Dearborn Heights Police seeking to recruit Arab Americans
May 19th, 20170 DEARBORN HEIGHTS — As the Arab American community continues to grow in Dearborn Heights, the city hopes to recruit more representatives to its police department. Recently, a fourth Arab American was added to the police force, which comprises 82 police officers in total. Chief Lee Gavin expressed concerns that none...
Air Force Captain Rawan Latif follows a family tradition of service
May 19th, 20170 DETROIT — On May 10, Detroit native Rawan Latif, 24, became a captain in the United States Air Force. That is only one of many ways in which Latif has served both her local community and the United States at large. Latif, who is stationed at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, comes from a family involved in service, with an uncle who...
Rep. Hammoud introduces resolution condemning hate crimes and discrimination
May 19th, 20170 LANSING — State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) introduced a resolution condemning hate crimes and any other acts of discrimination, urging Congress to investigate and prosecute. House Resolution 99 was drafted with the assistance of Emgage (Empowering Engaged Muslims), a non-partisan organization formerly known as Emerge USA, in...
Unis Middle School hosts FIRST tech challenge
May 19th, 20171 DEARBORN — If you come to Unis Middle School on a typical Saturday morning, it wouldn't be difficult to find a parking spot. On May 13, however, things were different. Unis hosted its debut FIRST Tech Challenge. FIRST (For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology) is a K-12 program for students age 6 to 18-years-old...
Outside Washington, a ‘more powerful’ immigrant rights movement emerges
May 19th, 20170 SAN FRANCISCO — Immigrant rights advocates say that despite the cloud of fear hanging over communities in the first 100 days of the Trump administration, there is also a growing and increasingly organized resistance. "We are seeing an increase in the number of people apprehended for removal," Melissa Chua, immigration director of...
Immigration arrests up nearly 40 percent under Trump
May 19th, 20170 NEW YORK — U.S. arrests of suspected illegal immigrants rose by nearly 40 percent in the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency, following executive orders that broadened the scope of who could be targeted for immigration violations, according to government data released on Wednesday. The acting director of Immigration and...
Former military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning leaves prison
May 19th, 20171 WASHINGTON, D.C. — Chelsea Manning walked out of a U.S. military prison on Wednesday, seven years after being arrested for passing secrets to WikiLeaks in the largest breach of classified information in U.S. history. Manning, 29, was released from the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, at about 2 a.m., according...
Special counsel named to investigate Trump-Russia ties
May 19th, 20170 WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the Justice Department named former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and possible collusion between President Trump's campaign and Moscow. The move followed a week in which the White House was thrown into an uproar amid...
New supermarket opens to meet demand of diverse communities
May 19th, 20170 DEARBORN HEIGHTS — In the increasingly diverse Southeast Michigan region, markets catering to the cuisine of one's homeland can be far and few. Dearborn, which harbors the highest concentration of Arab Americans in the country, has overcome that problem, as streets like Warren Avenue are lined with Mediterranean grocers. A...
A view from the bench: Spending the day with Dearborn Judge Gene Hunt
May 19th, 20170 DEARBORN — In the chambers of newly minted 19th District Court Judge Gene Hunt, music from counter-culture America echoed off walls adorned with signed portraits of The Beatles, of his children and Fordson High School football teams he used to coach. It had only been 112 days since Hunt was invested as a judge, yet he appeared...
AAYSP awards 25 scholarships at eighth annual gala
May 19th, 20170 DEARBORN — On May 17, The American Association of Yemeni Students and Professionals (AAYSP) awarded scholarships to 25 high school seniors and undergraduate students at its eighth annual scholarship gala. The event took place at Byblos Banquet Hall and was made possible through community sponsors. AAYSP Michigan chapter President...
DTE Energy to hold informative meeting about gas meters renewal in Dearborn
May 19th, 20170 DEARBORN — DTE Energy invites Dearborn residents and business owners in the area enclosed by Chase Road and E. Moross Circle, and W. Warren and Tireman to a May 24 public meeting about the extensive gas meter and gas line replacement project in their neighborhood. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 24 at the Henry Ford...
Wayne County Sheriff: We won’t turn over immigrants to ICE
May 18th, 20170 DETROIT ― Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon has ordered his staff to deny requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to turn over immigrant inmates without a warrant signed by a federal judge or magistrate. In an April 28 memo from Napoleon obtained by The AANews the sheriff wrote: “Recent court decisions have...
BREAKING: Michigan Senate votes to outlaw female genital mutilation
May 17th, 20170 LANSING-The Michigan Senate approved legislation on Wednesday making genital mutilation of girls a state felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, both for doctors who perform the procedure and parents who transport a child to undergo the surgery. The legislation, which now goes to the state House of Representatives, was spurred...
U.S. immigration arrests up nearly 40 percent under Trump
May 17th, 20170 NEW YORK- U.S. arrests of suspected illegal immigrants rose by nearly 40 percent in the first 100 days of Donald Trump's presidency, following executive orders that broadened the scope of who could be targeted for immigration violations, according to government data released on Wednesday. The acting director of Immigration and Customs......
Concerns emerge over racism, anti-Semitism in Detroit Fire Department
May 16th, 20170 DETROIT ― The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is raising concerns about racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in the city of Detroit’s Fire Department – specifically in the EMS Division. The concerns are linked to the Facebook account of Captain Tim Goodman, described as “a torrent of racist and...
To ease fears, U.S. Muslim schools reach out to neighbors
May 14th, 20170 NEW YORK- At a Roman Catholic high school in New York's Long Island suburbs, two dozen visiting Muslim students knelt and prayed while teens in uniform blazers from the host school looked on. The trip's agenda was simple: give students whose schools are just 10 miles (16 km) apart but culturally worlds away a chance to get to know each......
LGBTQ Arabs use spaces to transgress misconceptions
May 12th, 20170 DEARBORN — A lack of language for gay identity in religious doctrine reflected the stigmatization and eventual pathologization of it in Western discourse, where homosexuality was recognized as a mental illness from the 19th century until its removal from the DSM in 1973. Ironically, Arabic and Islamic-era words articulating...
Reps. Dingell, Hammoud address substance abuse, mental health at town hall
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — On Monday, May 8, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Dearborn) and State Rep. Abdullah Hammoud (D-Dearborn) convened a town hall to address and discuss their approaches and strategies toward infrastructure development and substance abuse issues. The event took place in the Michigan Room at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and...
Overpopulated high schools in Dearborn: Problems and possible solutions
May 12th, 20170 DEARBORN — The Dearborn Public School District is tackling the issue of an overcrowded student population in both Fordson High School and Dearborn High School. By contrast, Edsel Ford High School is below the limit at about 1,300 students, with room for more. Approximately 2,700 students occupy Fordson High and just around 2,100...
Dearborn native to become first hijabi Air Force judge advocate
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — In March, Dearborn native Maysaa Ouza, 24, applied to the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) only to find herself making history as the first Muslim hijabi to become a judge advocate. A judge advocate practices law in the Air Force differently than in the private sector. Ouza will be able to......
Parents claim local middle school teacher tried proselytizing students to Christianity
May 12th, 20171 DEARBORN — On May 8, parents at the Dearborn Public School Board of Education meeting voiced their concerns regarding a teacher attempting to proselytize Muslim students at Woodworth Middle School. The world religions teacher was not named at the meeting, but parents said that she discussed her own baptism, read from her Bible for...
U.S. airlines meet with Homeland Security on expanding laptop ban
May 11th, 20170 WASHINGTON ― Homeland Security officials met with major U.S. airlines and a trade group on Thursday to discuss the impact of possibly expanding a ban on large electronic gadgets on planes to flights from some European airports, three sources briefed on the meeting said. The afternoon meeting included high level executives from Delta......
Judges hit Trump lawyer with tough questions over revised travel ban
May 8th, 20170 RICHMOND, V.A.-Federal appeals court judges on Monday peppered a U.S. Justice Department lawyer with tough questions about President Donald Trump's temporary ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations, with several voicing skepticism that protecting national security was the aim of the policy, not religious bias. Six Democratic...Trump engages in U.S. healthcare battle, breakthrough possible
WASHINGTON ― In a possible breakthrough for U.S. Republicans' chaotic effort to roll back Obamacare, three moderate lawmakers emerged from a White House meeting with President Trump on Wednesday and said a revised bill might pass. But pitfalls still lay ahead. Keen to score his first major legislative win since taking office in......
