After John Covington quit (or was forced out) as Chancellor of Gov. Snyder’s failed experiment with Detroit students — the Education Achievement Authority (EAA) — he was replaced by Veronica Conforme, the former chief operating officer of the New York City Department of Education. However, the ethically questionable behavior of the EAA is continuing under her watch. This past week, […]

This post has been edited to clarify that the fine arts program at Detroit’s Renaissance High School is being saved. Just a week after Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Jack Martin, announced draconian cuts to schools, higher class sizes, a second round of pay cuts for teachers, and the closing of 24 schools, he has changed his mind: After a […]

[NOTE: Edited to clarify that the DPS budget was created by the DPS Emergency Manager Jack Martin, not the School Board.] When Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager Jack Martin put together the Detroit Public Schools budget for the coming year, it included revenue from a $14.8 million county-wide school millage that did not pass in the August primary election. Because […]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all… Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer breaks down a child’s play set to remove it from a flooded Royal Oak basement, courtesy photo Yesterday, Democratic candidate for Governor Mark Schauer got his hands (and feet) dirty helping a Royal Oak resident clean up after the epic flood that flooded their basement. From […]

Yesterday, Michigan Governor Snyder compared a hole in the roof of his $1.1 million “lake house” mansion (one of two mansions he owns) to the devastating impacts of the recent historical flood in Detroit. I’ve been through a lot of things like that, Frank. We just recently had holes in our roof from storm damage to our lake house. We […]

It’s truly remarkable to see someone behave as tone deaf as Gov. Snyder did today in his flailing attempt to commiserate with metro Detroiters who are dealing with the intense impact of an historic flood event that has closed many highways, killed a 100-year old woman and an epileptic woman (among others), and has people trying put their lives together […]

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan has extended the moratorium on shutting off water to the homes of Detroiters with unpaid bills for another 20 days, until August 25th. City officials are working on an improved process for collecting unpaid bills and plans to announce the new plan later this week: Detroit’s moratorium on residential water shutoffs over unpaid water bills will […]

For those of you who missed the opening night keynote speeches at Netroots Nation in Detroit, here is my speech welcoming the conference attendees to the Motor City.

Depends on what your definition of “moratorium” is, I guess… Last week, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, bowing to pressure from Detroit bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes, instituted what they said was a 15-day moratorium on water shutoffs in Detroit. However, despite this, water shutoffs continue: The Detroit water department recently announced a temporary break in its campaign to cut […]

Last Friday, a crowd of over 1,000 protesters, bolstered by hundreds and hundreds of Netroots Nations attendees, filled the streets of downtown Detroit. An event that would likely have seen scant national coverage became a huge media story with reporting by the New York Times, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, Democracy Now!, the Los Angeles Times, and countless others. The […]

As Netroots Nation lands in Detroit, it does so during an unprecedented time in our country’s history. In an attempt to get over 90,000 water customers to pay upwards of $90 million in unpaid water bills. Over ten thousand Detroit residents have already had their water source eliminated in this draconian effort. Meanwhile, major businesses still have water flowing despite […]