Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s Flint Water Crisis continues apace with Flint residents still being told that their drinking water is completely safe but that they should not drink it without filtering it first. First we have gubernatorial candidate (and state attorney general) Bill Schuette telling reporters that he’s not going to charge Gov. Snyder in his investigation, at least not […]

In the wake of manslaughter and other charges being filed against five people involved in the Flint Water Crisis, including two current members of his administration, Gov. Rick Snyder issued the following statement: Gov. Rick Snyder’s statement in support of DHHS Director Nick Lyon and Dr. Eden Wells Wednesday, June 14, 2017 LANSING, Mich. – Gov. Rick Snyder issued the […]

Big news out of Flint this morning. Attorney General Bill Schuette has filed charges against two current and two former Snyder administration officials and one former Flint official. Michigan Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon is being charged with felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and misconduct in office. Four others, including former Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, are also facing […]

Conservative hopes to cash in by promising Lansing to the lobbyists You could argue that Michigan’s Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley and I just have a slight difference of opinion. Calley is proposing a ballot initiative that would amend the state’s constitution to give the state legislature most of the year off. I’d rather give most of this legislature — all […]

As bad as things are in Flint, Michigan – and they are REALLY BAD – in the past couple of weeks, they’ve gotten far, far worse. With the state of Michigan no longer subsidizing the city residents’ water bills having declared the water there now “safe” (it’s not), the city has now started charging residents again. Keep in mind that […]

Anyone who listened to our podcast interview with Flint activist Melissa Mays knows that having their drinking water poisoned with the powerful neurotoxin lead is only part of the ongoing catastrophe they continue to deal with three years after the switch to the Flint River. In addition to elevated lead levels, residents are still experiencing skin rashes, bacteria-related respiratory infections […]

Two years ago, after privatizing Michigan’s prison food services to a company that then set out to prove what a fiasco this sort of thing is with scandal after scandal after scandal after scandal), Gov. Rick Snyder finally fired Aramark. He then hired another private firm, Trinity Services Group. Since that time, Trinity hasn’t fared much better, racking up $2.5 […]

Today is Day 529 since Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder admitted that the city of Flint had had its drinking water poisoned with the powerful neurotoxin lead through the actions and inactions of his appointed Emergency Managers. The true span since their water has been unsafe to drink, of course, is much longer than that. There’s been very little news coming […]

Back in 2002, Governor John Engler, one of the co-founders of the Koch brothers-funded, corporatist front group Mackinac Center for Public Policy, recommended doing away with the Michigan Board of Education and make it a group appointed by the governor rather than the elected body it was then and still is today: Viewing the State Board of Education as an […]

The U.S. House Republicans’ super-secret Obamacare replacement is out and it’s all about freedom. Yes, if you’re one of the 20 million Americans who gained health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, you may soon enjoy the freedom of no longer being covered. We don’t know how many people will be covered, but even Republicans acknowledge that it will be […]

The news broke on January 20, 2017 that as many as 38 schools could be closed in Michigan, 24 of those in Detroit, due to “poor academic performance.” Parents in the city, and throughout the state, were understandably stunned, as this announcement represented an abrupt change in the state’s previous position on school closings: Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration has switched […]