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LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan will build clean energy infrastructure and invest in green programs over the next 30 years with the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050 to confront climate change, a draft of a state plan says. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer committed Michigan to the 2050 goal in 2020 and formed the Council on Climate Solutions in the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. A large portion of Michigan’s greenhouse gas emissions come from electrical power and transportation, the draft notes. To reach the 2050 goal of carbon neutrality, the plan would have the state convert...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill Wednesday that will establish a task force to study and develop proposals for paying reparations to the descendants of enslaved Black people. Assembly Bill 3121 calls for a nine-member body to make recommendations on what type of compensation, if any, should be awarded and who should be eligible. In addition, the group can recommend to the state Legislature how California can offer a formal apology "for the perpetration of gross human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants" and the elimination of state laws that disproportionately...

SACRAMENTO — With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, California became the first state government in the country on Wednesday to adopt a law to study and develop proposals for potential reparations to descendants of enslaved people and those impacted by slavery. Newsom said the new law and bipartisan support for its passage is proving “a paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.” In a year of national protests against racial injustice, state lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 3121 to force the state to begin to confront its racist history and systemic disparities that persist today. Although California...

A new TikTok trend has emerged this week as former "Harry Potter" fans protest author J.K. Rowling's widely criticized views on trans people by burning copies of her books. One video, posted by TikTok user @elmcdo shows a number of "Harry Potter" books being placed on a burning pyre.

Gov. Jerry Brown, casting a living wage as a moral imperative while questioning its economic rationale, signed legislation Monday raising California’s mandatory minimum to $15 an hour by 2022, acting within hours of a similar bill signing in New York. The bill’s enactment comes one week after Brown, Democratic lawmakers and labor leaders announced an agreement on the wage increase, averting a brawl on the November ballot. [snip] California political leaders and labor have struck a deal to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the next seven years. One excited fast food worker hugged Gov. Jerry Brown...