Free Republic

Ann Arborites often talk about the possibility of commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit in wistful tones, as if envisioning a beautiful pipe dream. But this November's election will make that vision a very real possibility. The Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan (RTA) will put a millage proposal before voters in Washtenaw, Wayne, Macomb and Oakland counties this fall to fund its transit master plan for the region. In Washtenaw County, along with bus rapid transit service from Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti, that plan includes Detroit-to-Ann Arbor commuter rail making eight round trips a day at speeds...

An Iraq war veteran in Michigan canceled his order for a cake when he discovered the bakery’s owners were Muslim, one of the owners told Fox 17 West Michigan. Zeinab Mohamed, who co-owns the Sweetcakez bakery in Grand Rapids with her husband, Javon Borst, said the wife of the buyer sent a message to them that read: "Hey actually we're going to order our cake somewhere else my husband just found out your Muslim. And I'm not against it but he is because he was in Iraq fighting for our country against your people. He even changed his new doctor...

New U.S. Census Bureau estimates say Detroit’s population continued its decline, knocking it off the list of the nation’s 20 most populous cities. Figures released Thursday say Detroit’s population was 677,116 last summer, down 3,107 from the previous year and putting in 21st on the list. The Detroit News reports the Census Bureau says the last time Detroit wasn’t in the Top 20 was 1850, when it was 30th.

With all the school shootings in the past decades, none match the 1927 Bath School Massacre, which is still considered to be the worst & largest mass murder in Michigan AND our entire country’s history. This week – May 18, 2016 to be exact – marks the 89th anniversary of this tragedy.

Today, more than 1,000 residents and 70 partner organizations from around the Midwest region protested at BP Whiting Refinery, demanding that hazardous fossil fuels stay in the ground and that the Midwest Region accelerate a just transition to 100% renewable energy. After marching two miles amid the stench of tar and sulphur permeating nearby neighborhoods, 41 of the protesters sat in a circle outside BP’s gates and were arrested by police in riot gear, and released shortly after. This was one of largest mass arrests related to environmental issues and extractive fossil fuel industries in Indiana’s history. This escalated action...

Today Donald J. Trump released the much-anticipated list of people he would consider as potential replacements for Justice Scalia at the United States Supreme Court. This list was compiled, first and foremost, based on constitutional principles, with input from highly respected conservatives and Republican Party leadership. Mr. Trump stated, “Justice Scalia was a remarkable person and a brilliant Supreme Court Justice. His career was defined by his reverence for the Constitution and his legacy of protecting Americans’ most cherished freedoms. He was a Justice who did not believe in legislating from the bench and he is a person whom I...

Don Willett is a Texas Supreme Court justice:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Willett David Stras is an associate justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Stras Allison Eid is a justice on the Colorado Supreme Court:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_H._Eid Joan Larsen is a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Larsen Steven Colloton is a federal judge who has served on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Colloton Raymond Gruender is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Gruender Thomas Hardiman is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardiman Raymond M. Kethledge is a federal judge...

<p>Navy Secretary Ray Mabus says in a letter that he has the power to name warships as he chooses, in response to a former Marine and congressman who charges he has politicized the process.</p> <p>Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican and House Armed Services Committee member, wrote Mr. Mabus to question the naming of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer after former Sen. Carl Levin, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.</p>

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has released a list of 11 potential Supreme Court justices he plans to vet to fill the seat of late Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump's picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump said in March he planned to release the list to ease concerns about his conservative credentials...

Trump's picks include Steven Colloton of Iowa, Allison Eid of Colorado and Raymond Gruender of Missouri. Also on the list are: Thomas Hardiman of Pennsylvania, Raymond Kethledge of Michigan, Joan Larsen of Michigan, Thomas Lee of Utah, William Pryor of Alabama, David Stras of Minnesota, Diane Sykes of Wisconsin and Don Willett of Texas. Trump had previously named Pryor and Sykes as examples of kind of justices he would choose.

The names are at the link.

You’ve probably never heard of Sebring, Ohio. Despite tainted water, which the EPA knew about for months before the public did, shipments of water bottles for the angry residents, two EPA employees being put on leave, and all the other elements of a scandal, it was missing something.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged college graduates who seek to "preserve liberty" to do so by fulfilling the duties of their daily vocations rather than attempting to achieve sweeping political goals. "At the risk of understating what is necessary to preserve liberty in our form of government, I think more and more that it depends on good citizens, discharging their daily duties in their daily obligations," Thomas said Saturday during a commencement address at Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in Michigan.

Management of the New York City area’s three major airports is fed up with long lines at security check points, and they have given the Transportation Security Administration an ultimatum: Either shorten the lines or we’ll find someone else to do it. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, tasked with running John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports, is threatening to privatize the process of screening passengers before boarding their flight, according to a document sent from the Port Authority to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger. “We can no longer tolerate the continuing inadequacy of the TSA passenger...

Nine GOP committee chairmen lined up behind presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump Friday, just a day after the billionaire businessmen met with key party leaders on Capitol Hill. In a statement released announcing the endorsement, the chairmen said that it was important for Republicans to unite around Trump since America cannot deal with another Democrat in the White House nor can Republicans to lose their hold on Congress. “Any other outcome is a danger to economic growth, puts our national security in peril, enshrines ObamaCare as the law of the land, entraps Americans in a cycle of poverty and dependence,...

(CNN)The mayor of Flint, Michigan, reacted to a federal lawsuit which claims donors were directed away from a charity for victims of the city's water crisis and toward a fund sharing a name with her campaign fund Wednesday, calling the allegations "outrageously false." In the suit filed Monday, fired administrator Natasha Henderson claims that in February 2016, Flint's current mayor, Karen Weaver, directed a former city employee and a city volunteer to stop directing potential donors to a charity called Safe Water/Safe Homes. That charity was run by the Community Foundation of Greater Flint and had been approved by the...

Humana wasn't kidding when it hinted last week of big premium hikes for 2017 in those ObamaCare markets where it remains. This year, the nation's fifth-largest insurer offers the cheapest bronze and silver plans in Michigan's largest market, including Detroit. But Humana has filed for a 50% premium hike for its low-cost silver plan. Meanwhile, Humana wants a 38% premium increase for its lowest-cost bronze plan. So far only Oregon, where insurers are requesting an average 27% premium hike, and Virginia, where insurers want an 18% hike, are the only two states to make all rate filings available.

the public pension debt for the 50 states and the District of Columbia jumped 84 percent in recent years, from $2.625 trillion in 2008 to $4.833 trillion in 2014. ... The highest pension debt/household is in Alaska, with an estimated $113,137 figure; Illinois and California are in the second and third highest rankings at more than $77,000 per household.” The lowest state pension debt per household is in Tennessee at $17,761. Illinois has the lowest “market funded ratio” (value of pension assets divided by market liability), at 23.3 percent. The other 49 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. have a market...

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas is set to deliver the 2016 commencement address to the graduating class of Hillsdale College on Saturday, May 14. This will mark one of the few times that Justice Thomas has spoken publicly since the surprising death of Justice Antonin Scalia back in February of this year. Statistics show that conservative leaning speakers such as Justice Thomas are becoming increasingly rare at graduation ceremonies around the country. According to Campus Reform, out of the top 100 universities, 40 of them are featuring explicitly liberal speakers at their commencement ceremonies. Only 10 are hosting...

CLEVELAND/NEW YORK - Bracing for a general election fight with Donald Trump, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton and her allies are putting resources into industrial states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania to try to block Trump from making inroads with working-class voters there. Labor leaders, progressive groups and Democratic operatives told Reuters in interviews that they took seriously Trump's appeal with white working-class voters and were studying how to respond to his promises to create jobs and negotiate better trade deals. The desire to stop the presumptive Republican presidential nominee from wresting away the support of unionized workers has even...