Touted as the cannabis capital
of the Midwest, Ann Arbor
is no stranger to recreational
marijuana use. However, the
city’s marijuana market may be
undergoing a dynamic shift. This
past week, Deputy City Attorney
Kevin McDonald presented a
first draft proposal for a points-
based
scoring
process
for
businesses seeking to obtain a
permit to sell cannabis products.
At
a
City
Council
meeting
Monday,
several
councilmembers,
including
Jane Lumm, I-Ward 2, said they
believe the topic requires further
discussion.
“It’s a topic of considerable
interest to residents and deserves
more public discussion and
input,” Lumm said. “I just think
it’s critical to get it right,”
Points would be assigned
to businesses based on four
criteria:
past
performance,
state compliance, location and
community
interest.
Each
category would be worth a
maximum of 25 points. Past
performance
points
would
showcase the business’s influence
and historical relationship with
the city.
State
compliance
points
would measure how well the
business has followed the city’s
regulatory
laws
surrounding
marijuana.
Location
points
would portray how strategic
a
company’s
geographic
positioning in Ann Arbor is,
considering the demographics of
neighboring residents as well as
competitive stores. Community
interest points would measure
the potential demand for the
business in the market.
The city is planning to limit
the number of permits available
for marijuana micro-businesses
to 28.
As the threat of climate change
continues to provoke protests
demanding institutional action to
address the issue, student activists
are calling on the University of
Michigan to reduce its use of fossil
fuels for powering facilities on
campus.
Last week, activists sprayed
graffiti and wrote chalk messages
on the Diag and other public outdoor
locations claiming the University
has $1 billion invested in fossil fuels.
The 2018 Report on Investments
corroborates this claim, stating
the
University
allocated
$1.12
billion dollars, toward investments
classified under natural resources.
The report defines investments in
natural resources as “investments
in companies located primarily
in the U.S. that produce oil and
natural gas, and companies that
service those industries, as well as
non-energy related investments
in minerals, mining, and wetland
restoration.”
Zaynab Elkolaly, student at
Washtenaw
Technical
Middle
College
and
cofounder
of
Washtenaw
Climate
Strike,
criticized
the
University’s
investments in fossil fuels.
“The
University,
from
an
educational
standpoint,
has
a
great environmental curriculum
where students fully understand
the resulting detriment that comes
with fossil fuel consumption,”
Elkolaly
said.
“Students
are
not ignorant, and nor is the
administration. What’s appalling
is that these authority figures
touting their prestigious degrees
and positions are still involved in
the very thing that is destroying
the planet, simply because of profit.
The University of Michigan is
notorious for exploiting students
financially, and this is only part of
the pattern.”
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
The Center for Academic
Innovation
held
an
event
Tuesday
afternoon
recognizing academic teams
for
their
spring
projects
centered
around
diversity,
equity and inclusion. This
was the first in a series of six
events, featuring eight teams
giving a brief overview of their
DEI project and how their
project will serve specific
groups on campus, ranging
from undocumented students
to the LGBTQ community.
The
event
began
with
Rachel
Niemer,
director
for outreach and access at
the
Center
for
Academic
Innovation,
who
echoed
sentiments made at the 2019
DEI Summit by Van Jones,
CEO of REFORM Alliance,
political
commentator
and
host
of
“The
Redemption
Project” and “The Van Jones
Show” on CNN.
“Those of us working in higher
education are in a very unique
position,” Niemer said. “We not
only get to shape the experience
of the learners on campus, but as
they move out into the broader
world, we get to shape the
broader social structures that
they will impact.”
Niemer explained how the
mission of these DEI projects
is to understand and assist
individuals
from
various
minority communities, which
is necessary for our society to
succeed.
The
Detroit
Board
of
Police
Commissioners
approved a policy Sept. 19
outlining the use of facial
recognition
technology
for
the police department. The
policy includes guidelines for
how officers who abuse the
policy will be punished and
a prohibition from sharing
the
photos
with
private
companies.
The software has been used
by Detroit police since July
2017, when the Detroit City
Council approved the software
purchase.
In
June
2019,
Detroit Police Chief James
Craig asked the City Council
to approve its permanent use.
Controversy
surrounds
the
technology
because
of issues with the systems
misidentifying people with
darker skin. In a test done by
the ACLU, Amazon’s facial
recognition tool Rekognition
falsely matched 28 members of
Congress, disproportionately
identifying them as people
who had committed crimes.
The
false
matches
were
disproportionately
people
of color, misidentifying six
members of the Congressional
Black Caucus.
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INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 8
©2019 The Michigan Daily
N E WS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CL A SSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
Points-based
system to rank
A2 marijuana
dispensaries
Local businesses assigned scores for
licensing, permiting requirements
Following an attempt to hack
the voting app Voatz during the
2018 midterm elections, the FBI
revealed last week they have
launched an investigation into
the incident, which allegedly
involved University of Michigan
computer science students.
According to an article from
CNN,
anonymous
sources
revealed the FBI is investigating
an
individual
or
several
individuals who tried to hack the
app as a part of their University
of Michigan election security
course.
According to the EECS 498
course description, the class
teaches students how to hack an
election in order to better defend
against cyber break-ins.
“To defend a system you need
to be able to think like an attacker,
and that includes understanding
techniques that can be used to
compromise security,” the course
description reads.
Fifty-five
percent
of
the
students’ grades are determined
by a large-scale group project
related
to
a
technical
or
tech policy topic on election
cybersecurity.
However,
the
description goes on to explain,
the class will not allow students
to directly break any laws.
Students
implicated
in possible
app hack
GOVERNMENT
Center for Academic Innovation
honors teams for new DEI projects
Event celebrates efforts to serve specific groups on campus, promote inclusion
New tech
approved
for use in
Detroit
FACIAL RECOGNITION
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Rachel Niemer, Director for Outreach and Access at the Centere for Academic Innovation, discusses the mission of the DEI projects at an event hosted by the Center for
Academic Innovation in Palmer Commons Tuesday.
Climate activists express criticism
of U-M’s fossil fuel investments
ARJUN THAKKAR
Daily Staff Reporter
ANGELINA BREDE
Daily Staff Reporter
See DEI, Page 3A
DESIGN BY SHERRY CHEN
statement
See HACK, Page 3A
See SOFTWARE, Page 3A
NIKKI KIM
Daily Staff Reporter
See MARIJUANA, Page 3A
See FUEL, Page 3A
LIAT WEINSTEIN
Daily Staff Reporter
Péripatéticienne
Federal investigation
examines attempt to
hack voting application
Software to come to
police department amid
controversy over bias
SONIA LEE
Daily Staff Reporter