East Lansing holiday ban draws boos | LSD’s new superintendent shines | Lansing Township’s tax gambit | Election endorsements recap more

The Republican Governors Association’s political arm is running a five-digit internet ad this week that ties the lead in Benton Harbor’s water supply firmly around Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s finger. more

Usually, I start my column with an experience from my teaching writing at Lansing Community College. This month I am thinking about me when I was an East Lansing Public Schools parent.  more

Just when we thought Michigan’s maturing cannabis industry had more or less reached a stable plateau, where the rules of the road are well established and well understood, along comes a new round of saber-rattling by a consortium of the largest commercial cannabis operators, who are looking to shake things up by taking down licensed medical marijuana caregivers. more

Republicans such as Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey who oppose mandatory vaccinations for Covid-19 as an infringement on personal freedom should learn more about George Washington. more

In three weeks, Lansing voters who haven’t already returned their absentee ballots will head to the polls to elect Lansing’s next mayor. We’ve carefully weighed the choice between first-term incumbent Mayor Andy Schor and his challenger, 16-year City Councilwoman Kathie Dunbar, and are now prepared to proffer an endorsement.  more

It’s looking more and more likely the Lansing area will anchor a new Mid-Michigan congressional district and U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin would run in it, even though her current residence isn’t in it. more

Just when we thought the Republican crazy train claiming last year’s presidential election was stolen had finally run out of steam, now comes the Grand Old Party’s latest attempt at voter suppression, this time in the form of a petition you’ll soon be asked to sign by an earnest volunteer in the parking lot at Meijer’s. As New York baseball great Yogi Berra purportedly once said, “It’s deja vu all over again.” more

Pro-marijuana caregivers burned away a chunk of credibility this week when they turned a legislative committee discussion on bills forcing them to become a registered business into a snide attack on an opposing lobbyist. more

Lansing mayoral candidates face off over felony firearms policy more

One downside of early voting is many voters decide before all the facts are in. Just as the campaign is heating up, absentee ballots arrive in the mail. In the case of the Lansing mayor’s race, residents are voting even before either of the two scheduled TV debates. more

Maybe I’m wrong, but it doesn’t feel like election season.  more

Thanks to the City Pulse recent report on school dress codes, I was reminded of one of my students. She was maybe 23 in a sea of the 18-and-19-year-olds who usually enrolled for the daytime classes I taught. more

Give credit to Mayor Andy Schor for ordering a top-to-bottom, independent review of the Lansing Police Department’s policies and procedures. more

Don’t look now, but it’s only about 100 days until Christmas, and you know what that means around the state Capitol grounds: the Christmas tree and the displaying of other Holiday symbols. more

An investigative report by City Pulse’s Todd Heywood in last week’s edition revealed some disconcerting information about another investigation, this one conducted in secret by the Lansing Police Department’s Special Operations Section. more

More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory vaccination is a permissible exercise of governmental authority in response to a public health crisis. more

The sultry heat of August will soon give way to a different kind of heat as the mercury rises in the Lansing mayor’s race. more

The story of former Shawn Deprez — how alleged harassment pushed her to take an early retirement from the Lansing Fire Department in 2019 — has mayoral candidate Kathie Dunbar’s blood boiling. more

One of Andy Schor’s first official acts as the newly elected mayor of Lansing was creating a Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board to guide his administration on matters of consequence to the city’s communities of color. more