Inside 83
Surge in women political candidates makes its way to Michigan
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A record 20 Michigan women are running for Congress or statewide political office.
Capital expenditure
Michigan candidates pay for breaking finance rules
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Most penalties are for failure to put identification on campaign materials, misuse of public resources for political purposes and failing to disclose expenses properly. Misuse of public resources can be when government officials use public money in their own campaigns.
Capital expenditure
Seven Michigan lawmakers gave more than $10,000 to own campaigns
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Rep. Holly Hughes, R-Muskegon, was the largest self-funder with $250,000.
Inside 83
Group pushes for paid leave for illness, sexual assault, domestic violence
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They’re trying again to get the measure before voters in a statewide referendum. The proposal would require employers to offer one hour of paid leave to workers for every 30 hours they work.
Lansing
Board of Water and Light tests Lansing homes for lead
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
It seems like a reasonable request: promise that tap water is clean. “I don’t know about everyone. I want healthier water,” Crystal Lewis, a Lansing resident, said. Lewis is just one of the Lansing residents that receive their water from The Saginaw Aquifer that is owned by the Board of Water and Light.The water is pumped from 125 wells that reach 400 feet below the ground. However, following the Flint crisis many were worried about lead being in their water.
Lansing
Hunger is not a stranger in Lansing
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
For some in Lansing, food banks aren’t an option; they are a necessity. “The local food bank is how I afforded to keep my house fed,” Brenda Smith, a Lansing resident, said. At the time Smith and her husband were not only trying to feed themselves, but also the senior citizens that they took care of, she said. She had to get on assistance in order to keep everyone fed, because the money that their families provided wasn’t going to be enough. Like the local food bank Smith used to help her to feed her household the Greater Lansing Food Bank is up to take the challenge to feed as many people as they can.
Arts & Entertainment
Lansing welcomes Women’s Premiere Soccer League franchise
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
“I play soccer, because I like working on a team to achieve a common goal,” Jackie Baratta, a Lansing resident, said. It is important for girls to play sports to not only get the team experience — which will be important for school projects as well as future work experiences — it is also good mentally and physically, Baratta said. The sentiment of girls getting involved in sports is shared among the Lansing community as a new addition has been made to the Hope Sports Complex/ hill SBC Soccer Club. The club will now have a semi-professional Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) team. “We stopped after high school, now we continue for serious players in the womens’ soccer league,” Julie Mullin, general manager of the complex and owner of the Chill SBC Soccer Club said.
Community News
Aiming at pay equity, Lansing continues the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
Sometimes, Abdul Conde worries that even by going to school and doing everything he has to do, he will still be behind in pay. “As a young person of color I want to see a change in the wage gap because right now it is unfair,” Conde, a Lansing resident, said. Helping ensure that Conde gets a fair chance is part of the motivation behind the city of Lansing’s participation in President Barack Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge, now in its second year here. “This year for the challenge we are focusing on closing the racial economic gaps in the community,” Angela Waters Austin, the CEO of One Love Global, said. “We have milestones that goes from a person’s birth to their 25th birthday and this helps to come up with strategies to close gaps of young men of color and other beings left behind.”
Milestone include focusing on closing the opportunity gap in getting youths into the workforce and focusing on violence prevention and helping youths have a second chance to talk to law enforcement, according to the news release.
Community News
Lansing welcomes refugees to their new home
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
The city of Lansing has become a melting pot of diversity as the community has helped to resettle more than 4,600 refugees in recent years, according to the Community Profile Population Report. “We have diverse group of refugees each year as between 600 to 650 come to Lansing,” Marissa Nalley, the Community Outreach Coordinator for St. Vincent Catholic Charities said. A person is a refugee if they flee from their homes from either race, nationality, religion or opinion Nalley said. In the year 2014 the arrival numbers showed the biggest demographics that were coming from Somalia with 144 people, and Iraq with 179, according to St.
housing
Former Michigan School for the Blind to get a makeover
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By Jaylyn Galloway
Listen Up Lansing Staff Reporter
The former high school building that served as the Michigan School for the Blind campus along with the Abigail building will be redone as apartment buildings, according to Bob Johnson director of Planning & Neighborhood Development for the City of Lansing. The idea is to demolish the auditorium to create new multi-family apartment units and to redo the Abigail building and the old high school as senior housing, Johnson said. “We need to understand that affordable housing is capital and it will create economy for business,” Johnson said. With the aim of creating 60 units for seniors and 72 units for families the project total would end up costing $24.4 million. However, it would bring 150 jobs during the construction, Edmistion said.