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 […]

I received a press release the other day from the Michigan State AFL-CIO, the umbrella federation for U.S. and Michigan unions. The group is made up of 56 unions representing 12.5 million working men and women. The headline made me smile and sent a glimmer of sunshine in what has been some very dark days for people of conscience and […]

Darnell Earley, the former Flint Emergency Manager and current Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager will resign on February 29th according to a statement released by Gov. Snyder this morning on the state website. Earley, who has denied he was responsible for any of the problems in Flint or Detroit Schools, is quoted in the statement as basically saying, “Mission Accomplished”: […]

I’m starting today’s news round-up by featuring an essay published by Ann Arbor social worker Beverly Davidson, LMSW, at her “Voices from the Infant, Toddler and Family Field” blog. The post is titled “No words” and the title is cruelly apt. Here’s a taste of what she saw during a recent day of volunteering in Flint: We knocked on one […]

Welcome to your nightmare Something terrifying is about to happen. Barring a calamitous natural disaster, the reveal of the greatest prank show in human history or a failure of polling so absolute that it would become an honorary Bush brother, some Americans are about to cast their votes to make Donald Trump president of the United States. But since it’s […]

Congressional hearing to focus on attacking the USEPA and not the real cause of the Flint water crisis The list of those invited to give testimony before the House U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform this coming Wednesday has been released and one name is glaringly missing: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder. Those who WILL give testimony are the […]

Last night Anne and I were privileged to watch the taping of Rachel Maddow’s Flint Town Hall. It was an astonishing experience for a variety reasons and I think it has the potential to be a game changer in terms of how the poisoning of Flint’s drinking water by the Snyder administration is perceived by people outside of Flint and […]

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 […]

The outrageous working/learning environment in some of Detroit school buildings has gotten national and even international attention over the past few months. Over the past month, teachers have staged multiple “sick-outs” to protest the deplorable conditions they are forced to try to teach in, resulting in multiple school closings. Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Emergency Manager Darnell Earley has tried twice […]

“Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Political Suicide” by by DonkeyHotey First, just a reminder that Rachel Maddow will be broadcasting from a townhall meeting she’s holding in Flint on Wednesday evening. Watch the video announcement here: The Rachel Maddow Show heads to Flint! Wednesday 1/27 at 9pm ET! https://t.co/TAhlCLYdjP — Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) January 23, 2016 Guests will include Flint Mayor […]

Anne and I have spent a great deal of time thinking about Flint and how everyday life has changed for the people there. After all, it’s one thing to have to drink bottled water after the Snyder administration poisoned the water coming from your tap. But it’s entirely another thing to have to use bottled water for everything else except […]