Daily News Roundup: ACLU Draws Flak From Progressives for Charlottesville Stance

Opinion: ACLU Critics “Misguided” in Attacking Group Over Charlottesville: The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald argues that withering criticism on the left of the American Civil Liberties Union’s legal defense of white supremacists seeking a permit to protest in Charlottesville, Va. — where the racist groups clashed violently with counterprotesters — reflects a “warped mentality” that aims to curb free speech by “blaming civil-liberties advocates for the bad acts of their clients.”

A member of the board of the ACLU’s Virginia chapter resigned over the weekend to protest the organization’s decision to file a lawsuit that kept Charlottesville authorities from relocating the white-nationalist rally, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

Ex-Microsoft CEO’s Foundation to Open Detroit Office: Steve Ballmer’s Bellevue, Wash.-based grant maker, the Ballmer Group, announced the move in a job posting for an executive director of the satellite office, Crain’s Detroit Business writes. Mr. Ballmer, a Detroit native, and his wife, Connie, pledged last year to donate large amounts of their approximately $32 billion fortune to help eradicate intergenerational poverty and said the Motor City would be a likely focus.

Art Gifts Can Involve Delicate Dance Between Donor and Museum: The New York Times examines some of the challenges art collectors face when donating works to museums. Among other issues, museums may hold off due to concerns about the art’s provenance, ask for additional cash gifts to help cover storage and art upkeep, or reject a piece if it doesn’t help fill a particular gap in their collection.

Gates Foundation Announces Major Tanzanian Investment: Bill Gates tells Reuters his foundation plans to spend more than $300 million in 2017 to support public-health and poverty-reduction efforts in the East African nation. The announcement comes as the Trump administration proposes steep cuts in foreign aid.

Big Donors Increasingly Supporting Urban Bike-Share Programs: Private donors are stepping in to more quickly develop infrastructure projects in cities working to become more friendly to bike communters, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription). The Walton Family Foundation and the William Penn Foundation are just two of the grant makers that have invested in such projects in recent years.