Category Archives: Michigan

‘Georgia’s ours to lose’: Trump and Harris camps zero in on swing states

Posted on by

Amid close race, Harris to go on tour in Georgia as Trump surrogate insists state’s governor will back ex-president

As Kamala Harris and Donald Trump brace themselves for what promises to be an ugly and bruising sprint to the finishing line in November, both presidential candidates’ campaigns are turning their sights back on the handful of desperately close swing states where the battle is likely to be decided.

Georgia is coming into view as a critical battleground for both leaders as they struggle to gain voters’ attention in an epochal election. On Wednesday, the vice-president will travel from the White House to southern Georgia to hold her first campaign event in the state with her recently anointed running mate and former high school football coach, Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Kamala Harris and ‘Marxist left’ in speech to police

Posted on by

Ex-president falsely claims US is in grip of violent crime wave, and vows to shield officers from legal accountability

Donald Trump has pledged to shield police officers from legal accountability if he is re-elected as president after falsely claiming the US is in the grip of a wave of violent crime that he blamed on the Black Lives Matter movement and migrants crossing the Mexican border.

Speaking to police officers in Michigan on Tuesday, the former president sought to pin responsibility for the imagined crisis on his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, who he characterised as among “Marxist district attorneys” with a record of being anti-police and pro-criminal during her term as the DA in San Francisco in the 2000s.

Continue reading...

New poll shows Harris four points ahead of Trump in three key swing states

Posted on by

Crucial states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan are now leaning Democratic according to a NYT/Siena poll

A major new poll puts Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump in three key swing states, signaling a dramatic reversal in momentum for the Democratic party with three months to go until the election.

The vice-president leads the ex-president by four percentage points in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, 50% to 46%, among almost 2,000 likely voters across the three states, according to new surveys by the New York Times and Siena College.

Continue reading...

Dar Leaf, Michigan’s ‘constitutional sheriff’, wins re-election by landslide

Posted on by

Pro-militia and election denying Republican will continue 20-year run as sheriff in Barry county

Dar Leaf, the prominent election-denying sheriff of Barry county, Michigan, and leader in the rightwing “constitutional sheriffs” movement, will win his Republican primary by a wide margin, according to unofficial vote totals.

No Democrats filed to run, so Leaf is likely to continue serving as sheriff.

Continue reading...

Hoping to avoid Clinton’s 2016 mistakes, Harris courts three ‘rust belt’ states

Posted on by

‘Blue wall’ states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin could decide the outcome of November’s election

Of all the lessons Kamala Harris’s campaign will have learned from Hillary Clinton’s botched run for president eight years ago, among the most important is that it’s better to talk about jobs than guns in the three rust belt states that hold the key to the White House.

The peculiarities of the US’s electoral college will almost certainly see November’s presidential election decided by voters in just seven states. Four – Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia – lie in the southern sun belt.

Continue reading...

Rashida Tlaib holds up ‘war criminal’ sign during Netanyahu address

Posted on by

Sole Palestinian American in Congress protests as other progressives call for Israel arms embargo and Gaza ceasefire

Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit and address to a joint session of the US Congress on Wednesday was met with a personal protest in the chamber by the sole Palestinian American member of Congress, while some lawmakers gave the Israeli prime minister a standing ovation, others stayed away, and demonstrations by thousands of protesters took place outside.

The Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib, a leading progressive Democrat and fiercely outspoken opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, held up a sign that said “war criminal” as Netanyahu was speaking. She also wore a Palestinian flag pin and a keffiyeh, the black and white scarf that has been linked with the Palestinian struggle for over half a century.

Continue reading...

Trump attacks Biden and Harris in first rally since assassination attempt

Posted on by

In first rally with running mate JD Vance, ex-president jibes at leadership chaos within Democratic party

Donald Trump launched a full-throated attack on Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday as he returned to the campaign trail a week after surviving an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

In his first rally since the shocking shooting, and his first with new running mate Ohio senator JD Vance, Trump appeared on stage with the conspicuous white ear bandage he wore during the Republican national convention replaced by a smaller covering. He referred to the assassination attempt as a “horrific event” and said he stood before supporters “by the grace of God. I shouldn’t be here, but let’s face it, something very special happened.”

Continue reading...

Trump to hold first public campaign event since assassination attempt

Posted on by

The former president and his running mate, JD Vance, will hold a joint rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Republican nominee Donald Trump will hold his first public campaign rally since a shocking assassination attempt a week ago by appearing in a crucial rust belt battleground state alongside his new running mate, Ohio senator JD Vance.

The return to the campaign trail by Trump comes after the attempted killing of the former US president at a Pennsylvania rally last Saturday when a 20-year-old gunman opened fire, injuring Trump and others and killing one rally-goer.

Continue reading...

In Dearborn, home of largest Arab American community, despair and apathy dominate

Posted on by

The Michigan city’s residents ask ‘where is the humanity?’ as war in Gaza rages on. Some won’t vote this fall in protest

Abu Bilal sits quietly on a stool in Oriental Fashion, a clothing store he owns on Dearborn’s Warren Avenue, listening to the radio. It’s hard to ascertain whether his tone when talking about the war in Gaza is one of near-complete defeatism or seething anger.

“Ninety people were killed today; hundreds were injured,” he says, referencing an Israeli airstrike that killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in Khan Younis on Saturday.

Continue reading...

‘I’m not going anywhere’: Biden holds Michigan rally as calls to quit persist

Posted on by

Hakeem Jeffries reveals ‘candid’ talks with president about 2024 future as another top Democrat urges Biden to pull out

Joe Biden delivered a defiant speech on Friday evening in the battleground state of Michigan, firmly dismissing the doubt swirling around his survival as the Democratic presidential nominee.

Biden held a rally at a high school gymnasium in Detroit as part of his visit to the critical swing state that chose Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. He walked on stage to audience chants of “don’t you quit” and addressed the speculation head on: “I am running, and we’re gonna win,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Continue reading...

Gretchen Whitmer wants to meet far-right plotters who tried to kill her, book reveals

Posted on by

Exclusive: Michigan governor and potential Biden replacement writes in memoir True Gretch of desire for ‘face-to-face’ talks

Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan widely spoken of as a possible Democratic candidate for president should Joe Biden cede to growing pressure and leave the race, wants to meet members of a far-right militia who plotted to kidnap and kill her.

“I asked whether I could meet with one of the handful of plotters who’d pleaded guilty and taken responsibility for their actions, just to talk,” Whitmer writes in a new book, of the plot motivated by resistance to Covid public health measures and revealed with 13 arrests in late 2020.

Continue reading...

Michigan leading US on monitoring and studying bird flu outbreak

Posted on by

Daily text messages and phone calls check on farm workers who work with cows that have tested positive for H5N1

As questions swirl about the spread of bird flu among livestock and people, one US state – Michigan – has taken the lead on monitoring and studying the outbreak.

Other states have seemed wary of tracking cases among animals and people, but Michigan has taken a proactive approach, with daily text messages and phone calls to check on farm workers who work with cows that have tested positive for H5N1. They also have offered free tests if symptoms develop.

Continue reading...

Floods drive people from homes in Iowa as much of US swelters in extreme heat

Posted on by

Residents rescued by boat as Governor Kim Reynolds declares disaster in 21 counties in north of state

Floodwaters forced people out of their homes in parts of Iowa, the result of weeks of rain, while much of the US longed for relief on Saturday from yet another round of extraordinary heat.

Sirens blared at 2am in Rock Valley, Iowa, population 4,200, where people in hundreds of homes were told to get out as the Rock River could no longer take rain that has slammed the region. The city lacked running water because wells were unusable.

Continue reading...

Nine injured including two children in shooting at public splash pad in Michigan

Posted on by

Police say eight-year-old shot in head is in critical condition and shooter Michael William Nash died by suicide

Nine people, including two children, have been shot and wounded at a city-run water park near Detroit in what appeared to be a random attack, police have said.

Two children were among the victims, including an 8-year-old who was shot in the head and is in critical condition, after a shooter opened fire at the Brooklands Plaza Splash Pad park, where families had gathered to escape the summer heat.

Continue reading...

US braces for ‘dangerous’ conditions as heatwave to hit midwest and north-east

Posted on by

Meteorologists warn that heat will spread east through the week, with ‘heat dome’ expected to trap high temperatures

Millions of Americans are facing “dangerously hot conditions”, the National Weather Service said, with a heatwave set to hit the midwest and north-east US from Monday.

Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania were all under heat warnings starting Monday, with alerts in place until Friday evening. Meteorologists warned that the heat will spread east through the week, with a “heat dome” expected to trap high temperatures across New York, Washington DC and Boston.

Continue reading...

Tornado kills child and injures mother after tree slams into Michigan home

Posted on by

Storms in US midwest and on east coast cause chaos as workers respond to reports of people trapped in collapsed structures

Tornadoes in the US midwest and on the east coast were causing chaos on Wednesday, killing a two-year-old boy and injuring his mother outside Detroit when a tree fell on their suburban home.

Meanwhile, in Maryland, emergency workers were responding to reports of collapsed structures with people trapped inside after another tornado there.

Continue reading...

CDC warns of more US bird flu cases after second human infected by cows

Posted on by

Centers for Disease Control notes high levels of virus in raw milk amid outbreak among cows, after Michigan dairy worker infected

A Michigan dairy worker has been diagnosed with bird flu – the second human case associated with an outbreak in US dairy cows, after a case emerged in Texas earlier this spring.

The new patient had mild eye symptoms and has recovered, US and Michigan health officials said in announcing the case on Wednesday afternoon. The worker had been in contact with cows presumed to be infected, and the risk to the public remains low, officials said.

Continue reading...

Toxic ‘forever chemicals’ ubiquitous in Great Lakes basin, study finds

Posted on by

PFAS chemicals present in air, rain, atmosphere and water in basin, which holds nearly 95% of US freshwater

Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” are ubiquitous in the Great Lakes basin’s air, rain, atmosphere and water, new peer-reviewed research shows.

The first-of-its-kind, comprehensive picture of PFAS levels for the basin, which holds nearly 95% of the nation’s freshwater, also reveals that precipitation is probably a major contributor to the lakes’ contamination.

This story was amended on 18 May 2024 to clarify that Buffalo does not border Lake Ontario.

Continue reading...

Former US town clerk and her lawyer charged for allegedly accessing 2020 voter data in hunt for fraud

Posted on by

Stephanie Scott and Stefanie Lambert charged for promoting ‘baseless conspiracies’ and showing ‘disregard for voter privacy’

Michigan’s attorney general announced charges against a former township clerk and a lawyer who had supported attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, alleging they accessed voting systems without authorization in a search of fraud.

Stephanie Scott and her attorney, Stefanie Lambert, were charged on Wednesday with multiple felonies, including unauthorized access to a computer and using a computer to commit a crime.

Continue reading...

Student protesters interrupt University of Michigan commencement

Posted on by

With some demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza and others with Israel, students waved flags and chanted slogans

Students demonstrating in solidarity with Gaza waved Palestinian flags and keffiyehs and chanted anti-war slogans during the University of Michigan’s commencement ceremony on Saturday.

Videos on social media showed students donning their graduation gowns as they appeared to chant: “Israel bombs, UMich pays!” and “How many kids have you killed today?” One photo showed a plane appearing to carry a sky banner over the university with the message: “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!”

Continue reading...