Accountability | Michigan
Former GM Employee Blasts Trump For Broken Promise to Autoworkers
In a heartfelt op-ed penned yesterday in the Akron Beacon Journal, John DeGarmo, a decades-long employee of General Motors, called on President Trump to finally make good on his broken campaign promise to revive the auto industry across the Rust Belt. DeGarmo demanded action after he and others lost their jobs when the GM Lordstown plant in Ohio shuttered in March 2019.
Health Care | Michigan
Lawsuit Pushed By the Trump Admin Could Leave Thousands in Macomb County Without Health Care
An ongoing lawsuit -- supported by the Trump Administration -- winding its way through a federal appeals court has the potential to dismantle the Affordable Care Act in its entirety, upending the economic security and well-being of millions of Americans in the process. In Macomb County, Michigan, that could spell disaster.
During the 2019 open enrollment period, over 30,000 Macomb residents enrolled in a plan on the exchanges, and since the passage of the ACA, over 58,000 residents have gained coverage under the law’s Medicaid expansion.
Health Care | Michigan
As Calhoun County Continues to Suffer From the Opioid Crisis, No Additional Federal Funding in Sight
Beginning in the 1990s, pharmaceutical companies -- such as Purdue Pharma -- assured doctors, patients and families that their new medication to relieve pain was non-addictive.
They lied.
Since the 90s, over-prescribed opioids, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, have flooded American households, taking hundreds of thousands of lives by overdose and fueling a public health crisis across the country. And recently, in regions like Calhoun County, Michigan, the opioid epidemic has taken a turn for the worse, leaving some to argue that not enough is being done at the federal level to address the crisis.
Health Care | Michigan
Trump Admin Turns Back on Lake County Residents, Local Public Health Crisis
Lake County residents are facing very real public health challenges, raising concerns about proposed federal budget cuts and their potential impact on residents in one of Michigan’s vulnerable counties.
According to the 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment issued by Michigan’s District Health Department #10, Lake County ranked 79th out of 83 counties on “health outcomes” -- a measure of how long people live and how healthy they feel while alive. In the same report, residents of Lake County ranked last of 83 counties across Michigan in how healthy they reported feeling.
Environment | Michigan
Trump Administration Blocked a Study on the Dangers of PFAS as Their Levels Rise in Battle Creek, Michigan’s Drinking Water
In an emotional congressional hearing in September 2018, members of Congress pressed a Department of Defense official as to why test results showing high levels of PFAS in the groundwater at the Battle Creek Air National Guard Base in Calhoun County, Michigan, were held up in bureaucracy for months.
On the EPA’s website, PFAS are described as “a group of man-made chemicals that includes PFOA, PFOS, GenX, and many other chemicals” that have been “manufactured and used in a variety of industries around the globe, including in the United States since the 1940s.”
Accountability | Michigan
Michigan Senate Republican Hopeful Once Questioned Women’s Capacity for Leadership at Men-Only Gathering
Speaking at a men’s-only event earlier last year, Michigan Republican John James questioned women’s capacity for leadership, alleging that “women want men who have been tested” and that men had a “charge to lead.”
Economy | Michigan
Trump’s Tariffs Set to Cost Michigan Auto Industry Billions, Boosting Prospects for Further Layoffs
In the wake of President Trump’s announcement of an additional 5% tariff on imports from Mexico, a new study shows that major Michigan auto manufacturers stand to lose billions in profit.