September 14th, 20180LANSING — A recent survey by the Detroit News and WDIV-TV found that Michigan voters favor a recreational marijuana initiative on the ballot this November.
The new poll of 600 Michiganders suggests marijuana Proposal 1 would pass comfortably nine weeks before the election, while Proposal 2, to end gerrymandering, was split in...
September 8th, 20180LANSING — On Wednesday, state lawmakers adopted proposals to raise Michigan’s minimum wage and require employers to offer paid sick leave, keeping the citizen-initiated proposals off the November ballot and making it easier for the GOP-majority legislature to amend them after the elections.
The proposals that Michigan’s Senate...
September 8th, 20180ANN ARBOR — For the first time, students from Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) were able to have the opportunity to be a part of the abroad Entrepreneurial Education Program taking place in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Global Ties Detroit, in partnership with the University of Michigan (U of M) and the Arab American Women’s...
September 3rd, 20180LANSING — Michigan’s state-wide reading and writing exam results may concern residents after the state invested around $100 million to improve reading instruction.
The results, which were released Wednesday morning by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), stated that only 44 percent of students in grades 3-8 who took the...
August 31st, 20180A proposal to increase Michigan’s minimum wage to $12 an hour over the next four years will be on the November ballot, pending the outcome made by the the Michigan Supreme Court.
The members of the Board of State Canvassers voted 3-0 to certify the ballot proposal on Friday, Aug. 24.
The proposal, which is backed by a committee...
August 31st, 20180LANSING – Michigan voters are gearing up to elect candidates for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, among others, on November 6.
Following the primary elections, which saw the defeat of progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed to his rival and establishment Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer, elected officials and Arab Americans...
August 19th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — As women line up to run for U.S. political office at historic rates, state legislatures — where some of America’s most critical policy decisions get made — could see a slew of new female lawmakers after November’s vote, according to a Reuters analysis of election data.
In Michigan, for example, a state...
August 19th, 20180LANSING — State Treasurer Nick Khouri said the state’s sales tax administration will now require many mail order and online retailers located outside of Michigan to pay the 6 percent sales tax on taxable sales into the state. This change comes on the heels of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“This is an important step...
August 19th, 20180WASHINGTON, D.C. — According to a new study by WalletHub, which ranks state with the best and worst school systems, Michigan ranked at number 31 in the United States. This puts more than half of the states in the county at higher rankings.
WalletHub, a Washington, D.C.-based personal finance website, compared public school systems...
August 17th, 20180This week, Arab and Muslim Americans scored another historic victory in Minnesota where Ilhan Omar won comfortably a Congressional primary election.
Omar, America’s first Somali American legislator, won the Minnesota Democratic primary for Congress on Tuesday. The seat she competed for in the Fifth District is currently held by U.S....
August 15th, 20180On Wednesday, former Vice President Joe Biden has endorsed Gretchen Whitmer, the Democratic candidate for governor of Michigan.
"Michigan’s middle class families need a governor who knows how to get things done, and that’s why I’m endorsing Gretchen," Biden said in a statement released by Whitmer's campaign.
"Gretchen has spent...
August 15th, 20180Minnesota state Rep. Ilhan Omar won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for the state’s 5th Congressional District, putting her on a path to make history.
Omar defeated four other Democratic candidates in a crowded race to fill the seat that opened up when Rep. Keith Ellison (D) announced his bid to become the state’s attorney...
August 11th, 20180DETROIT — At least 14 polling places in Metro Detroit over Tuesday’s primary elections experienced power outages, while others ran out of ballots.
DTE Energy posted a video to its twitter feed 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, explaining that some polling places were still without power because of storms Monday evening.
“Right now...
August 10th, 20180DEARBORN/DETROIT – Abdul El-Sayed might have fallen short of the votes needed to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, Aug. 7, and the possibility of going on to become the nation's first Muslim governor, but his platform’s momentum continues in full thrust among many progressives across the state. The 33-year-old...
August 10th, 20180DEARBORN— About 2.1 million people out of 7.4 million registered cast their votes in Michigan in the Aug. 7 primaries, with a nearly 28.6 percent voter turnout breaking records going as far back as 1978, according to state election officials.
The results of Michigan's gubernatorial race mirrored most polls that had former State...
August 1st, 20180
YPSILANTI — With the days fast counting down to Michigan’s Aug. 7 primary election, gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign has been taking Southeast Michigan by storm, as diverse crowds pack halls along his tour route.
At his fourth rally of the weekend, Brown Chapel AME Church in Ypsilanti was filled with an...
July 29th, 20180DEARBORN — The Henry Ford College (HFC) board of trustees began preliminary discussions on a ballot proposal at its board meeting on July 16. Dearborn residents will be asked to vote in the November election on a five-year millage renewal for the college.
A millage is a taxation rate expressed in mills per dollar. A school millage...
July 28th, 20180Lansing — On Wed., July 25, just two weeks before the Democratic primary, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed for governor of Michigan.
Sanders defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Michigan Democratic Primary by 2 percentage points, a surprise win over Clinton, who went on to secure...
July 27th, 20180This election is a defining event for America
This election, for many reasons, is perhaps the most important one in America’s modern history.
First, our democracy is in grave danger. During the last presidential election and since Donald Trump took office, there have been a systematic attack on our democracy at all levels. The...
July 27th, 20180As Michiganders seek to turn the state around, the governor’s office – plagued with wide-spread distrust – is being eyed as a worthwhile place to start, beginning with the August 7 primary election.
Shortcomings like an education system that fails to produce enough skilled workers, non-existent public transportation and cities...
July 18th, 20181LANSING — The Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments challenging a proposed November ballot initiative to change who draws congressional and legislative districts every decade.
The justices held a special session on Wednesday and asked many questions during 75 minutes of arguments.
Voters Not Politicians, a group backed by the...
July 16th, 20181DEARBORN ― U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) has come under fire for implying during an interview with HuffPost at a rally in Ann Arbor on Saturday that gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed is less likely to win the election because he's a Muslim.
Dingell is backing Gretchen Whitmer, a former Michigan Senate minority...
July 11th, 20180Dearborn — Looking for a few more thrills in your life and haven’t been to Camp Dearborn in a while?
Check out Camp Dearborn’s newest amenity, a zip line opening July 14 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m., presided over by Dearborn Mayor John B. O’Reilly, Jr.
The 1,400-foot zip line is the longest in Michigan,...
July 6th, 20180FLINT — Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, known as the primary whistleblower in the Flint water crisis, documented her personal experience of seeking proof of lead poisoning in Flint’s children in her book “What the Eyes Don’t See.”
The book not only describes her struggle bringing the Flint Water Crisis to the public, but includes...
July 6th, 20180DEARBORN – Local healthcare experts and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) held a town hall Monday on the state of healthcare and pre-existing conditions coverage and what it means for people in Michigan. Dingell joined Marianne Udow-Phillips, executive director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation at the...
June 30th, 20181DEARBORN - Two state senate candidates for the third district, State Rep. Sylvia Santana (D-Detroit) and Wayne County Commissioner Gary Woronchak, are competing in the August Democratic primary to replace term-limited State Sen. Morris Hood III (D-Detroit), who represents a district of about 215,000 residents in Dearborn, Detroit and...
June 23rd, 20181LANSING – The national wave of youth activism sparked by the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. is leading Michigan lawmakers to push for lowering the voting age to 16.
State Sen. David Knezek (D-Dearborn Heights) and State Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D-Ann Arbor) introduced the mirror bills in the House and...
June 16th, 20186DETROIT – Democratic candidates for the 13th District participated in a forum on June 11 at Detroit’s North Rosedale Park Community House that focused primarily on the role charter schools play in uplifting Detroit’s youth and reducing poverty and crime.
The forum drew a sizable and passionate audience, many of whom explicitly...
