Records show Whitmer’s eight-day South Korea, Taiwan trip cost about $205K

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spent about $204,941 on an eight-day September trip to South Korea and Taiwan, according to documents Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request.

The trip itinerary shows 16 unredacted names and several redacted names, meaning it’s unclear how many persons went on the trip, which took place from Sept. 11 -19.

“Michigan is competing on the global stage, and the best way to win is to build relationships and make sure companies know what we bring to the table,” Whitmer said in a press release issued by her office. “In South Korea and Taiwan, we deepened our relationships with companies already creating good-paying jobs in Michigan, and showed others considering where to make their next investment why our state is the best place to build the future. These new partnerships in shipbuilding, robotics, chips, and other industries will shape our economy for decades to come.” Click here to read more.

 

Republicans weigh in on lawsuit challenging Jocelyn Benson’s election records destruction rule

Republicans on Thursday flied an amicus brief in an ongoing lawsuit against Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson challenging her order to destroy election records after seven days.

“You can’t claim to support election transparency while ordering election records destroyed,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. “Benson’s rule wipes out records federal law requires to be preserved, and the RNC is fighting to make sure critical data isn’t erased from public view.”

The case involves Bridgewater Township Clerk Michelle McQueer, who for 11 months repeatedly requested clarification from Benson’s department on a rule for clerks to delete electronic poll book data seven days after an election is certified, which conflicts with federal laws requiring retention for 22 months. Click here to read more.

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Republicans Sue Lansing Over Nearly 2-to-1 Democratic Advantage in Election Poll Workers

LANSING, Mich. – The Republican National Committee (RNC), Michigan Republican Party and Ingham County Republican Party have filed a lawsuit against Lansing election officials, accusing them of stacking Election Day poll worker positions in Democrats’ favor and refusing to release public records.

According to the lawsuit, Lansing appointed 140 Democratic poll workers compared to just 71 Republicans to staff polling places during the August 2026 primary election – nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans, despite Michigan law requiring election officials to appoint workers from both major political parties in as equal numbers as possible. Republicans allege they submitted qualified candidates for the positions but were largely passed over. Click here to read more.

 

China Used Military-Linked Kindergarten To Cultivate Ties With Mitch McConnell’s Wife And In-Laws

It is graduation day in Shanghai and Elaine Chao is in attendance.

The date is June 14, 2026 and in several hours Chao’s husband, Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, will be rushed to a hospital on the other side of the globe.

Chao has been returning to this Shanghai kindergarten for decades, where she has repeatedly met with officials from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and an influence and intelligence arm called the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to Daily Caller News Foundation translations of dozens of Chinese government and state-media reports.

Beijing uses the UFWD to steer foreign policy and “gain access to advanced foreign technology,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Named in honor of Chao’s grandfather, the kindergarten is being used by a United Front arm as a stage to cultivate ties with Chao, documents show. Click here to read more.

 

State Health Dept. Sued Over Forced Unionizing of Michigan Home Caregivers

MIDLAND, Mich. — The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit challenging Michigan’s effort to classify home caregivers as state employees for union representation. The lawsuit seeks to enforce the Michigan Constitution’s rules governing state employment and invalidate the election that certified SEIU Healthcare Michigan as the bargaining representative for home caregivers.

The foundation represents James “Jase” Bolger, a former member of the Michigan Civil Service Commission. Bolger brings the lawsuit as a citizen, as the Michigan Constitution allows any citizen to sue to enforce its civil service provisions.

“Michigan’s Constitution puts safeguards around state employment for a reason: to keep politicians from using it to serve special interests,” said Bolger. Click here to read more.

 

 

Just 25% of Michigan students meet ‘college ready’ SAT benchmark

The percentage of Michigan students ready for college continues to decline, with just a quarter meeting a key SAT benchmark last year.

“It’s true that SAT scores are only one predictor of college readiness,” Charlotte Pierce, senior policy analyst at EdTrust-Midwest, told Bridge Michigan. “However, these results align with other concerning opportunity gaps we see across Michigan schools, particularly those serving students with the greatest needs.”

The College Board, the nonprofit that develops and administers the SAT, considers students college ready when they score at least 530 on the math portion and 480 on the reading and writing portion.

In the 2025-26 school year, only 25.3% of Michigan students who took the SAT met that threshold, down from 26.6% the year prior, and 35% a decade ago. Click here to read more.

 

Ann Arbor nurse charged with helping detained illegal alien escape hospital

A nurse who was working at an Ann Arbor hospital now faces a federal misdemeanor charge for allegedly helping an illegal alien escape from federal custody months ago.

The case against 29-year-old Chloe Freeman, of Whitmore Lake, Michigan, stems from an incident May 28,2026, at Trinity Health Ann Arbor Hospital.

Freeman is accused of helping the illegal immigrant from Mexico exit the hospital, after was injured while trying to evade arrest. He remains at large and has not yet been located by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Trinity Health Michigan confirmed to CBS News Detroit that Freeman no longer works at the hospital. Click here to read more.

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Firefighters Union Removes El-Sayed From Endorsement List, Cites ‘Clerical Error’

LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union (MPFFU) is not endorsing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after its president said a clerical error placed his name on an initial list of endorsed candidates.

The union later removed El-Sayed’s name from the list.

Michigan News Source reached out to MPFFU President Matt Sahr for comment about the nature of the clerical error, but he did not respond by press time.

As reported by The Midwesterner, Sahr said the union’s initial endorsement list was sent to members on Sept. 11 or 12. El-Sayed’s name appeared at the top alongside Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson. The slate also included endorsements for the Michigan Supreme Court and dozens of local races. Click here to read more.

 

Serial killer in Lansing?

Police in Lansing are investigating a series of five deaths in the past year along the same river trail, and say they’re looking into the possibility they’re all connected.

Additionally, the deaths reportedly all happened within a one-mile stretch of the Lansing River Trail.

The victims ranged in age from 22-70 years old. The victims were reportedly Gino Chouinard, 54; Denis Dunnebacke, 70; Robert Smith, 57; Daniel Lusk, 22; and Louis Woodruff, 57.

The newspaper reports the earlier incident, involving Chouinard, happened on Oct. 14, 2025, with the most recent case, involving Woodruff, happening on Aug. 30, 2026. Click here to read more.

 

Supreme Court term brings cases on climate claims, gun rights, religious liberty and more

A new Supreme Court term began Monday with major cases that could reshape climate liability, gun rights, religious liberty, voting rules, immigration policy and more.

Zachary Shemtob, who has practiced law and now serves as the executive editor of SCOTUSblog, said this Supreme Court term isn’t shaping up to be as consequential as recent ones, including the just-completed “executive power term.”

But he and Michele Bratcher Goodwin, a constitutional law professor at Georgetown Law, both said there are still plenty of impactful cases on the docket.

And Shemtob said more key cases could be coming down the pike if justices agree to hear percolating disputes over tariffs, birthright citizenship or other Trump administration actions as part of their emergency docket throughout the term. Click here to read more.

 

 

DSA national co-chair Ashik Siddique privately praises Abdul El-Sayed as ‘viable candidate’ for U.S. Senate

While U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed insists he’s not a socialist, the Democratic Socialists of America are promoting the former health official as a “viable candidate.”

DSA National Co-Chair Ashik Siddique broke down the situation during a recent Socialism 2026 Conference in Chicago.

“I don’t think it’s any accident that in New York City, this Democratic Socialist politics is expressing with a large Muslim working-class population,” he said in an undercover video obtained exclusively by The Midwesterner. “In Michigan, where you have somebody like Abdul El-Sayed being a viable candidate for Senate, um Rashida Tlaib. Click here to read more.

 

Homeschoolers outperform public school students in new report

Homeschool students outscore their public school counterparts by double-digit percentages on standardized tests, according to a report published earlier this year in a peer-reviewed journal.

A Nationwide Study on the Academic Achievement of Home-Educated Students, conducted and written by Brian Ray and Braden Hoelzle, appeared May 21 in the “Peabody Journal of Education.” It is the first study of its kind in 15 years, the authors say.

“The aim of this study was to offer an updated snapshot of the academic achievement of homeschool students and identify predictors of their achievement, a new, albeit limited, comparison of homeschoolers’ academic performance to that of institutional school students, and ascertain parents’ reasons for homeschooling,” the authors wrote. Click here to read more.

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When these licenses can’t cross state lines, consumers suffer

Anne Davis is a psychotherapist who spent two decades counseling homeless people and patients with mental illness in Colorado. But when she moved home to Michigan — which has a severe shortage of counselors, social workers and therapists — it took more than a year for the state to allow her to get back to work.

The state desperately needs therapists like Davis. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, more than 3 million Michiganders live in a community that does not have enough mental health professionals. The state is facing a shortage of therapists and psychiatrists. But Michigan’s licensing laws have made it difficult to fill these gaps. Click here to read more.

 

Detroit Fire dispatcher accused of lying to the FBI and tipping off her brother to a raid

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A former dispatcher with the Detroit Fire Department in trouble with the feds is accused of tipping off her brother about an impending raid, then lying about it to the FBI.

Big picture view:

The criminal complaint says in March 2025, Stephanie Steen, a dispatcher, was working when law enforcement was cleared to conduct an early morning raid at her brother’s home on Turner on the city’s west side.

He was wanted for defrauding unemployment.

It is alleged that Steen called and texted her mother, who also lives there, to tip them off, something former Assistant Detroit Police Chief Steve Dolunt says could have been very dangerous. Click here to read more.

 

Will Democrats Reject ‘Free Money’ for Schools?

A potentially sweeping reform to K-12 education beginning in January is forcing Democratic governors to weigh the political risks of joining or rejecting the new federal school choice program designed by conservatives.

The little-known program, called the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, creates a new and possibly large funding stream for education based on private donations to nonprofit scholarship granting organizations. The uncapped initiative is expected to generate billions of dollars in scholarships that could affect the educational paths and performance of millions of students in both public and private schools. Click here to read more.