Lansing doesn’t have Virg Bernero to kick around anymore. His sudden exit from the 2021 mayor’s race this past weekend was somewhat surprising, given that his campaign was charging full steam ahead with fundraising, mailings and Facebook advertisements that highlighted his 12-year tenure as mayor. He seemed willing to take whatever public punishment was coming his way for an apparently lengthy history of sexual harassment, but it wasn’t meant to be.
(City Pulse invited Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon to respond to the letter on this page criticizing her views on life sentences without parole. In response, Siemon submitted an edited version …
“The dead cannot cry out for justice, it’s up to the living to do so for them.” — Lois McMaster Bujold
Michigan Republican Party Chair Ron Weiser doesn’t typically peak at public events for a reason. To be generous, his reputation isn’t one of firing up a crowd.
In her victory speech, Vice President Kamala Harris confidently stated: “I may be the first woman to hold this office, but I will not be the last.”
An annual educational activity everyone hates — but is necessary particularly in the wake of the pandemic — will roll out at the end of this school year. It is assessment. That is the measurement of learning. The COVID-19 pandemic wrecked the school year 2020-’21.
I’m not going to explain how there’s no room for sexual harassment and abusive behavior in today’s society — much less in a so-called professional workplace. That’s obvious. The trauma that TJ Bucholz inflicted on so many women at Vanguard Public Affairs is nauseating. It’s also appalling that this scandal was able to be kept quiet for so long while impacting so many people.
Lansing is bracing for another mayoral election this year. And with an incumbent accused of racism and a challenger accused of sexual harassment, some residents are beginning to doubt whether the government structure of the Capital City is best run by a so-called “strong mayor.”
In a purely political environment, there’s no way the Republican-led Senate would have allowed the governor’s appointment of a new head of the Department of Health and Human Services to stand.
Last summer, nearly 1,000 Okemos High School students and alumni signed a petition calling for the school to finish what it started. In addition to demanding a new mascot, the petition also called for a third-party evaluation of the Okemos Public Schools’ 2016-2019 equity plan.