Tag: Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Other Cities Granted $275 Million for Development Projects

The Center Square
Workers laying concrete

As part of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s “Make it in Michigan” plan, a state board has approved millions in subsidies for development projects in Grand Rapids, Northville and Greenville. 

The Michigan Strategic Fund board authorized a $252.3 million Transformational Brownfield Plan incentive package for mixed-use development projects in Grand Rapids that include construction of the 12,000-seat Acrisure Amphitheater, an 8,500-seat soccer stadium, a riverwalk, and a 21-story mixed-use building with 475 rental apartments, 3,660 square feet of retail and 475 parking garage spaces. 

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Trump, in First Rally Since Butler, Says He ‘Took a Bullet for Democracy’

The Center Square

In his first campaign trail stop since surviving an assassination attempt and accepting the party nomination at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump on Saturday appealed to auto workers in Michigan.

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From DACA to Deportation to Murder: Michigan the Latest State Hit by Immigration Enforcement Lapse

Just the News
Brandon Ortiz-Vite in front of other illegal immigrants (composite image)

An illegal immigrant, who once lived in the country as a DACA recipient before he was deported in 2020, was arrested over the weekend as a suspect in the slaying of a 25-year old Michigan woman. The incident is the second shocking murder of a young woman by an illegal immigrant this year, following the killing of Laken Riley in Georgia.

Michigan State Police began investigating the murder of Ruby Garcia, from Grand Rapids, after her body was found on a major highway that cuts through the city’s downtown. The body was discovered at 11:38 pm on Friday evening with apparent gunshot wounds, according to The Midwesterner.

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Michigan Lawmakers Want Mass Transit Between Grand Rapids, Detroit, Ann Arbor

The Center Square
City Buss

Michigan Democratic lawmakers want mass transit between Grand Rapids, Detroit and Ann Arbor but don’t know how to pay for it.

State Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, majority caucus chair & Education Committee chair, posted on social media that mass transit would prevent young people from leaving the state.

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Detroit Taxpayers Paid $56 Million in Police Settlements Since 2020

The Center Square

Detroit taxpayers forked over $56 million in police settlement payouts between 2020 and four months of 2023.

Those payouts are a record amount in recent history, but public officials won’t explain why.

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Grand Rapids Cannabis Operators Chafe Under City’s Social Equity Rules

The Center Square

When Grand Rapids enacted a social equity program for recreational cannabis, the goal was to create “equitable policies and opportunities that address the historical systemic and institutional injustices often connected to cannabis.”

But some cannabis operators say the rules are nearly impossible to follow as business grows.

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Michigan’s Second Largest City Declares Racism a ‘Public Health Crisis’

Cooper Moran

Grand Rapids, Michigan’s second-largest city and the hub of the more conservative western side of the state, declared racism as a “public health crisis.”

The Grand Rapids city commission approved a resolution that read in part, “We know that racism is deep and pervasive throughout many systems and policies impacting health. Examples include health care, public education funding structures, criminal justice and sentencing, housing, and wealth-building opportunities.”

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Grand Rapids Weighs Declaring Racism a Public Health Crisis

The Center Square

Grand Rapids is considering naming racism a public health crisis to “center and prioritize anti-racism.”

City staff spent more than 200 hours prepping three draft resolutions presented Tuesday: one to declare a climate crisis, the second to support the decriminalization of entheogenic substances, such as magic mushrooms, and the third to name racism a public health emergency.Grand Rapids is considering naming racism a public health crisis to “center and prioritize anti-racism.”

City staff spent more than 200 hours prepping three draft resolutions presented Tuesday: one to declare a climate crisis, the second to support the decriminalization of entheogenic substances, such as magic mushrooms, and the third to name racism a public health emergency.

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Michigan Cities Won’t Say Whether They’ll Adopt Critical Race Theory Resolution

Peter D'Abrosca

After the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution in favor of teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT) last week, the mayors of Michigan’s largest cities won’t say whether they support the resolution. 

The Conference of Mayors defines CRT as a “malleable practice [that] critiques how the social construction of race and institutionalized racism perpetuate a racial caste system that relegates people of color to the bottom tiers and recognizes that race intersects with other identities, including sexuality and gender identity.”

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Michigan Employment Numbers Pick Up Pace for State’s Pandemic Recovery

The Center Square
Blue Collar worker with hard hat on

Michigan’s recovery from the massive unemployment endured during the COVID-19 pandemic is among the fastest in the country, last week’s employment numbers indicate.

That assessment is according to a recently released WalletHub report, which ranked the state fifth nationwide for progress made between the previous week and the week of June 21, 2021, and fourth nationwide for the smallest increase in initial unemployment claims between the beginning of 2020 and the week of June 21, 2021.

Michigan was ranked 13th nationwide for quickest unemployment recovery since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

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Caterers, Venue Owners, and Funeral Home Owners: Small Business People Struggle Under COVID-19 Restrictions

The Center Square
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Eighty-three days into 2021, Grand Rapids-based Above and Beyond Catering owner Kim Smith said she hasn’t recorded a dollar of revenue in 2021 thanks to COVID-19 restrictions enacted by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Catering isn’t alone.

Wedding and funeral owners are pushing back on COVID-19 restrictions killing their business for the last year.

Smith has been in business for 45 years, she told the House Oversight Committee Thursday. Although she’s “done everything to keep afloat” since the state forced her business closed in March of 2020, her revenue is down 93.6%.

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Mayors Push State Lawmakers to Pass Community Stabilization Plan

The Center Square

City leaders in Michigan are asking state legislators to adopt policy changes that will prevent 24 cities currently collecting local income taxes from losing up to $250 million next year.

Several mayors held a virtual press conference Monday organized by the Michigan Municipal League (MML), asking the GOP-led legislature to approve a plan with three components.

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Rachael Denhollander Book Signing in Grand Rapids Standing Room Only

Abigail Nobel

It was a subdued West Michigan crowd that overflowed area parking lots for the Rachael Denhollander book signing in Grand Rapids Tuesday evening. Denhollander, whose testimony and victim impact statement against serial molester Larry Nassar went viral last year, launched two books earlier this month.

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Grand Rapids Police Department Enacts Policy Handcuffing Officers From Checking if Suspects Are Illegal Aliens

Jason M. Reynolds

If you know of an illegal alien in Grand Rapids, don’t call the police department — their policy is now to enable the city to serve as a sanctuary.

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Parenting Expert Israel Wayne in Grand Rapids

Abigail Nobel

Parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens came to hear parenting expert Israel Wayne on Friday and Saturday, where he addressed apathy in America in terms of family and worldview. Wayne said parents are failing to pass on their values and generational breakdown occurs in correlation to time spent with children.

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