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.

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State awards $6.3 million study on mileage tax

A company hired by the state of Michigan to study the feasibility of a mileage tax has come under fire for a conflict of interest from a legislator who says it could also benefit from the new tax.

The Michigan Department of Transportation awarded a $6.3 million contract to CDM Smith to conduct a feasibility study of a road usage charge, or RUC, to replace taxes at the pump with a per-mile tax. The company will also conduct a pilot version of the tax.

Rep. Matt Maddock, R-Milford, is concerned that CDM Smith could later benefit from the report’s findings. He told Michigan Capitol Confidential that the state awarded the contract to a company that already sells the pay-per-mile tax systems.

“A $6.3 million ‘feasibility’ contract to a company that already sells these systems is not independent analysis,” Maddock said in an email to CapCon. Click here to read more.

 

Chicago Public Schools loses 11,500 students in largest decline since pandemic

Chicago Public Schools has lost more than 11,500 students since the start of last school year, marking the district’s largest enrollment decline since the COVID-19 pandemic.

CPS enrollment fell to 304,687 students for the 2026-27 school year, according to a preliminary 20^th-day enrollment report from the district.

The latest drop continues an enrollment decline that has left CPS with 76,000 fewer students than a decade ago.

This year’s enrollment decline also exacerbates Chicago’s empty-schools problem. More than half of CPS’ buildings were already underutilized in the 2025-2026 school year.

CPS lost more students this year than in any year since fall 2020, when enrollment dropped by nearly 14,500 students after pandemic-era school closures. Click here to read more.

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Detroit car crash sparks tensions between Black and Arab communities as Abdul El-Sayed straddles divide

Tensions between Detroit’s Black and Arab communities are on edge after a mob of Arab men harassed a Black woman following a car crash earlier this month.

The incident occurred near the intersection of Paul Street and the Southfield Freeway, where an Arab woman reportedly ran a red light and hit a vehicle driven by a Black woman on Sept. 15, WJBK reported.

Following the collision, a mob of Muslim men descended on the scene, where they pushed the Arab woman’s vehicle away and looted the Black woman’s totaled vehicle, allegedly stealing her purse and yelling racial slurs as a Black man attempted to intervene, according to video posted online. Click here to read more.

 

Wisconsin Dem Silent As High School Brawl Puts Transgender Issues Front And Center In Governor Race

MILWAUKEE — A violent altercation at a Wisconsin school could throw a last-minute wrench in the state’s gubernatorial race.

On September 17, a biological male student at Oregon High School, who identifies as a woman, clashed with female classmates after he was allowed into the girls’ locker room. Parents say the male student, about whom they and their daughters had previously raised concerns, instigated the incident. Police were dispatched to control the scene.

The Oregon High brawl has put parental rights and radical transgender policies front and center in the race for the Wisconsin governor’s mansion. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democrats’ gubernatorial nominee, has a long history of supporting policies protecting transgender individuals — something his Republican opponent is keen to highlight. Click here to read more.

 

Trump Announces Plans to Build America’s Largest-Ever Steel Plant in Iowa

President Donald Trump on Monday announced plans to build the largest steel plant in U.S. history in Iowa.

Leadership from India-based Essar Group, which owns Mesabi Metallics, joined Trump in the Oval Office, along with a number of Iowa officials, for the announcement.

“Today we’re thrilled to announce that Mesabi Metallics will be building the largest steel plant in American history in the great state of Iowa. It’s the largest plant — one of the largest plants in the world — but it’s the largest plant in America by far,” Trump said.

Trump said that once operational, the plant will source iron ore from a Minnesota mine and produce a whopping 10 million tons of steel annually. Click here to read more.

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Michigan spends record amount on schools, gets worse reading scores

Michigan is spending more money than ever on public schools, but test scores haven’t improved, according to new standardized test scores released earlier this month.

About 61.8% of third graders weren’t proficient at reading, according to the 2025-26 M-STEP, the state’s set of standardized tests. That’s a slight increase from the previous school year, when 61.2% of third graders weren’t proficient.

When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer took office in 2019, she vowed to fix the literacy crisis in Michigan.

As her second and final term comes to an end in four months, test scores are worse, despite increased state funding. Click here to read more.

 

GOP senators in tight races break with Trump, urge ICE to coordinate with local police

Republicans in some of the country’s most competitive midterm races are breaking with President Donald Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda, publicly raising concerns about how Immigration and Customs Enforcement is carrying out operations in their states and districts.

In Kansas, Sen. Roger Marshall called for ICE to coordinate with local law enforcement during operations in southwest Kansas, arguing that local agencies know their communities and can help keep people safe.

Local officials in Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal said they were not notified beforehand about increased ICE activity. They said they learned of operations only after agents appeared in their communities. Click here to read more.

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Majority of Michigan House Democrats vote against resolution condemning socialism

The Michigan House passed a resolution Wednesday condemning socialism and socialist political organizations and policies, with Republicans arguing the measure serves as a warning about the historical consequences of socialist and communist governments.

House Resolution 373 passed 58-34, mostly along party lines with 18 Democrat members not voting and one Democrat voting in favor of the resolution. The resolution was sponsored by Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Twp., Rep. Joseph Fox, R-Fremont, Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw Twp., and Rep. Angela Rigas, R-Caledonia.

The resolution condemns socialism, the platform of the Democratic Socialists of America, and politicians who espouse socialist views. It also opposes the implementation of socialist policies in Michigan and the United States. Click here to read more.

 

MSU Police Investigate Three New Reports Against Former Physician Charged With Sexual Assault

Authorities are investigating three additional reports involving a former Michigan State University resident physician charged with criminal sexual conduct.

The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety said Friday that Arpit Saxena, 39, was arraigned in 54B District Court in East Lansing. He is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $2 million bond, with a bond hearing scheduled for Monday, Sept. 28.

The court ordered Saxena to surrender his driver’s license and passport and barred him from contacting the victims. He faces three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Police said the three additional reports are being evaluated and investigated. The department has not said whether they involve additional alleged victims. Click here to read more.

 

Trans Nurse Accused of Abusing Premature Baby Is Out on Bond

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – A premature baby girl who survived being born at just 23 weeks was nearly ready to go home. Instead, she suffered broken bones and bruises, and a transgender nurse is now facing four child abuse charges.

And despite the allegations involving one of the hospital’s most vulnerable patients, the accused nurse is out on bond, wearing an electronic tether while awaiting further court proceedings.

According to a report from WOOD-TV, Kieran Ansley, 43, a biological woman who identifies as a transgender man and formerly worked at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, faces two felony counts of second-degree child abuse and two misdemeanor counts of fourth-degree child abuse. Click here to read more.