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SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

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The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

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Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

MI Progressive Groups Celebrate Wins, Look to Future

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Thursday, November 8, 2018   

LANSING, Mich. – Voters in Michigan did an end run around the Legislature this election, approving ballot measures on clean elections and legal marijuana, then they went on to force a change at the top, installing Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, as governor-elect.

Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, says the election was a resounding success for progressive candidates and values, and hopes Whitmer will be able to work with the Republican-controlled Legislature on key issues.

"Progress Michigan will be there to support better transparency, quality public education, funding for our infrastructure and roads, protections for our environment, clean drinking water and affordable quality health care," he stresses.

Scott says Whitmer also has a mandate to work on environmental issues such as the Line 5 oil pipeline, the Flint water crisis and PFAS water contamination.

Voters also passed a measure to allow people to register on Election Day and vote absentee without having to give a reason.

In addition, more than 2 million people voted to create an independent redistricting commission in an attempt to end gerrymandering when districts are redrawn after the 2020 Census.

Katie Fahey founded the group Voters Not Politicians, which wrote Proposal 2.

"It shows that Michiganders, Democrats, Republicans, independents want accountability in our government again,” she stresses. “People are sick of politics as usual. They are tired of deals happening behind closed doors that impact their lives, and so if our government isn't going to change that, we will."

Voters elected the state's first Muslim-American woman from Michigan to Congress, Democrat Rashida Tlaib.

Republicans held onto their majorities in both houses of the state Legislature, but lost their super majority in the Michigan House of Representatives.


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