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OK2SAY tipline helps keep schools safe

As schools across the state start the new academic year, parents and children are reminded that Michigan has a valuable resource, OK2SAY, to help keep students safe. OK2SAY, which is housed within the Michigan State Police Office of School Safety, allows students to confidentially report tips on potential harm or criminal activities directed at students, school employees or schools in the state. “These tips not only help law enforcement identify and respond to potential dangers and help those in need, but they also ensure that real threats of violence are taken seriously and those ...

Trump’s maneuvers weaken constitutional check

President Trump is testing restraints on his power to hire and fire, which is worth doing in many cases but raises hard questions in others. Consider his maneuvers to retain Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, despite the Senate’s refusal to hold a vote on confirming her. Last week a federal judge said Ms. Habba has acted “without lawful authority” since July 1. “Her actions since that point may be declared void,” Judge Matthew Brann ruled. The decision draws from the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which restricts how the President can temporarily fill an ...

US participation in high school sports climbs to all-time high

Each year since 1971, the National Federation of State High School Associations has conducted a high school athletics participation survey. Earlier this month, with practices and competitions underway locally in fall sports, NFHS announced that high school athletics participation in the U.S. had reached an all-time high. The 2024-25 total — 8,260,891 — marks the third consecutive notable increase after numbers fell during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participation in high school sports has increased 642,837 over the past three years and represents a turnaround from a decline that ...

Don’t add Fed to politics of our times

It's not hard to find mistakes in the Federal Reserve’s recent history, but Donald Trump’s latest attempt to erode the institution’s independence is dangerous. The president wants lower interest rates, but any benefits coming from that would probably be outweighed by supercharged inflation and the economic hangover that comes with it. On Monday night, Trump announced that he would try to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook, whose term otherwise expires in 2038. He cited an unproven allegation of mortgage fraud that one of his appointees dug up and broadcast on social media, but Cook ...

Trump’s maneuvers weaken constitutional check

President Trump is testing restraints on his power to hire and fire, which is worth doing in many cases but raises hard questions in others. Consider his maneuvers to retain Alina Habba as New Jersey’s top federal prosecutor, despite the Senate’s refusal to hold a vote on confirming her. Last week a federal judge said Ms. Habba has acted “without lawful authority” since July 1. “Her actions since that point may be declared void,” Judge Matthew Brann ruled. The decision draws from the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which restricts how the president can temporarily fill an ...

US can help medical treatment in Gaza

There are children in Gaza who are grievously injured or seriously ill. The medical system there is in tatters after almost two years of war, but the United States has the medical capacity to help some of those kids. We should do it. However the State Department announced on Aug. 16 that all visitor visas for individuals from Gaza were being stopped “while we conduct a full and thorough review of the process and procedures used to issue a small number of temporary medical-humanitarian visas in recent days.” The announcement came after far-right activist Laura Loomer raised ...