UPCOMING EVENTS
DATE & TIME | EVENT & LOCATION |
|---|---|
Anytime | Know What You Sign - View the Online Training on Ballot Petitions from the League of Women Voters of the Copper Country |
Ongoing | Donate to the Copper Country Housing Assistance (and let us know you did here.) |
Ongoing / Sundays | Yoopers for Ukraine Bridge March. Every Sunday at 3 PM. More info on the YfU Facebook page. |
January 28 @ 7 PM | AWAVE meeting and 1st Anniversary Celebration (see item below for details). |
February 4 @ 6 PM | HCDP February Monthly Meeting. |
February 21 @ 5:30 PM | Soup-er Bowl All You Can Eat Fundraiser for Special Olympics Area 39. Buy tickets here. |
Events featured in our newsletter can also be found on the Events Calendar on the main page of our website.
PARTY NEWS
FOR ALEX JEFFREY PRETTI
For Alex Jeffrey Pretti
Murdered by I.C.E January 24, 2026
by Amanda Gorman
…...We wake with
no words, just woe
….. & wound. Our own country shoot
……ing us in the back is not just brutal
……ity; it's jarring betrayal; not enforcement,
……but execution. A message: Love your people & you
….. will die. Yet our greatest threat isn't the outsiders
……among us, but those among us who never look
within. Fear not the those without papers, but those
without conscience. Know that to care intensively,
united, is to carry both pain-dark horror for today
& a profound, daring hope for tomorrow. We can feel
we have nothing to give, & still belove this world wait
ing, trembling to change. If we cannot find words, may
we find the will; if we ever lose hope, may we never lose our
humanity. The only undying thing is mercy, the courage to open
……ourselves like doors, hug our neighbor,
……& save one more bright, impossible life.
© Amanda Gorman
This description of the murder of Alex Pretti comes from Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, January 24th:
This morning, on a street in Minneapolis, at least seven federal agents tackled and then shot and killed Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse for the local VA hospital.
Video from the scene shows Pretti directing traffic on a street out of an area with agents around, then trying to help another person get up after she had been pushed to the ground by the agents. The agents then surround Pretti and shoot pepper spray into his face, then pull him to the ground from behind and hit him as he appears to be trying to keep his head off the ground. An agent appears to take a gun out of Pretti’s waistband during the struggle, then turns and leaves with it. A shot then stops Pretti’s movements, appearing to kill him, before nine more shots ring out, apparently as agents continued to fire into his body.
It looked like an execution.
After he was dead, the agents walked away, apparently making no effort to preserve the crime scene, which people on the street later tried to secure by walling it off with trash bins.
As journalist Philip Bump noted, administration officials didn’t even pretend to wait for more information before jumping straight to “the opponent of the state deserved it.”
Alex Pretti, VA Image (official portrait by United States Department of Veterans Affairs)
Both of Michigan’s Senator Peters and Slotkin have confirmed they will vote NO on the ICE funding bill coming up in the Senate this week. If you haven't registered your support for that position, it never hurts to call them and make sure they know that's what you want! People tend to call Senators when they're mad - it does buck them up to hear support as well.
Contact Senator Slotkin: (202) 224-4822 (Washington), (517) 203-1760 (Lansing), (231) 929-1031 (Traverse City)
Contact Senator Peters: (202) 224-6221 (Washington), (517) 377-1508 (Lansing), (231) 947-7773 (Traverse City)
If you’d like to help sway other Senators to also vote NO, Common Cause is phone banking into key states to encourage folks to put pressure on their own senators this evening and Thursday evening. You can sign up to phone bank here.
MDP 2026 ENDORSEMENT CONVENTION
ALL MEMBERS OF THE MICHIGAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND THE 2026 STATE ENDORSEMENT CONVENTION.
The 2026 Endorsement Convention for the Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) will be held Sunday, April 19th at Huntington Place in Detroit. At the convention the state Party will endorse candidates to the November General Election in the following contests: Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Supreme Court, State Board of Education, Michigan State University Board of Trustees, Wayne State University Board of Governors, and University of Michigan Board of Regents.
The full MDP Call to Convention for the MDP 2026 Endorsement Convention can be found here.
HCDP SPRING COUNTY CONVENTION
The HCDP will hold a County Convention prior to the MDP State Endorsement Convention. Per MDP rules (see the MDP's Call to Convention page 6 and 7), the County Conventions must be held NO LATER THAN March 28th.
The purpose of the County Convention is to elect members and alternates to the State Convention Committees and to consider resolutions to be forwarded to the State Party. We will finalize the exact date for the Convention at the February Monthly meeting.
Remember, you must be an MDP member NO LATER than 30 days prior to the County Convention to vote at the County Convention. (Please note that Precinct delegates, Democratic elected officials, and Democratic nominees to partisan office in the County are automatically eligible to vote.)
COMMUNITY NEWS
AWAVE CELEBRATES ONE YEAR!
AWAVE will meet at Nutini’s tomorrow, Wednesday January 28 at 7 PM to discuss the housing crisis and the Homelessness Prevention Fund Raising efforts, and to celebrate their one year anniversary! Attendees will be encouraged to share any community needs they are aware of that need active voices and helping hands!
SOUP-ER BOWL TO SUPPORT THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS
Support our local Area 39 Special Olympics by attending a family-friendly meal of all-you-can soup, salad, bread, cookies, and drinks at the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on February 21 from 5:30-8:00 PM. (Area 39 includes the western UP counties of Ontonagon, Gogebic, Houghton, Baraga and Keweenaw.)
All attendees will receive a ceramic bowl decorated by an Area 39 athlete or volunteer. Proceeds support our local Area 39 Special Olympics Athletes. Funds provide uniforms, equipment, transportation, entry fees, and practice venues for year-round sports programs for intellectually challenged people, ages 8 and up! Tickets are $25 in advance ($30 at door). Click the flyer below to get the full-sized PDF you can print and fill out to donate and purchase tickets by mail. Or, you can donate and get your tickets online.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT MEETINGS
TUE JAN 27
The Calumet Village Council meeting from last Tuesday was postponed due to weather, and will be held tonight at 6:00 PM in the Village Council Chambers. More information (including the Zoom link to attend virtually) can be found on the Village’s News & Events web page.
WED JAN 28
The Houghton City Council meets at 5:30 PM on Wednesday. Agendas and agenda packets for Council meetings are typically placed in the City’s Searchable Document Center on the Monday before the meeting by 5:00 p.m.
A FULL LISTING OF ALL LOCAL CITY, VILLAGE AND TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENTS, WITH CONTACT INFORMATION, AND (WHERE AVAILABLE) TIMING OF LOCAL COUNCIL MEETINGS CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEBSITE.
SUBMIT A RESOLUTION
This newsletter is paid for with regulated funds by the Houghton County Democratic Party, and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.
Contact us by email at [email protected] or by text or voicemail at 906-523-1233