The Detroit News. November 1, 2018
Endorsement: Vote Yes on community college millages
Community colleges are arguably the most essential piece in training Michigan’s workforce for the skilled manufacturing, technical and construction jobs that are being created here at a rapid pace.
But when it comes to state funding priorities, community colleges take a back seat to the four-year universities.
So it’s important that local residents recognize the value of these two-year institutions and help support them financially.
Three Metro Detroit community colleges have millage requests on Tuesday’s ballot. We endorse each of them.
Schoolcraft College in Livonia is asking for a Headlee override to restore it’s full tax levy of 2.27 mills. That would be about a half mill increase, or about $50 a year on a home valued at $200,000.
It’s a good investment. Schoolcraft has been innovative in serving its community, adding numerous certificates and two-year degrees to train those who aren’t going on for a bachelor’s degree for meaningful careers.
It has also been creative in its funding, leasing out it’s unused property to produce income.
But still it is operating at a deficit despite considerable cost-cutting. Approving the proposal would simply return Schoolcraft to the millage rate voters agreed to pay when the college was formed more than three decades ago.
The college’s tax district includes the Livonia, Garden City, Clarenceville, Plymouth-Canton and Northville school districts.
Wayne County Community College District is asking for an early renewal and consolidation of two existing millages.
Passage would not increase taxes.
The measure would give WCCCD certainty as it plans for future growth. Like Schoolcraft, it plays a critical role in training Detroit and Wayne County students for the jobs that are in demand today.
Voters in Dearborn are asked to renew a one-mill levy for Henry Ford Community College. Henry Ford is making a reasonable request that will not overburden taxpayers.
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Times Herald (Port Huron). November 2, 2018
Don’t be left out of Tuesday vote
To hear the political pundits and editorial writers tell it, this is the most important mid-term election in the history of American democracy. They’ve never said one wasn’t important, so maybe there is something to it.
And it’s not just them. Early voting is setting records in states across the country. In Michigan, voters have been requesting absentee ballots in numbers normally seen only during presidential election years.
Whatever the self-appointed experts are saying, voters are excited about Election Day this year, too. Pollsters and analysts all have their theories to explain why.
Feel free to ignore them. Find your own motives to vote on Tuesday. There are plenty to choose from, ranging from street repairs and reproductive rights to tax policies and Asian carp in the Great Lakes. Find the candidates whose motives match yours and vote for them on Election Day. Or find the candidate whose motives you most oppose and vote against him or her; that’s good, too, in our system of politics and government.
Some of our recommendations as you consider your choices:
Gretchen Whitmer is Michigan’s best choice for its next governor. She is serious about changing the way we educate our children, protect natural resources and maintain streets. She has credible plans to lower auto insurance premiums, improve schools and keep Nestle’s hands off our water.
For the 10th Congressional District, the race is full of qualified candidates. Based on his experience and record, we believe freshman Rep. Paul Mitchell should be re-elected. Despite being in his first term, he has been one of the grown-ups in Congress, working to get things done without partisan bluster.
Democrat Kimberly Bizon would not be a bad choice. She has a solid record of environmental and political activism and well-considered plans for what she would do in Congress to best represent the Blue Water Area and to improve America.
Mayor Pauline Repp should be re-elected to lead the city of Port Huron. She best recognizes what the city must do to maintain its upward trajectory. She understands city government and her role in it, collaborates well with other local and state officials and works for all city residents.
Vote no on Proposal 1, the ballot issue that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana. Approval would unleash a costly menace that Michigan cannot afford.
Vote yes on Proposal 2 to end gerrymandering. Allowing politicians to draw legislative districts disenfranchises too many Michigan voters, including voters here.
Vote yes on Proposal 3 to protect the voting process. We wish it weren’t needed, but state lawmakers have disregarded voters too often.
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The Mining Journal (Marquette). November 2, 2018
Program promotes inclusivity in greater Marquette area
At times, the world seems to be overrun with stories of bigotry and intolerance. But then, sometimes at least, there is news that renews one’s faith in humanity.
Such as the information issued this week by Northern Michigan University that it is participating in a nationwide effort to let students from other parts of the world know Marquette welcomes them.
Take a walk through downtown Marquette and see that businesses are displaying posters in their windows with the message “You Are Welcome Here” in multiple languages. NMU staff members delivered the posters as part of a campaign designed to strengthen international students’ connection to the community and familiarize them with local businesses, according to a university news release.
It’s part of an initiative known as the #YouAreWelcomeHere campaign.
It is intended to assure international students that American universities want to “promote diverse, friendly and safe environments,” the release indicates.
Further, each institution participating in the initiative is communicating the message in its own way.
Thanks go to Erika Greeley, coordinator of international enrollment, and Diana Vreeland, director of the English Language Institute in the Division of Extended Learning and Community Engagement, who lead the effort to get the campaign started at Northern.
The release states: “The campaign aligns with the core value of inclusion in the university’s strategic plan.”
The two attended the NAFSA Association of International Educators Conference last year, receiving templates for posters designed by Temple University. The two later distributed the posters around not just on campus but around downtown Marquette.
It may seem a small thing, but putting out this kind of welcome is a wonderful way to be part of the effort to be welcoming and kind to people from all parts of the globe. Education is an important tool in building a better world. We’re thrilled NMU has stepped up to take part in this initiative.
For more information about the movement, visit https://www. youarewelcomehereusa.org/.
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Traverse City Record-Eagle. November 4, 2018
1. Politicians don’t have better information than you do.
Politicians don’t know what they’re talking about? Shock, gasp, right? It’s the oldest saying in Washington, D.C. but it’s also true - potentially more true today than it ever was.
The Guardian published a great editorial on the science behind misinformation last week. While much hullabaloo is made of social media’s role, misinforming politicians is not a new phenomenon - and Big Tobacco wrote its most effective playbook.
What works isn’t blatant fabrication, rather stoking confusion and playing up irrelevant truths. The Guardian’s example was the Big Tobacco push for asbestos-caused cancer research - hint: it wasn’t for our health, but rather to provide a distraction that proved healthier for their bottom line.
Over time, confusion and strategically-placed irrelevant information can sway even the smartest politician. A recent study modeled how decision-makers become swayed into believing things that all relevant experts know to be untrue. To repeat: They believe things all relevant experts know to be untrue - that should give us all pause when we consider the power of lobbyists at all political levels.
2. Fake news works on voters.
Take Brazil, for example.
In June, the country’s electoral court made each political party promise to refrain from fake news during the presidential campaign. By the October runoff election between Jair Bolsonaro, the head of the Social Liberal Party, and Workers’ Party candidate Fernando Haddad, a Bloomberg report called the Brazil’s main social media - WhatsApp - an “impenetrable candyland of misinformation” complete with a partisan assassination video actually lifted from a robbery.
A Brazilian newspaper investigation revealed that a group of entrepreneurs had paid influencers to spread anti-Haddad content from their private WhatsApp groups, but no determination has been made to see if that constitutes an illegal campaign contribution.
Bolsonaro’s victory gave rise to the dispute that fake news was a factor in the campaign.
Think of the many dollars spent in this election cycle, pressing influence into your physical and digital inboxes, eyeballs and ears. Are the charges simplistic, targeting an emotional reaction?
You can bet on it, but you don’t have to vote it in.
3. Having to wade through the muck of false information gives rise to the two-headed dragon of polarization and apathy - that also, ironically, allows it to exist.
Fake news at its core is fueled by our mistrust - mistrust of traditional news, mistrust of science and scientists, mistrust of knowledge and the systems behind knowledge.
When you start believing that you can’t believe anything, fake news expert University of Connecticut professor Michael Patrick Lynch told Bloomberg that we double down on preexisting beliefs or opt out of the system entirely.
Says Bloomberg, “The electorate is then divided between those who dominate the discourse with information that supports only their personal views and those who tune out politics entirely.”
Sound familiar?
The good news is that knowing what’s out there and being aware of the forces at play make us all smarter voters. We know “alternative facts” are more rampant than, you know, facts. But that doesn’t stop us from searching past the easy answer. That’s our job as a newspaper. But it’s also our responsibility as voters to make an informed choice, and to demand that those who represent us are informed as well.
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