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Whitmer’s Legacy: Michigan second to last for income growth among ALL states since 1970, study finds

Recent research from the left-leaning Urban Institute is putting Michigan’s economic struggles into perspective.

The policy brief “ Is your state better off now than it was fifty years ago?” makes it clear the answer in Michigan is a resounding “no.”

Examining the percent change in inflation-adjusted household income between 1970 and 2023, the institute found only West Virginia, at negative 0.4%, fared worse than the Great Lakes State.

At a scant 2.9% growth, Michiganders are falling behind residents in nearly every other state, on pace to become among the poorest in the country over the next two decades.

It’s a problem that economists and business leaders have highlighted for years with little action from lawmakers in Lansing. Click here to read more.

 

Foreign big rig drivers lose licenses by the thousands, but ride-shares still use illiterate drivers

On Thursday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed to reporters that 17,000 non-English-speaking truck drivers have been removed from the road due to new administration rules. However, ride-share services like Uber and Lyft, along with taxis, still contract non-English-speaking drivers. According to Duffy, that’s a trickier problem to solve.

“The problem is that our states are the ones that issue these licenses. So with commercial driver’s licenses, we do have some federal control,” Duffy said Thursday during a Cabinet meeting, emphasizing that the work the administration has been able to do with Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDLs) differs from what their abilities are with state-administered drivers’ licenses. Click here to read more.

 

Citizen Sleuths Spotlight Red Flags Galore in Government Spending

NEW ORLEANS, La.—Although they received millions of taxpayer dollars, it can be hard to find the offices of health service providers in the Big Easy.

Consider Faith and Hope of New Orleans, a home health agency that took in $11.6 million from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) between 2018 and 2024. The company’s website, as well as federal and state databases, lists its address at 3720 Gentilly Street.

But RealClearInvestigations only found an empty building at that location last week. Repeated phone calls during working hours to the listed number connected to a service, whose operator said, “I don’t know why they’re not answering.” Click here to read more.

 

‘Routine’ Vaccines Paralyzed Their Toddler. It Took the Government 11 Years to Approve a Payout

In October 2013, 15-month-old Hayes Heller received multiple, routinely recommended vaccines. Within two weeks, Hayes was paralyzed.

His parents suspected the vaccines were to blame — so they applied to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Managed by the federal government, the VICP processes compensation claims for people injured after receiving recommended childhood vaccines.

But as the Hellers would learn, the path to compensation for vaccine injuries is complicated and fraught with delays.

Haye’s father, Heathe Heller, told The Defender the family’s claim ultimately succeeded — but it took more than a decade. And even then, it was incomplete.

The VICP, citing technical difficulties, still hasn’t reimbursed the family for all of the expenses related to Hayes’ care since 2013. Click here to read more.

 

500 groups with $3B in revenues are behind the #NoKings protests and communist call for ‘revolution’

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A network of about 500 groups with an estimated $3 billion in combined annual revenues is behind the coordinated nationwide “No Kings” protest Saturday, including communist groups who are using the day to call for a “revolution,” according to a Fox Digital News investigation.

According to a copy of the permit for the “flagship” march in St. Paul, Minn., Indivisible, a national well-heeled Democratic political advocacy organization funded by billionaire George Soros, is the lead coordinator for the protest.

But Fox News Digital has also identified key participation by a network of radical socialist and communist organizations funded by Neville Roy Singham, an American tech tycoon and avowed communist living in China. Click here to read more.

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Michigan Should Follow Mississippi’s Lead on Reading

Michigan’s public education system fails to prepare enough students with basic literacy skills. Reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the Nation’s Report Card, markedly declined over the last couple decades. The state’s fourth grade reading score now ranks 44th in the nation.

Mississippi’s trajectory looks quite different, as Graphic 1 below demonstrates. The Magnolia State’s performance on the fourth grade reading test landed in ninth place — up from 49th in 2013. Its average reading score increased from 12 points below the national average to five points above it. Michigan’s score dropped from four to five points below the national average over the same period. Click here to read more.

 

Louisville pays Christian photographer $800,000 for law requiring her to do same-sex weddings

ouisville agreed to pay Christian photographer Chelsey Nelson $800,000 in attorney’s fees after she prevailed over its public accommodations law that required her to photograph same-sex weddings if she did traditional weddings and censored her from stating “her unwillingness to do so or otherwise make same-sex couples feel ‘unwelcome.’”

The settlement over attorney’s fees was reached Tuesday, more than three years after a federal court ruled the First Amendment supersedes the statute and banned the Kentucky city from “either compelling or suppressing Nelson’s photography and writing.” Six months ago the court granted summary judgement to Nelson.

The case notably predated the Supreme Court’s landmark 303 Creative precedent that protects creative professionals such as wedding photographers and web designers against compelled participation in work that violates their conscience. Click here to read more.

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Delta suspends special travel perks for Congress as DHS shutdown rages on

WASHINGTON — Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday it would be suspending airport escorts and red coat services for Congress members and staff because of the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown.

The airline told CNBC that due to the impact on resources from the “longstanding goverment shutdown, Delta will temporarily suspend specialty services to members of Congress flying Delta..

However, Delta’s Capital Desk, a reservation line for members of Congress and staffers, remains open at this time.

With the suspension in place, Congress members will receive the same treatment as other passengers, based on their Sky Miles status. Click here to read more.

 

Dog reunited with family 11 years after being stolen from backyard: ‘It’s just amazing’

PHILADELPHIA - A Pennsylvania family has been reunited with their beloved dog more than a decade after he was stolen from their backyard.

The family had two dogs stolen from their Philadelphia backyard in 2015. One of the dogs was found, but the other, named Forty-Cal, never came home.

Forty’s family searched for days, which turned into weeks and years.

Time moved on, and the family relocated to Luzerne County – but they never forgot about their beloved dog. They made sure to keep Forty’s lost pet report active and ensured his microchip information was up to date, despite thinking he was long gone.

Then, ACCT Philly found a senior stray on Saturday night. The animal shelter scanned his microchip, and because the information was current, they were able to contact Forty’s family with some happy news.

Their dog would finally be coming home. Click here to read more.

 

Biden-Released Illegal Alien Shot, Killed Sheridan Gorman as She Ran for Her Life

An illegal alien, released into the United States by former President Joe Biden’s administration, shot and killed 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman, a freshman at Loyola University Chicago, as she ran for her life trying to flee for safety, prosecutors allege.

As Breitbart News reported, 25-year-old illegal alien Jose Medina-Medina of Venezuela was arrested by the Chicago Police Department and charged with murdering Sheridan Gorman, who also went by Shera, in a random attack on a pier at Chicago’s Tobey Prinz Beach.

Prosecutors are providing new details as to what they say occurred on the night of March 19, Block Club Chicago reports:

About 1:30 a.m. Thursday, Gorman, 18, was with a group of friends on the pier at Tobey Prinz Beach in Loyola Park, a few blocks north of Loyola’s campus. Gorman alerted her friends that someone was hiding near the pier, at which point the group of friends was chased by the person, who has been identified as Medina, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said in court Monday. [Emphasis added] Click here to read more.