No new jobs initiatives from Michigan’s legislature so far but we do have THIS: Gov. Rick Snyder on Tuesday signed a bill that provides bowling centers immunity from civil prosecution if patrons wear bowling shoes outside, then slip and fall after returning inside. I’m glad they’re tending to these critical problems holding Michigan back from recovery. This’ll have a huge […]

State Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer is on a tear lately. After dressing down Republicans for their passage of an anti-bullying bill that was anything but last week, today she read them the riot act for going on a two-week deer hunting season vacation when they have so much left undone. To my colleagues: we are poised today to leave […]

THIS is obscene: City fire marshal investigators plan to inspect every Detroit Public Schools classroom after receiving complaints this week about overcrowded classes with more than 50 students. Detroit Fire Department representatives met Thursday with district officials to determine the maximum number of students for every classroom in the district, said Assistant Fire Marshal Osric Wilson. The fire marshal issued […]

By a ratio of roughly two-to-one, voters in an on-going Detroit News poll reject reforming Michigan’s No-Fault insurance rules to remove mandatory lifetime medical coverage. However, if GOP lawmakers go against the will of the people, Michigan voters will have no recourse. The bill under consideration has an expenditure line item that makes it referendum-proof. This is the fourth time […]

I think in our heart of hearts, all of us progressives in Michigan knew this was coming. Senate Bill 754 is one of a series of bills introduced this year with the purpose of making it harder for people to register to vote, and harder for the nonprofit organizations that perform the service of helping them to register to vote. […]

Michigan Republicans must live in another world where everything is fine and the only things that need fixing are things that aren’t broken. Earlier this month, they passed a law that makes illegal abortions more illegaler. Now they want to make English the official language of Michigan. I must have missed the memo telling everyone it wasn’t. “We’re a nation […]

Bwahahaha! Even the Republicans don’t want Kurt Damrow around, it seems. Damrow, a Republican who, as I reported today in an A2Politico piece was the target of a failed recall attempt, has been unceremoniously tossed out of the Huron County Republican Party. The Huron County Republican Party’s Executive Committee voted 18 to 2 to immediately remove 84th District State Rep. […]

Oh, my. This must have Republicans just giggling with giddiness. On a nearly party-line vote, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill that would skirt a federal phaseout of older, less efficient light bulbs and allow Michigan manufacturers to make and sell the old version of bulb in the state. State Rep. Tom McMillin, R-Rochester Hills, called the bill […]

Man, I’m glad our Republican legislature and governor don’t have better things to do than making illegal abortions illegaler. Gov. Rick Snyder signed a bill this week banning a type of late-term abortion. The legislation was approved last month by the legislature and mirrors a federal ban on the practice, called partial-birth abortion by opponents of the procedure, that was […]

Well, at least they don’t try to hide it anymore. Republican State Sen. Dave Robertson of Grand Blanc wants the governor to be able to appoint far more people in the government than he already does, saying “the heart of the issue is political power.”“ Michigan’s governor appoints about 100 people directly to run the departments of state government, but […]

Local control, local government, local self-determination. These are the hallmarks of the tea party Republicans and conservatives in general. Recent efforts by Michigan Republicans prove conclusively that this is a lie. They are not interested in local control; they are interested in conservative control. Period. In September, I wrote about two bills passed by the House to limit domestic partner […]