Study for unarmed responder program cost Ann Arbor $100k
Ann Arbor officials paid more than $100,000 for a 49-page study considering the city’s new program for unarmed responders.
The Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved a plan on July 20 for an unarmed response team, but Tree City officials have been considering such a program for five years.
In 2021, the council adopted a resolution to develop an unarmed public safety response program, saying it would ease the burden on police and firefighters.
The city has spent $104,918 in federal stimulus funds on the program, according to a document that Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request. That money paid for a report prepared by Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants. Click here to read more.
Senate kids’ safety probe targets Roblox gaming platform
Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) launched an investigation Wednesday into Roblox’s handling of child safety on its online gaming platform.
“Roblox appears to prioritize revenue and engagement metrics over the safety and well-being of our children, and the alleged criminal activity on Roblox warrants congressional scrutiny,” Hawley and Durbin, the chair and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, wrote in a letter obtained by POLITICO.
“Roblox is built on the foundation of safety. We do not compromise on that commitment,” Matt Kaufman, Roblox’s chief safety officer, said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing the facts about how we protect children on the platform.” Click here to read more.
El-Sayed Proclaimed ‘Obligation’ To Follow Sharia Law Until the Day He Dies
Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed once declared his sacred “obligation” to follow Sharia law in every aspect of his life until he meets his maker on the day he dies, according to unearthed comments he made to the New York Times in 2009 as a young man buying his first home.
“Ultimately, the question is, when I die and I stand before God and go through everything I did in my life, I don’t want to say I did it the easy way instead of the Shariah-compliant way. Not because of fear but because of obligation,” said El-Sayed, who the Times identified at the time as a 24-year-old medical student and Rhodes scholar who had just taken out a “Sharia-compliant” mortgage to purchase a $123,000 condominium in Ann Arbor. Click here to read more.
Doctors profit from gender care: Assistant Secretary for Health talks next steps
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report released on Thursday alleged that doctors and hospitals pushed and profited from what it calls the fraud of gender medicine, focusing on the growth of medical interventions for gender dysphoria in minors.
The report, titled “Wolves in White Coats: How Doctors and Hospitals Pushed and Profited from the Fraud of Gender Medicine,” examines the expansion of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for minors. The report alleged that financial incentives and institutional pressures encouraged providers and hospitals to promote those interventions and that billing practices and clinical guidelines contributed to systemic fraud and harm. Click here to read more.
Flock will add privacy guardrails to camera systems amid backlash
Flock Safety will implement new privacy and data retention policies as pressure grows on the automated license plate operator to prevent its technology from being abused or used to conduct mass surveillance.
The company announced Thursday it will shorten the recommended default data retention window from 30 to seven days to cut the amount of time data will sit in Flock’s systems. Agencies can still set their own retention period in coordination with state or local policy.
It will also introduce an option for cities to control which types of offenses call for other agencies’ access to the Flock cameras, in an effort to give “communities more control over data sharing” while still permitting collaborations when needed. Click here to read more.
