Free Republic

Republican control of Michigan’s government didn’t prevent a minimum wage increase and an increase in taxes may be coming to fix Michigan’s roads. That’s left many wondering whether the GOP got outmaneuvered or was painted into a corner to prevent a minimum wage ballot initiative that would have been worse. It was both, combined with plenty of politics, wrote Joseph Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, and Michael LaFaive, director of fiscal policy at the Center, in a recent Wall Street Journal column: Careful economic analysis did not lead the Michigan GOP to hike the minimum wage....

More than two months after a woman reported being called homosexual slurs and beat at an Ypsilanti Township bus stop, investigators report finding no suspects and a slowed investigation. Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Derrick Jackson said Thursday deputies still believe the 28-year-old woman was assaulted because she is a lesbian. The incident, reported on March 31, took place in the 3000 block of Roundtree Boulevard. While a “Wanted” poster was released and tips were called in, Jackson said no suspect information of substance was generated. “It will stay an open investigation for a while, but there’s no real leads...

DETROIT - A man is in the hospital after he got into a car crash, but it wasn't the crash that injured him. Instead, he was severely beaten afterwards on a nearby street corner. Nathanial Szczerbinski admitted to Local 4 he caused the wreck because he was driving the wrong way down an unfamiliar Detroit street. He said he stopped and started to turn around when he was struck by a Chevy van. As Szczerbinski got out, he was confronted by the three guys who were in the van. Police sources told Local 4 the men quickly went on the...

DETROIT, MI, June 10, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Whenever the American people try to curtail abortion or maintain marriage laws, the followers of Satan will be there to fight back, promises the national spokesman for the Satanic Temple. “Lucien Greaves” told Detroit's Metro Times that he would like to help women avoid complying with pro-life laws by saying abortion restrictions violate their Satanic religious beliefs. He added that gay “marriage” is a Satanic “sacrament.” He said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican from the party's moderate business wing, “has been trying to make it untenable for women to terminate a pregnancy.”...

Citing safer jails and a reduction in unnecessary lawsuits, State Sen. Rick Jones introduced legislation that would allow anyone put in jail for a misdemeanor to be strip searched without probable cause. Sen. Jones, R-Grand Ledge, introduced Senate Bill 958 last week. It was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sen. Jones said the law would bring Michigan's jails in line with the federal prisons, where he said strip searches are allowed without cause. There have been people with weapons hidden on or inside their bodies, he said. Sen. Jones has a background in public safety and served as a...

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 6, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – As the Senate voted to confirm Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the new HHS Secretary to oversee the implementation of ObamaCare, states around the country were voting to protect the unborn, fighting for marriage, and wrestling with a wave of transgender “anti-discrimination” proposals that would allow biological men to use women's restroom and shower facilities. Florida The state of Florida is poised to protect children from abortion if they have the capacity to survive outside the womb. H.B. 1047, which would bar abortions after viability, passed the Senate by a party line 24-15 vote....

In the wake of the ever-growing VA scandal, actions at the Iron Mountain VA Hospital in Michigan may not have gotten quite as much press as many feel they should. Patsy Norton, when walking into Iron Mountain’s VA chapel, was appalled to find every sign of Christianity hidden from sight. She detailed her shock in this letter, published by Joe For America: May 30, 2014 The Daily News EDITOR: I went to the VA Hospital in Iron Mountain today on business. While there I stopped at the Chapel and found pinky-purple curtains with mesh at the top, covering the altar....

Monroe Middle School teacher Al Barron who was suspended while the Monroe district investigated his teaching methods on African American history was reinstated....

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) SYLVAN LAKE, Mich. - A homeless woman walking along a road in Sylvan Lake was suddenly and brutally attacked after dark on Memorial Day. Police say the 53-year-old woman was walking in a secluded area near Telegraph Road and James K. Boulevard when two men approached her from behind. She said one man knocked her down and continued beating her while the other man stood by and watched. Sylvan Lake police Sgt. Eric Zuehlk described the beating. "He pulled her to her feet with his left hand, beat her repeatedly with his right hand. After the assault, he just...

Contrast and compare the years since 2009 in Detroit according to Google and Bing: [Photos]

"An assailant died this week when his cohort’s gun discharged while the cohort pistol-whipped a man on Detroit's west side, George Hunter reports in the Detroit News...."

ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI – The 1967 rape and killing of her 7-year-old daughter, Sonya Santa Cruz, is never far from Edith Siordia’s thoughts. Her daughter’s killer, Theodore Glenn Williams, isn’t, either. How can they not be? Williams killed Sonya after he grabbed her while she walked home from Stocking Elementary in Grand Rapids. He raped and killed Laura Jo Sutliffe, 13, of Sparta, the previous year. Every year, Williams, who is held under a defunct criminal-sexual psychopath law, can petition Allegan County Circuit Court for release. His latest request is pending. In response, Siordia fired off a round of letters...

Detroit spent as much as $537,000 per home renovating 30 houses starting in 2011 under a federal program to fight blight before selling most for less than $100,000 each, according to a newspaper's investigation published on Thursday. The Detroit Land Bank transformed eyesores into gems, with features such as glass-tiled bathrooms, stainless steel appliances, underground sprinkler systems and, in some cases, geothermal heating, The Detroit News reported A goal was to entice middle class families into the East English Village and Boston Edison neighborhoods. Land bank Executive Director Richard Wiener, who took over in January, said officials "are now moving...

<p>A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Michigan can't block the opening of an American Indian casino because the state's legal challenge is barred by tribal sovereign immunity.</p> <p>In a 5-4 decision, the high court said the state could not shutter the Bay Mills Indian Community's casino about 90 miles south of its Upper Peninsula reservation.</p>

DETROIT, MI, May 23, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – With its high crime rate, dysfunctional government, and seemingly endless rows of burned out or vacant houses, Detroit has often been compared to a Third World country. But it also shares another characteristic of failed states around the world: a massive abortion rate. According to numbers released by the Michigan Department of Community Health, nearly one in every three pregnancies in Detroit ends in abortion. In all 5,693 of Detroit's 18,360 pregnancies – or 31 percent – ended in abortion in 2012, the last year for which data are available. When you just...

MARQUETTE, MI -- Remember how bad the winter was? The polar vortex, inches upon inches of snow. While the season has passed for most of us and Memorial Day weekend is underway, there are reminders in Michigan's Upper Peninsula of the historically cold and snowy winter. There's still ice on Lake Superior. As MLive's John "Gonzo" Gonzalez and I traveled the state looking for Michigan’s Best Taco, we noticed there is still ice cover on Lake Superior. We were just sweating earlier this week in Kalamazoo, not because of the hot sauce but the temperatures. We were surprised there is...

Detroit women are turning to abortion at a staggering rate as poverty and crime grip the city, with more than one-third of pregnancies being terminated. According to 2012 figures, the most recent year for which data are available, 31 percent of pregnancies among Detroit residents ended in abortion — compared to about 14 percent for all of Michigan, The Detroit News reported. (Snip) Dr. Susan Schooley, chairwoman of the Department of Family Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital, said the statistics make Detroit look “more like some Third-World country than someplace in the United States.”

Top White House officials have reportedly been holding private meetings with lawmakers this week to boost support for the president’s foreign policy strategy, although the outreach effort appears to have left some lawmakers confused and upset. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) described a meeting with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and National Security Adviser Susan Rice earlier this week as “one of the most bizarre I've attended on Foreign Relations on foreign policy in our country.” “I know several of us were involved in a very bizarre discussion last night. This continues a very bizarre discussion,” Corker added, according...

DETROIT (AP) — When they pull up to a gas station these days, Detroit drivers are looking beyond the price per gallon at a far more threatening concern: carjackers. The armed auto thieves have become so common here that parts of the bankrupt metropolis are referred to as "Carjack City," and many motorists fear getting out of their vehicles even for a few moments to fill a tank. So gas stations are taking steps to protect customers, and the city has formed a special police team to go after suspects. Convicted carjackers will even get their faces and prison sentences...