Donald Trump is digging the trench between himself and any critical-thinking Michigan Republican a little deeper. more

Last year’s murder toll in Lansing — 22 lives lost to senseless violence — hasn’t been seen in this town in three decades. One might think that such an epidemic of killing would have given city leaders a compelling reason to get as many police officers on the street as possible. Yet we’ve recently come to learn that Mayor Andy Schor and former Lansing Police Department Chief Daryl Green allowed 14 fully funded police positions to go vacant (now 15 with Green’s recent retirement). As a result, LPD has had as few as eight officers on patrol across the entire city. That’s not enough. more

When I taught writing to college freshmen, I would remind students the key to success was steady work. “This isn’t a class you can cram for,” I warned students at the beginning of each semester.  more

In May of this year, I wrote an email to President Samuel L. Stanley and Provost Teresa Woodruff of Michigan State University asking them to speak out against the rise in anti-Semitic attacks occurring in the United States. The outbreak of hostilities in Israel and Gaza became an excuse for desecrating synagogues and attacking Jews in the United States. I mentioned in my email that President Biden had called the attacks “despicable,” as they were. Yet MSU stayed silent and I received no response to my request. A month later, a friend and former writing professor at MSU sent Stanley an email with a link to a New York Times opinion piece by Matthew Bronfman. Bronfman urged university leaders to speak out against the rise in anti-Semitic activity on campus and to acknowledge the cost to Jewish students. Stanley did not respond to this email request, either. more

Michigan’s cannabis industry is at a crossroads. more

Leading a city as its mayor isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes courage, resolve and a knack for bringing people together around a shared vision for the community’s future. Sadly, our current mayor doesn’t appear to embody any of these qualities. Virtually invisible during much of the pandemic, Mayor Andy Schor’s first term has been marked by a troubled, tone deaf relationship with Lansing’s Black community and an egregious lack of honesty and transparency that breeds deep distrust of City Hall. That’s why we think it’s time for a change. more

In 1999, a moderate Republican (like a real moderate) named Patricia “Pan” Godchaux from Oakland County first proposed a bill in Michigan to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. more

Having apparently learned nothing from the last election, Republicans in the Michigan Legislature continue to push the false Trumpian narrative that the election was stolen amid widespread voter fraud. To “fix” this imaginary problem, they’ve introduced a ridiculous package of 39 bills that are explicitly designed to frustrate the ability of voters to exercise their electoral franchise. One of the bills would have required making a copy of your photo ID and sending it in with your absentee ballot. That bit of nonsense has since been watered down, but the intent is clear: disenfranchising as many voters as possible, especially if they vote by absentee ballot and are from predominantly Democratic areas with a high proportion of minority voters. Should lawmakers get enough votes to send these malformed voter suppression bills to the governor, we expect she will veto them without hesitation. more

Hate crimes and pandemics have a way of exposing how we’ve failed our fellow Americans. But if we’re willing to learn, they can also show the path toward healing that can transform us in ways big and small.  more

City Pulse needs your help. This time, we do not have our hand out, although your contributions are always welcome. (Please see P. 3 for information on our June fundraising campaign.) more

Michigan Democrats are beaming that Republicans are not concocting the new legislative and congressional lines this year.  more

The candidates’ ability to repair longstanding racial inequities, reform public safety and help curb the city’s skyrocketing levels of gun violence are undoubtedly key issues in this year’s election cycle. We asked the candidates directly: How do you plan to use your position, if elected, to drive forward some meaningful social equity and/or public safety reforms in Lansing? more

Two more murders. Two more Lansing teenagers dead, bringing the city’s 2021 death toll by homicide to 15. And it’s only June. At this rate, Lansing is on track to easily outstrip last year’s record of 22 homicides — the most murders in a single year in decades. With the hottest days of summer just ahead, we’re bracing for even more senseless violence while community leaders scramble for answers. more

My name is Farhan Sheikh-Omar. I was born in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. Violence first pushed my family out of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. As civil war spread, my family decided the country was no longer safe. My parents worked hard to find a solution to long-term living in a refugee camp. They were fortunate to be granted resettlement in the U.S. We were fleeing conflict, insecurity and persecution.  more

Before transgender people in public bathrooms, it was gay marriage. And before it was gay marriage, it was legalizing gay rights of any sort.  more

Hispanic programming a loser at LCC more

Born in 1924, I remember the beautiful Strand/Michigan Theatre. On that stage a magician asked for a red-haired boy to help. My brother, about 12, called out “Here I am” and ran onto the stage. After the trick, he gave Carlyle the white rabbit and it peed on our hands, and we ran home to show our folks.  more

Like a lion in a pack that circles its prey and begins its attack by going after the genitals and neck, I too will not waste the reader’s time. Make no mistake about it. This is war. This is what I live, breathe, sleep, shit and eat. To quote Mike Tyson: “My opponents are as good as dead.” more

Ever heard of a news desert? It’s what you call a community that has lost its local newspapers. Over the past two decades, it’s happened far more often than you might think. More than 2,100 local newspapers, including 70 dailies and 2,000 weekly publications, have permanently turned off the lights, leaving hundreds of communities across the nation with no local print journalism. more

Last week, I wrote how Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson was floating in political hot water. If she doesn’t clear up her backlog of folks needing new license plates, forcing people to drive illegally, Benson could be a one-term secretary of state. more