Free Republic

For years, boys and girls at South Arbor Charter Academy have been inspired by Heroes Hall – a corridor featuring murals that honored the Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts, Mother Teresa, Betsy Ross and Albert Einstein. But many parents are furious after the principal had the murals replaced with paintings honoring President Obama, J.K. Rowling and Oprah. “This is no longer a hall of heroes,” parent Craig Bergman told me. “Now we have a hall of celebrities.” So what the heck is going on here? Why did the South Arbor Charter Academy remove a mural memorializing the fallen Columbia astronauts and...

In December of 2012, in the aftermath of Michigan’s Republican Legislature passing a right-to-work law, thousands of union members from around the state participated in a teleconference where their leaders promised “retribution” against the GOP. One union member wondered if Democrats took control of the Legislature, “Could we shove it right down their throats?” Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, shot back: “If we were to change the composition of both houses, where we were the majority and had the governor, no question we would be able to get rid of it right away. … In November of...

An email blast sent Nov. 3 from the superintendent in Pinckney Community Schools using school mailing lists stated the district was “asking voters to renew” a multi-million millage raises questions whether the district crossed the line and violated state campaign finance law. The email, sent by superintendent Rick Todd to parents, employees and school board members, states: “For Pinckney Community Schools, we are asking voters to renew a 6-year Non-Homestead Millage of 18 Mils.” The six-year millage passed last night and will raise about $3.7 million a year for the school district, which is located in Livingston County. Bob LaBrant,...

When Michigan’s right-to-work law was passed in December 2012, many hoped the law would encourage union responsibility. Under the statute, local unions would no longer be able to take their members’ dues for granted, and would instead have to prove their worth to members. Unfortunately, instead of responding with a positive campaign to retain member teachers, school district unions have worked in conjunction with the Michigan Education Association to avoid and circumvent the law. Many times, teachers suffer as a result. For example, Wyoming teachers lost as much as $12,700 in salary and concessions when their local union chose to...

In September 2013, the Michigan Education Association had a surprise for the nearly 8,000 public school employees who thought that by not signing up for the union’s e-dues that they were expressing their desire to disaffiliate from the union and thereby exercise their freedoms under Michigan’s newly enacted right to work law. The union announced that it was going to enforce its little-known bylaw purported to only allow members to resign during the month of August. Through the efforts of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation and four brave Saginaw school teachers, the so-called August window has been declared illegal. When...

The superintendent of Livonia Public Schools said it was a mistake that an email signed by district employees supporting four school board candidates was sent to district employees at their work email addresses. Two district employees who are officials in the Livonia Education Association union local signed the email. “It was sent by a staff member of the local EA (education association) who inadvertently sent it to the wrong email list,” Superintendent Randy Liepa told Capitol Confidential. “It was done in error. They did let us know immediately about the error and apologized.” He did not say if any action...

LANSING, MI — Michigan’s gay marriage ban remains in place after a federal court ruling on Thursday, and Republican Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette both made clear they will continue to defend it. “When I became governor, I took an oath to support and defend our state constitution, without exceptions,” Snyder said in a statement, referencing the 2004 voter-approved amendment that defined marriage as between one woman and one man. “My obligation to carry out that oath is not a matter of personal preference. As I have said throughout this process, I will respect the court’s decision...

In Michigan, it is legal for people who have a concealed carry permit to openly carry firearms on school grounds and into schools.   It is illegal for them to carry concealed firearms on  school grounds or into schools.   Some second amendment supporters have exercised their rights by carrying their personal defensive firearms openly while picking up their children or visiting schools for other reasons.  Banning guns from schools is a relatively recent  phenomena.  The idea started being pushed about 1990.   There was never any validity to it as a safety measure.   Mass shootings in schools have only gone up...

Detroit homeowner Sarah Hamilton wanted to sell her house, but was having some trouble. No, it wasn’t a down seller's market -- it was a squatter... But things got more interesting after WJBK reporter Charlie LeDuff entered the picture. He met with the homeowner and her attorney, and was given a set of keys and the proper paperwork...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This is John in Mount Clemens, Michigan. Hey, John, are you still there? CALLER: I am, Rush, and I'm humbled that you're talking about my call before I even get on the air. RUSH: Well, you know, most hosts would have stolen your idea, never mentioned you, and had the screener hang up on you and nobody would have ever known you existed, but I have more integrity than that. CALLER: That's what separates you from the pack. RUSH: I think your thinking on this is simplistically brilliant. It's one of those things I wish I would...

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld gay marriage bans in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, reversing a recent trend in the federal courts to strike down such bans.

By a two-to-one vote, a federal appeals court in Cincinnati upheld the right of states to ban same-sex marriage, overturning lower court decisions in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee that found such restrictions to be unconstitutional.

ATLANTA, MI- There are no guns to be seen in the county seat this day. And that is the point. Montmorency County is among Michigan's hot beds for concealed handguns. One in 10 adults are licensed to carry. That compares to one in 30 in Kent County. Inside Coach's Corner Bar & Grill, the curved bar is backed by two harried tenders. Outside, two wall posters welcome both Lions Fans and Atlanta visitors. The first advertises Bud Light, the second Miller Lite. A line of bar seats are nearly full at 5 p.m. on a weekday. Tables are more available....

I’d almost forgotten to write this column. I’m sitting here watching election returns, and I am just stunned. Massachusetts? Maryland? MARYLAND?!?! Forget the Senate for a minute, or the massive Republican majority in the House, and think about the fact that Republicans did so well in the gubernatorial races across the country. In Michigan, after passing a “Right-To-Work” law, Gov. Rick Snyder wins handily. Union money and muscle plus President Obama campaigning against him couldn’t sink a man with the Twitter handle @OneToughNerd. Speaking of unions, no one had a bigger target placed on their back by the unions than...

PPP's final polls for Governor in Florida, Michigan, and Illinois find incredibly tight contests in all three states. Florida is the closest. Rick Scott and Charlie Crist both have 44%, with Libertarian Adrian Wyllie polling at 6%. PPP usually has a policy of not releasing poll results to the decimal, but when we find a tie on our final poll of the cycle somewhere we make an exception. Crist is at 44.0% to 43.8% for Scott- in terms of raw respondents to the poll that's 526 for Crist and 524 for Scott. Wyllie may be playing a spoiler role for...

Obama says wealthy don't need another champion Associated Press By NEDRA PICKLER 2 hours ago DETROIT (AP) — Yelling out a populist theme until his voice turned hoarse, President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Michigan voters in the midterm campaign's final weekend to cast ballots for Democrats who support a higher minimum wage

Detroit police say a 16-year-old is clinging to life after getting being attacked by a classmate at his charter school, apparently over a pair of shoes. The incident happened Wednesday at Allen Academy on Quincy Street, in a northwest neighborhood off of I-96 near Joy Road. Police say the student, identified in reports as 16-year-old Willie Wallace, was violently attacked by at least one other student. Investigators believe it all stemmed from a previous altercation over a pair of expensive Nike Air Force shoes Wallace was wearing. Wallace reportedly suffered a seizure, fractured skull, bleeding in his brain, and damage...

<p>On Tuesday, Slate and everyone else posted a video of a woman who is harassed more than 100 times by men as she walks around New York City for ten hours. More specifically, it’s a video of a young white woman who is harassed by mostly black and Latino men as she walks around New York City for ten hours. The one dude who turns around and says, “Nice,” is white, but the guys who do the most egregious things—like the one who harangues her, “Somebody’s acknowledging you for being beautiful! You should say thank you more,” or the one who follows her down the street too closely for five whole minutes—are not.</p>

This, however, seems to be too rubish a deduction for its critics. So reflexive has the search for complexity become that even the most straightforward of questions are now twisted and bent into more pleasingly distressing shapes. In her Brooklyn Magazine piece, Iverson argues that “it’s no coincidence that Roberts is presented in the video as being explicitly not responsible for the attacks on her because she’s not wearing ‘provocative’ clothes and she doesn’t respond to any of the verbal assaults thrown at her.” At first blush, one would have imagined this to be a positive thing. Does not the...

A new video about street harassment has gone viral and it proves that . . . how do I put this? It proves that I was right. The video, released by the nonprofit anti-street-harassment organization Hollaback, features a moderately attractive woman, Shoshana Roberts, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, walking in silence through Manhattan for ten hours. The trek was recorded on a hidden video camera, carried by Roberts’s boyfriend, who walked in front of her. The camera picked up over 100 instances of street harassment in one day, according to the group, ranging in severity from men shouting “good morning,”...