The Humane Society of the United States’ fight for a few inches might be far tougher than one would expect. The national animal rights group has been lobbying the state of Michigan to give more room to certain confined livestock animals, saying that many don’t have room to stand up, lie down, turn around or extend their limbs.
It seems most politicians are under the impression that Michigan is having a going-out-of-business sale and the state will accept any agreement as long as it will provide some budgetary relief. Sadly, that assessment might be fairly accurate.
Researchers Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh have created a formula that can predict the Social Security numbers of many people with considerable accuracy, using only the person’s birthday and state of birth.
In a world where the cost of attending college keeps increasing and paying off tuition loans becomes harder and harder, the federal government is trying to ease the burden. The government has enacted a new plan that will allow college graduates to pay off their federal loans based on their incomes.
It’s the universal problem every student, regardless of his or her background or major, has been forced to deal with at some point: how to acquire and then dispose of the inevitable mountain of textbooks that is required for classes.
Before the end of the year, almost 90,000 unemployed workers in Michigan will have dried out their unemployment benefits. The state, which boasts the nation’s highest unemployment rate at 14.1 percent, is struggling to find short-term answers to the state’s larger problems. There’s currently a bill sitting in the Michigan Senate that could do just that.
It’s far from breaking news to say the economy is drastically affecting the way everyone operates, and the government isn’t an exception. When economic conditions go south and taxes aren’t raised, the government has no choice but to cut back spending. That means no program or department is safe from having its budget reduced or eliminated all together.
A conflict between state law and public university power might lead to an increase in the presence of guns on MSU’s campus. The MSU Board of Trustees voted Friday to allow concealed weapons on campus, assuming the owner has the proper permits. Any person with a concealed weapons permit might bring a gun on campus, but not into any buildings, such as the dorms.
A wrongly convicted criminal serving time might not get access to all the evidence he or she needs thanks to a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. The court decided Thursday that access to DNA testing for convicted prisoners isn’t a constitutional right, despite at least 232 cases having been overturned by DNA evidence in the U.S.
President Barack Obama will be presenting an hour-long special on health care reform with ABC News on Wednesday, but health care is not what’s being debated on this show. ABC has exclusive rights to broadcast the town-hall-style program, which will consist of the president answering questions from ABC’s prescreened audience.
The country that was built upon immigration might only need to use one language if a recent movement gathers enough support. Nashville, Tenn., has become the focal point of the debate to unify U.S. speakers and make English the official language of the country after a proposal appeared on the city’s ballot in January. If passed, the measure would require all city business to be conducted only in English, which would make Nashville the biggest city in the country to do so.
In the wake of another Michigan Pride Festival, a chance to celebrate and educate people about Michigan’s gay population, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that some have begun talking about overturning the ban on same-sex marriages voters passed in the state in 2004.
When should economics influence the criminal justice system? It’s a question that Michigan finds itself tackling after the state House passed a bill to revise the state’s current policy regarding criminal eligibility for community corrections programs.
Government intervention has been a touchy subject in political circles since the economy went sour. Financial bailouts, billions of dollars in stimulus money and the government’s assistance to auto giants General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC have upset many Republicans.
It’s one of the many unfair aspects of life, but the people with the best connections tend to get the best treatment. The University of Illinois is no different. The university has suspended its controversial Category I admissions process in wake of a Chicago Tribune report that the school gave preferential treatment to applicants with more clout.
Mayor Virg Bernero and the city of Lansing are doing their best to welcome young professionals to the city by starting a promotion that should help them get to meet potential employers.
More than 200 of the most dangerous people in the world could be moving to Michigan, possibly for the rest of their lives. U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, sent a letter to President Barack Obama offering to house the detainees from Guantanamo Bay in Manistique, Mich. If Obama were to approve the site, the prisoners would move into a prison that has been closed since 2007, far from any major cities in the state.
A lawsuit stemming from a 2005 car crash could bring a measure of liability to people who provide alcohol to minors. In March 2005, five people, including two who were MSU students at the time, were involved in supplying alcohol to Alexander Hamil, a 19-year-old Marshall, Mich., resident.
MSU’s nontenured faculty likely will start the process of unionizing after approving a new proposal. Faculty members voted Friday to pursue the possibility of unionizing in hopes of bringing more job security to faculty members without tenure. MSU has smartly supported their potential to unionize, even though it could end up costing the university money.
While there is still a lot to be decided in Washington, D.C., the U.S. could be on the verge of appointing its first Hispanic justice to the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama nominated New York appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace outgoing Justice David Souter, which could finally bring change to a court that sorely lacks diversity.