GV hosts political dialogue event, continuing discourse event series

Grand Valley State University is continuing its Talking Together civil discourse event series this week with an event on Oct. 13 designed to tackle the issue of political polarization in conversation.

According to GVNext, the event will feature a showing of the film “Purple” to educate attendees on effective communication with those of differing political ideologies.

The event is one of many in the larger Talking Together series created by the university to encourage dialogue despite individual differences and equip the campus community with the skills and knowledge to engage in such effectively.

Such events for the series will continue to occur throughout the year, encompassing multiple additional arenas of conversation.

Biden warns of heightened risk of nuclear ‘Armageddon’ with Russia over Ukraine

At a fundraiser event in New York on Oct. 6, President Joe Biden issued a warning regarding heightened global tensions as Russian President Vladimir Putin has hinted at the possible use of tactical nuclear weaponry while his forces struggle to gain ground in the invasion of Ukraine.

Biden emphasized his belief that the risk of such a future has not been higher since the Cuban Missile Crisis under President John Kennedy.

Critics of the remark, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have fired back against what they view as an instance of inflammatory, exaggerated rhetoric.

The White House has since acknowledged that the president’s statement was not based on any revelatory information from the U.S. intelligence community regarding Russia’s nuclear threat. 

New polling in MI statewide races shows incumbent Democrats maintaining leads

With a month to go before the midterm elections on Nov. 8, new polling on races for statewide offices from The Detroit News and WDIV-TV shows Democrats holding comfortable leads over their Republican challengers.

The poll was conducted by the Lansing-based Glengariff Group which surveyed 600 likely Michigan voters between Sept. 26 and Sept. 29 on their choices for top state offices.

According to the polling data, the race for the governor’s mansion has incumbent Governor Gretchen Whitmer leading Muskegon businesswoman and conservative media commentator Tudor Dixon by 17 percentage points, 49.5% to Dixon’s 32.2%.

In the race for attorney general, the new polling shows incumbent Dana Nessel leading Kalamazoo-area attorney Matthew Deperno 42.5% to 30.4%.

In the race for secretary of state, incumbent Jocelyn Benson leads Republican challenger Kristina Karamo in the poll 46.6% to 29.2%.

The new polling spells urgency for GOP circles hoping to gain control of statewide offices in this key battleground state.