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Family Owned & Independent Media Company - Est 2016 - Haslett, MI
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Family Owned & Independent Media Company - Est 2016 - Haslett, MI
Peppermint Creek Theatre produces Lansing premiere of play addressing book banning and racial integration
Lansing, MI – Peppermint Creek Theatre Company (PCTC) is proud to announce the opening of Alabama Story, a new play by New York playwright, and Michigan native, Kenneth Jones, running April 18 – 28, 2024.
As the Civil Rights movement is brewing, a controversial children’s book about a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit stirs the passions of a segregationist State Senator and a no-nonsense State Librarian in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama. A contrasting story of childhood friends—an African American man and a woman of white privilege, reunited in adulthood—provides a private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital. Political foes, star-crossed lovers, and one feisty children’s author inhabit the same page in a Deep South of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope—inspired by true events.
Playwright Kenneth Jones states, “In May 2000, while reading The New York Times, I came across the story of Emily Wheelock Reed, the former state librarian of Alabama who had been challenged by a segregationist politician in 1959. Alabama State Senator E.O. Eddins demanded that a children’s picture book — Garth Williams’ The Rabbits’ Wedding, about a rabbit with black fur marrying a rabbit with white fur — be purged from the shelves of Alabama libraries on the grounds that it promoted racial integration. Their conflict was reported worldwide. Before I finished reading the article, I knew this was an idea for a play.”
Alabama Story is the final production in Peppermint Creek’s 20th season, and a fitting production for a theatre company focused on addressing current issues. PCTC Artistic Director Chad Swan-Badgero explains, “Putting together a season of shows that address our mission statement in different ways is always a challenge and a privilege. As we wrap up our 20th season – which is hard to believe – I am excited to be doing it with this play that was suggested to me by the head of the Michigan Libraries Association”. Swan-Badgero continues, “As a book lover, and former English teacher, it’s both frustrating and heartbreaking to see how book banning is still an issue we’re dealing with today. Alabama Story has given us a new perspective on this most perennial of issues”. The cast of Alabama Story features a talented ensemble of six local Lansing actors.
The production will take place at Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood, 2200 Lake Lansing Road, Lansing MI 48912. The show will run Thursday, April 18 – Sunday, April 21, and Thursday, April 25 – Sunday, April 28, 2024. Show times are Thursday – Saturday at 7pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets can be ordered online at www.peppermintcreek.org, and are $15 general admission, and $10 for students/seniors 65+/veterans.
This production of Alabama Story is generously underwritten by Rose & Jim Zacks.
Further information about this production: Kenneth Jones is a playwright, lyricist and librettist who writes about his own work and advocates for other theater makers at ByKennethJones.com.
Alabama Story Peppermint Creek Theatre Company CAST LIST
Garth Williams- Jeff Boerger
Emily Wheelock Reed- Gini Larson
Thomas Franklin- Ayden Soupal
Joshua Moore- Isaiah Scruggs
Lily Whitfield- Xia Skowronek
Senator E. W. Higgins- David Brooks
Learn more about the Peppermint Creek Theatre Company at www.peppermintcreek.org
Budget Focuses on Priorities for Lansing’s Future Growth
LANSING, Mich. — Mayor Andy Schor today submitted his sixth Executive Budget Recommendation for the City’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 covering July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025. The Budget reflects the priorities of Lansing and includes strategic investment in strengthening neighborhoods, parks, and commercial corridors, community service needs, public safety, infrastructure, and continued racial justice work.
The FY 2025 proposed spending plan for the city is $297.3 million, a 3.6% increase from the adopted FY 2024 budget. The proposed General Fund budget for FY 2025 is $165.1 million, a 2.4% increase from the adopted FY 2024 budget.
Over the past few years, the Schor Administration has aggressively pursued grant funding making strategic investments to save the City money in the long-term, while also controlling our expenditures against inflation to get through these tough times while continuing to maintain the essential services that we are proud to provide to our community. These efforts have culminated in balancing the General Fund budget without the use of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars or rainy-day funds.
“I am proud to once again present a balanced, responsible budget that invests in our community. Thanks to the state and federal governments, Lansing has received more than $260 Million in grants and appropriations over the past few years - and we are putting that money to work for our residents. This budget reflects much of that,” said Mayor Schor. “In addition to further securing our future obligations, my budget proposal calls for investments in police and fire protection, sidewalk repairs, focus on economic development work, human resources, and funding many other priorities for the residents of Lansing.”
The Schor administration navigated several budget requests while putting together the proposal, including more than $2 million in new spending requests from City Council, and more than $3 from our city departments. Several highlights in the proposed budget include the following:
Revenue:
Expenditures:
The City’s long-term financial outlook remains a budget priority for the Schor administration. The pension and OPEB obligation is $55.4 million, which is stable and not going up. In addition, the City is saving $500,000 per year in arbitrage due to $11.5 million that we received from the state. The proposed FY 2025 budget is balanced and maintains a fund balance of $20.8 million, that fulfills the City’s 12% to 15% fund balance policy.
As required by the Charter, Mayor Schor formally submitted his FY 2025 budget recommendation to the Lansing City Council on Monday, March 18, 2024. Mayor Schor indicated that he is looking forward to working with City Council President Jeremy Garza and other members of Council as they evaluate his proposed budget. Per the City Charter, the Council has until May 20, 2024, to adopt a final City budget plan for the next fiscal year.
Mayor Andy Schor’s Executive Budget Recommendation will soon be available at www.lansingmi.gov/mayorbudget.
If anti-choice lawsuit is successful in Michigan, women could lose access to IVF, contraception, prenatal care, abortion, and other health care
LANSING, Mich. – Governor Gretchen Whitmer released the following statement after filing a motion to protect reproductive freedom from a legal challenge to Proposition 3. Proposition 3 provides Michigan women with the constitutional right to reproductive freedom and was added to the Michigan constitution after the majority of voters supported the ballot measure in 2022. If Right to Life’s lawsuit is successful, women across Michigan could lose protections for reproductive freedom, including IVF, contraception, prenatal care, and abortion care.
“Today, I am filing a motion to protect reproductive freedom in Michigan.
“Right now, there is an extreme lawsuit put forward by Right to Life seeking to overturn Proposal 3 from 2022, which passed overwhelmingly and enshrined reproductive freedom in the Michigan Constitution. This lawsuit threatens protections for abortion, contraception, and IVF, which millions of Americans use to start a family every year.
“Right to Life’s lawsuit is making the same argument that led to the recent ruling in Alabama—where abortion is banned—which led IVF providers to stop operating in the state. Also, they filed this case federal court, asking a federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush to overrule the will of the people of Michigan. That’s unacceptable.
“We must stay vigilant amid a rising tide of bills and lawsuits at the state and federal level seeking to roll back the hard-fought progress we have made here in Michigan. Women must be able to make private health care decisions that are best for them without interference from politicians. Together, we will protect our freedoms.”
Michiganders Support for Protections in Proposition 3
· In November 2022, Michiganders overwhelmingly voted for Proposition 3, protecting abortion rights in our state constitution.
· In a May 2023 poll, 55% of women ages 18-49 say they or someone they know has made a decision due to worries about accessing abortion. In the same poll, 65% of adults are concerned bans on abortion would make it difficult for doctors to safely treat patients, leading to complications.
Protecting Reproductive Freedom
In 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, taking away the constitutional right to abortion that American women had for half a century. Many states either passed or had preexisting bans on abortion that went into effect. Michigan had a pre-existing law on the books banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing nurses and doctors for providing reproductive health care.
In November 2022, Michiganders voted overwhelmingly to pass Proposal 3, which enshrined the right to reproductive freedom in the Michigan constitution. This action protected the right to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion, miscarriage management, and infertility care in the Michigan constitution.
Since then, attacks on reproductive freedom have continued. In November 2023, Right to Life Michigan filed a lawsuit challenging Proposal 3, threatening protections for IVF, prenatal care, and other reproductive health care.
More recently, the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling had the effect of taking awayfrom families access to IVF, a procedure used by millions of Americans to have children every year. There have been bills introduced in over a dozenother states and at the federal levelthat would ban IVF. The Michigan Legislature today passed a bill package that increases protections for parents using IVF and other forms of assisted reproduction and their children.
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