Michigan Advance

29/10/2025

As national Republicans eye Michigan as the breeding ground for growing its U.S. Senate majority, the Democratic candidates in the 2026 Michigan race say that confidence is misplaced.

Last week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee said on a donor call that it sees the Great Lakes state as a jumping off point for an expansion of its majority in the upper chamber of Congress. The call was first reported by Axios.

The mention of Michigan on the call was, in a sense, the GOP coping with its lack of a challenger in the Georgia race to take on U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee looking to Michigan as its best attempt to play offense in 2026.

As national Republicans eye Michigan as the breeding ground for growing its U.S. Senate majority, the Democratic candidates in the 2026 Michigan race say that confidence is misplaced. Last week, the National Republican Senatorial Committee said on a donor call that it sees the Great Lakes state as a...

29/10/2025

A new proposal from Michigan’s Senate Democrats could shake up the state’s election calendar and would mean major changes for both campaigns and the election administrators. But it could have trouble balancing the interests of municipal clerks and school districts.

Sen. Sam Singh, the Senate majority floor leader and a Democrat from East Lansing, plans to introduce legislation within two weeks to move Michigan’s August primary to May, with some May races potentially shifting to February.

The changes would take effect in 2027, Singh said, potentially eliminating concerns Republicans in the House expressed about disrupting the 2026 election cycle. Because many campaigns are “up and running,” Singh told Votebeat in an interview last week, making changes in the middle of a cycle “was a significant concern.”

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here. A new proposal from Michigan’s Senate Democrats could shake up the state’s election calendar and woul...

29/10/2025

The House Committee on Families and Veterans considered two bills Tuesday, put forward by Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Alto), HB 4530 and HB 4531.

The first would change the required time frame for mental health providers to respond to a Child Protective Services, or CPS, records request from 14 to seven days, and the second would increase the amount of training on child abuse and neglect provided to mandatory reporters.

“The goal is to keep children safer by making sure those on the front lines are consistently informed and prepared,” Rigas said.

The House Committee on Families and Veterans considered two bills Tuesday, put forward by Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) and Rep. Angela Rigas (R-Alto), HB 4530 and HB 4531. The first would change the required time frame for mental health providers to respond to a Child Protective Services, or CPS...

29/10/2025

In a commentary column for Michigan Advance, Figen Mekik, founder and lead PI of the Mekik Climatology Lab at Grand Valley State University, lays out the need for improved education on the science of climate change to counter “an ill-founded surety about the realities of global warming.”

Climate change has become “that” topic – like evolution of species, plate tectonics, or AI – where the public has heard so much about it that many think they know everything they need to know. Such confidence is both a good and bad thing. The upside is the biggest global societal problem of ...

29/10/2025

WASHINGTON — Five Republican U.S. senators joined Democrats Tuesday to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency that triggered steep tariffs on goods from Brazil.

The vote came ahead of a major case before the Supreme Court that could decide whether many of the president’s tariffs violate the Constitution.

Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, Maine’s Susan Collins and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, supported a joint resolution in a 52-48 vote.

WASHINGTON — Five Republican U.S. senators joined Democrats Tuesday to terminate President Donald Trump’s national emergency that triggered steep tariffs on goods from Brazil. The vote came ahead of a major case before the Supreme Court that could decide whether many of the president’s tariffs...

28/10/2025

The data is clear! When we connect with fellow working-class Michiganders and rise above the noise of social media and corporate news agendas that are increasingly being driven by billionaires, we have won and can win again. Join our deep canvassing training in Ferndale on Sunday, Nov. 2nd at 1pm or 6pm to be apart of the movement.

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28/10/2025

Right to Life of Michigan, alongside several parents, have filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to their lawsuit against Gov. Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.

The suit in the appellate court seeks to argue that Proposal 3, which was a ballot initiative in 2022 that enshrined reproductive freedoms, including the right to an abortion, in the Michigan State Constitution, “threatens parental rights related to a minor child’s decision to seek an abortion,” according to a press release from Right to Life of Michigan.

The case was first filed in November 2023 in federal district court in the Western District of Michigan, where Judge Paul Maloney dismissed the case on Sept. 30, stating in his opinion that “The court finds that Plaintiffs lack standing.”

Right to Life of Michigan, alongside several parents, have filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to their lawsuit against Gov. Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The suit in the appellate court seeks to argue that Proposal 3, whi...

28/10/2025

President Donald Trump sought to remove his status as the only felon to be elected president by appealing his conviction on 34 New York state charges just before midnight Tuesday, arguing, in part, that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling giving the president broad immunity invalidated the conviction.

In a 96-page appeal nearly 18 months after his state court conviction that he falsified business records by disguising hush money payments over an alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels as legitimate legal payments, Trump’s attorneys recited a list of complaints over his prosecution.

Among those complaints were that New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, targeted the then-former president, and that the presiding Democratic judge created at least the appearance of partiality, the appeal said.

President Donald Trump sought to remove his status as the only felon to be elected president by appealing his conviction on 34 New York state charges just before midnight Tuesday, arguing, in part, that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling giving the president broad immunity invalidated the convic...

28/10/2025

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 22 other state attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their decision to suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as SNAP, for the month of November due to the ongoing federal shutdown.

The lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Massachusetts, alleges that the suspension of benefits was done unlawfully, specifically due to SNAP-specific contingency funds appropriated in budgets for Fiscal Years 2024 and 2025 by Congress that would at least partially cover the expenses of the program for November.

The suspension of benefits violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the attorneys general and governors claim.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined 22 other state attorneys general and three governors in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their decision to suspend the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, also known as SNAP, for the month of November due...

28/10/2025

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration cannot carry out layoffs that it announced after the government shutdown began Oct. 1 and is barred from issuing any new layoff notices under a court order issued Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said at the end of an hour-long hearing in the Northern District of California she granted the preliminary injunction because the reductions in force are unlawful and “intended for the purpose of political retribution.”

Illston referenced a social media post by President Donald Trump that said, “I can’t believe the radical left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity.”

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration cannot carry out layoffs that it announced after the government shutdown began Oct. 1 and is barred from issuing any new layoff notices under a court order issued Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said at the end of an hour-long hearing in the Norther...

28/10/2025

Nearly two dozen Michigan House Republicans have signed on to a resolution calling for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson to share the state’s complete voter rolls with the Trump administration, without redactions of potentially sensitive identifying information.

Michigan is one of several states being sued by the U.S. Justice Department over their refusal to share unredacted voter rolls in response to requests from the agency. Benson shared some of Michigan’s voter roll — the parts accessible to any member of the public — but withheld personal identifying information, such as Social Security numbers.

The GOP-backed resolution, which was debated at a hearing Tuesday in the House Election Integrity Committee, calls for the secretary of state to share an unredacted copy of Michigan’s computerized statewide voter registration list, also known as the qualified voter file, with federal officials.

From Votebeat

This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here. Nearly two dozen Michigan House Republicans have signed on to a resolution calling for Secretary of State...

28/10/2025

DETROIT – A group of tenants in the River Pointe Tower building in Detroit, a senior living apartment complex, are calling for the head of Capital Realty Group, Moshe Eichler, who owns the building, to come to the bargaining table.

A number of River Pointe Tower residents formed a union in August, demanding safer living conditions and better quality of maintenance in the apartments, after tenants dealt with issues from roaches and bedbugs to cracked walls and ceilings.

They held a rally outside their building on Monday to explain that Eichler had failed to adequately address these issues, and had only met with them one time.

“This is where we live every day,” said Jacqueline Rice, one member of the union and resident of the building. “Mr. Eichler could come here and live and stay for a month or two, see the conditions that we live in. If not, come to the bargaining table.”

DETROIT – A group of tenants in the River Pointe Tower building in Detroit, a senior living apartment complex, are calling for the head of Capital Realty Group, Moshe Eichler, who owns the building, to come to the bargaining table. A number of River Pointe Tower residents formed a union in August,...