LGBTQ Arabs use spaces to transgress misconceptions
May 12th, 20170 DEARBORN — A lack of language for gay identity in religious doctrine reflected the stigmatization and eventual pathologization of it in Western discourse, where homosexuality was recognized as a mental illness from the 19th century until its removal from the DSM in 1973. Ironically, Arabic and Islamic-era words articulating...
Reps. Dingell, Hammoud address substance abuse, mental health at town hall
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — On Monday, May 8, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) and State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) convened a town hall to address and discuss their approaches and strategies toward infrastructure development and substance abuse issues. The event took place in the Michigan Room at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and...
Overpopulated high schools in Dearborn: Problems and possible solutions
May 12th, 20170 DEARBORN — The Dearborn Public School District is tackling the issue of an overcrowded student population in both Fordson High School and Dearborn High School. By contrast, Edsel Ford High School is below the limit at about 1,300 students, with room for more. Approximately 2,700 students occupy Fordson High and just around 2,100...
Dearborn native to become first hijabi Air Force judge advocate
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — In March, Dearborn native Maysaa Ouza, 24, applied to the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) only to find herself making history as the first Muslim hijabi to become a judge advocate. A judge advocate practices law in the Air Force differently than in the private sector. Ouza will be able to...
Parents claim local middle school teacher tried proselytizing students to Christianity
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — On May 8, parents at the Dearborn Public School Board of Education meeting voiced their concerns regarding a teacher attempting to proselytize Muslim students at Woodworth Middle School. The world religions teacher was not named at the meeting, but parents said that she discussed her own baptism, read from her Bible for...
U.S. airlines meet with Homeland Security on expanding laptop ban
May 11th, 20170 WASHINGTON ― Homeland Security officials met with major U.S. airlines and a trade group on Thursday to discuss the impact of possibly expanding a ban on large electronic gadgets on planes to flights from some European airports, three sources briefed on the meeting said. The afternoon meeting included high level executives from Delta...
Judges hit Trump lawyer with tough questions over revised travel ban
May 8th, 20170 RICHMOND, V.A.-Federal appeals court judges on Monday peppered a U.S. Justice Department lawyer with tough questions about President Donald Trump's temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations, with several voicing skepticism that protecting national security was the aim of the policy, not religious bias. Six Democratic...Trump engages in U.S. healthcare battle, breakthrough possible
WASHINGTON ― In a possible breakthrough for U.S. Republicans' chaotic effort to roll back Obamacare, three moderate lawmakers emerged from a White House meeting with President Trump on Wednesday and said a revised bill might pass. But pitfalls still lay ahead. Keen to score his first major legislative win since taking office in...
Community organizers honor McQuade and Rosen at farewell dinner
May 5th, 20170 DEARBORN — The Arab American community held a farewell dinner in honor of former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and retired Chief Judge Gerald Rosen, both of the Eastern District of Michigan, Thursday, April 27 at La Pita Banquet Hall in Dearborn. City and federal officials, judges, activists and Arab American businessmen paid...
Auto industry losing steam as vehicle sales for April decline
May 5th, 20170 DETROIT — On Tuesday, May 2, major automakers posted declines in U.S. new vehicle sales for April in a sign the long boom cycle that lifted the American auto industry to record sales last year is losing steam, sending carmaker stocks down. The drop in sales versus April 2016 came on the heels of a disappointing March, which...
Star International Academy principal nominated for charter school administrator of the year
May 5th, 20171 DEARBORN — Ali Bazzi, Hamadeh Educational Services' (HES) assistant superintendent of all four HES schools and principal of Star International Academy (SIA), is one of five finalists nominated for the 2017 Michigan charter school administrator of the year. Awarded by the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), the...
West Dearborn’s Post Bar to face hearing regarding liquor license revocation
May 5th, 20170 DEARBORN — A bar in west Dearborn criticized by a city official last week for attracting unruly crowds will face a hearing that could result in the revocation of the business' liquor license. City Council President Pro Tem Tom Tafelski has called Post Bar, located on Michigan Ave., a "public nuisance." The city played a key role in...
Ford breaks ground on Wagner Place in Dearborn
May 5th, 20170 DEARBORN — On Wednesday, May 3, Ford Motor Company broke ground on Wagner Place as part of its campus transformation. Ford is reconstructing two blocks of mainly empty buildings in west Dearborn into a 50,000-square-foot development including first-floor retail and restaurants and Ford offices upstairs. One of its vital features...Detroit paramedic reportedly faced discrimination, files complaint
DETROIT — A paramedic in Detroit asserted that he was subjected to discrimination in the workplace. On May 4, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of the paramedic who works for the Detroit Fire...
Arab Americans have played key roles in union activism
May 5th, 20170 DETROIT — Arab Americans are typically not regarded as a subset of immigrants with a history tied to labor movements. However, Arab American involvement in labor movements is interwoven within the greater framework of workers' protests in the United States. This renders Arab American history in the U.S., via its political......
Middle Eastern Census category closer to reality
May 5th, 20171 DEARBORN — Decades of efforts by Arab American organizations are paying off, as the U.S. Census Bureau officially approved a category that counts residents of Middle Eastern and North African origins (MENA) on the 2020 census. After the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) welcomed public comments last October regarding the MENA...
Snyder appoints Mariam Bazzi as Wayne County Circuit Court judge
May 5th, 20170 LANSING — Gov. Snyder has appointed Mariam Bazzi to the Third Circuit Court in Wayne County. "Mariam Bazzi's commitment to her community and the law makes her a natural pick for the Wayne County Circuit Court," Snyder said in a statement. "Mariam brings with her to the bench years of experience in complex areas of the law and a...
House passed bill to fund government, avoid shutdown
May 5th, 20170 WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund the government through September and avoid a shutdown of many federal agencies. Money would have been depleted on Saturday. Earlier, Republicans who control the House, as well as minority Democrats, had expressed confidence...
All Republican Michigan US representatives voted to repeal Obamacare
May 5th, 20170 WASHINGTON — All nine Republican U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, in favor of the American Health Care Act, or "Trumpcare." The representatives are: Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet), Jack Bergman (R-Zeeland), Justin Amash (R-Cascade Township), John Moolenaar......
New Trump order allows tax-exempt religious institutions’ involvement in politics
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that allows tax-exempt centers of worship to participate actively in politics, freeing religious institutions to deny their employees insurance for birth-control pills. The order fulfills an oft-repeated campaign promise by Trump, who appealed to far-right...
Locals hold vigil in support of Palestinian hunger strikers
May 5th, 20170 DEARBORN — More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have joined a hunger strike led by Palestinian parliamentarian and prisoner Marwan Barghouti, beginning April 17. People all over the world showed their solidarity by organizing demonstrations and vigils. Some have participated in the "#SaltWaterChallenge", in which they share videos......
FBI translator secretly flew to Syria to marry ISIS leader
May 4th, 20171 DETROIT- Federal court documents revealed that an FBI interpreter working in Detroit secretly traveled to Syria three years ago to marry an ISIS terrorist leader she was supposed to be investigating. Daniela Greene worked as a German translator in 2014 for the Detroit FBI office where she was helping inspect a German national who was an...
Gov. Snyder appoints Mariam Bazzi as Wayne County Circuit Court judge
May 2nd, 20172 LANSING – Governor Rick Snyder today announced the appointment of Mariam Bazzi to the 3rd Circuit Court in Wayne County. “Mariam Bazzi’s commitment to her community and the law makes her a natural pick for the Wayne County Circuit Court,” Snyder said. “Mariam brings with her to the bench years of experience in complex areas......
