Today on Stateside, we talk to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel about criticisms of how her office is handling civil lawsuits involving the Flint water crisis. Plus, we dive into the life of one of Henry Ford's mentors, who beat him to Michigan's first drive in a car by about three months.
Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below.
GOP legislative leader says Whitmer’s proposed road funding fix lacks creativity
- Governor Gretchen Whitmer unveiled her budget proposal on Tuesday. It includes, among other things, a 45-cent gas and diesel tax to pay for our crumbling roads. Michigan's Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey joins Stateside to give his take on Whitmer's proposed fix for roads, and where the two parties might find common ground in budget negotiations.
The early automotive pioneer who mentored Henry Ford and beat him to building Detroit’s first car
- It was late evening on March 6, 1896. Inventor Charles B. King climbed into his horseless carriage, fired up the engine, and drove around the city of Detroit at a top speed of seven miles an hour before the battery died. That ride made 28-year-old King the first person in Michigan to design, build and drive an automobile.
- Mark Harvey of the Michigan History Center and Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at the Henry Ford Museum, join Stateside to talk about King's legacy, as well as his close relationship with another automotive pioneer: Henry Ford.
- This segment is produced in partnership with the Michigan History Center.
Michigan rabbi describes concerning conditions at Florida migrant youth detention centers
- Every month, thousands of migrant children turn up at our southern border, seeking asylum. Many are sent to emergency intake shelters, the largest of which is in South Florida. Those shelters, which house children awaiting a decision on their asylum case, have come under fire afer a report from the Department of Health and Human Services found that thousands of migrant children have reported being sexually abused while held in those centers.
- Rabbi Josh Whinston, from Temple Beth Emeth in Ann Arbor, talks to Stateside about his visit to multiple detention centers in Florida this week, including the large for-profit center known as Homestead.
AG Nessel responds to criticism of decision to remove independent counsel from Flint water lawsuit
- Last month, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that her office would be taking over civil lawsuits related to the Flint water crisis. Lawyers in her office will defend the state in lawsuits that name state officials and agencies as defendants. But her office will also play the role of prosecutor in a class-action lawsuit filed against two private companies on behalf of the people of Flint. Former special prosecutor Noah Hall, who originally filed that lawsuit, told Stateside on Monday that the case should remain in the hands of an independent attorney.
- Nessel joined Stateside to talk about why she removed Hall from the case, and respond to his assertion that state attorneys shouldn't represent both the people of Flint and the state agencies responsible for the water crisis in the ongoing civil cases.
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