Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/elections/michigan/legislature/page/3/)
A growing number of county commissions are debating or adopting symbolic resolutions in support of the Second Amendment. Advocates say they worry that red flag laws will interfere with the right to bear arms. We talk to the sheriffs in Lake and Livingston counties and officials in Mackinac and Missaukee counties.
It’s not every day that the world watches East Lansing, Mich. However, the spotlight was on East Lansing High School when Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer gave the Democratic response to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union Address on Feb. 4, 2020.
The Supreme Court has rejected a ruling that would have required district lines to be redrawn in Michigan. In April, three federal judges, including two from Michigan and one from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, ruled the current lines are drawn unconstitutionally to benefit the G.O.P. before the 2020 election. They said it suppressed Democratic voters. Two months later, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 they have no place to determine partisan gerrymandering cases. On October 21st, they dismissed the case entirely.
The introduction of no-reason absentee ballot voting for Michigan residents promises big changes in elections, and it may also lead to new problems for election officials.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer cut the proposed $37.5 million budget from the 2020 state budget. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation, MEDC, tells Focal Point News, “Governor Whitmer and the MEDC remain committed to the Pure Michigan Campaign and the positive impact it has had on the tourism industry in Michigan.” They continued to say the cut is a “recognition that the Legislature cannot continue to pass record-high budgets for Pure Michigan while funding for other economic development initiatives is cut to record lows.” Greg Taucher, an advertising professor at Michigan State, said you can’t just turn off the lights on Pure Michigan. “I think that if Michigan killed their tourism campaign, they’d be in a deficit position,” he said.
This weeks edition of the Spartan Newsroom includes: historic 1850s document found, first black mayor of Montgomery, Alabama elected, and six-year-old walks for the first time.
By ZARIA PHILLIPS
Capital News Service
LANSING — A U.S. district judge’s ruling that work requirements for Medicaid recipients should not have been approved in Kentucky and Arkansas could lead to a similar ruling in Michigan, say critics of the requirements lawmakers approved last year. Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., recently ruled work requirements to receive Medicaid in Kentucky and Arkansas are “arbitrary and capricious.” That may also affect states with similar laws, according to Families USA, a nonprofit health care organization. Michigan is one of those. Republican lawmakers pursued work requirements for Medicaid recipients enrolled in the Healthy Michigan Plan last year, said Alex Rossman, the communications director for the Michigan League for Public Policy. They take effect next year.
A plan to help Michigan school districts with snow day forgiveness is moving through the legislature. The House Education Committee approved a bill this week to forgive the snow days when Michigan was under a state of emergency from Jan. 29-31. However, it’s not getting complete support. This bill does not give hourly school employees the pay they missed during those days .
On this edition of Focal Point, New Zealand mourns deaths from the mass shooting, we touch on a new bill that enforces stricter driving laws. Also, get an overview of the college admissions scandal that involves Hollywood actors and actresses. In sports, we take you to the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, and Cassius Winston got Big Ten Player of the Year. In entertainment, a Dansville native auditioned for a national singing competition. These stories and more on this week’s edition of Focal Point.
Michigan lawmakers are drafting bills that could forgive snow days during Lansing’s state of emergency. Many Michigan schools have already used nine days and some have gone over the limit and will have to make up class time.