Michigan

Reddit social posting /r/Michigan
https://old.reddit.com/r/Michigan/comments/1r84iz0/as_seen_in_flint/

There is this weird concrete thing by Chevy Truck and Bus in Flint affectionately referred to as "The Block" and is regularly painted/tagged up for any occasion- birthdays, memorials, anything goes.

This is this morning.

Among other things, the bills would allow duplexes in single-family residential areas, lower the minimum size for housing units, and reduce lot size requirements for single-family homes.

While the bills have bipartisan support, that backing isn’t guaranteed from local government groups.

cross-posted from: https://infosec.pub/post/41550549

Source

1642 Division St. right next to Printing Arts Co. Referencing GRPD Call Logs this might have taken place at 9:05am and given the incident type of STOP (traffic or person stop).

Logs (only appear for 24hrs at a time):https://data.grcity.us/Dispatch/Dispatched_Calls.html

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33245650

A massive, frigid storm is developing across the United States, stretching from the Southwest up into the Northeast and putting much of the country in a deep freeze until early next week. The Weather Channel warns that more than 230 million people — two-thirds of the country’s population — could be impacted by the system, which is producing heavy snow and “catastrophic” ice accumulations. The Northern Plains could experience wind chills below -50 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the National Weather Service. It’s also warning of widespread disruptions to travel and power, which will make things even more dangerous for people who can’t heat their homes.

If it feels like you’re at the North Pole right now, it’s because you kind of are. Swirling high above the Arctic is a very cold air mass known as the polar vortex. This is encircled, and typically trapped, by a strong wind pattern called a jet stream, which is at a lower level in the atmosphere. That separates cold air in the Arctic from warmer air to the south.

Things are changing up north, though, as it warms four times faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. Dwindling sea ice exposes darker waters, which absorb more of the sun’s energy than ice does. Warming in the region, then, leads to more warming, and on and on. Indeed, Arctic sea ice has been reaching record low extents. So these days, there’s less of a temperature contrast between the Arctic and warmer regions to the south than before. “When that happens, the jet stream tends to meander a lot, and that allows very cold air to come down to the south,” said Ayumi Fujisaki-Manome, an earth scientist at the University of Michigan.

Research suggests that the jet stream has been weakening of late, making it wobblier. That could increase the likelihood of weather like we’re experiencing now, though this remains a matter of active research within the scientific community. “The problem is that it’s really hard to show whether or not that’s happening,” said Jacob Chalif, who studies the phenomenon at Dartmouth College. “Arctic amplification started really kicking off in the ’90s, and we only have really solid records of the jet stream going back to 1979.”

That leaves researchers with only about a decade to use as a baseline, Chalif added, while in an ideal world they’d have many more years to determine trends. So last year, Chalif led a study that used machine learning to analyze climate records stretching back to 1901. The team found that before 1979, there were plenty of years when the jet stream got wavy, and it was at times even more pronounced than today. “In other words, the impact of climate change on the jet stream, I think, remains unclear,” Chalif said. “I don’t think we have a smoking gun that we’re making the jet stream wavier yet.”

Still, climate change is supercharging these kinds of storms in general. The research group Climate Central notes that right now the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific off Baja California are exceptionally warm, and that’s been made much more likely because of humanity’s carbon emissions. This loads the atmosphere with extra moisture, which collides with the system swooping down from the Arctic to supercharge the storm. In addition, the warmer the atmosphere gets, the more moisture it can hold, and the more precipitation can dump out of extreme weather events.

So when President Donald Trump sees this polar vortex unfolding and asks in a post on X, “WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???,” the answer is that climate change is very much a driver of the brutal conditions that 230 million Americans could experience in the days ahead. “Judging climate change by a cold storm is like judging a baseball season by a single inning,” said Kaitlyn Trudeau, a senior research associate for climate science at Climate Central, in a statement. “But, climate change has a tangible impact on this storm.“

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33245427

“To achieve this end,” the document details, “they have abandoned renewable energy projects, used patent litigation to hinder rivals, suppressed information concerning the hidden costs of fossil fuels and viability of alternatives, infiltrated and knowingly misdirected information-producing institutions, surveilled and intimidated watchdogs and public officials, and used trade associations to coordinate market-wide efforts to divert capital expenditures away from renewable energy—all to further one of the most successful antitrust conspiracies in United States history.”

According to MDARD, they are:

1. Common buckthorn
2. Glossy buckthorn
3. Callery pear
4. Japanese barberry
5. Water hyacinth
6. Water lettuce

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7373471

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/20705

Mary Annette Pember
ICT

The Michigan Attorney General’s office has launched an investigation into Indian boarding schools and other institutions to see if crimes were committed in the state.

The office is seeking to identify, document, investigate and prosecute instances where crimes are believed to have occurred at the institutions, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced recently.

To support the effort, investigators are asking survivors, witnesses, and others who may have firsthand knowledge to come forward and share information.

“This investigation seeks to bring truth and accountability to a painful chapter in our state’s history,” Nessel said in a statement. “My office is committed to ensuring that survivors’ voices are heard and that any criminal acts uncovered are thoroughly investigated and, when possible, prosecuted.”

Michigan is home to 12 federally recognized tribes, and eight schools and institutions have been identified as operating in the state beginning in 1823, with some functioning until 1983. Five of the institutions were boarding schools and received federal subsidies, according to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report released in 2022.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel pauses during an interview with The Associated Press on Nov. 21, 2024, in Philadelphia. Credit: AP Photo/Matt Slocum

Researchers say that nearly 250 children are believed to have died at the most notorious school, the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School, which operated from 1893 to 1934.

Holy Childhood School of Jesus in Harbor Springs, which opened in the 1880s, was operated by the Sisters of Notre Dame until 1983 and was known for harsh treatment of students, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.

The investigation could uncover records and evidence that may not have previously been disclosed, since the attorney general’s office has the ability to issue subpoenas and obtain search warrants if approved by a judge.

investigative subpoena power which includes the authority to obtain search warrants if probable cause can be demonstrated to a judge. If sufficient evidence exists, the agency will support charges according to information on the attorney general’s website.

Notably, the latest version of the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding Schools Act pending in Congress was amended to remove subpoena power from the authority that would be authorized for the proposed commission after complaints by some lawmakers. The act was approved in the U.S. Senate, but the House did not agree to include it in the sweeping National Defense Authorization Act approved in December 2025.

Michigan could be restricted by legal limits on how long prosecutors may wait before filing charges. The law allows survivors to raise issues up to 10 years after they turn 18, and in Michigan, a suppressed memory exception allows victims up to their 48th birthday.

Unlike some states, however, Michigan does not have a so-called look-back law. Fifteen states have laws that allow extended limits or no limits for raising criminal allegations or filing civil lawsuits for some or all child sexual abuse.

And approximately 30 states have look-back windows for civil lawsuits that allow abuse survivors to file suit regardless of when the abuse occurred.

More info
Individuals with information about abuse or potential crimes at Indian boarding schools may contact the Michigan Attorney General’s Office via email or by phone at (517) 897-7391. Tips can be left anonymously. More information is available at the Native Boarding School Investigation.

The post Michigan announces criminal probe of boarding schools appeared first on ICT.

From ICT via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/41464958

This is a good read, please consider the power of communication and coordination before just taking action. Connect with these groups that have already been in the fight and supporting our neighbors so we can help multiply their resources to be even more effective.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7266463

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/17671

A 22-year-old woman who was detained for several hours by police in Grand Rapids, Michigan on Saturday after speaking out against President Donald Trump's invasion of Venezuela had allegedly "obstructed a roadway" and failed to obey officers—but she described an arrest in which the authorities appeared to be suspicious of her for protesting at all.

Jessica Plichta, a preschool teacher and organizer, told Zeteo on Monday that police officers repeatedly asked her why she was at a protest in Grand Rapids' Rosa Parks Circle, where hundreds of demonstrators spoke out against the US military's abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores—a violation of international law that has garnered worldwide condemnation.

Plichta had just finished speaking to a reporter with local ABC News affiliate WZZM about her opposition to the US invasion of Venezuela when two city police officers came up behind her and placed her under arrest.

It is "the duty of us the people to stand against the Trump regime, the Trump administration, that are committing crimes both here in the US and against people in Venezuela," said Plichta just before the officers appeared on camera behind her.

Grand Rapids police arrest an antiwar activist live on air while taking an interview denouncing US military aggression in Venezuela pic.twitter.com/Zm16aFRDxq
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) January 5, 2026

Plichta told Zeteo, “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as soon as I finished an interview speaking on Venezuela, I was arrested—the only person arrested out of 200 people."

She told the officers she was "not resisting arrest" as they led her toward a police car. A bystander approached and asked the police what Plichta was being detained for.

The officers replied that she had been "obstructing a roadway" and was accused of "failure to obey a lawful command from a police officer."

BREAKING: IN GRAND RAPIDS MICHIGAN, at approximately 5:30pm today, GRPD arrested local organizer Jessica Plichta on camera during a post-march press interview.
Plichta was sought out and targeted specifically by
GRPD for helping lead a U.S. Out Of Venezuela rally at Rosa Parks… pic.twitter.com/Uj6fLVba80
— Private IcedC81 Politics (@PvtIcedC81Pol) January 3, 2026

Plichta told Zeteo that the police drove her away from WZZM's cameras and then took her out of the car, patted her down, and confiscated her belongings. The officers told her she had been "making a scene" and asked her about her involvement in the protest: whether she was Venezuelan, "what she had to do with Venezuela," and what she was doing at the protest.

She also told Zeteo that the police asked her for the names of other demonstrators.

She was asked again what her connection to Venezuela was after she was taken to Kent County Correctional Facility, where she was held for about three hours and released after outcry from her fellow organizers.

"We are so accustomed to, and used to, repression when we speak out on anti-war topics,” Plichta told the outlet. “When we speak out for Venezuela, when we speak out for Palestine, we expect the police to want to shut that down.”

A spokesperson for the Grand Rapids Police Department told Zeteo that protesters had "refused lawful orders to move this free speech event to the sidewalk and instead began blocking intersections until the march ended," and said Plichta "was positively identified by officers," allowing for her arrest.

Though Plichta remained calm when she was arrested and suggested that she had taken her detention relatively in stride, supporters expressed shock that she had been targeted for speaking out against Trump's attack on Venezuela—which is broadly unpopular across the United States.

"What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids?" asked Brandon Friedman, a former Obama administration official.

Friedman pointed out that among elected Democrats, there appeared to be little if any outcry over Plichta's arrest for participating in a peaceful protest.

If this happened to a conservative organizer, Republicans would make her a hero, a household name and a congressional candidate.Elected Democrats just pretend it isn't happening.
— Brandon Friedman (@brandonfriedman.bsky.social) January 5, 2026 at 11:29 AM

“Protesting in this country is sacred," Plichta told Zeteo, "and so it is important that our rights are protected and that we are not criminalized for peacefully protesting in a world full of escalating violence."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Good news out of Lansing for once. :-P