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LANSING, Mich - Assuming that money is fungible, what could it have bought Michiganders?
The average price of a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert in 2023 was $1,088, as calculated by CNBC. At that rate, Michigan could have bought Taylor Swift tickets for 40% of the state population.
Or, Michigan taxpayers could have bought 33 million days — 90,000 years and then some — at Disney World via $130-day passes.
The money could have funded child care and living expenses for the roughly 10,000 Michigan kids in foster care. It could have lowered Michigan’s personal income tax rate to 2.85%, down from 4.25%.
Rep. Dylan Wegela, D-Garden City, told CapCon that the giveaway should be considered “legislative malpractice.” Click here to read more.
CHICAGO, IL - The Chicago Teachers Union demanded each of the 623 Chicago schools hire multiple new positions, including librarians, climate champions and gender support coordinators. Even nearly empty schools would be required to hire these extra staffers.
The Chicago Teachers Union wants at least one librarian and librarian’s assistant in each of Chicago’s 623 schools, even in Douglass Academy High School where there are only 35 students.
They also want climate champions, gender support coordinators and a total of 4,650 new positions at a cost of $1.7 billion. That’s on top of what Chicago Public Schools already spends to employ current teachers, staff and administrators – an amount driving a projected $391 million deficit in the coming school year.
In the case of Douglass Academy High School, the demands would add at least eight staff members to their current roster of 23 full-time employees – 31 staffers to educate only 35 students. Click here to read more.
Two policemen in Alexandria, Virginia, revived a newborn in the tense moments after he was born not breathing.
Law enforcement officials said Monday that the Alexandria Police Department (APD) got a 911 call just after midnight about a family in desperate need of help when a mother gave birth suddenly to a lifeless baby. The policemen who rushed to the scene remained calm and quickly took matters into their own hands, the agency continued: APD Officers Hiltz and Reilly entered an apartment in the 3800 block of Executive Avenue, rushing to locate the baby. They found a newborn not breathing and without a heartbeat. As first responders, their training immediately kicked in, and, without hesitation, Officer Hiltz began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) while Officer Reilly managed to keep the family calm. After two rounds of CPR, Officer Hiltz located a pulse, and the baby began to “fuss,” as Officer Hiltz described it. The sound of a newborn baby crying could be heard throughout the home. Click here to read more.
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AUSTIN, TX - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton praised a federal court's decision on Tuesday that blocked the Biden Administration from forcing its recently updated Title IX policies on schools across the state.
Paxton in a news release described it as a "major victory" against the Biden Administration’s Department of Education. The Biden administration in April unveiled a final set of changes to Title IX, the federal civil rights law prohibiting sex-based discrimination at government-funded schools. The changes would reinstitute protections for student survivors of sexual assault and harassment that were rolled back during the Trump administration.
The changes, which were met with backlash and faced nearly 70 GOP lawsuits, were set to take effect Aug. 1. Click here to read more.
TAMPA, Fla. – Cam Gebhards, 19 and a former Hillsborough student, called out school board members during a public meeting Tuesday for continuing to allow explicit books in school libraries.
Cam told the board that during her sophomore year of high school, her English teacher told students to purchase an explicit book called “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, which is currently available in multiple school libraries.
Her mother, Julie Gebhards, researched the book and discovered “the book graphically discusses many sexual topics including orgasms, prostitution, incest, rape, nudity, pornography, molestation, pedophilia, masturbation, sexual dreams, homosexuality, bestiality and sodomy.”
“My mother did her job in protecting me – why don’t you?” Cam asked the board.
Two years ago, Cam reported this to the school board during public comment and expressed shock that the book is still found on library shelves, as verified by the district’s online library catalog. Click here to read more.
