August 17, 2020 On Saturday afternoon in Kalamazoo, Michigan, the Proud Boys - a group known as white supremacists and labeled as such by the Southern Poverty Law Center - descended on the downtown streets. Their coordinated march drew counter protests. Violence erupted. An MLive reporter - Sam Robinson - was there covering the critical situation. While broadcasting live on Facebook, he was arrested by police. Footage recorded by Robinson, who is Black, shows he identified himself to police as a reporter as police took him to the ground. The video abruptly ended with Robinson repeatedly stating he’s being arrested. On Sunday afternoon, Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson announced at a press conference that the charge against Robinson (of “impeding traffic”) had been dropped by the city of Kalamazoo. READ MORE HERE Navigating Michigan’s vote-by-mail process could pose challenges to college students and first-time voters who already struggled to cast a ballot on time before the pandemic. Students and political organizers across the state said college-age voters are more motivated to participate in the upcoming Nov. 3 election but are generally confused about how to vote by mail. This year’s elections are the first experience many Michigan residents will have with absentee voting since changes to the state Constitution expanded the option to everyone. But talk to young voters, and they'll tell you openly that outside of Amazon, they're largely foreign to this whole thing called mail. MORE In a rare weekend session, the Michigan Senate on Saturday voted through a plan leaving it to local districts to determine reopening methods and guidelines, taking local COVID-19 metrics and recommendations from individual health departments into account. The final version of the bills reflect an agreement reached by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and leadership in the Republican-majority Legislature, announced Friday night and drafted into legislation Saturday.MORE Late Friday afternoon, the high school football news we could sense coming finally dropped. The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced it would move the 2020 fall football season to spring 2021, due to football’s higher risk for spreading COVID-19, with the rest of fall sports proceeding as scheduled. There were equal reactions of sadness and understanding. But the new mess is now spring. There's a plethora of decisions that the MHSAA will be forced to make in the months ahead. How in the world will they avoid overlap between football and traditional spring sports? MORE By their very nature, islands are worlds unto themselves. Michigan’s Drummond Island is no exception. Situated at the northern tip of Lake Huron, the second-largest freshwater island in the United States is an outdoors paradise with treasures seldom all found in any one spot elsewhere. Rare ecosystems, prehistoric seabeds, ancient shipwrecks, and a trail system unlike any other in the state are a few of the draws that beckon people to this unspoiled “gem of the Huron." Oh my god, we want to go to there. CHECK IT OUT Get your local news 24/7 Connect with MLive To ensure receipt of our emails, please add newsletters@update.mlive to your address book or safe sender list. |