Portage is now accepting applications for some medical marijuana related businesses. A Michigan State Unviersity trustee says hiring John Engler as interim president was a mistake. West Michigan Congressman Fred Upton and Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley both call for an end to separating families at the U.S. - Mexico border.
The city of Portage says it is now accepting applications for some medical marijuana related businesses. The city says it began accepting applications for marijuana growers and processors Monday, and plan to continue through July 20th. However a news release says Portage reserves the right to extend the deadline. The city also plans to allow marijuana provisioning centers, secure transporters, and safety and compliance facilities. Portage says it will announce a date later for submitting applications for a permit to operate those businesses.
A member of the Michigan State University Board of Trustees says it was a mistake to hire John Engler to act as interim president of the university. MSU Trustee Brian Mosallam voted with the rest of the board back in January to select the former Republican governor to lead the university in the wake of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. Last week, emails emerged in which Engler criticized lawyers for survivors and suggested one survivor might be getting a kickback from her attorney. Mosallam told WDET in Detroitthat the board shouldn’t have hired Engler. Mosallam is one of two trustees calling on Engler to resign.
West Michigan Congressman Fred Upton has joined the growing number of leaders calling for an end to separating families at the U.S. – Mexico border. In a statement issued Monday, the St. Joseph Republican calls for, in his words, “this ugly and inhumane practice to end. Now.” Upton says Congress needs to pass legislation that addresses root issues.
Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo Bishop Paul Bradley also issued a statement Monday calling for solutions that don’t separate parents from their children. Bradley says while it’s important to protect our borders, - quote “we can and must do a better job as a society to find other ways to ensure that safety.”
The full statement from the Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo:
In light of policies that are currently separating children from their parents at the U.S. border, Bishop Paul J. Bradley, has released the following statement calling for more just resolutions.
“I join with my fellow Bishops in expressing deep concern for the recent practice of separating children from their parents at the United States border and detaining them,” said Bishop Bradley. “As the debates rage, and as the rhetoric becomes heated and divisive, young children are being forcibly taken from their parents for months at a time. These parents are seeking a better life than what they know. As Cardinal Daniel DiNardo said, ‘Families are the foundational element of our society and they must be able to stay together. While protecting our borders is important, we can and must do better as a government, and as a society, to find other ways to ensure that safety.’”
“There is a better way to solve this problem; it is God’s way of love and mercy. I invite all people of good will to unite in prayer for those families adversely impacted by this forced separation and implore our government officials to pursue resolutions that are just and proper to the dignity we all share as sons and daughters of God.”