 1,000; the highest-scoring group in Michigan was Asian and Pacific Islanders, who received an 800. Black children in the state were notably far behind, scoring just 268 on the index. White children were measured at 660, American Indians came in at 565, those identifying as two or more races scored 515 and Latinos had the next-to-lowest index score of 479.

“Everyone always says, well, how are we going to pay for it?” said [Michigan League for Public Policy's Kids Count in Michigan Policy Director Anne] Kuhnen. “And I mean, the answer to that question is really, what are our priorities? Is reducing child poverty a priority for our state?” But Michigan did take other actions to help kids, including providing free school meals for every public school student in the last budget. Kuhnen said she’d like to see that provision made permanent.

[Emphasis mine -- RR]

Alternate links for your convenience…

• "To The Wayback Machine, Sherman."
• 1ft.io
• archive.is

Local restrictions in Michigan derailed more than two dozen utility-scale renewable energy projects as of last May, according to a study by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Nationwide, and at least 228 restrictions in 35 states have been imposed to stop green energy projects.

The shift has sparked a political backlash that may escalate as more states seek to simplify getting green energy projects approved and built.

“We can’t allow projects of statewide importance that are critical to our state energy security to be vetoed on purely local concerns,” said Dan Scripps, chair of Michigan’s Public Service Commission.

Green energy advocates are frustrated by what they often see driving local opposition to projects: A fear of change, widely circulating misinformation about wind turbines and solar panels and a desire by suburbanites who move to rural areas to preserve views.

Previously reported:

• Group launches campaign to overturn Michigan solar siting law

As the battle over who is the actual leader of the MIGOP continues to play out in dueling press releases and alternate websites from Chair Kristina Karamo [migop.org] and Co-Chair Malinda Pego [mi-gop.org], the core function of the party — raising money to get Republicans elected to office and keeping them there — has been derailed by a fundraising drought and leadership selection process that seemingly caters to an ever more extreme faction within the party.

migop.org and mi-gop.org…?! Really?

But it’s not just recounts that have left the Arizona Republican Party to fall on lean economic times. While it is true that former chair, Kelli Ward, spent more than $300,000 on “legal consulting” fees in 2022, mostly related to lawsuits contesting Trump’s defeat there in 2020, she also authorized spending more than $530,000 on an election night party and bus tour for Trump-backed candidates, all of whom lost.

Dennis Darnoi, a GOP strategist with Farmington Hills-based Densar Consulting LLC tells the Advance that it really isn’t a mystery why the various state parties are having such trouble.

“They can’t raise money because they’re all following pretty much the same playbook, which is to deny the results of the 2020 election and to demand sort of an ideological purity test that if you are not 100% fully behind Donald Trump, then you are not considered a Republican,” said Darnoi. “It’s very hard to either maintain your donor base, attract new donors or even keep a cohesive party structure if that’s going to be your modus operandi.”

And in spite of all this GOP subnormality, there's a good number of you misinformed simpler folk in Michigan who still support and will gladly hand this country over to an admitted racist and potential dictator-for-a-day come the second Tuesday in November.

Thoughts?

Carr & Macdonald present this as a good thing that we were able to get more pork funding in our district without the usual bickering and asking many times.

However, I'm worried if politicians are giving away new fighter jets to the ANG that means they expect them to be needed soon. Are we sending our neighbors to go die in some far-off war again?

edit: fixed spelling & punctuation.

We live in Northern Macomb County, if you want to avoid large shipping costs you can choose GIRL DELIVERY if you live in the area; alternatively you can also choose to donate a cookie purchase which gives our Girl Scouts the funds, and gives another box of cookies for the council's annual donation to the Airmen at Selfridge Air National Guard base.

Multiple candidates for governor and county judge got swept up in the rush to get on the 2022 ballot in Michigan… But in testimony Wednesday in 37th District Court, the onetime candidates and their advisers said they were fooled by a private firm that charged them tens of thousands of dollars to get signatures required by Michigan law to qualify for the ballot.

…candidates were disqualified from the primary ballot because state elections officials deemed thousands of their signatures invalid.

Now, the principals of the signature-gathering firms — Shawn Wilmoth, his wife Jamie Wilmoth-Goodin and Willie Reed — face dozens of years in prison on multiple charges alleging they defrauded campaigns and orchestrated teams of people to forge signatures and illegally fill out petitions.

“I’ve never seen 70,000 (bad) signatures occur (from) 10 candidates,” said [regulatory manager for the Bureau of Elections Adam] Fracassi said.

While the whole affair is disgusting in itself, being yet another example of the level of corruption and tampering in recent elections we've had to endure—where are we anyway? Chicago?—it's hard to sympathize with the disqualified…ermm…~~suckers~~ candidates allegedly swindled by these three.

Just can't get enough?

• The Freep: Trio in court in fake signature scandal that disqualified 5 GOP governor hopefuls in 2022
• The News: Ex gov. candidates testify against ringleaders of signature fraud scheme

It's a slight article but…

The company’s previous natural gas rate case was approved in December 2021, resulting in a $3.18 increase to the average residential customer’s monthly bill.

In its most recent request, the company has asked for a $266 million annual increase to its gas rates, an increase of almost 10% for customers. In a statement, the Attorney General’s Office said Nessel would review the case alongside expert witnesses and argue against any increases that are unreasonable or are not tailored to benefit DTE customers.

Read the pertaining coverage in The News or The Free Press, you're not learning much more than this.

Under the new law, Michigan will begin phasing out a 2011 “retirement tax” over four years. Once fully implemented in the 2026 tax year, most forms of retirement income — including pensions, 401k and IRA withdrawals — will again be fully exempt from the state’s personal income tax rate, Deputy Treasurer Jeff Guilfoyle told Bridge on Tuesday.

The new law expands Michigan's Earned Income Tax Credit for lower-income workers from 6 percent to 30 percent of the federal version. The state rate had been 20 percent of the federal version before it was cut as part of the 2011 tax code rewrite approved by then-Gov. Rick Snyder.

For the 2022 tax year, a married couple with three kids qualified if they earned less than $59,187 combined. Individuals without children could qualify if they earned less than $16,480.

Who knew? 🤦‍♂️

Randiah Camille Greene writes…

We’re one of 41 states where the top 1% pay a lesser share of their income in taxes than low- and middle-income families.

The [Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's] study found that Michigan is one of 41 states that tax the top 1% less than every other income group. According to the study, the average effective state and local tax rate is 7.1% for the lowest-income 20% of individuals and families, 9.7% for the middle 20%, and 5.7% for the top 1%. Michigan also reportedly has the 34th most regressive tax system in the nation.

I'd tell you to contact your congressman or local representative but I'd feel like I was prankin' y'all. /cynic

@michigan Gretchen Whitmer proclaims Jan. 9 'Michigan Wolverine Day'

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2024/01/09/whitmer-declares-tuesday-wolverine-day/72158990007/

#Michigan #football #GovWhitmer

Rick Haglund at michiganadvance.com writes…

Despite predictions that the strike would upend the surging sales momentum of Detroit automakers, buyers largely shrugged it off. The Detroit Three collectively reported their best sales year since 2019, the year before the COVID pandemic drove auto sales into the ditch. (Stellantis reported a slight sales drop for the year).

This year also will mark Michigan finally recovering from job losses incurred during in 2020 when the state lost 1.2 million jobs during the first two months of the COVID outbreak. Michigan was hit earlier and harder than most states by the pandemic.

There also are fears that if electric-vehicle-denouncing Republicans take control of Congress and the White House next year, they’ll kill the federal government’s support for the electric vehicle transition by Detroit automakers.

Plus, there’s growing alarm that low-cost Chinese electric vehicles could enter the U.S. market from factories Chinese companies are planning in Mexico.

Sorry for the delay — Brian Allnutt's article went online December 6, 2023 — but it just came to my attention…ah, and the title really should read Michigan citizens want community solar and not use that purposely divisory language.

The Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) is pushing for the passage of Senate Bills 152 and 153 and House Bills 4464 and 4465, introduced in the spring [of 2023], which would enable community solar in Michigan. But so far, none of the bills have come up for a vote, although the House Committee on Energy, Communications and Technology heard testimony on the House bills in November.

But they say Michigan utilities are wielding their influence and political spending in Lansing to block legislation enabling community solar owned by third parties, even though the concept enjoys bipartisan support.

There’s little doubt utilities are spending resources to influence legislators. Utility watchdog group Energy and Policy Institute revealed that ~~bribe-givers~~ political action committees (PACs) tied to DTE and Consumers gave nearly $500,000 to campaign accounts for Whitmer, state legislators and state party funds in 2023 while renewable energy legislation was being considered, with 80% of legislators taking ~~bribes~~ money from these PACs.

Deletions mine.

The next time someboday starts with me, "but the Democrats/Republicans/left/right blah blah blah blah," I'm gonna spit in their eye. No one is innocent.

So much time and energy wasted on so much energy and not enough time…

The group [Citizens for Local Choice] is pushing to repeal Public Act 233, which passed narrowly along party lines in November as Democrats sought a way around the bitter local fights that have stalled wind and solar developments in rural communities across the state.

“This is not about whether renewables are appropriate or not,” said Roger Johnson, chair of the Deerfield Township Planning Commission in Lenawee County and a member of the ballot committee’s leadership team. “It’s not whether wind and solar is the answer to issues of global warming. It’s about siting. And Michigan’s tradition has been that villages, cities, townships…deal with land use.”

Michigan’s debate over renewable energy has been highly partisan, with Republican lawmakers uniformly opposing the energy bills Democrats passed in November.

Environmentalists condemned the push to overturn the law. “We must pull together to cut greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, everywhere,” said Christy McGillivray, political and legislative director for the Sierra Club in Michigan.

tl;dr: NIMBY hubris portrayed as government bullying.

Then-President Donald Trump's campaign directly orchestrated the filing of a certificate, signed by 16 Michigan Republicans, that falsely claimed he won the state's 2020 election, according to internal campaign emails obtained by The Detroit News.

The emails conflicted with the public comments of Michigan Republican leaders who said the false electors certificate was merely an attempt to give Trump a chance if the courts eventually overturned the election.

While the strategy of interfering with states' certified results was unsuccessful in 2020, it could return for a future election. Michigan will have three statewide elections this year.

Alternate links for your convenience…

• 1ft.io
• archive.is

When life gives you a deer cadaver…

"It turns out – if it's on your private land (the City of Livonia) won't come collect it, but if it's on city property, they will," [Livonia resident Laura] Engelland said. "So we helped drag the poor guy to the street."

The issue of dead deer in yards has become a common one. To address this, the City of Livonia recently released a memo emphasizing that homeowners are responsible for managing the disposal of deer carcasses found on their property – which aligns with the policies of many other municipalities.

Can you imagine the scene?

1. A deer dies for whatever reasons on city property.
2. It's reported by a concerned resident.
3. City workers then silently drive to the site at 3a.m. and drag the cadaver into an unsuspecting random resident's yard or lawn.
4. Pranked resident calls the city.
5. City says "it's your problem."
6. Punked resident and friends drag the cadaver out into the street.
7. GOTO 2

But remember, kids…this is America, where the enterprising among us see opportunity where mere mortals see city apathy, maggot farms and carrion-eating scavengers and vermin!

As a result, Gary Cornellier with Respectful Removal LLC found his niche. He disposes of dead deer for a living.

For 10 years, Cornellier has been removing the carcasses himself – and he’s busier than ever.

TBH, I'm not slamming the guy; he got disgusted repeatedly seeing the roadkill and no municipal assistance. My beef (or venison in this case) is with the City of Livonia and other cities that shirk their civic responsibilities.

Seriously, as I personally have not had the unpleasant experience…

• How does your municipality handle such situations?
• Wouldn't you expect that carcass removal be part of a municipal responsibility to its residents, like garbage disposal or animal control?