Quick, before anyone hears about the all of the problems! The folks at Oakland Schools have posted an urgent call for people opposed to the expansion of the Education Achievement Authority to contact their state legislators THIS MORNING. Why? Because Republicans are in a mad tear to pass the legislation this week. I’m guessing all of the negative publicity they’ve […]

NOTE: My reporting on the Education Achievement Authority involves multiple posts. You can read all of my coverage of the EAA by clicking HERE. In the course of my reporting on Governor Rick Snyder’s Education Achievement Authority (you can read all of the posts HERE), one thing has become abundantly clear: the EAA administration has intentionally created a culture of […]

From my view inside the White House, I saw what every other American watching the President’s speech did: true leadership. I believe in the dream of America. I always have. So has President Obama, which is why he’s always had my support. In his 2014 State of the Union address, he made it clear that his optimism is unwavering. Despite […]

Pity the poor, misunderstood blowhard Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson has a long history of being a jerk that bashes the city of Detroit, its leadership, and its residents whenever the opportunity arises. He was recently given that opportunity by journalist Paige Williams who wrote a piece about him for the New Yorker magazine titled “Drop dead, Detroit!”. It’s […]

Creative strongarming? Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr has said for some time that he expects the Detroit Institute of Arts to come up with a half billion dollars of what can only be called ransom to help settle Detroit’s bankruptcy crisis. The expectation had the result of pitting the pensions of retired Detroit workers against priceless pieces of art held […]

Let’s find out if it is, indeed, a legal law Federal bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes determined today that a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s anti-democratic Emergency Manager law – Public Act 436 – can move forward. The case is being handled in another federal court. In his ruling (pdf) denying a request to stay the case, Judge Rhodes said: […]

Please, sir, may I have some more? [Photo by Chris Savage | Eclectablog] Steven Rhodes, the federal judge overseeing Detroit’s Chapter 9 bankruptcy, halted discussions on Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s plan to borrow $350 from Barclay’s bank to retire some terribly negotiated debt swaps, effectively moving banks to the head of the line in the bankruptcy proceedings. In what can […]

Anne’s photos of the nearly all-white crowd attending the opening of the Michigan Republican Party’s African American outreach office in Detroit have gotten picked up nationally. Yesterday they appeared in the top story on the Huffington Post by Amanda Terkel along with a link back to our coverage here at Eclectablog. Then, last night, during the Debunktion Junction segment on […]

Rand Paul is a disservice to the GOP’s African American outreach Photo credit: Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog The day after he presided over the opening of the Michigan Republican Party’s office for African American outreach, Rand Paul told Fox News that extending unemployment benefits for workers unable to find work for as long as 99 weeks was doing […]

The GOP believes they simply need to talk about issues that African Americans care about, not actually do anything about them Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came to Michigan today to be part of the opening of the Republican’s Detroit “African American Engagement Office”. No, seriously. Before the Republicans got their day started, Democrats had a press conference nearby where they […]

Day-um [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] Today’s Detroit Free Press editorial “Snyder must uphold state’s constitutional protection of Detroit pensions” is direct and unflinching on Governor Snyder’s obligation as the state’s leader to protect the pensions of Detroit retirees as the city goes through bankruptcy. I’d love to reprint the whole thing. It’s that […]