By God’s grace, baby Bella arrived safely ❤️ Ryan and I are in complete newborn bliss. We are so thankful for all the support we’ve received along the way. I successfully had a natural and unmedicated pregnancy, labor, and birth as planned. After birth, I did have excess bleeding and needed medication at that point to slow it down. It did the trick and I am healing well. Bella’s pediatrician said she is perfect from head to toe, but we already knew that. For safety, we will not be sharing personal details of her or her face online. So if you have a photo of her, please do not post it. We thank you for respecting that. There will be plenty of time for the rest of life’s responsibilities, but we only have this precious time once with our little one. We fully intend to enjoy it ❤️

I was supposed to be in court yesterday morning for my FOIA case against the Village of Holly. Instead of hearing arguments from both sides, the court canceled the hearing and issued a written decision. Unfortunately, the court ruled against us. What is most frustrating is that the ruling did not address many of the problems we raised with how the Village handled my public-records request, including: Not responding on time; Overcharging for flash drives; Charging attorney fees instead of using the proper employee rate; Leaving required appeal instructions out of its response; Failing to provide a real way to appeal the denial to the Village; and Requiring a 100% deposit before providing the records. We believe each of these actions violated Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act or made it harder to exercise the rights that law gives the public. But the court did not decide whether the Village acted properly. Instead, it ruled that I didn't sue fast enough. There are also serious problems with the ruling itself. The court dismissed the case under a rule dealing with whether the court had the legal authority to hear it, but then went on to decide other issues in the case anyway. We believe that was wrong, and it will be one of the issues raised on appeal. I am also disappointed that the scheduled hearing was canceled. A case involving access to public records and multiple alleged violations of Michigan law deserved careful consideration and an opportunity for both sides to be heard. This is not the first time important issues in this case have gone unresolved. Earlier in the case, we had a hearing scheduled over whether I could be forced to give a deposition—even though this case is entirely about what the Village did or did not do in response to my records request. Instead of deciding that issue, the court sent the case to mediation. That is why we have an appeals process. We intend to appeal this decision and ask the Michigan Court of Appeals to review what happened. FOIA exists so that ordinary citizens can find out what their government is doing. Those rights do not mean much if public bodies can overcharge people, improperly deny records, or make appeals difficult without being held accountable. This case is bigger than one records request. If government bodies are allowed to ignore FOIA requirements without consequences, it becomes harder for everyone to hold government accountable. I am disappointed in today’s ruling, but this case is not over.

When Secretary Kennedy said that some people with autism won’t ever have a job or live alone, he was referring to this level of autism 👇

🚨 New lawsuit just dropped in the Village of Holly, and no, it’s not mine. Months ago I reported that the coffee shop owner was falsely accused of putting $75,000 of tax payer funds in the wrong bank account. Through public records, I found that the Village Clerk gave her the wrong EIN number. But that didn’t stop the Village President from lying about the facts of the situation. Her lies did so much damage that some community members said Linda, the coffee shop owner, embezzled money. Yet the money was always in the bank account. When the clerk’s mistake was found, it was fixed. Not a dime went missing. Brandon had an opportunity to correct her *alleged* defamatory statement, but chose not to. So Linda took her to court. But that’s not all. Linda is suing Brandon personally, but Brandon’s attorneys are the same ones the Village retained for my lawsuit. So is the Village covering this lawsuit? If so, should tax payers have to take on the liability for something the Village President did on her own time? What I do know for sure, is that this isn’t the first time the Village President is being sued for spreading false statements about someone. That’s why I am also suing her in federal court as well.

While newspapers across the country have scaled back print or shut down their presses altogether, our local newspaper officially completed one full year in print 🗞️ We took a big risk going print only in this digital era. Not only did we survive, The Holly Post is thriving! We went from hand delivering papers for our first edition, to mailing direct to homes within a few months. Now this quarter, we added four hundred more homes to our delivery route, reaching about 9,500 homes throughout Holly, Rose, and Groveland Townships. Every edition is a labor of love. But it came together because of the people behind it: Amy Hillman and Hilary Allgeyer (and can’t forget our newest team member Baby Bella.) When I say I couldn't do this without them, I mean every word. This paper doesn't happen because of one or two people. It happens because of our entire team, our advertisers, guest writers, the people who send us tips and story ideas, and because of the people who keep picking it up and reading it. We're, especially grateful to Andy for trusting us to share the news that Andy's Place is opening its doors once again! This comes after a tragic fire in 2022 that closed the doors on several of our businesses. Andy opened up about how Andy’s Place started and we hope we did her family’s story justice. So cheers to another year of print🎉🗞️

New reality show idea: Think Undercover Boss, but for our elected officials. They have to live off of the median household income in their district with the average living expenses. They have to actually live in the district - go to the same gas stations, same grocery stores, same small businesses. No fancy fundraisers. No fancy international trips. Just regular life like the rest of us. Oh, and they actually have to interact with their constituents. Maybe then they would understand.

Should we fund public universities? Especially when they can afford to pay their presidents two million dollars? As an example, the University of Michigan gets $424,000,000 from taxpayers. Yes. That's the correct number of zeros. That comes out to $10,656 per undergraduate student. That's on top of the $19,000 tuition they receive from each student. So should we be funding them?

Bella wanted to tell you all about my new mega desk for my sewing room 🤠

Should for-profit companies receive tax payer funds? Billions have been given out over the years “to create good paying jobs.” But what if I told you that only 9% of the jobs promised were actually fulfilled? Would you still support corporate welfare then?

Today I had baby Bella’s 2 month appointment. If I listened to everything the “experts” told me, she would have gotten seven pokes with nine vaccines… I don’t know how anyone could look at a perfectly healthy baby and think their little immune system could handle all those chemicals.

90% of President Trump’s presidential campaign was about lower gas prices. He constantly talked about how lower gas prices means everything else is lower. The only two things he kept his word on is closing the border and letting RFK Jr make America healthy again. Or am I missing something?

Should tax payers fund nonprofits? Especially ones that pay their CEO over $500k a year? I started writing an article about a Detroit Zoo ballot proposal that asks the tax payers to give more money than they already do. This led me down a rabbit hole to find that the zoo’s CEO makes $547,000 a year. That’s actually one of the more conservative nonprofit salaries I’ve come across. So what do you think? Should tax payers fund this kind of salary? Or nonprofits at all?

I’m running for local office and people keep saying I need to get endorsements. Serious question. Has anyone ever voted based off an endorsement?

Don’t just listen to promises in an election season. It’s easy to make empty promises, but it’s hard to actually live by what you preach.

Running for office doesn’t have to be boring. Instead of passing out generic cards about my campaign, I decided to hand out newspapers during a parade. Four of us are running together as a team to take the majority in Holly and we worked together to bring this vision to life! The newspaper not only had information about us, but also had fun activities for everyone- a maze, word search, and coloring page. Instead of handing out candy, we handed out a pack of crayons. We walked the parade with a Model A car and dressed as paper boys. The response was incredible! If you want to help us do more activities like this, please consider contributing to our campaigns 🙏

RFK Jr, a former democrat, is keeping the Republican Party alive right now.

Thankfully I have thick skin because you need it to run for office. Most people don’t want to deal with the chaos that comes with elections, and that’s why we end up with whoever is willing to deal with it in office. Lately it seems like a new defamation about me pops up every day. I literally do not have time to address every one. Thankfully I have so many residents and business owners in my corner. My family, along with these members of my community, keep me going.

We need to stop calling 40 weeks “due dates.” They are guess dates. The average birth happens at 40 weeks and six days - which that average includes inductions. So no one should feel overdue just for going over 40 weeks. This feeling is leading more women to choose induction when it leads to worse health outcomes for mom and baby. - This is part of my pregnancy diaries—a series going back through my natural pregnancy, labor, and delivery in the medical system while on maternity leave. Week 37