Flint area leaders vow to fight ‘crazy’ state election bills
Updated Apr 12, 5:09 PM;
Posted Apr 12, 5:09 PM
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FLINT, MI The Unity Coalition of Pastors and state Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich say they’ll fight Republican voting bills introduced after the election of President Joe Biden and will join in an opposition rally scheduled for Tuesday, April 13, in Lansing.
“These bills are simply reminiscent of Jim Crow 2.0 .,” said the Rev. Chris Martin, senior pastor at Cathedral of Faith Church, during a Monday news conference outside Berston Field House in Flint. “We will not allow our right to vote to be diminished or suppressed . Too many people have died for the right to vote.”
Whitmer invites GOP-led Legislature to the table to discuss new COVID-19 funds freep.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from freep.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said the leader still supported the bill. We can debate the particulars if they should be adjusted but the fact remains that the governor has never put forward what she or her officers use to make decisions and, as we are seeing, the resulting uncertainty hurts Michigan, said Abby Walls, a Shirkey spokeswoman.
The bill, SB 250, ties specific health orders to COVID-19 trends. If test positivity rates and hospital beds used for COVID-19 patients go up in a region or the state and remain at high levels for at least seven days, indoor dining and gatherings would be restricted. Generally, the higher the test positivity or hospitalization rates, the more stringent the restrictions.
Share April 08, 2021, 9:46 PM Two weeks ago, Michigan GOP senators passed a bill they hammered out with help from the state s restaurant lobby to shut indoor dining in the event of a surge in positivity rates and hospitalizations, saying clearer benchmarks were needed so restaurants could prepare. Now that surge is here, but you d be hard pressed to hear the bills backers say they support a closure, especially as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says she plans to avoid further restrictions with vaccinations well underway. They were asked for their stances by the Free Press: Justin Winslow, president and CEO of the Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association . noted a proposal offered by the association is slightly different than the language of the bill and would likely not mandate closing indoor dining right now.
My Take: Just another Banana Republic?
By Lou Kitchenmaster
Then came the Civil War.
Lincoln’s historical Gettysburg Address in 1863, however, reinforced the hopeful and determined notion “that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”
As a longtime, traditional leader on the world stage, the United States has strongly encouraged other nations to engage in that democratic ideal with fair, free elections being the lifeblood of any healthy, thriving democracy. The record-breaking number for the 2020 presidential election should be a source of pride for all Americans, regardless of the result. Two-thirds of registered voters participated, the highest percentage since 1900.