US Veteran Program Announced, Onto the General Election, Michigan Minimum Wage Increase, Students Returning to School, and Comments From Our Readers

– INFORMED BREVITY –

US Veteran Program Announced

Free US military Veteran civil legal services sessions have been scheduled around the UP. “Civil legal attorneys will be on location to help homeless or at risk of homelessness Veterans on a variety of issues, including family law, public benefits, discharge upgrades, debt collection and evictions.”

An attorney will be available from 10 am to 2 pm at the following locations and dates:

• Gladstone VA CBOC – August 14th
• Manistique – August 28th
• Marquette – September 4th
• Escanaba Vet Center – September 18th
• Hancock VA CBOC – October 2
• Ironwood – October 16
• Menominee – October 30
• Sault Ste. Marie – November 6

Spread the word to family and friends. This is a great service for our region’s military Veterans.

If you need more information, call Legal Services of Northern Michigan, 906-786-2303, ext 2. Or 888-783-8190, Council Advocate Law Line.

Thanks to Mike Rutledge, NMU’s Coordinator of Student Veteran Services for this information.

Primary Day is Over and Onto the General Election

No real surprises in the Upper Peninsula 109th State House District primary races. Incumbent Representative Jen Hill (D) will be facing Karl Bohnak (R) in the November election. The 109th is the only House District that is “blue” Democratic – in the UP House Districts.

The other big change in the Primary Day results was that Democrat Callie Barr won the U.S. 1st Congressional District primary and will face incumbent Jack Bergman. The 1st District has not voted to put a democrat in Congress since 2008. In the last election, Congressman Bergman won by 60%.

Local political activists are closely monitoring the race for President to see if the national issues will impact the local races.

Usually we don’t see many election upsets or surprises in UP elections. Activists on both sides of the political divide always predict upsets but we don’t see many–at least in recent history. Will that change this year? What do you think?

Minimum Wage to Increase in Michigan

The Michigan Supreme Court recently issued an opinion that will result in the minimum wage significantly increasing and phasing out of the tipped wages. Starting in February 2025 the Michigan minimum wage will be $12 per hour, increased from $10.33. Tipped wages will increase over the next few years and will eventually be phased out and the higher minimum wage will be in place for employees getting tips.

The state law on sick leave will be changed also. Businesses that have less than 10 employees will be required to offer up to 40 hours of paid sick leave annually. Those businesses with more than 10 employees will be required to provide up to 72 hours of sick leave.

Big changes ahead for many small businesses in our communities and their employees.

If you are an employer with tipped employees, we would love to hear from you about what you think the impact will be on your business and your employees.

Students Return to K-12 and College/University Campuses Soon

Over the next couple of weeks thousands of college and university students will start returning to campuses across the Upper Peninsula. With them comes lots of spending in our local communities. Also parents come to visit and go to attend sporting events that add to the revenue of hotels, restaurants and other businesses. No doubt the students and the employees of the colleges and universities have an economic impact on the Upper Peninsula.

Over the years, all of the higher education institutions have released independent economic impact statements. It would be interesting to see all the Upper Peninsula colleges and universities join together and do a joint economic impact study on what they mean to our UP economy.

Comments From Our Readers

Many of our readers post responses and comments on what we publish on our website. It is interesting that we receive many, many more comments from readers who do not want to publish their thoughts and comments on the public website. They come via our email, david@ruralinsights.org and via texts to me.

We appreciate getting all of them and we hope more of you will comment and give us your thoughts. Please don’t hesitate.

Also you can see our publications via Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

From Around the World

Just 43% of Americans approve of the way the US Supreme Court is doing its job–a record low. (Gallup Survey).

Some 40% of this year’s high school graduates don’t plan to enroll in college or university this fall. (American Opportunity Index).

Quotes That Make Us Go Hmmm

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain.

“The function of freedom is to free someone else.” Toni Morrison.

Talk To Us

Keep your raves, laurels, rants and darts coming. Send them to us at david@ruralinsights.org. We love to read them.

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