Map Of Lake Michigan

AP NewsBreak: Michigan Democrats' proposed congressional map would pit Reps ...

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Democrats have drawn a congressional map that would pit Republican incumbent Thad McCotter of Livonia against Democratic incumbent Gary Peters of Oakland County's Bloomfield Township and avoid extending a Detroit district up to Pontiac, according to a copy of the map obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer told the AP that the map shows how Detroit's two black-majority districts can be extended into the city's northern suburbs while remaining more compact than what Republicans drew for U.S. Rep. John Conyers' 14th District seat.

Democrats plan to introduce the map as a substitute to the GOP plan during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday. Republicans control the redistricting process with majorities in the state House and Senate. Requests for GOP comment were left Monday evening with Senate Redistricting Committee Chairman Joe Hune, R-Whitmore Lake, and Michigan Republican Party spokesman Matt Davis.

Democrats and even some Republicans have criticized the way the GOP's proposed map carves Oakland County into four congressional districts and stretches both of the current congressional districts that include Detroit farther into the suburbs to pick up enough black voters to maintain black majorities. Detroit has lost a quarter of its population over the past decade.

The GOP-drawn map would extend Conyers' 14th District north from Detroit to Pontiac and include the Oakland County communities of Oak Park, Southfield, Farmington Hills and Orchard Lake, among others. The 13th District held by freshman Democratic Rep. Hansen Clarke would stretch from Detroit south to Ecorse and west to the cities of Westland, Wayne and Romulus. McCotter's 11th District would spiral from Livonia to South Lyon, Auburn Hills and Troy before hooking around to end in Bloomfield Hills.

Under the Democratic plan, the 14th District would stretch from Romulus in Wayne County through the west side of Detroit and up to Southfield and Oak Park in Oakland County, but go no further north. The 13th District's southern border would be in Wyandotte, with the district stretching up through Detroit and crossing for the first time into Macomb County, with Roseville and the south side of Warren being included.

"This map demonstrates that it's possible to comply with the Voting Rights Act without the egregious gerrymandering of the proposed Republican map," Brewer said. "These districts are far more compact and contiguous than the southeastern Michigan districts in the Republican map.

mispkemaci: Map Of Michigan Lakes

Seems like USCIS has started sending RFE for a lot of us, who have been waiting for a long time. What might be the reason for this. I heard from some of my friends that they are pre-adjucating the cases so that when the visa dates are available, they can process faster, but I also wonder if they are doing it so that they can drop some cases who do NOT reply to their RFE (similar to what happenned with Backlog Elimination Center and 45 day letters). "On May 18, 2009, we mailed a notice requesting initial evidence in this case. Please follow the instructions on the notice to submit the evidence requested. Meanwhile, processing of this case is on hold until we either receive the evidence or the opportunity to submit it expires. Once you submit the evidence requested and a decision is made, you will be notified by mail. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address or call our customer service center at 1-800-375-5283." My Lawyer submitted the response for RFE with in 30 days (Sometimes in June before June 18th). My online status never changed and my lawyer assured that she has signature proof of receipt from FedEx, After 60 days, after pressure from me her paralegal sent an email to me Saying that she spoke with some one named XYZ from Texas Service center and he said that they have received the response, I waited until December and the status still not changed so I decided to call USCIS, they opened case for me on Dec 10th since it was outside processing time, and on Jan 17th 2010, I received a letter from USCIS with the reulst of investigation and it said+ They just looked on the online status for your letter and Please be careful not to do separate inquiries apart from the lawyer as they now might not allow the lawyer to get case update for you. It is important to have on channel for updates since files get moved around and can get lost. If you wanted us to do the inquiries, please let us know and we can see if they will still let us. we are sure everything is fine as we have confirmation they got the response. We charge hourly at $250 per hour for time spent on the case beyond an initial inquiry." the way i did it is i applied over internet using online AR-11 form. I did not apply by mail. Then, the next day, I called my lawyer's office and told them to contact USCIS to make them aware that my address has been changed on the petitions that are under consideration.

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