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Southwest Michigan Today: Tuesday May 22, 2018

Calhoun County's plan to make most jail visits by videoconference draws criticism. Bills to Respond to MSU sports doctor Larry Nasser still working their way through the Legislature. A proposal to boost Michigan's minimum wage could be headed to the ballot. 

A plan to make most inmate “visits” at Calhoun County’s jail by videoconference is drawing fire.MLive says Calhoun County Sheriff Matt Saxton announced the change. He says that would better serve the families of prisoners who aren’t from Calhoun County. The jail also has inmates from Wayne County and well as people detained by federal immigration authorities. An attorney with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center calls the video-visit plan “inhumane.” Saxton says in-person visits can still be arranged, in some cases.

There will likely be movement this week on bills in response to Larry Nassar. Nassar is the former Michigan State University sports doctor who sexually assaulted his patients. A state House committee has spent weeks reviewing and hearing testimony on more than two dozen bills aimed at improving the state’s sexual assault laws. The legislation includes bills drafted in the state House and Senate. Portage Republican Senator Margaret O’Brien has spearheaded the Nassar response in the Senate. She says she hasn’t seen the proposed amendments to any of the Senate bills by the committee. But O’Brien says she’ll keep an open mind. Some of the bills are focused on giving victims more time to sue in sexual assault cases. Others would change record keeping requirements for doctors for certain procedures.

A question to boost Michigan’s minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour could be headed to the November ballot. A petition drive says it’s gathered enough signatures to force the Legislature to adopt the initiative, or it goes to voters. Michigan’s minimum wage rose to nine dollars and 25 cents an hour in January. The initiative would increase the minimum wage again, it will also end the lower minimum wage for workers who earn tips. Business groups say a higher minimum wage will slow down hiring. Republican leaders in the Legislature had no immediate reaction, but generally oppose increasing the minimum wage.

People who are discriminated against for being gay or transgender can now file complaints with the Michigan Civil Rights Commission. The Commission says the state's Elliott-Larson Civil Rights Act protects people on the basis of sex - and that includes sexual orientation and gender identity. The executive director of Equality Michigan Stephanie White says the decision will allow LGBT people to file a complaint if they are fired from a job or refused housing because of sexual orientation or gender identity. (Michigan Radio