Community activists, residents and political leaders gathered at Macomb Community College South Campus in Warren Saturday morning to discuss how they can help each other and how voters can be better engaged — particularly in municipal and school board elections. The...
Michigan
Tlaib introduces Safe Storage Saves Lives Act to reduce firearm deaths of children
During National Gun Violence Awareness Month, U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-12th District), member of the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Congresswoman Robin Kelly (IL-02), and Congressman Maxwell Frost (FL-10) introduced the...
Oxford mother advocates for national parent group
A chance meeting in Lansing led to one Oxford parent joining a group looking to push back against extreme views being brought before school districts around the state. Cara Erskine was in Lansing earlier this year to testify on new weapons laws being proposed in the...
What are local schools doing for student safety?
The list is long, as are our memories, of youths who have been victims of school shootings. And as the public cries for a solution become deafening, it is left to school districts and law enforcement to fortify schools with what amounts to bandaids as prevention as...
Stateside Podcast: The parents on the other side of the phone
On the night of the shooting at Michigan State University, students faced four hours of a shelter-in-place order. During that time many students were in communication with their parents; texting and calling them. On the other end of the phone, parents had to manage...
After Oxford, gun violence advocates felt helpless. But there’s hope for change in Michigan now.
Kelly Dillaha, the mother of twins who attend MSU and were barricaded in their room just off campus during the mass shooting, said the school could not have done anything differently to prevent Monday’s violence. What would make a difference, she said, is gun reform....
‘We all ran for our lives’: MSU students describe mass shooting as a never-ending nightmare
Michigan State University students are angry. Yes, they are traumatized; yes, they are overwhelmed with grief and sadness. They know they will need mental health support in the coming days, weeks, months, and years. But, right now, in the wake of three students being...
MSU mom, anti-gun violence advocate calls for solutions after campus shooting
A Michigan State University mother and anti-gun violence advocate says Monday’s deadly shooting on campus reinforces her efforts to achieve sensible gun control. Kelly Dillaha’s phone was flooded Monday night with messages from concerned friends asking about her twin...
Michigan State Mom, Activist Hopes Shooting Will Lead To Gun Reform
Kelly Dillaha and her husband, Scott, were watching television in their Birmingham home Monday evening when their phones started blowing up with texts asking if their twin sons, Aidan and Brandon Johnson-Hill, students at Michigan State University, were OK. They...
Good News Alert: Democrats Might Actually Flip the Michigan Legislature
When Michigan voters go to the polls, they’ll also be deciding whether to enshrine abortion rights in the Michigan Constitution, or to let stand a 1931 law that would essentially ban abortion in the state. Kelly Dillaha, Michigan Program Director for the grassroots...
Recent Posts
Watch This: Why We’re Going Local in 2025
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the chaotic, 24-hour national news cycle and our emotionally charged social media feeds. Everything can feel so big; so distant; so daunting. So isn’t it comforting to know that the best way out of the chaos is to keep our focus close...
Read This: Five Reasons Why We “Go Local”
Lately, you may have seen Red Wine & Blue say, “When they go low, we go local!” What do we mean by that? Almost a decade ago, Michelle Obama made famous the phrase, “When they go low, we go high.” This was the Obama family motto for responding to cruel, hateful...
Okay, But Why is Gay Marriage at Risk?
The U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, but recent events have people wondering, is gay marriage at risk? The laws of the United States are supposed to protect and lift up all of us. For hundreds of thousands of gay couples across America, the right to get married isn’t abstract – it affects their daily lives, their finances, their health, and their family. Why would we turn back the clock on the social progress we’ve made? And why is banning gay marriage a priority for some people when there are so many real issues affecting Americans?
Okay, But Why is AI a concern?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is everywhere these days. Some people think it’s the solution to all of humanity’s problems. Others think it’s going to bring about the end of life as we know it. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between. But with so many different opinions and so many ways that AI can be used, it’s hard to know exactly what to believe. So let’s look at the facts and figure out, why is AI a concern?
Okay, But Why Are Romance Novels Political?
When people think of romance novels, the first thing that comes to mind is shirtless men with windswept hair on the covers of mass-market paperbacks, or maybe the “damsel in distress” main character who is waiting for a love interest to come and save her from the clutches of evil. They’re often not thought of as ‘real’ reading, because they are stories typically written by women, for women, and starring women. But what if the truth is that even the most “raunchy” novels of the genre are deeply political?