Connect with us

Michigan

Benson announces new election partnership with businesses

Published

on

Benson announces new election partnership with businesses


MACKINAC ISLAND — Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson hopes a new partnership with Michigan businesses can strengthen faith in democracy and boost engagement in the upcoming election in which the battleground state could once again decide the presidency and find itself at the center of efforts to subvert the results.

Benson said her office’s new partnership with the Detroit Regional Chamber — one of the largest chambers of commerce in the country — will call on businesses to provide paid time off for their employees to vote, encourage their employees to to serve as poll workers and use their websites and mailings to provide accurate election information.

“We’re here today because a healthy economy requires a healthy democracy. The two go hand in hand,” Benson said during a press briefing on Mackinac Island where the Detroit Regional Chamber holds its annual policy conference this week.

“In today’s environment of polarization, tribalism, misinformation, it is business leaders that have a growing role to serve as the voice of reason and sources of fact,” said the chamber’s President Sandy Baruah. The chamber’s members include large companies and small start-ups throughout Southeast Michigan.

Advertisement

Benson hopes that other companies that employ Michigan workers could follow in the footsteps of the chamber’s members. She said her office is also working with national leaders to reach workers at national chains such as McDonald’s to ensure workers paid a minimum wage also have paid time off to participate in the election.

Since 2020, Benson has built a national profile speaking out against former President Trump’s disinformation campaign to overturn the election four years ago.

Heading into the 2022 election, the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Political Action Committee backed some Republican candidates who cast doubt on the 2020 election and sought to delay the certification of the results. Asked about concerns she may have about those endorsements, Benson cited the chamber’s opposition to any GOP legislation that would make it harder to vote. She said the chamber’s stance “really speaks volumes for their position in supporting democracy in our state.”

Leading up to the last election, the chamber asked candidates about a GOP-led Michigan Senate investigation into the 2020 election that rejected Trump’s claims it was stolen from him, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Vice President for Government Relations Brad Williams. The answers to that questionnaire aren’t public, but all of the candidates endorsed by the chamber’s PAC stood by the Senate report, Williams said.

Advertisement

Whitmer: With ‘close race’ in Michigan, Biden can’t take a vote for granted

A recent Detroit Regional Chamber poll found about 68% of Michigan voters are dissatisfied with the condition of democracy in the U.S.

“It’s hard to believe that we’re in a place right now where we need to champion the cause of democracy, but here we are,” said Carla Walker-Miller, the CEO of Walker-Miller Energy Services, LLC and a founding member of the new “Michigan Business United for Elections Coalition.”

She said democracy is good for business, “Because when everyone’s voices are heard, the interests of our residents, our team members, our customers and our businesses are represented in our government.”

Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

Advertisement

Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.





Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Michigan

2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer

Published

on

2025 cornerback from Georgia gets Michigan State football offer


Michigan State football has found a new prospect in the 2025 recruiting class to extend an offer to. Notably, so late in the cycle, any new offer holds major significance.

Chaney was once committed to Georgia State, but has backed off of that commitment. After a solid fall, he has received offers from Eastern Michigan, Oregon State and USF, along with MSU to go along with his initial crop of offers.

A 6’1″, 185 pound cornerback, be on the lookout for Michigan State to potentially make a move here if things do not work out with a couple of other prospects.



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26

Published

on

UM report forecasts moderate economic growth in Michigan, nation in 2025-26


As the Federal Reserve continues to cut interest rates amid a cooling job market, the economy is poised for moderate growth in Michigan and nationally over the next two years, according to University of Michigan economists.

The national economy is projected to grow 2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2024 with the unemployment rate averaging 4.2%, while growth may ease slightly in the near future due to a slowing labor market, the UM economists said in a U.S. Economic Outlook for 2025–2026.

Meanwhile, Michigan’s economy has slowed since spring, with heightened uncertainty due to the recent elections, the economists wrote in a Michigan Economic Outlook for 2025–2026. Both reports were written by Jacob T. Burton, Gabriel M. Ehrlich, Kyle W. Henson, Daniil Manaenkov, Niaoniao You and Yinuo Zhang.

“The U.S. economy has gone through times of great uncertainty before and emerged intact,” the economists wrote. “We are projecting that both Michigan and the nation will follow that path over the next two years.”

Advertisement

Job growth in Michigan is expected to decline in the second half of the year, but grow moderately in 2025 and 2026.

“We believe the election results have amplified the uncertainty surrounding Michigan’s economic outlook,” the economists wrote. “We project a small dip in Michigan’s job count in the back half of 2024 to give way to moderate job gains in 2025 and 2026, but the outlook depends critically on uncertain policy decisions and the subsequent market responses.”

The economists expect job growth in the state to be strongest in health care, leisure and hospitality and government, while sectors including manufacturing and professional services are expected to remain stable.

“We are projecting the state economy to return to growth over the next two years as easier monetary policy and another round of tax cuts boost medium-term growth,” the economists wrote. “Michigan adds 19,000 payroll jobs next year and an additional 26,700 in 2026. The unemployment rate in Michigan is projected to fall from 4.6% in late 2024 to 4.3% by the end of 2026.”

The Detroit, Grand Rapids and Ann Arbor metro areas showed a downward trend in job growth, with Detroit and Grand Rapids seeing 0.1% growth during the past year. Ann Arbor saw relatively stronger job growth of 1.3% as of September, according to the report. Metro-level data for October was not available for the report, officials said.

Advertisement

The report attributes the underlying cause of the slowdown in Michigan’s job market as the Federal Reserve’s policy of monetary tightening to control inflation.

“Although the Fed has recently pivoted toward reducing short-term interest rates, we believe that real interest rates remain at a restrictive level and that the effects of the Fed’s past tight monetary policy continue to impact Michigan’s economy,” the economists wrote. “Indeed, in many ways, the national rebalancing in the labor market is precisely what the Fed hoped to engineer with its policy actions. Unfortunately for Michigan, our relatively rate-sensitive industry mix means that higher interest rates have taken a larger economic toll than nationally.”

The Michigan outlook points to stronger personal income growth, with per capita income increasing to $64,000 in 2024 and reaching around $68,500 by 2026, up 41% from 2019.

Inflation is expected to slow to 3.3% in 2024 and 2.2% in 2025 before increasing to 2.7% in 2026 due to new tariffs that the incoming Trump administration is expected to impose.

The U.S. and Michigan economic outlook reports follow the presidential election, which economists say will result in significant changes in U.S. economic policies. In the reports, the economists shared their thoughts on about the impacts of a second Trump administration.

Advertisement

The recent election of Donald Trump as well as the Republican majorities in the U.S. Senate and House will likely to result in a continuation of tax cuts Trump enacted during his first term, the economists said. Also expected is a sharp rise in tariffs on imports from China to take effect by 2026. 

While rising tariffs on Chinese imports and tax cuts for corporations and individuals are expected in upcoming years, revenue increases from tariffs are unlikely to offset revenue losses generated by tax cuts, according to the report. This could result in slower revenue growth and a sharp increase in federal deficits.

“As the stimulative effects of the expected tax cuts dominate the drag from the anticipated new tariffs, we project quarterly GDP growth to accelerate modestly during 2026, reaching a 2.5 percent annualized pace by 2026 Q4,” the economists wrote.

The report notes that the Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates after keeping them at a 23-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% for 14 months. The rate was reduced by 50 basis points in September and 25 basis points in November, bringing it to 4.5% to 4.75%.

Additional cuts will depend on economic data, with the economists expecting another 25 basis point cut in December.

Advertisement

Looking ahead at next year, the economists say they expect the Fed to make four more 25-basis-point cuts in 2025 and reach a range of 3.25–3.5% by the end of the year.

“In our view, the temporary uptick of inflation related to tariffs will not prompt the Fed to tighten policy in 2026,” economists wrote. “We believe that risk management concerns related to the potential negative growth effects of tariffs, which played a role in the 2019 rate cuts, will balance the upside risks from new tax cuts, prompting the Fed to stand pat.”

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

@CWilliams_DN



Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Michigan

Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76

Published

on

Bullock scores 20 as South Dakota knocks off Western Michigan 80-76


Associated Press

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — Quandre Bullock scored 20 points off of the bench to lead South Dakota past Western Michigan 80-76 on Wednesday night.

Bullock also contributed three steals for the Coyotes (5-1). Paul Bruns scored 18 points, shooting 6 for 13 (3 for 8 from 3-point range) and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Cameron Fens had 16 points and shot 7 of 9 from the field and 2 for 4 from the foul line.

Advertisement

The Broncos (2-4) were led by Markhi Strickland, who posted 20 points and six rebounds. Western Michigan also got 13 points and six rebounds from Owen Lobsinger. Javaughn Hannah also recorded 12 points.

Bullock scored 12 points in the first half and South Dakota went into the break trailing 34-33. Bruns’ 18-point second half helped South Dakota close out the four-point victory.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

Trending