I was 19 when that second line appeared on my pregnancy test. I took multiple after that just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. I still remember sitting across the table from my partner at Steak N’ Shake when I gave him the news. While the majority of my friends were enjoying college, I […]
A Matter of Priorities
As Senator Nesbitt continues to plays politics, he is doubling down on creating huge tax loop holes for Internet providers. To understand his reasoning, you need not look further than his declaration that former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s resignation was a “big loss”.
Sharing the same industry-first and consumer-last mentality, Chairman Pai led the FCC to dismantle net neutrality (which ensures that providers couldn’t charge more for certain data, for example Comcast charging more to watching NetFlix) and had a tenure marked by skyrocketing prices and a billion dollars in wasted funds. Strong assets for Senator Nesbitt I guess.
An urgent need across much of rural Michigan, Internet access remains expensive or completely unavailable despite much rhetoric and many tax dollars spent. There has been a failure at both the national and state levels to seriously tackle the problem. I wrote a short article to explain some of the more recent failures.
Michigan League for Public Policy CEO Gilda Jacobs retiring after 40-plus years of public service
For Immediate Release June 4, 2021 Contact: Alex Rossman arossman@mlpp.org 517-775-9053 Michigan League for Public Policy CEO Gilda Jacobs retiring after 40-plus years of public service LANSING—The Michigan League for Public Policy announced today that President and CEO Gilda Z. Jacobs will retire by the end of 2021 after 11 years with the organization and […]
Bridging wide chasms: Breaking down the House and Senate FY 22 Budgets
For a third year in a row, the Michigan budget preparation cycle remains unusual. As expected, differences on spending priorities and public policy exist throughout the budget process. However, while revenues have improved and broad, less restricted federal aid has been made available, political tensions early in the process continued to compound these wide differences […]
Congress has Alpena-area residents’ health in their hands
This column originally appeared in The Alpena News on May 27, 2021 COVID-19 has claimed the lives of thousands of our fellow Michiganders, including many people we have all directly known, worked with, and cared about. And, on top of the very real physical health risks, the pandemic has also harmed our economy and turned […]
Budget surplus, bipartisan agreement sets stage for transformational investments in Michigan’s people
For Immediate ReleaseMay 21, 2021 Contact: Alex Rossman arossman@mlpp.org 517-775-9053 Budget surplus, bipartisan agreement sets stage for transformational investments in Michigan’s people The League continues to push for investments in child care, worker supports, essential safety net programs, and weighted, equitable school funding LANSING—The Michigan League for Public Policy issued the following statement on today’s […]
Tax Day 2021: A different date, the same important impact
Unless you’ve only been filing taxes the last two years (looking at you, recent college graduates), you’d understand that it’s odd to have a Tax Day falling in May (or July, as the case was last year). While Tax Day typically is April 15, the COVID-19 public health crisis has pushed it further into the […]
Restoring driver’s licenses for all immigrants will benefit entire stat
This column originally appeared in The Alpena News on May 12, 2021 By Alex Rossman, External Affairs Director, and Simon Marshall-Shah, State Policy Fellow At first, state and federal policies to better support Michigan immigrants may not seem particularly relevant to the Alpena area. But new research from the Michigan League for Public Policy shows that 684,000 […]
It’s up to Congress to continue President Biden’s commitment to Michigan Families
This column originally appeared in Michigan Advance on May 10, 2021 President Joe Biden’s first address to Congress last week was momentous in a multitude of ways. As a woman who held elected office for more almost three decades, hearing the words “Madam Vice President” and “Madam Speaker” was particularly powerful, as was seeing two women—including a […]
New expungement law helps residents move on from past mistakes
This column originally appeared in The Alpena News on April 28, 2021 We all have made mistakes and bad decisions at some point in our lives. Been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Acted recklessly or impulsively, especially in our teens and early 20s, when our brains are still developing and we’re particularly […]