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One young man at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has taken taking a knee quite a bit further. Graduate student Dana Greene, Jr. spent more than 20 hours on his knees on the pavement, facing a flag at the “block M” on the campus Diag, beginning at 7 a.m. on Monday. “If got to kneel until my knees bleed, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he told MLive. “I am doing this for every student on this campus that has ever felt like they didn’t belong here.”

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2017/09/25/brian-pannebecker-trump-supporter-lions-protest-michigan-freedom-to-work-president-donald-trump/700073001/

LANSING — A long-stalled movement to make it illegal to discriminate against LGBT people may gain traction — not in the Legislature but with a Michigan board that is being asked to declare that such discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations is already unlawful under state law. The Michigan Civil Rights Commission will meet today to consider the request after two months of receiving public feedback, including roughly 300 comments. The interpretive statement, if issued, would say that discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is a form of sex discrimination outlawed under the state’s 1976...

Full title.......................Chelsea Clinton Spreads False Story Claiming Michigan Passed Bill Allowing EMTs to Deny Gay Patients Treatment......................Chelsea Clinton falsely tweeted Friday that the Michigan House of Representatives had voted to allow emergency medical providers choice in treating patients, specifically giving EMTs the option to deny treatment to gay patients. "Absolutely appalling," the former First Daughter tweeted, "Michigan House Passed Bill Allowing EMTs To Refuse Treatment To Gay People."

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - One year after opening an information technology center in southeast Grand Rapids, Auto-Owners Insurance announced a $1 million expansion of that office that will add 60 new technology jobs. The Lansing-based insurance company moved into offices at 3949 Sparks Drive SE in August, 2016 and has hired 20 technology professionals. Since then, the Grand Rapids technology center has experienced rapid growth and company officials believe that trend will continue over the next three years, according to an announcement by The Right Place Inc. on Wednesday, Sept. 6. The company intends to invest significant resources in recruiting,...

President Donald Trump on Saturday endorsed Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in the state's upcoming governor's race. Schuette is running to succeed the term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, who has been in office since 2014. "Attorney General Bill Shuette [sic] will be a fantastic Governor for the great State of Michigan I am bringing back your jobs and Bill will help!," the president wrote on Twitter, misspelling Schuette's name. Last November, Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Michigan in the general election since 1988. Snyder first won the post by 18-points in 2010, replacing then-Democratic Gov. Jennifer...

On August 24, the Guardian ran an unusually long profile of one Abdul El-Sayed, a 32-year-old Muslim doctor and son of Egyptian immigrants who is already campaigning heavily for governor of Michigan, even though the election won't take place until November of next year. The headline on Drew Philp's article dubbed El-Sayed “the new Obama.” It was the ultimate puff piece, shameless in its utter lack of objectivity and balance, and it began, as such pieces invariably do, with an anecdote calculated to win sympathy for the subject. When he was seven years old, writes Philp, El-Sayed “sat in the...

Kid Rock teased a potential U.S. Senate run on Thursday, tweeting that '[t]he 2018 Political Revolution is nearing.' The musician, who was born Robert Ritchie and lives in suburban Detroit, has already said on social media that a website touting his Senate candidacy against Democrat Debbie Stabenow is real. He said in July that he would make a 'major announcement in the near future.' Ritchie wrote on a Kid Rock for US Senate website that '[t]he democrats are "shattin’ in their pantaloons" right now…and rightfully so!' 'We will be scheduling a press conference in the next 6 weeks or so...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Chinese company that makes office furniture components is planning to build a new $4.9 million manufacturing plant that will employ 122 workers. J-Star Motion Corp., which recently opening an office and warehouse facility at 83 South Main Street in Kent City, plans to build the factory at 500 West Street, in a building owned by Display Pack Inc., according to an announcement on Wednesday, Aug. 30, by The Right Place inc. The new facility will support J-Star's American business growth, which centers on making linear motion and lifting systems for the office furniture industry. In...

ESCANABA — A highlight of the annual Ladies’ Day at the Upper Peninsula State Fair is the recipe contest. This year, entrants had to create dishes featuring potatoes. The judges chose winners based on taste, appearance, and creativity, along with clarity of the recipe. Taking home the top prize with her sweet potato casserole was Linda Romps. Second place was awarded to Joanne King for her red picnic basket potato salad. Coming in third place was Becky Kuehl, who created a pumpkin sweet potato cheesecake. The winning recipes will be published in the Ladies’ Day Cookbook for the 2018 Upper...

MUSKEGON — Muskegon leaders have a new love for kayaks. "I'll pay more attention to kayaking now for sure,” Muskegon City Manager Frank Peterson said Wednesday. Their gleeful mood is due to a major investment from Muskegon-based KL Outdoor, which produces, kayaks, pedal boats, paddleboards, canoes and more. It's always good when you get that investment for the sake of your employment opportunities for the citizens, and I have to admit it's also good for the tax base," Mayor Stephen Gawron said. That investment will be to the tune of $9.2 million and is expected to create 153 new jobs...

LG Electronics announces plans to establish a $25 million factory for advanced electric-vehicle components in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park, MI. The 250,000-sq.-ft. (23,225 sq.-m) facility will produce EV components starting in 2018. The project will create at least 292 new Michigan jobs, including factory workers in Hazel Park and engineers at the expanded LG R&D Center in Troy, MI. The project is supported by a $2.9 million capital grant under the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Michigan Business Development Program over the next four years. LG also will receive hiring and training assistance from the state, including MI Works...

New York-based food cart manufacturer Move Systems International is spending $13.3 million and adding 27 jobs at its production center in Walker, outside of Grand Rapids. With the investment, Move Systems will amp up production, bring in new equipment and add on to administrative areas at the Walker facility. The company received a $200,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant through the Michigan Economic Development Corp. to support the expansion. The Right Place Inc., an economic development organization based in Grand Rapids, worked with MEDC to assure Move Systems would invest in Michigan as opposed to out of state, The...

MASON — Food and beverage packaging manufacturer Dart Container Corp. plans to invest $40 million in a new technical and innovation center in a project that is expected to create at least 136 new jobs in the Lansing region. The new jobs will be in areas including engineering, skilled trades, technology and administrative, it said Wednesday in a news release. The expansion by Mason-based Dart is being supported by a $1 million Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant from the Michigan Business Development Program, which provides economic assistance to businesses that create jobs and investment in Michigan. Alaiedon Township is also...

Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest contract manufacturer of consumer electronics, said it’s planning a multibillion dollar investment in the US state of Michigan, a week after announcing a US$10 billion plant in Wisconsin, giving a shot in the arm to Donald Trump’s election pledge to lure investments and create jobs for Americans. The new plant will be engaged in the research, development and production of components and vehicles that can drive autonomously, said Terry Gou, founder of the Taiwanese company, on Saturday in Shenzhen. “Automotive development in the US is still more advanced than China,” said Gou, declining to...

Indrek Wichman, a mechanical engineer professor at Michigan State University, has eyed a troubling trend of social justice warriors making their way through the humanities and social sciences and, to his despair, they now have their sights set on leveling their destruction on engineering. WichmanHaving spent 30 years teaching mechanical engineering, Wichman acknowledges things have changed dramatically and is concerned that “feelings” and “micro-aggressions” have taken a predominant role, much to the detriment of the hard sciences. “The world we engineers envisioned as young students is not quite as simple and straightforward as we had wished,” he states in a...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — 33 people were arrested in a recent four-day operation in West Michigan by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. In a press release put out early Friday, the agency says the operation was meant to target “criminal aliens, illegal re-entrants and immigration violators.” They say that among the 33 taken into custody, 24 of them had prior criminal convictions. The operation took place this week across West Michigan. The arrests span individuals from four different countries: Mexico (22 arrested), Guatemala (7 arrested), El Salvador (3 arrested) and Liberia. Rebecca Adduci, the ICE Enforcement and Removal...

Ex-employees claim company wouldn’t let them delay meal break during Ramadan Sixteen Muslims “involuntary resigned” from their jobs at an automotive supplier in Warren because the company refused to accommodate their planned religious observance, their attorneys said Wednesday. The ex-employees of Brose Jefferson, who worked the afternoon shift, had requested they be allowed to take their unpaid, 30-minute meal break at 9 p.m. instead of the usual 7 p.m., during Ramadan. During Ramadan, which was celebrated worldwide from May 27 to June 25, Muslims observe strict fasting from sunrise to sunset. On Friday, May 26, the Muslim employees on the...

We need some sharp elbows and rough edges in DC A brash, rough talking, sometimes crude political outsider with a large media following, taking on the political establishment’s elite. Where have I seen this before? I’m talking about Kid Rock, not Donald Trump. Robert Ritchie, better known as Kid Rock, has announced that he is running for the US Senate—and I for one believe he is quite earnest about it, and furthermore may very well get elected.

The 1967 Detroit Riots were among the most violent and destructive riots in U.S. history. By the time the bloodshed, burning and looting ended after five days, 43 people were dead, 342 injured, nearly 1,400 buildings had been burned and some 7,000 National Guard and U.S. Army troops had been called into service. --SNIP-- “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal. Reaction to last summer’s disorders has quickened the movement and deepened the division. Discrimination and segregation have long permeated much of American life; they now threaten the future of every American.”