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6 Information Capital Rundown
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VOTING TABULATOR CASE: Preliminary exams started final week in Royal Oak for a high-profile case alleging unlawful entry to Michigan voting tabulators after the 2020 election. Prosecutors opened with testimony from Man Riner of Election Techniques & Software program, who mentioned 5 machines confirmed damaged safety seals and inner injury, in line with Craig Mauger on the Detroit Information. Riner advised the court docket the tabulators have been “tampered” and shouldn’t be returned to service.
Matthew DePerno listens to Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at a marketing campaign rally in Waterford Township, Mich., Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. An lawyer charged in reference to an effort to illegally entry and tamper with voting machines in Michigan after the 2020 election says Thursday that he is operating for the state’s excessive court docket. (AP Picture/Paul Sancya, File)
Former Republican lawyer normal nominee Matt DePerno and former state Rep. Daire Rendon pleaded not responsible. Costs allege they obtained tabulators from clerks in Barry, Missaukee and Roscommon counties and took them to Oakland County for personal exams.
Protection attorneys argued a tabulator is not a “voting machine” below federal legislation; prosecutors level to chain-of-custody lapses and entry to inner techniques. Every tabulator is price about $6,000, Riner testified.
The proceedings underscore post-2020 efforts by Trump allies to problem voting know-how, together with DePerno’s Antrim County push that officers later mentioned stemmed from human errors, not software program. By means of the preliminary exams, Decide Derek Meinecke will determine whether or not the costs transfer to trial. Prosecutors beforehand linked a video of testing to a Royal Oak condominium a few mile from the courthouse.
One other defendant, lawyer Stefanie Lambert, waived her examination and is about for trial in circuit court docket. If convicted, DePerno and Rendon may face jail time below statutes masking undue possession of voting machines and associated offenses.
Trump endorsed DePerno for lawyer normal earlier than the GOP nominee misplaced to Dana Nessel (D) by eight share factors.
The Michigan State Capitol constructing is seen on October 8, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. Federal authorities introduced right this moment that six males linked to a Michigan militia group have been arrested for allegedly plotting to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and violently overthrow the federal government. (Picture by Rey Del Rio/Getty Photos)
CANNABIS TAX: Quickly after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the 2026 fiscal 12 months price range, a outstanding hashish commerce group sued to dam a deliberate tax from taking impact.
Filed Tuesday within the state Court docket of Claims and signed by Rob Schneider, director of the Michigan Hashish Business Affiliation, the lawsuit asks the court docket to cease a 24% wholesale tax on hashish scheduled to start Jan. 1, 2026.
What the price range says: Michigan’s $81 billion price range provides a 24% tax on wholesale marijuana. It will be along with the state’s 10% excise tax and 6% gross sales tax — the gross sales tax is utilized to the total value together with wholesale and excise taxes. The speed is decrease than a 32% tax Whitmer floated earlier this 12 months to generate $470 million for roads and bridges.
Michigan voters accepted the Michigan Regulation and Tax of Marihuana Act in 2018. The state structure requires adjustments to a voter-initiated legislation to return by a public vote or by a three-quarter supermajority in each the Senate and Home.
The 2018 legislation features a 10% excise tax on retail gross sales. Of that income, 30% goes to native and county governments, 35% to colleges and 35% to roads and bridges. The tax generated greater than $115 million for roads in 2024.
What the lawsuit says: The submitting argues that the brand new tax “creates a significantly cumulative excise tax burden” that bypasses voters and is unconstitutional. In an announcement, the group’s authorized workforce mentioned, “The 24% wholesale tax on cannabis passed by the Michigan Legislature and signed into law by Governor Whitmer is unconstitutional in multiple respects. The lawsuit details how the last-minute, late-night process occurred in violation of a range of other constitutional provisions. The Association is asking the court to strike the tax in its entirety.”
The submitting argues that any new hashish excise tax requires an modification accepted by voters or passage by a three-quarter supermajority within the Legislature.
Supporters of the tax disagree. “I’d vote for a higher tax increase if we would do it,” mentioned state Sen. Edward McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) on the Senate ground shortly earlier than the tax elevated handed final week. “Is it an end-around? I thought at first it was. But when you read the initiated law from 2018, you see that it specifically references ‘other taxes,’ specifically, therefore, those who wrote this acknowledge that there are other taxes that can be charged and levied. And it doesn’t say that it can only be those that were in place at the time of passage.”
The lawsuit counters that whereas different normal taxes might apply to hashish, akin to gross sales tax, the 2018 legislation is the unique mechanism for imposing excise taxes.
State Sen. Jonathan Lindsey (R-Allen) voted no, citing financial and jobs considerations. The invoice handed 19-17.
U.S. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., host a reception to rejoice Nationwide Scorching Canine Day in Russell constructing on Wednesday, July 16, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc through Getty Photos)
GRAND BLANC SHOOTING: U.S. Sens. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) and Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Township) introduced the “Pray Safe Act” after the tragic taking pictures in Grand Blanc final month.
The Pray Protected Act would require the Division of Homeland Safety to function a centralized useful resource for faith-based organizations and different nonprofits to entry data on greatest practices for security and safety.
What the invoice goals to perform: It goals present important sources to make sure that communities can worship peacefully with out worry, reflecting a dedication to safeguarding non secular freedom and safety.
“We must ensure that every American can exercise their fundamental right to practice their faith freely and safely,” Peters mentioned in an announcement. A 40-year-old ex-Marine crashed a pickup right into a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church in Grand Blanc, Michigan in September, setting the constructing on hearth and firing on the congregation with an assault rifle. At the very least 4 individuals have been killed and eight extra have been injured.
The Grand Blanc Township taking pictures was the deadliest of Michigan’s 13 shootings this 12 months. Since our statistical evaluation of statewide mass shootings was posted, the Gun Violence Archive added knowledge for one taking pictures in Highland Park the identical day the place 4 individuals have been injured.
The Gun Violence Archive defines a mass taking pictures as 4 or extra individuals being shot, not together with the shooter.
Folks meet at a reunification space on the Trillium Theater after an energetic shooter incident and hearth at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Mich on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (Lukas Katilius/The Flint Journal through AP)
LOOKING AHEAD TO 2026: Polls constantly recommend that almost all People favor stricter gun legal guidelines, together with particular insurance policies like secure storage legal guidelines and Excessive Danger Safety Orders (ERPOs). A 2025 nationwide examine by John Hopkins discovered 77% of People help permitting households to petition courts for firearm elimination through ERPOs and 74% for locked storage when the firearms should not in use.
A 2022 statewide ballot in Michigan discovered that almost all of People help insurance policies akin to common background checks, secure storage legal guidelines and red-flag legal guidelines. All of those insurance policies have been enacted in 2024. A Detroit Information ballot discovered that almost all of Michigan voters need to elevate the minimal buying age to 21.
Additionally price mentioning…
Lawmakers in at the least 16 states this 12 months have launched laws to control automated license plate readers that gather knowledge on drivers, however solely three – Arkansas, Idaho and Virginia – enacted legal guidelines, in line with Madyson Fitzgerald at Stateline.
A proposal was launched in Michigan by state Rep. Sam Singh (D-East Lansing) again in 2015, however it was not handed into legislation. Singh’s proposal would’ve required such data to be deleted inside 48 hours.
The legislation in Arkansas, which was signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders in April, requires deletion inside 60 days. Authorities businesses within the state can retailer data for as much as 150 days. This month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a invoice that will limit use of license plate knowledge, saying that the invoice may impede felony investigations.
Measures in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are nonetheless into account.
On the Radar
“TRICKS ARE FOR KIDS”: State Sen. Aric Nesbitt (R-Porter Township) urged – maybe tongue-in-cheek – to rename the Elliott-Larsen State Workplace Constructing (named after the bipartisan sponsors of Michigan’s landmark civil rights statute) in honor of President Donald Trump. State Rep. Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) quoted his submit on social media, saying, “Silly rabbit. Tricks are for kids.”
STEVENS FUNDRAISING: The U.S. Senate marketing campaign for U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham) introduced final week it could report $1.9 million raised within the third quarter of 2025, which it says is the “most of any Democratic candidate running in Michigan.” Her major opponents for Peters’ seat – who retires on the finish of his present time period – are state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) and former Wayne County well being official Abdul El-Sayed of Ann Arbor.
STATE BUDGET: Michigan Speaker of the Home Matt Corridor (R-Richland Township) spoke to the media final Tuesday concerning the newly-passed state price range. His convention will be considered right here.
The story dominating headlines in East Lansing
One story that dominated the headlines surrounded an altercation exterior of Dave’s Scorching Rooster in East Lansing again in August.
THE ALTERCATION: An lawyer mentioned surveillance video of the incident contradicts an announcement made by East Lansing officers after it occurred. In a information launch, town mentioned “they observed physical violence” between Lonnie Smith and Mason Woods, pepper spraying them each. In response to lawyer Jack Rucker, who represents Smith and despatched the video to six Information, his consumer was appearing peacefully and making an attempt to calm his good friend down.
Rucker mentioned he despatched the video to town, however they didn’t launch it. “It is my position that this illuminates and contradicts the narrative that was put out about this incident, and that’s why it was not released,” Rucker mentioned.
A spokesperson for town declined to remark.
Smith, 21, and Woods, 22, have been each arrested and charged with disturbing the peace and a misdemeanor for disorderly conduct (combating). Woods was moreover charged for resisting.
Following this 6 Information report, the Lansing department of the Nationwide Affiliation for the Development of Coloured Folks (NAACP) known as on East Lansing Police Chief Jennifer Brown to resign, arguing she misled the general public concerning the incident. The department additionally took subject with Brown’s feedback in a 6 Information interview the place she mentioned a “disproportionate number of minorities” have been coming to East Lansing to commit crimes.
Brown has since apologized for these remarks.
East Lansing Councilmember Dana Watson mentioned she is “frustrated” with Brown’s feedback and added that the apology lacks substance.
