Tax Dollars going to Pickle Ball Courts in Michigan.

Pickleball has been the fastest-growing sport in the country for three years running, according to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. In Michigan, the entity responsible for handing out subsidies to select corporations thinks that building more pickleball courts with the help of taxpayer funds will foster economic development.

Over the last few years, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has issued various press releases announcing it will give $50,000 grants to various municipalities so they may build pickleball facilities. Local governments chosen for the grants include those in Alpena, East Lansing, Eaton Rapids, Fowler, Frankenmuth, Gladstone, Mackinac Island and Traverse City. Grants are contingent on the governments collecting donations through the crowdsourcing website Patrionicity.

The pickleball grants from the economic development organization, which also distributes state taxpayer funds to a variety of businesses, are part of its “Public Spaces Public Places” initiative, according to a press release posted online by the Michigan Municipal League. Click here to read more.

Bad Bunny addresses Super Bowl backlash on SNL, tells critics to learn Spanish in 4 months

Everyone is online these days, but new data suggests that a growing number of social media users are starting to log off.

Teens and young adults say they are spending less time scrolling through various social media sites or not using it at all anymore. According to polling from the Pew Research Center, younger people are spending 10% less time on social media sites compared to 2022, when social media use reached its peak.

Around 50% of all people surveyed said they have taken a break from social media in the past year.

Despite the drop, YouTube and TikTok remain the top two apps for daily engagement, with 90% of teens and young adults saying they are on YouTube every day and 63% who use TikTok every day. 61% say they use Instagram daily. Click here to read more.

https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd2ea9316-1358-4bd7-97b5-7a04f92a0b2a_1100x100.png

Nigerian Man Faces Death Penalty for a WhatsApp Message?

Music is a major way in which people express themselves and their views about life. Just flip through the radio for a few minutes, and you will likely hear songs about loving money, loving a partner, loving Jesus, and everything in between.

But imagine if expressing yourself and the things you love had the potential to get you sentenced to death. What would it be like to live in that world? Nigerian musician and Sufi Muslim Yahaya Sharif-Aminu doesn’t have to imagine, because he’s living in it right now.

When Yahaya shared lyrics to a song he had written, he was quickly accused of violating a blasphemy law in northern Nigeria. A violent mob assembled, burned down his house, and he was quickly sentenced to death by Sharia Court—all because he peacefully expressed his views.

Blasphemy laws punish individuals for speech that others find offensive towards their own beliefs or sacred symbols. While most of the Western world eliminated these harmful laws decades ago, many countries that live under Islamic Sharia law still enforce them today. Click here to read more.

Dog leads deputy to injured elderly woman in late-night Destin rescue

DESTIN, Fla. -- An elderly woman in the Destin-area was on a nightly walk with her son’s dog when she fell and injured herself.

That’s when the dog went looking for help and found an Okaloosa County deputy. This happened on Sep. 25 around 10:30 p.m.

Body camera footage shows a man in distress after his wife went missing.

The husband of the 86-year-old woman called 911 concerned as she had not come back after taking her son’s dog, Eeyore, on nightly stroll. Click here to read more.

More Money, More Rules: Whitmer’s New College Budget Comes with Homework

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s two largest universities may have dodged deep budget cuts, but they’ll still have to tighten their belts under a new state spending cap.

In a $2.3 billion higher-education budget approved on October 3, lawmakers spared the University of Michigan and Michigan State University from reductions, instead granting each a 2.7% funding increase—about $7.8 million for U-M and $6.9 million for MSU.

In fact, all 15 of Michigan’s public universities will see increases ranging from 1.9% to 4.8%, along with a one-time 3% bonus if they hold tuition hikes below 4.5%. MSU hit that ceiling exactly, while U-M kept its in-state tuition rise to 3.4%. Click here to read more.

Notably, the new budget adds $12.6 million overall—about a half-percent more than last year—and largely reflects Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s priorities. It does, however, impose a new cap limiting administrative costs to 10% of total salaries, a nod to Republican concerns about university bureaucracy. Click here to read more.

Join the Dave Bondy Community

To read more articles like this, sign up and join my community today