Michigan can’t even give away billions of dollars.
A cash offer of $1.1 billion wasn’t enough to lure a company to a Genesee County location near Flint.
When auto companies chose to spend about $11 billion building plants in the American South in 2021, Michigan, stung by headlines blaming the state for losing this business, gathered a taxpayer-funded honeypot. But years later, that also has failed to attract a buyer.
Michigan gave $259 million in site prep for the Genesee County spot. It offered $6 billion to Western Digital Technologies, according to an August 2024 letter of intent signed by Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin Messer and Dan Steere, Western Digital's senior vice president of corporate development and strategy.
In return, the company would invest $63 billion between 2024 and 2045 and create 9,400 jobs.
Michigan offered:
$1.175 billion in a cash grant
$750 million in cash grants
$416 million in a sales and use tax exemption
CNN anchor Erin Burnett blasted for describing NYC shooter as 'possibly white'
Authorities have charged at least five suspects in a violent attack that took place in downtown Cincinnati, according to police.
FOX 19 reported that the beating took place on Friday night between Elm and Fourth Streets, with videos going viral on social media.
Video circulating around social media shows two people attacking a man wearing a white T-shirt, who is eventually shoved to the ground. The man wearing a white T-shirt was kicked several times while he was on the ground, but eventually gets up.
A woman was also seen lying unconscious in the street after being punched. Several people can be seen helping her get up, and she eventually regained consciousness. Click here to read more.
Middle School Cheerleaders Made a TikTok Video Portraying a School Shooting. They Were Charged With a Crime.
One afternoon in mid-September, a group of middle school girls in rural East Tennessee decided to film a TikTok video while waiting to begin cheerleading practice.
In the 45-second video posted later that day, one girl enters the classroom holding a cellphone. “Put your hands up,” she says, while a classmate flickers the lights on and off. As the camera pans across the classroom, several girls dramatically fall back on a desk or the floor and lie motionless, pretending they were killed.
When another student enters and surveys the bodies on the ground in poorly feigned shock, few manage to suppress their giggles. Throughout the video, which ProPublica obtained, a line of text reads: “To be continued……”
Penny Jackson’s 11-year-old granddaughter was one of the South Greene Middle School cheerleaders who played dead. She said the co-captains told her what to do and she did it, unaware of how it would be used. The next day, she was horrified when the police came to school to question her and her teammates. Click here to read more.
Here’s why a school district is telling teachers not to post Amazon Wish Lists
HOHENWALD, Tenn. - A school district in Tennessee is asking teachers not to share personal Amazon Wish Lists.
Lewis County School District asked teachers to refrain from posting their wish lists when using the district’s name, school names or logos.
Director of Schools Tracy McAbee shared the district’s reasoning for the decision in a Facebook post.
McAbee said that when donations are made using the name or brand of a Tennessee public school, “there must be a documented process to verify that items were received, properly inventoried, and used in accordance with public purpose.”
“Currently, there is no consistent way to verify that donations made through individual wish lists were delivered or how those resources were used. This creates the potential for audit findings and concerns about mismanagement, even when the intent is good,” she said. Click here to read more. Click here to read more.
Congress wants largest teachers union to pick kids over politics
The National Education Association was given a federal charter to be a professional advocate for teachers and public education, but it has morphed into a hyper-partisan advocacy group.
Spending tens of millions of dollars on campaigns, lobbying and ideology-driven resolutions that have little to do with students has real consequences. It hurts teachers. It politicizes the classroom. It undermines trust in public education. And it’s happening under the recognition of a federal charter, a rare privilege possessed by fewer than 100 national-interest groups, such as the American Legion.
Congress is considering fixing that. The Stopping Teachers Unions from Damaging Education Needs Today Act, would hold the NEA to the same standards of neutrality, transparency and public service expected of any nationally chartered nonprofit. The STUDENT Act is intended to refocus the NEA on education.
NEA is more focused on power than education
In 2024, the NEA spent $23 million on political campaigns and another $3 million lobbying Congress. That same year, just 9% of the NEA’s spending was on representing its members, while the rest went to political causes and other union leadership priorities. Click here to read more.
