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Father sues Michigan school after teacher cuts daughter’s hair without permission | Michigan | The Guardian

A father in Michigan filed a $1m lawsuit against staff at his daughter’s school after the seven-year old biracial girl’s hair was cut without her parents’ permission.

The lawsuit filed on 14 September in federal court in Michigan, by Jimmy Hoffmeyer on behalf of his daughter Jurnee Hoffmeyer, names as defendants Mount Pleasant public schools, a librarian and a teacher’s assistant.

Among eight counts, the suit alleges the school violated the girl’s civil rights and racially and ethnically discriminated against her, reported MLive, a Michigan news outlet.

Hoffmeyer, who is Black, said his daughter’s hair was cut by a fellow student on a school bus in March. Hoffmeyer took his daughter to a hairdresser to correct the uneven chop. Days later, he said, nearly all his daughter’s hair had been cut, this time by school staff, who were white.

“I asked what happened and said, ‘I thought I told you no child should ever cut your hair,’” Hoffmeyer told the Associated Press. “She said, ‘But dad, it was the teacher.’ The teacher cut her hair to even it out.”  …

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All-virtual Detroit Jazz Festival audience tops 2 million

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The Wicker Man (1973) - Robin Hardy

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A bill in Congress would allow Medicare to use its bulk-purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. Big Pharma is not pleased

The three conservative Democratic lawmakers threatening to kill their party’s drug pricing legislation have raked in roughly $1.6m of campaign cash from donors in the pharmaceutical and health products industries. One of the lawmakers is the House’s single largest recipient of pharmaceutical industry campaign cash this election cycle, and another lawmaker’s immediate past chief of staff is now lobbying for drugmakers.

The threat from Democratic representatives Kurt Schrader (Oregon), Scott Peters (California) and Kathleen Rice (New York) comes just as the pharmaceutical industry’s top lobbying group announced a seven-figure ad campaign to vilify the Democratic legislation, which aims to lower the cost of medicines for Americans now facing the world’s highest prescription drug prices.  …

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Digging for answers in Southwest Detroit

DETROIT, MI (WXYZ) — This week, people who live and work in a southwest Detroit neighborhood are hoping to get some answers into that underground mystery.

It caused a road to buckle on Dearborn street near Fort. A marijuana dispensary was also severely damaged and torn down days later because of it.

But here we are more than a week later—the investigation continues and still no explanation.

“I don’t exactly understand what kind of investigation has been going on up until now,” southwest resident Garry Buchannan said.

He says he has little confidence in officials and their efforts to uncover why the cannabis dispensary seemingly lifted from the earth and uprooted the pavement around it.

“All the scientists, all the engineers, all the experts are like ‘we’ve never seen anything like this,’ and that’s not ok.” state senator Adam Hollier said. “And the idea that we aren’t moving folks out and that they are safe is a problem.”

State senator Hollier is not the first lawmaker to call out the city on their investigation.

“We know that another collapse, another incident with another pipeline is eminent,” congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said. “And no one has communicated anything to our residents.”

Chief operating officer Hakim Berry says the area has been safe since the beginning of this investigation.

The collapse did cause a water main burst and a gas leak but Berry says both have been repaired.

Now crews know the what, the when, and the where, but are struggling to find out the why.

Crews will begin digging and excavating the ground to sample the soil.

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COVID has killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 flu

COVID-19 has now killed about as many Americans as the 1918-19 Spanish flu pandemic did — approximately 675,000. And like the worldwide scourge of a century ago, the coronavirus may never entirely disappear from our midst.  …

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City of Detroit elevated to “High” community transmission of COVID-19

DETROIT (WXYZ) — The City of Detroit has now been elevated from “substantial” to a “high” transmission rate of COVID-19.

Transmission rates are considered high when there are 100 or more weekly new cases per 100,000 individuals.

Detroit now has 116.5 new weekly cases per 100,000 residents. The Delta variant is responsible for 97.7% of new COVID-19 cases in the community.

Health experts are recommending masks at all public indoor settings even for those fully vaccinated.

“Due to the high community transmission, it is now more important than ever to wear your mask in public indoor settings. Detroit has come a long way and we don’t want to go back. We are asking residents to get tested if you suspect you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, and get vaccinated,” said Detroit Health Department Chief Public Health Officer, Denise Fair. “These are public health emergency measures that will limit hospitalization and death.”

Approximately 373,000 Detroiters have received at least one dose. That is approximately 43.9% of Detroit’s population.