Per the NY Times a second N.Y.P.D Officer died from wounds from the Harlem shooting on Friday. Wilbert Mora, 27, joined the department in 2018. He and his partner, Jason Rivera, were killed by a man who opened fire during a domestic call, the police said. In announcing Officer Mora’s death on Tuesday, the police described his family’s decision to donate his organs for transplant as a final act of service. Leonard Achan, the president of LiveOnNY, the designated organ procurement agency for the New York metro area, said Officer Mora’s family “are huge supporters of organ donation, they wanted to make sure that their son’s legacy, brother’s legacy as well, would be that he saved lives in his death as well as in his life.”
An article in Bridge Magazine today about how former Michigan legislator Lee Chatfield, took advantage of Michigan’s very week transparency rules should be a wake-up call to every citizen of this state. It is time for the citizens to start demanding of the legislators’ accountability in how money raised by their PACs and campaigns is spent. Here are the opening three paragraphs of the article. The link to the full article follows.
Lee Chatfield is a 33-year-old father of five, made $95,985 per year as speaker of Michigan’s House and, until recently, had a reputation as a humble son of a northern Michigan pastor.
In the last few weeks, though, following allegations from his sister-in-law of sexual abuse, new revelations have emerged from former colleagues that he had extravagant taste and traveled so frequently he sometimes canceled House votes to catch planes, according to more than a dozen interviews by Bridge Michigan and the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.
Records show one nonprofit tied to Chatfield, the Peninsula Fund, spent nearly a half-million dollars on travel and food in 2020 alone, but IRS rules don’t require it to disclose donors or explain how the money was spent.
Some question how Chatfield could have afforded such a lifestyle, but Michigan’s scant disclosure requirements for elected officials make it impossible to know many details about Chatfield’s travels, expenses or donors. Michigan ranked 47th of 50 states in the Coalition for Integrity’s 2020 S.W.A.M.P. Index, a measurement of state-level anti-corruption measures.
Not only is Michigan losing population to warm weather states, per Kurt Metzger a demographer who founded Data Drive Detroit, for the first time in Michigan’s recorded history, deaths outpaced births in 2020. In the first year of the pandemic, 104,149 babies were born in Michigan but 117,087 people died in the state, Metzger said — a difference of 12,938. Among them were 11,362 Michigan residents who died from COVID-19, according to the state health department’s 2020 mortality data, which counts only people for whom COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause of death.
Less than half-way through the B1G men’s basketball season, every team has at least two losses. No team appears to be the favorite as on any given day anyone can win, and anyone can lose. A big win one day can lead to a big loss a few days later. Northwestern, who has beaten first place MSU, has a record of 2-7 with all their losses coming by less than 8 points including their loss to Michigan tonight. Who will win the regular season title and who will win the B1G tournament is anyone guess?
What are you doing to stop the violence? Get vaccinated and get your booster.
Orchid of the Day: Bridge Magazine for their outstanding reporting on the lack of transparency in Michigan’s disclosure rules for Michigan legislature and government officials.
Onion of the Day: Lee Chatfield for abusing and taking advantage of Michigan’s lack of transparency rules. Just because something is within the law doesn’t mean it should be done.
Quote of the Day: “Colleagues say Chatfield amassed power by raising millions of dollars, regularly went on trips and had extravagant tastes — but Michigan’s weak disclosure laws allow few details of those expenses and contributions to escape into public light.’ Joel Kurth, Bridge Magazine
Video/Song of the Day: Procession in honor of N.Y.P.D Officer Wilbert Mora
https://news.yahoo.com/procession-honor-2nd-nypd-officer-225725968.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall