Obama to Michigan
The White House has announced plans for President Obama to visit Detroit and Ann Arbor on Thursday and Friday. The president will talk about, “college affordability at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Michigan stops are part of a five-state swing by Obama following Tuesday night's State of the Union address. The president will discuss proposals from the address in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Phoenix on Wednesday and in Las Vegas and Denver on Thursday.This is Obama's second appearance at the university as president. He was the May 2010 commencement speaker,” the Associated Press reports.
Child Welfare
The Michigan League for Human Services has released their annual report on how Michigan’s children are faring. Laura Weber reports:
About one-fourth of kids in Michigan live in poverty. That’s according to the Kids Count report from the Michigan League for Human Services. The report says the percent of kids living in poverty and “extreme poverty” has risen dramatically in the past decade, as has the rate of kids who qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. Jane Zehnder-Merrell is with the League. She says poverty is pervasive throughout the state. But, she says, the good news from the report is teen births continue to decline. The number of teen deaths and the rate of high school dropouts are also declining.
Detroit Districts
Detroit officials are fast-tracking a process to change the way Council members represent the city, Sarah Cwiek reports. From Cwiek:
Detroit voters approved a plan in November to elect seven of nine City Council members by district, when they approved a new city charter. Currently, all nine members represent the city at-large. The City Council is scheduled to choose one of four redistricting proposals by February 17th. Several current Council members all live in what will likely become a single district. If they seek re-election, those members will either need to face off directly against a current colleague or move to another district by May.
