Michigan Policast for 5-20-2019

Segment One:  State House Representative Larry Inman

Walt, Christine, and Amy run through a handful of hot topics in this episode, starting with the troubled State Representative Larry Inman.  Inman, who represents 104th District of Grand Traverse County, has been indicted for extortion and Amy gives us the details on this one.

* State Representative Larry Inman Indicted – Press Release from Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Michigan

* Inman Indictment document (pdf) on DOJ web site

* Michigan House of Representatives site for Larry Inman

* Indicted Michigan lawmaker Larry Inman: ‘Text messages can be taken out of context’

Inman went on to text, “it’s not worth losing assignments and staff for $5,000,” and “you need to get people maxed out,” according to the indictment. “People will not go down for $5,000, not that we don’t appreciate it.”

* GOP lawmakers deny knowledge of Inman’s alleged bribery scheme — great comprehensive article by Detroit News

* Northern Michigan Representatives Calling For Rep. Larry Inman to Resign

* Larry Inman’s Political Summary on Vote Smart

* Gov. Whitmer calls cash-for-votes allegations against lawmaker ‘very disturbing’

Segment Two:  Forced birth / anti-choice forces in Michigan

Note from Christine – The Maternal Infant Health Program is what I am referring to in this segment as one of the ‘stop-gap’ programs that are defunct or inadequately funded. I was speaking from my experience covering the Shiawassee County Health Department several years ago when it cut prenatal care from its programs. Prenatal care was a required service of local health departments, and the Shiawassee Dept had allegedly stopped this service illegally. The service has since been restored.

* Michigan House Bill 4320 (2019)

* Senate Bill 0229 (2019)

* STATE POLICY UPDATES: Major Developments in Sexual & Reproductive Health from the Guttmacher Institute

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