Michigan eases ability to qualify for public assistance
LANSING (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says the state will make it easier for low-income residents to qualify for public assistance by raising the limit on the value of assets they can have.
Starting Nov. 1, asset limits for food assistance, welfare and state emergency relief will be $15,000. The cutoff currently is $5,000 for food stamps, $3,000 for cash assistance and $500 for emergency relief.
Whitmer says the changes will help families that are struggling to get ahead. She says Michigan's asset requirements are among the most restrictive in the U.S.
State Health and Human Services Director Robert Gordon says it is wrong to prevent families from saving money and also qualify for public assistance.
City bans so-called gay conversion therapy
FERNDALE (AP) — A Detroit suburb has banned so-called conversion therapy, a scientifically discredited practice to change a gay person’s sexual orientation or someone’s gender identity.
Ferndale council member Julia Music says the ban is an effort to build a “safe and inclusive space” for all people. The Detroit News says the vote was unanimous Monday.
Conversion therapy will be a misdemeanor in Ferndale punishable by up to 93 days in jail. The city is home to Affirmations, the area’s largest LGBTQ community center. Affirmations director Dave Garcia says conversion therapy hurts young people and is not therapy at all.
New York City is taking steps to repeal a ban because of concerns that it could be challenged on free-speech grounds. Some states have banned the therapy for minors.
ACLU: Census Bureau should stop driver license requests
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A civil rights group is asking state motor vehicle agencies across the U.S. to reject a request from the Census Bureau for drivers' license records, saying it is part of a scheme to reduce the political power of minority groups.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the Census Bureau should stop its efforts to gather drivers' license information. The ACLU was among several groups challenging the Trump administration's efforts to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.
After the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the question from being added, President Donald Trump in July issued an executive order asking for citizenship data to be gathered through administrative records.
Contest seeks to build ‘lowrider’ patrol car
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico's largest police force wants to go slow and low.
The Albuquerque Police Department is inviting high school students to design the department's first lowrider patrol car. The winner of the competition will have his or her artwork displayed on the car's hood and will receive a $5,000 scholarship.
Officials say the design must be free of offensive, inappropriate, and gang-related material.
Lowriders are custom cars dropped low to the ground with murals and sometimes hydraulics.
The vehicles are popular among Mexican Americans in New Mexico, Texas, and California.
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