In the News

Seventh district Michigan Congressman Tim Walberg saw one of his co-sponsored bills pass the house last week amid a series to fight opiod and heroin drug abuse.

"There have been more victims in this battle than should be called criminals," Walberg said. "What we have been doing has not been working. There is a better way."

Walberg had helped introduce a bi-partisan bill to strengthen safeguards to ensure infants born into a life of drug addiction are safely cared for and protected.

Every two weeks an average of one person dies of an opioid overdose in Jackson County.

That number surprised a number of people at a heroin forum being held today at the Jackson High School library.

The forum, headed by Congressman Tim Walberg, brought together health officials, law enforcement, former addicts and members of the public to focus attention on the size and scope of the heroin problem in Jackson.

On average, one person dies every two weeks from a heroin overdose in Jackson County.

Christopher Risner was a user.

"I definitely have the disease of addiction," said Risner.

He started taking opiates when he was 17 years old. The former high school basketball star had scholarships to multiple college, but threw it all away because the addiction was that powerful.

Six months after worries about particulate matter on surgical equipment temporarily stopped surgeries at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Ann Arbor, a congresswoman said Friday that some of those same concerns are being raised again, with surgeries being moved or delayed.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Dearborn, confirmed that she and U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, spoke to VA officials at the Ann Arbor facility after hearing of a delay from a veteran's family and were told that "intermittent" problems with particulate matter being found on surgical equipment trays or cases continue.

You're innocent until proven guilty, and government can't have your property without just compensation or proven guilt. Those are two of Americans' most fundamental rights.

Those rights are crumbling at the federal level, however, due to something known as "civil asset forfeiture." Under it, officials can claim money or other property was involved in illegal activity, and owners are forced to prove their property is "innocent" to get it back:

This week in the United States Congress, the Judiciary Committee introduced bipartisan legislation — the Due Process Act — to curb civil asset forfeiture abuse.

According to the Heritage Foundation, civil asset forfeiture is defined as a "legal tool that allows law enforcement officials to seize property that they assert has been involved in certain criminal activity."

The site continues to say that the owner of the property doesn't even need to be guilty of a crime because proceedings charge the property itself with involvement in a crime.

Following the House's recent passage of the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Reduction Act of 2016, U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg (R- 7th district) is hosting a community forum to discuss how to combat the problem.

The forum with residents and local leaders begins at 9 a.m. Monday, May 23, in the Jackson High School Library, 544 Wildwood Ave.

The event is free and open to the public.