It takes the Loren family (click here) – Tammy, Ken and their two sons – about four hours to shower. First, they have to empty bottles of water into pans, heat the water, then transfer it to the bathroom where a pump attached to a handheld sprinkler head can be pumped by the foot of the hopeful ablutioner until water begins to trickle out.
The Michigan Senate is putting together a loan program for Flint. It is independent of the insurance settlement. Basically, this loan program can go forward even though the settlement is or is not accepted. The Michigan Senate has been holding hearings for some time about the tragedy in Flint.
December 3, 2020
December 2, 2020
December 24, 2020
By Ron Fonger
Senators Jim Stamas (click here) and Jim Ananich at a hearing on the Flint water health emergency with local officials and members of the public at the University of Michigan
Flint - Bills that would clear the way for Michigan (click here) to borrow $600 million to settle lawsuits tied to the Flint water crisis have been introduced in the state Senate and could get approval as early as next week.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint, and Sen. Jim Stamas, R-Midland, introduced bills Thursday, Dec. 3, that would create the Flint Settlement Trust Fund, an instrument to facilitate the borrowing, and that would give the Michigan Strategic Fund the authority to borrow and issue bonds in order to fund the settlement, which could cost Michigan taxpayers more than $1 billion after 30 years of repayment....
Hearings regarding the insurance settlement are set and a decision is expected in mid-January. This is normal for most settlements of any lawsuit. A judge has to examine whether or not the settlement reflects the brevity of the cause. The idea behind these hearings and the judicial decision is considered a third independent opinion. It is supposed to keep everyone honest.
By Ron Fonger
Judith Levy, (click here) introducing her family during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Flint - A federal judge (click here) says she will hear attorney arguments on a proposed $641-million Flint water crisis settlement on Dec. 21 and hopes to decide whether to give it preliminary approval by mid-January.
U.S. District Judge Judith Levy set the hearing date during a Wednesday, Dec. 2 virtual status conference with attorneys involved in the case.
The hearing is the next step in the process of moving the settlement process forward, triggering an open period during which claims can be filed and objections and comments made to the court before the judge makes a final decision on whether the agreement is fair, adequate, reasonable, and an arms-length transaction....
I think this is a great gesture by all parties at a time when it is most needed.
By Isis Simpson-Mersha
(From l-r) Mark Miller, (click here) Regional Director, GM Customer Care and Aftersales; Mike Perez, GM Flint Assembly Plant Executive Director; Jane Worthing, CEO, The Genesee Group & RLC Chair; Lori Wingerter, GM Chief Philanthropic Officer; Terry Rhadigan, GM Executive Director of Corporate Giving; and Tim Herman, CEO, Flint & Genesee Chamber.
Flint - General Motors and the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce (click here) recently announced a second round of a grant program created to help Flint small businesses grow and thrive.
On Thursday, Dec. 3, the partners announce the additional funding of $210,00 from GM will be dispersed by the Moving Flint Forward Small Business Grant Program. The program awards grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses in Flint that meet certain criteria, according to a press release from the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce....
...Additionally, GM has earmarked 10 grants for minority-owned businesses, as defined by race and ethnicity, to help address racial disparities in the community.
“GM has been part of the Flint community for more than 100 years,” said Terry Rhadigan, GM’s executive director of corporate giving. “We’re eager to continue our partnership with the Flint & Genesee Chamber to expand revitalization efforts across the city’s neighborhoods by supporting local businesses.”
The Moving Flint Forward Small Business Grant Program is a collaborative effort between General Motors and Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce to provide grants to Flint neighborhood small businesses....
I might add, any documentary evidence can be added to the judicial review of the insurance settlement. The way in which the residents of Flint, Michigan have had to live is mental cruelty.
We live in a country where these nightmares are supposed to be limited to fantasy and stories based on scorched earth movie making. This is not supposed to happen in the USA.
I will never understand the cold decision-making that allowed lead into drinking water in Flint, Michigan. Let me make this clear, I CANNOT IMAGINE THE THINKING THAT WENT INTO THIS LEVEL OF CRUELTY TO AMERICANS in need of compassionate government to HELP with their realities. We Americans are supposed to uplift each other and find ways of providing opportunity. Whatever thinking occurred in Snyder's office is completely foreign to me.
Let me also make something completely clear. The State of Michigan has a rainy day fund. There was funding available to change Flint and other troubled Michigan cities. All it needed was an act of the state legislature.
The state legislature modified the original "Emergency Manager" role under Snyder. They never provided funding to make GOOD AND BENEFICIAL decisions. A lot was wrong with the Snyder administration and the majority Republican legislature in Michigan that never acted in a benevolent way to make changes to these cities. Basically, Snyder should have been stopped from killing and maiming people and children.
Documentary evidence can bring this tragedy to life in any court proceedings. Documentaries are not fantasy. They capture the facts.
