Hamtramck protest, vigil demands end to Yemen war
September 14th, 20170 HAMTRAMCK – A crowd of about 200 people attended a protest and vigil in front of Hamtramck’s City Hall on Saturday, September 9. The event focused on denouncing all violence in Yemen, the internal and external wars that continue to cripple the nation’s population of more than 25 million. Hamtramck is about 30 percent Yemenis...
Dearborn School Board tables redistricting options, seeks community input
September 14th, 20170 DEARBORN- No community members shared their feedback at the September 11 Dearborn Board of Education meeting regarding the trustees’ possible solutions for overpopulated high schools, including boundary line changes and class additions, as the turnout was low. Still, board members expressed the hope that after the October 9 board...
Police militarization heightens chances of misconduct and brutality
September 14th, 20170 DEARBORN— During his campaign, President Trump promised to revoke former President Obama’s executive order that demilitarized local police to remilitarize them once again— reportedly for their own and their communities’ safety. Only two weeks ago, Trump issued an executive order that rescinded Obama’s. Obama’s order had...
Hamtramck councilman under fire for blaming trash problem on immigrants
September 14th, 20172 HAMTRAMCK — A councilmember in one of the most diverse cities in the nation is facing a backlash after he blamed a trash problem on immigrant residents. "There is an issue with trash in Hamtramck," Councilman Ian Perrotta said in an interview on WWJ AM 950. "I think some of it comes from the fact that some of our immigrant...
9/11 town hall addresses Japanese internment camps and targeting of Muslims
September 14th, 20170 DEARBORN—The Arab American National Museum (AANM) hosted a town hall on September 8 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Japanese American detainment in internment camps and the 16th anniversary of the September 11 World Trade Center attacks in New York City. In 1942, President Roosevelt signed executive order 9066, which entailed...
Huffington Post partners with The Arab American News as bus tour comes to Dearborn
September 14th, 20170 DEARBORN —The Huffington Post has partnered with more than 20 cities around the U.S. for its “Listen to America” bus tour, which is a platform for Americans to share stories that are local to them and their communities. The AANews has partnered with the Huffington Post to hold a forum on October 3 at Byblos Banquet Center in...
State Reps. Introduce fireworks reform legislature
September 14th, 20170 LANSING — State Reps. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) and Brian K. Elder (D-Bay City) have introduced legislation to improve Michigan’s fireworks laws. The bills, 4924 and 425, would make an amendment to the Michigan Fireworks Safety Act established in 2011. “Throughout the summer, we received numerous constituent complaints about...
House Democrats Jobs for America Task Force names Dingell co-chair
September 14th, 20170 WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) was selected to co-lead a new task force focused on crafting legislation to help middle-class citizens. Dingell’s political career has focused on the manufacturing-based economy in Michigan and will continue those efforts on the board. “Today, every industry — from autos and...
Task force from Michigan sent to help Floridians, sent home
September 14th, 20170 HOLLY – Michigan Task Force 1 (MI-TF1)—a regional task force designed to provide support, expertise and equipment in emergency situations, has been sent home from Florida because the damage from Hurricane Irma wasn’t as bad as expected. According to reports, MI-TF1 partnered with the Michigan State Police Emergency Management...
New Michigan Media appoints social media engagement manager
September 14th, 20170 DETROIT– New Michigan Media (NMM), the collaborative network of the five largest ethnic and minority media publications in Michigan: The Arab American News, The Detroit Jewish News, The Latino Press, The Michigan Chronicle and The Michigan Korean Weekly, has appointed Keyta Roberson as the organization’s social media and community...
U.S. Appeals Court allows extra airport screening of two Arab American locals
September 14th, 20171 DETROIT — The U.S. government did not violate the Constitutional rights of two Dearborn businessmen, Nasser Beydoun and Maan Bazzi, by routinely subjecting them to extra security screening at airports, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday. Beydoun and Bazzi, both U.S. citizens from Dearborn, accused the government of violating...
Dearborn-based Iraqi American family arrested while trying to deposit check
September 12th, 20172 WICHITA ― Sattar Ali, a Dearborn man who moved his family to Kansas says he regrets the decision, after he, his wife, and daughter were all in handcuffs while attempting to deposit a large check that was acquired through the sale of their home. According to the Kansas-based TV station, the Ali family recently sold their Dearborn...
U.S. Rep. Dave Trott of Birmingham is retiring from Congress
September 11th, 20170 Washington — Republican Rep. Dave Trott (R-Birmingham) said Monday he will retire from Congress at the end of his second term and return to the private sector. “Our country’s Founding Fathers envisioned a government where citizens leave private life, serve for a brief time, and then return home to their communities," Trott said...
Supreme Court justice temporarily preserves Trump refugee ban
September 11th, 20170 WASHINGTON ― Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday put a temporarily hold on limits imposed by a lower court on President Trump’s order barring most refugees from entering the United States. Kennedy acted in response to the Justice Department’s challenge to the part of a Thursday ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th...
Dearborn School Board agrees on possible solutions for overpopulated high schools
September 8th, 20170 DEARBORN — School is back in session and the Dearborn School Board of Education continues to tackle the overcrowding issue at Fordson and Dearborn High schools. In an August 29 study session, the board eliminated proposals of forming a new high school or a ninth grade academy, calling them unfeasible. It found boundary line changes......
Detroit rally shows strong support for ‘Dreamers’
September 8th, 20170 DETROIT — "I'm 16 years old and I am undocumented," said a young Detroit woman at the Defend DACA rally at Clark Park on Tuesday. Jose Franco, a founding member of One Michigan, organized the event as a response to President Trump's executive order to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA was enacted...
Community, officials celebrate Arab American successes at Judge Mariam Bazzi’s investiture
September 8th, 20170 DEARBORN — If you didn't already know what she looked like, you'd be surprised to see Mariam Bazzi greeting a line of guests at the entrance to her own investiture ceremony. Bazzi – appointed by Gov. Snyder in May as a judge in the Wayne Country Third Circuit Court – pointed attendees to the auditorium, and judges and family......
A list of employees shows hardly any Arab Americans in Dearborn’s government
September 8th, 20170 DEARBORN — There is little doubt that Arab Americans have become significantly more civically engaged in the past decade, yet Dearborn residents and businesses have not yearned any less for their issues to be better adequately reflected in city government. In this Detroit suburb – with about half its population as Arab Americans,...Appeals court allows prayer at Michigan county’s public meetings
JACKSON - On Wednesday, a divided federal appeals court said the elected public board of commissioners in Jackson County, Michigan, did not violate the U.S. Constitution by opening monthly meetings with Christian prayers and asking audience members to join. By a 9-6 vote, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected...
From Michigan to Texas: Harvey victims find refuge among Arab and Muslim Americans
September 7th, 20170 HOUSTON, DEARBORN — Striding strenuously down a freeway, mostly mothers and their children were knee deep in water, making the journey away from their drowned homes. They carried on their shoulders only what they could save. The water rose so fast that few families in Southeast Texas were left unthreatened by Hurricane Harvey's...
Police search for suspects of fight at Dearborn Walmart
September 6th, 20170 Dearborn — On September 4, an argument at a local Walmart between four women turned into a fight to remember for the evening shoppers. A 35 year-old Pinckney resident told police an argument she had with two women escalated into an assault when a third suspect walked up behind the victim and struck her in the head. As the......
Report spotlights Muslim American contributions in Michigan
September 3rd, 20172 DEARBORN, MI— “Ten percent of Michigan Muslims are physicians.” This was a myth that the Muslims for American Progress (MAP) project powered by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) was able to debunk. “We kept hearing that rumor,” said MAP Principal Investigator Rebecca Karam about Muslim physicians in...
Arab American community liaison position created at Henry Ford College
September 3rd, 20170 DEARBORN — Henry Ford College has named Sam Bazzi to be the college's first Arab American community liaison. The position is in its first year and will attempt to, "promote the mission of HFC within the Arab American community, continue to build and nurture personal relationships and facilitate a productive dialogue regarding......
The Twelve Oaks incident: Hate speech vs. free speech in the Trump era
September 3rd, 20170 NOVI — On August 8, a Muslim family was accosted in the parking lot of Twelve Oaks Mall by a White man in his 30s who hurled epithets and derogatory slurs at them. The mother, out of fear for her two children, called the Novi Police Department. After driving past the family, the assailant parked his car and approached the family...
Former Dearborn Clerk’s pension permanently reduced
September 3rd, 20170 DEARBORN — On August 30, former Dearborn City Clerk Kathleen Buda, who'd previously pled no contest to several felonies, was ordered by Judge Lawrence S. Talon to reimburse the city for its pension contributions from the date of the offense until her retirement, which totaled $2,716.88. Buda was sentenced to 24 months probation on an......
