TexasTowelie
TexasTowelie's JournalWhistleblower fired after complaining about Dallas tribal center leader's 'Kick-a-Hoe' joke
Native American community members are calling for two leaders of the Urban Inter-Tribal Center of Texas to be fired after they were accused of using racial slurs during a staff meeting this month.
The Intertribal Community Council of Texas spoke out against the center — which offers medical and dental care, job training and other services to Native American people — after a staff member reported that the center’s interim CEO and clinical director made the remarks during a leadership meeting.
In a letter to the center's human resources director, Veronica Arredondo accused interim CEO Kendria Taylor of responding to community concerns about the center by saying she is part of the “Kick-a-Hoe” tribe.
Clinical director Deborah Breshears retorted that she was a member of the “Slap-a-Hoe” tribe, and the two laughed, Arredondo said.
Read more: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/dallas/2019/04/30/whistleblower-fired-after-complaining-leaders-kick-hoe-joke-dallas-tribal-center
Whitmer signs two bills delaying new teacher standards
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed into law on Tuesday two bills that will delay changes to the way the state evaluates its educators, narrowly beating the deadline before which they would have taken effect.
Senate Bills 122 and 202, introduced by state Sen. Ken Horn (R-Frankenmuth), will prevent a planned increase in the share of formal evaluations based on student data from standardized testing — the former regarding those for teachers and the latter those for administrators.
“As I continue to visit schools across the state, nearly every educator says the same thing: they are forced to spend more time on testing than actually teaching their students how to learn,” Whitmer said in a statement. “We know that test scores are only one piece of the puzzle and not the whole story. I’ve put forth a real solution in the budget to boost student performance, and I look forward to working with the legislature to get it done.”*
The original plan was enacted under Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder and would have taken effect for the 2018-19 school year if the current legislation was not adopted by early May.
Read more: https://www.michiganadvance.com/blog/whitmer-signs-two-bills-delaying-new-teacher-standards/
Grand Rapids police under fire from civil rights groups for Latino arrests
Civil and immigrants’ rights groups in Michigan want the state to put the Grand Rapids Police Department under a microscope.
On Tuesday, the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) filed formal complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) over what they allege is a pattern of “racially discriminatory” treatment towards citizens of color, and particularly those of Latino heritage.
One complaint was filed on behalf of Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, an American citizen and Marine veteran who suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The ACLU and MIRC say that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) show that GRPD officials were aware of the fact that Ramos-Gomez was a U.S. citizen when they requested that federal officials check his immigration status due to a concern of “terrorism.”
Ramos-Gomez was arrested in November 2018 after he gained illegal access to the helipad of a Grand Rapids hospital and started a small fire.
Read more: https://www.michiganadvance.com/2019/04/30/grand-rapids-police-under-fire-from-civil-rights-groups-for-latino-arrests/
Michigan AG: I'll move to shut oil pipeline if talks fail
Michigan's attorney general pledged Monday to move to shut down an oil pipeline in the Great Lakes if the governor doesn't find a "swift and straightforward" resolution to the contentious issue.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month halted state agencies' work to facilitate construction of a tunnel beneath the lakebed to house a new segment of Line 5 in the channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, pointing to a legal opinion from Attorney General Dana Nessel while citing concerns that her Republican predecessor's plan would keep the existing 66-year-old pipeline in the water too long. But the Democrat said this month she was open to still building the tunnel . Her administration is in talks with pipeline owner and operator Enbridge.
"I respect the Governor's effort to find a swift and straightforward resolution to this issue, but if unsuccessful I will use every resource available to our office to shut down Line 5 to protect our Great Lakes," Nessel, a Democrat who promised during her campaign to close the pipeline, said in a short statement.
A spokeswoman later said while Nessel was reluctant to impose a specific deadline on Whitmer's efforts with Enbridge, she was hopeful that the governor by June 1 would have a plan for decommissioning Line 5.
Read more: https://www.macombdaily.com/news/michigan-ag-i-ll-move-to-shut-oil-pipeline-if/article_e14623e2-6b3f-11e9-a1b0-870997e7847b.html
Hazel Park investigating white nationalist fliers found in neighborhood
Hazel Park officials are investigating dozens of white nationalist fliers discovered in a neighborhood.
City Manager Ed Klobucher said his office heard from some residents Monday who live on Madge Avenue.
“There could be more streets involved, but we don’t know that yet,” he said. “Basically, someone went up and down the street and threw the fliers in the street.”
Hazel Park Police Chief Brian Buchholz said no residents directly contacted police about the incident, but there was talk about the incident on a local community Facebook page.
Read more: https://www.macombdaily.com/news/state/hazel-park-investigating-white-nationalist-fliers-found-in-neighborhood/article_14403a31-3cd8-51ee-b39c-c57256a3791a.html
Schumer says Trump not doing enough to protect 2020 election
Washington – Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says President Donald Trump is not doing enough to protect the 2020 election in light of special counsel Robert Mueller’s findings.
In a letter to colleagues Tuesday, Schumer said Congress needs to “fill the vacuum” on election security.
He says the Senate should provide additional resources to beef up state and federal election systems and impose sanctions on Russia or others engaged in “malign activities” to interfere.
Schumer notes that the FBI has called the 2018 election a “dress rehearsal” for the next election. He says senators need a classified briefing to hear directly from the FBI, Homeland Security and others “on what, if any, actions are underway” to protect the vote.
Read more: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/30/congress-election-security/39426355/
Betsy DeVos' brother, Erik Prince, could face criminal investigation
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee says Michigan's Erik Prince — Betsy DeVos' brother — needs to be investigated to determine whether he lied to Congress over a meeting with a Russian financier.
Speaking at a Washington Post Live event on Tuesday, Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the committee will make a criminal referral to the Justice Department about the possibility that Prince gave the panel false testimony.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL who grew up in west Michigan and went on to found the security company Blackwater, was mentioned prominently in the report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in regards to a meeting he had with a prominent Russian financier with close ties to Vladimir Putin just before President Donald Trump took office.
Prince, who was close to the Trump campaign and adviser Steve Bannon, told congressional investigators that the meeting in the Seychelles with Kirill Dmitriev was a random meeting and not arranged at the request of Trump's transition team.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/30/erik-prince-betsy-devos-mueller-report/3625518002/
Ex-state candidate in Oakland County gets probation for embezzling $149K
A candidate from Oakland County for a Michigan House seat last fall has been sentenced to probation and community service for embezzling.
The sentencing came after Jennifer Suidan pleaded no contest last month to embezzling $100,000 or more from the campaign funds of Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner. Under the law, a no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.
Suidan could have received a prison term of as many as 20 years. Instead, she is to serve five years probation and perform 100 hours of community service, write apology letters and pay back more than $140,000 in stolen funds, according to the sentence pronounced Tuesday by Oakland Circuit Judge Nanci Grant and detailed in court records.
What drew widespread attention to the case was that Democratic Party officials were powerless to force Suidan to withdraw from November’s election. Instead, her name remained on the ballots for the 39th House District – comprising Commerce Township, part of West Bloomfield, the city of Wixom and the village of Wolverine Lake – because the crime came to light too late to remove her name, election officials said at the time.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/04/30/oakland-county-ex-state-house-candidate-sentenced-embezzling-michigan/3634039002/
Detroit Teachers To Protest Added Unpaid Days To School Calendar
Detroit teachers plan to protest next month's school board meeting over added work days proposed by Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and approved by the board.
The Detroit Federation of Teachers has voted unanimously to oppose the new school calendar, according to The Detroit News. At issue are five additional professional development days, a pre-Labor Day start and three fewer days of winter break. The 2019-20 calendar includes two instructional days beyond what the state requires, the paper says.
[Ben Royal, a DPSCD teacher and union member,] said changes in the calendar were made around scheduling standardized tests, which "have no educational value."
Royal said teachers are calling on Superintendent Nikolai Vitti and the school district's board to rescind the new calendar and reinstate provisions of previous calendars, which had students begin school after Labor Day, provided a full week off in February and scheduled spring break after the Easter holiday.
Read more: http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/22222/detroit_teachers_to_protest_added_unpaid_days_to_school_calendar
Michigan Republicans appeal gerrymandering ruling. What you need to know.
As promised, Michigan Republicans filed a notice of an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a bombshell ruling that the state’s political districts were illegally gerrymandered and must be redrawn in time for 2020 elections.
The short filing Tuesday includes no legal arguments, which will be filed separately. Republicans are also expected to ask that the lower court’s ruling be stayed, or delayed, until the high court decides similar cases involving redistricting disputes in Maryland and North Carolina.
Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said arguments in support of a stay will be included when the request is filed in court.
Signing on to the appeals were the Republican-controlled Michigan Senate and GOP Sens. Jim Stamas of Midland, Ken Horn of Frankenmuth, and Lana Theis of Brighton; and House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, state Rep. Aaron Miller, R-Sturgis, and Michigan’s Republican congressional delegation, according to federal court records.
Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/public-sector/michigan-republicans-appeal-gerrymandering-ruling-what-you-need-know
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