politics

We get a Viewer's Guide to the 2016 National Political Conventions this coming week, the RNC. PBS NewsHour correspondent Lisa Desjardins shares details.

About 80 people attended a bipartisan meet-the-candidates event at Wealthy Theatre on Monday night.

Each candidate had about two minutes to introduce themselves, their platform summary and a memorable slogan.

The various offices they’re running for range from state representative to county commission.

Kent County Black Caucus Chairman Bryan Blakely is one of the organizers of the bipartisan event.

"The goal of this event was to educate people more on the candidates. Who's running for what office?"

A federal judge has told the state it cannot enforce a law that says unions can’t use payroll deductions to collect donations to union-operated political funds.

The bill was adopted last year on party-line votes by the Republican-led Legislature and signed by Governor Rick Snyder.

But a federal judge says it appears to violate both free speech and collective bargaining rights.

Also, the ban on payroll deductions applies to unions’ political fundraising, but corporations could still use payrolls deductions for corporate-run political committees.

The state House GOP leader has called for an amendment to the Michigan Constitution. 

House Speaker Kevin Cotter wants to make it easier to fire state civil service employees.

Kevin Cotter says the amendment was not created specifically with the Flint water crisis in mind – although that’s the sort of situation it’s supposed to address.

"The package that we’ve introduced is all about smarter government, and how we can make state government work better for the people."

GOP Presidential candidate front runner Donald Trump is making claims the delegate system is unfair as a part of the nominating process. The rules state the party nominee must reach 1,237 delegates to be the party nominee. WGVU spoke with a political strategist and a political commentator about Trump’s complaint and what it means heading into the GOP National Convention.

“The rules are the rules.”

That’s NPR and ABC News political commentator and author, Cokie Roberts, who was in Grand Rapids Wednesday commemorating first lady Betty Ford’s 98th birthday.

Is water diversion Waukesha’s only option?

WGVU takes a closer look at the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact legal requirements?

“The Great Lakes Compact consists as an agreement of the eight Great Lakes states that prevents large exports of water outside of the basin.”

But as Alan Steinman, Director of the Annis Water Resources Institute at Grand Valley State University points out there were two exceptions placed within the compact one of which allows Waukesha, which straddles the basin, to apply for an exemption.

An advocacy group says Michigan is the only state in the nation to see an overall revenue drop for cities, townships and counties from 2002 to 2012.

The Michigan Municipal League said Monday the state cut revenue sharing with cities, townships, villages and counties by $7.5 billion during the 2002 to 2012 timeframe. To be clear, the group advocates for more state money for local governments. Cities use revenue sharing dollars to pay for things like fire and police departments, local roads, libraries and city hall expenses.

The Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies is hosting a scholar Alan Charles Kors tonight. He will present "The Enlightenment and Academic Freedom."  We discuss this engagement with Gleaves Whitney and Joe Hogan from the Hauenstein Center along with Alan Charles Kors.