Snyder defends office’s handling of Legionnaires’ outbreak

While Michigan and Michigan State are playing a pivotal conference game inside Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, women’s advocacy group UltraViolet will have a flyover to draw attention to the Flint, Michgian water crisis and call for Gov. Rick Snyder’s resignation.

There were at least 87 cases across Genesee County during a 17-month period, including nine deaths, but the public was never told about the increase when it was happening.

The state of MI announced Friday it has fired the head of the Department of Environmental Quality’s drinking water unit over the lead contamination of Flint’s drinking water supply.

Snyder was further exposed after he released 270 pages of emails and other documents in regards to Flint’s water crisis, though many have been heavily redacted. An ex-prisoner says he served fellow Genesee County Jail inmates the poisonous stuff for months.

The church of 450 families began giving out water because of concerns that Spanish-only speaking people were not being reached. “They had been asking the guards if there was any way they could be – even if they were just shackled – if they could be brought out there so they could get some of the bottled water that was being given out”. A handful of officials have resigned since the Flint water crisis came to light, but this is the first time anyone’s been fired over it.

Rick Vasquez, a Flint resident who is coordinating the church’s relief effort, told Snyder: “A lot of people like myself live right in the middle of this crisis and a lot of people like me are getting exhausted of taking a shower in buckets of water….” In an infograph promoted by the Michigan GOP, the Obama administration is accused of not doing enough to fix the problem in Flint, while elaborating the alleged positive work Snyder has done.

The city of Flint, in an attempt to save money, switched from Lake Huron water from Detroit to the Flint River. Yet, when queried about whether he would pay to replace the city’s lead-leaching water pipes, he demurred, using the old dodge that “more studies are needed”.

U.S. Senate Republicans have faced criticism after refusing a Democratic bid to send hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency aid to Flint, Michigan. Hollins said he heard nothing more about the issue until late December when local officials in Flint revealed the outbreak had recurred.