Yesterday, Borders Books announced that it was going out of business and liquidating its assets. This will put another roughly 11,000 people out of work including many right here in Michigan. It’s a huge loss both in terms of jobs and in terms of having a good bookseller around. But P.D. Lesko at A2Politico points out, there is at least […]

This scenario was entirely predictable. The latest call for an emergency manager in Metro Detroit is coming from an unlikely place — the affluent Northville Public Schools. Stalled contract negotiations between administrators and employees have school board members discussing the possibility of seeking an emergency manager, which under state law must be appointed by the governor. Emergency managers have the […]

THIS is unbelievable. When Jason and Julie Bass had to rip up their front lawn to replace a pipe, they decided to rebuild it this spring with raised beds and filled them with vegetable plants. Their front yard garden of cucumbers, tomatoes and peas has since landed the Oak Park couple a ticket, a court date and support from around […]

When Michigan Republicans passed the legislation that became Michigan Public Act 4 of 2011 or P.A. 4 or the “Emergency Manager Act” or “local government and school district fiscal accountability act” or, as I call it, the Financial Martial Law Act, they took a subtle step that few noticed. They changed the name of “Emergency Financial Manager” to simply “Emergency […]

Early this week, I reported that the Michigan Education Association (MEA), the union for Michigan teachers, was getting involved with various recall efforts around the state. After hearing from Chris Bowers at Daily Kos, I pulled my punch a bit with this update: UPDATE: As Chris Bowers from Daily Kos indicates, the MEA has not officially endorsed the recall of […]

Maybe some good news for those of us without enormous amounts of money and powerful friends in high places today. In my latest piece at A2Politico, I write about Autumn Smith’s endrun around Michigan Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger. Bolger, as I have been documenting, is using a high-dollar law firm and, likely, his connections in the Calhoun County government […]

UPDATE: As Chris Bowers from Daily Kos indicates, the MEA has not officially endorsed the recall of Rick Snyder. As you can see below, their language seems to indicate that they are but it is vague enough that a true endorsement isn’t implicit. I’ll update with more information as I get it. Well, this should make things interesting. As first […]

This isn’t news to me. Dr. Beach’s 5 Great Great Lakes Beaches #1. Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Lake Michigan, Michigan Here you will find some of the most spectacular coastal dunes in the world — I especially liked trekking up the huge dune on the north end of this expansive park. There are a variety of beaches with fine […]

The Lake Michigan shoreline area of Allegan County was dealt a double-whammy this week. First, Saugatuck Township’s battle against developer Aubrey McClendon to prevent him from building a luxury resort and marina development in the heart of the Sauguatuck Dunes was lost when the Township compromised with him. I have written in the past about this HERE and HERE. From […]

I have been following the plans by Wolverine Power to build a new coal-fired power plant in Rogers City, Michigan pretty closely. In May of last year, I blogged about the denial of their permit by the Granholm administration. Then, in April this year, I wrote about how the zombie power plant had risen from the dead. Today, the zombie […]

A while back, I wrote a piece for A2Politico.com in which I took the Michigan Democratic Party to task for, among other things, not supporting the efforts stop Public Act 4 (or, as I call it, the “Financial Martial Law Act”). Subsequent to that article, I contacted the Michigan Republican Party and several leaders of tea party groups around the […]