First they impose restrictions, then a moratorium By
February 20, 2021
An effort by a southwest Michigan resort town to limit short-term vacation rentals of residential property has led to a series of restrictions and moratoriums by the city council, contentious public meetings and a federal lawsuit.
The controversy in New Buffalo, similar to others around country, pits owners and users of Airbnb-style vacation properties against year-round residents who contend that transient visitors are disruptive and damaging to neighborhoods.
City officials, led by Mayor John Humphrey, have tried to fashion an enforceable set of rules and penalties for short-term rentals since 2019.
They insist that their efforts are not aimed at outlawing the practice, an integral part of the community’s tourism-based economy. But critics argue that the city is stripping rights from property owners in a ham-handed and illegal fashion.
Continuing his considerable effort to strip the government of all vestiges of Trumpism, President Biden on Tuesday swept a clutch of union-busting officials out of a little-known but all-important federal labor relations agency.
The agency is the Federal Service Impasses Panel, which rules on disputes over government union contracts when an agency and its union can’t reach agreement.
Trump stacked the 10-member panel with professional union-busters and anti-union ideologues, including corporate lawyers and officials from Koch network-funded right-wing organizations.
The diversity of this panel ranges from people who publicly campaign against unions to people that actively litigate against unions.
Michigan spends
Nationally, licensing has grown dramatically.
In 1950, less than 5 percent of workers were licensed; now about 30 percent of workers are. Almost every state licenses doctors, lawyers, dentists, opticians and other technical and specialized occupations and many of these requirements are similar across the states. But many states also require licenses for a range of other jobs, including auctioneers, court clerks, fishermen, floor sanders, painters, interior designers and tree trimmers. Altogether, Michigan licenses about 160 occupations.
Licensure Requirements in Michigan:
1 exam
1 exam
Animal trap thrown through bank window, flower shop owner dies: Ann Arbor top headlines Dec. 4-10
Updated Dec 11, 2020;
Posted Dec 11, 2020
Claire Harding took over as owner of Chelsea Flower Shop in downtown Ann Arbor in 1973, before selling the business to longtime employee, Nobukao Sakoda, who eventually sold the shop in Feb. 2018.
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Here are those headlines and others from the Ann Arbor area you might have missed this week.
A man who became angry when he was told his direct deposit hadn’t cleared yet took his anger out on his bank, throwing a heavy animal trap and concrete chunks through the building’s windows, police said.