Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer
discussed education, jobs, health
care and roads at her second
State of the State address on
Wednesday evening at the State
Capitol in Lansing. This was her
second state address since her
swearing-in as the 49th Governor
of Michigan in January 2019.
In her 2019 address, Whitmer
discussed key issues including
Michigan’s infrastructure and
educational system, emphasizing
her
intention
to
garner
bipartisan support to address
these problems. On Wednesday,
Whitmer revisited her solution
for Michigan’s infrastructure,
which she claims would have
fixed the roads by 2030 if it had
been accepted by the Michigan
legislature.
“I am not giving up because
the problem remains. In fact, it
is worse because another year
has passed. Cracked windshields,
blown
tires,
busted
rims,”
Whitmer said. “That’s money
that could go into your childcare
budget, or your retirement fund
or rent. And it’s also bad for
business. We can’t ask businesses
to invest in Michigan if we refuse
to invest in ourselves.”
With a lack of bipartisan
cooperation
for
her
initial
proposal and a disappointing
gridlock, according to Whitmer,
she vowed to pursue executive
action with her “Plan B.”
The College of Literature,
Science and the Arts Building and
the Michigan Union both opened
their doors to students and faculty
on South State Street earlier this
month, providing new study and
meeting spaces. The reopened
buildings provide more room for
students as well as several cafes,
study rooms and meeting spots.
Music,
Theatre
&
Dance
freshman Kiran Mangrulkar said
it was easy to come to the Union
because he lives in West Quad.
Mangrulkar said the Union was
a better study space than the
Shapiro Undergraduate Library
and Hatcher Graduate Library,
where he has studied in the past.
“I come here somewhat often,”
Mangrulkar said. “I like the new
spaces. I wish there (were) more
outlets… I think they’re just very
common, normal in general,
nothing
crazy,
but
nothing
awful.”
LSA junior Aparna Iyer said
she
appreciates
the
Union’s
additional collaborative spaces.
“I really like the student org
spaces,” Iyer said. “The Idea Hub
on the second floor, and I like
that they put a ceiling over that
courtyard, because that was just
an unused wasted space, and I’m
glad that we’re able to make use
of that.”
LSA freshman Alex Majie said
he likes the Union’s older design
and anticipates studying there in
the future.
“I haven’t necessarily studied
here yet,” Majie said. “But as I’m
looking around, like, it would be
a nice place to study. It’s not as
quiet as a library, which is good in
some aspects.”
Iyer said she thinks the Union
has opened up space in other
frequented study spaces.
michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, January 30, 2020
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-NINE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM
As attendees walked into
the Emerging Drinking Water
Contaminants Panel at Ford
School of Public Policy on
Wednesday afternoon, they
were greeted with pizza,
salad and voter registration
forms.
Panelist
James
Clift,
deputy
director
at
the
Department of Environment,
Great
Lakes
and
Energy
(EGLE), explained the role of
the word “emerging” in the
name of the event.
“Contaminants have been
around for a long time,” Clift
said. “It’s usually an emerging
understanding of what this
contaminant means to us as
humans.”
One
of
the
types
of
chemicals
currently
under
the
public
eye
is
perfluorooctanoic
acid
(PFAS), which is a group of
manufactured
chemicals
that have been found in
water. According to panelist
John Meeker, professor and
associate dean for research in
the School of Public Health,
it has been found to have
negative effects on immunity,
thyroid, liver, cholesterol and
fetal development.
Several of the panelists said
Michigan’s government was
ahead of the curve on PFAS
and other water regulation
policies compared to other
state governments. They also
mentioned the implications
of the federal government’s
inactivity regarding updating
water care policy.
Sara Hughes, an assistant
professor
at
the
School
for
Environment
and
Sustainability (SEAS), was
one of the panelists. Her
research
focuses
on
the
political
and
institutional
dimensions
of
water
and
climate
change
policies,
specifically
in
an
urban
context.
“It is really exciting that
the state of Michigan is
acting ahead of the federal
government and ahead of most
other
state
governments,”
Hughes said. “It’s a pretty
exciting thing, and fun to
watch, but we don’t want to
give up on federal action by
the EPA.”
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Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
INDEX
Vol. CXXIX, No. 56
©2019 The Michigan Daily
NEWS......................... 2A
OPINION.....................4A
CL ASSIFIEDS ..............6A
S U D O K U . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 A
S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 A
A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 B
michigandaily.com
For more stories and coverage, visit
Ford panel
discusses
impact of
Facebook
CAMPUS LIFE
ISABELLA PREISSLE
Daily Staff Reporter
Experts on drinking water discuss
current contaminants regulations
Professors and researchers analyze state’s handling of hazardous chemicals
ANN ARBOR
Follow The Daily
on Instagram,
@michigandaily
The auditorium was slow
to fill up, as students and
community members trickled
into the event. The projector
above
the
speakers
moved
through slides with captions
such as “Senator DeLima is still
imprisoned” and “Duterte is
called the indisputable king of
Facebook conversations.”
In an event at the University
of Michigan’s Ford School of
Public Policy on Wednesday
afternoon,
Davey
Alba,
a
reporter for the New York
Times,
and
Ceren
Budak,
an
assistant
professor
at
the
School
of
Information,
discussed the crisis of social
media disinformation in the
most recent election in the
Philippines.
Alba, a Filippino American
journalist, recently won the
Livingston
Award,
a
prize
bestowed by the University each
year on media professionals
under the age of 35. In her
article “How Duterte Used
Facebook To Fuel the Philippine
Drug War,” Alba exposed the
disinformation
campaign
Filippino President Rodrigo
Duterte used to get elected.
IULIA DOBRIN
Daily Staff Reporter
PAULINA RAJSKI/Daily
Panelists Eric Oswald, Charlotte Jameson, Dr. Sara Hughes, Dr. John Meeker and James Clift discuss drinking water contaminants at the Ford School Wednesday morning.
Staff, administration
respond to messages
football players sent
in private group chat
JULIA RUBIN
Daily Staff Reporter
See WATER, Page 3A
KATHERINA SOURINE
Daily Staff Reporter
See WHITMER, Page 3A
ASHA LEWIS/Daily
Governor Gretchen Whitmer delivers the State of the State at the Capitol in East Lansing Wednesday night.
‘CONCRETE ACTION’
Governor Whitmer gives second annual State of the State address, calls on
members of Michigan Legislature to reach bipartisan solutions
Campus refurbishments provide
additional spaces for school work
See STUDY, Page 3A
Saline HS
teenagers
post racist
comments
Saline High School staff
and administration were made
aware on Monday of racist
comments posted on social
media by students.
MLive obtained messages
posted in a group chat on
Snapchat created by Saline
High School football players.
In a chat titled “Racist,”
followed by two gorilla emojis,
one
student
introduced
another to a chat with a
message saying “My ni****,”
while
another
responded
by saying “Sup n****.” More
messages
were
posted
afterward by the same two
students including “WHITE
POWER” and “THE SOUTH
WILL RISE AGAIN.”
The
chat
included
four
students
of
color.
After
students sent the slurs and
racist messages, some other
students left the chat.
In
an
interview
with
The
Daily,
Scot
Graden,
superintendent of the Saline
School
District,
said
the
school
has
a
three-phase
discipline
policy,
including
initial discipline, restorative
justice and education.
See SALINE, Page 2A
ARJUN THAKKAR
Daily Staff Reporter
In Philippines, Rodrigo
Duterte manipulated
public opinion to
caputure an election
See FACEBOOK, Page 3A
Union, LSA
Building open
up study spots
for students
Youth
b-side