Four state Senators, Phil Pavlov, Joe Hune, David Robertson, and Goeff Hansen have had quite enough of uppity Detroit teachers who have staged “sick-outs” to draw attention to the deplorable – unconscionable, really – conditions in their schools. Images and stories of dead vermin, mushrooms growing out of the wall, disintegrating floors, walls, and ceilings, and clear evidence of black […]

NOTE: to follow all of our coverage of the ongoing tragedy in Flint, click the “Flint Water Crisis” tab at the top left of each page right under our logo (or click HERE!) Former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley refuses to be served Congressional subpoena In an astonishing display of chutzpah, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, who yesterday abruptly […]

Ka-CHING! In the fourth quarter of 2015, Michigan Republicans received a whopping 50% of their campaign contributions from members of the DeVos family. Four vulnerable Republican House members, Holly Hughes, Brandt Iden, Tom Barrett, and John Bizon all received $9,000 each for a total of $36,000 which is nearly the median income for Michigan residents according to analysis done by […]

Darnell Earley, the former Flint Emergency Manager and current Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager will resign on February 29th according to a statement released by Gov. Snyder this morning on the state website. Earley, who has denied he was responsible for any of the problems in Flint or Detroit Schools, is quoted in the statement as basically saying, “Mission Accomplished”: […]

The following guest post was written by Nancy Kotting who writes at Watapama blog. From her About page: Nancy Kotting is a fourth generation Detroiter, former partner at Detroit MetroTimes/Alternative Media Inc., architectural historian, trainer/instructor of classical horsemanship for over 35 years and a Catholic convert. She has been published in both the U.S. and the U.K. and is a […]

Yesterday I posted an excerpt from and a link to the essay “No Words” in my #FlintWaterCrisis news round-up. The piece by Ann Arbor social worker Beverly Davidson, LMSW, was extremely well-received so I asked her for permission to repost it here at Eclectablog, which she gave me permission to do. Davidson’s writing is clear and thoughtful and tells a […]

Michigan is a hot political mess these days. Between an a tea party-led legislature that never seems to run out of ways to screw over the poor and the powerless to the Snyder administration that is so intent on saving money that they ended up poisoning a city’s water supply, there’s little fun or uplifting to write about for a […]

I’m starting today’s news round-up by featuring an essay published by Ann Arbor social worker Beverly Davidson, LMSW, at her “Voices from the Infant, Toddler and Family Field” blog. The post is titled “No words” and the title is cruelly apt. Here’s a taste of what she saw during a recent day of volunteering in Flint: We knocked on one […]

Today’s guest post is by Laura Packard, a partner at PowerThru Consulting, a growing national progressive digital consulting shop. Enjoy. The Flint water crisis didn’t just happen. It’s been a story decades in the making. Cities in America have been on the downswing for many years — deliberate policy on the federal and state level has favored suburbs, and also the preferences […]

Congressional hearing to focus on attacking the USEPA and not the real cause of the Flint water crisis The list of those invited to give testimony before the House U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform this coming Wednesday has been released and one name is glaringly missing: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Those who WILL give testimony are the […]

Earlier this week, the anti-abortion extremists behind altered videos attempting to smear Planned Parenthood found the tables turned when the grand jury investigating the health services provider indicted them on a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony, and on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs. The two men had selectively edited a secretly-taped video to […]