When state Senate Republicans announced that they were moving their offices to a new building in Lansing, red flags went up around the city. A bipartisan group asked Attorney General Bill Schuette to look into the $134 million project to ensure that nothing shady was going on. This was in light of at least one report that the state had […]

Over the past couple of months, multiple Colleges in the Eastern Michigan University system have passed resolutions of “No Confidence” in the EMU Board of Regents. These groups include the Colleges of Education, Arts & Science, Technology, and Health & Human Services. Yesterday, the entire Faculty Senate did the same. You can read their resolution HERE. In their resolution of […]

After passing legislation to slash revenue sharing to already struggling urban areas including Flint and after passing an anti-democratic Emergency Manager Law – Public Act 4 – and after passing another anti-democratic Emergency Manager law – Public Act 436 – after voters rejected the first one (and making it democracy-proof with an unnecessary appropriation) and after these Republican-appointed overseers – […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Citing a report putting Michigan dead last in terms of ethical transparency in state government, the progressive watchdog group Progress Michigan is launching a GoFundMe drive to raise funds for a variety of activities related to shining a light on the actions of our elected officials. Top on their list is to overturn Michigan’s disgusting law that allows the Governor […]

A bill to shield oil and gas companies from having information about details of their pipelines and other infrastructure from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests was introduced as House Bill 4540 last May. It sat in the House Committee on Oversight and Ethics without action until last December. At that point, it was clear that supporters on the the […]

In the ongoing scandal of the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water by the Snyder administration and the heart-wrenching reports of the dilapidation of Detroit Public Schools, there’s another untold story being reported today by the Detroit Free Press. Because the schools are old and may contain lead in the water lines, students cannot drink, shower with, or swim in the […]