March 16th, 2025

Hello CRAGgy Friends,
Welcome new people! (join here)

1. Request for help with information gathering
2. Upcoming local Township/city meetings (Calendar link)
3. Upcoming Events and meetings
4. Housekeeping

“It is not shameful to do little.  It is shameful to do nothing.” Alexie Navalny (1978-2024), Russian opposition leader, anti-corruption activist, and political prisoner. (h/t CW)

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1. Request for help with information gatheringWe need more headlines like this one in Saturday's Gazette:
Tariffs and federal cuts will hurt local schoolsCan we provide useful "info bites" like this for people to use at local meetings?
Can we pull together teams to dig out local impacts of the Washington chaos? I've suggested several topics to start with below. For each we should look for both data and stories.

• School lunches and other school impacts. Carol MacLennan has started collecting data on school meals. Other impacts include Department of Education cuts/elimination that threaten programs for students with disabilities and rural schools.
• Health care and Social Security
• Tourism and local economy
  • How many local tourist dollars come from Canada? (They're not coming this summer.)
  • Which local companies have federal funding? (Did Calumet Electronics receive CHIPs contracts?)
  • Construction? The Gazette piece mentions increased construction costs because of tariffs. What will that affect locally?
• Parks, Natural resources, and local farms.
  • National parks
  • Lamprey control
  • Recreation funding for trails, events, etc.
• Libraries: Trump Administration Calls for Elimination of Federal Agency that Funds Libraries
• Other topics with local impacts? Send your ideas.

The landscape is somewhat complicated because different attacks are underway.

• First, there's the immediate DOGE attack on federal workers and programs and efforts to freeze freeze funding.
• Second, the GOP budget that aims to slash medicaid in favor of extending tax cuts for rich people. Complicated by the continuing resolution, which extends the current budget to September. BUT, it shifts funds to defense, cutting everything else by ≈8%. AND, it gives Musk and Trump license to continue to slash and burn.

Ping me if you'd like to work on one of these projects or help with team effort. Or if you have a story to share on any of these topics.

2. Upcoming Local Township/city meetings CALENDARWe are trying to get someone to speak up at every possible local meeting. Stand up, say your piece How are government actions affecting you? How do they hurt your community? You don't have to say a lot; some people just say a sentence or two "I'm worried about Medicaid cuts"; "I don't want Elon Musk having access to my private data."
As examples, my statements to all bodies are posted on Substack. (I can post yours, too, if you want to share.)

• March 19th, 6 pm Torch Lake Township board at the Hubbell Community Building in Hubbell.
  • Valorie Troesch will attend and plans to speak.
• March 19th, 6 pm Hancock City Council
  • Rumor is they may consider a resolution modeled on Houghton's.
• March 20th, 5:15 pm Houghton-Keweenaw Conservation District, HKCD office at 205 Michigan Street in Hancock

When and where does your local city or township board meet? Let me know. Thanks to those who have shared.
3. Events and meetings CALENDARBergman(less)Town Hall, March 18th

• March 18, 7 pm: Bergman(less)Town Hall in Houghton at UU Hall, 604 Bridge St.
• March 19th, 6 pm: HC Dems Coffee meet-up; please RSVP
• March 20th, 6-9 pm, Rozsa Lobby: Spring Flare, Music - Art - Local Vendors. A fun event. Originally devised by a consortium of students orgs to take the oxygen away from an offensive speaker on campus.
• March 26, AWAVE gathering at 5th and Elm, Hancock. Continuing on 4th Wednesdays.
• March 29 Keweenaw Against the Oligarchy March at the bridge. (Michigan United Action)

Ongoing:

• Yoopers for Ukraine march on the bridge every Sunday, 3 pm
• Houghton County Dems meet every first Wednesday, 7 pm at the Super 8.

Join:

• Join local Keweenaw Indivisible here. This group is actively planning multiple activities; volunteers with enthusiasm and/or talents can contribute. Contact [[email protected]](mailto: [email protected]) to connect.
• Lake Superior Region Indivisible has formed in Marquette. Contact them at [email protected].

4. Housekeeping

• CRAG emails can be accessed through an RSS feed or on this webpage. (Look for an RSS reader for your system; there are many good free options.)
• Easy link to join this email list: https://shorter.me/crag.
• Be sure to label these notes as not-spam. Some are getting sent to trash.

Thanks for all your support
Stay Well
Sarah
CalendarHow and why to act locallyCRAG statements to local bodiesJoin CRAGCitizens Rally for Accountable GovernmentJoin CRAG
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