Several years ago under Democratic Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, the state Congress passed a very tidy set of tax cuts for filmmakers setting up shop in Michigan. The result has been large numbers of films being made here, spin-off companies starting up and a new movie industry being born in the Midwest. It’s safe to say that, at least […]

Holy #@%&!!! Blaming budget woes on a failed movie studio arrangement, the Allen Park City Council voted Tuesday night to issue layoff notices to its firefighters… The layoffs affect all 27 firefighters except for the chief, who is appointed. Allen Park had, apparently put all its eggs in a single basket: Unity Studios. When the film studio pulled out of […]

This is starting to become a trend. Today in Lansing between 1,000 and 1,500 people, mainly union members, rallied at the Capitol Building. They were protesting a number of things including new Republican Governor Rick Snyder’s budget as well as a number of anti-union bills currently in before the Republican-run State Congress. Two different tea party groups planned a “counter-protest” […]

From the Michigan AFL-CIO: Please join us tomorrow, Tuesday, February 22, 2011, for a LOBBY DAY in Lansing. We will begin at the Central United Methodist Church at 9:00 AM on Tuesday. There will be a briefing on anti-worker legislation that is moving through the House and Senate, followed by a talk with State Representative Woodrow Stanley (D-Flint). We will […]

Yesterday, I wrote about a state budget protest and Lobby Day being organized for tomorrow (Tuesday February 22, 2011). Turna out the “Southwest Michigan Tea Party Patriots” and the “Tea Party of Western Michigan” are holding a “Suppport the Budget Cuts” counter-protest at the same time. We will gather along Walnut on the West side of the Capitol. There seems […]

Cross-posted at Blogging for Michigan. Two big events are scheduled for Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in Lansing, Michigan. First, former Congressional Candidate Lance Enderle has a “Michigan Citizen’s Assembly” event planned from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Rick Snyder, you woke a sleeping giant (the people of Michigan)!Citizens are you Fed Up? Let’s Get Fired Up! Citizens of Michigan please join […]

President Obama is in the far northern reaches of Michigan today to kick off his drive to extend high-speed internet to 98% of the country. President Barack Obama’s visit to Marquette today is intended to highlight the benefits of widespread access to broadband service and promote his plan for a National Wireless Initiative to make high-speed wireless Internet services available […]

Who do you suppose said this?: We will establish an exciting new initiative to encourage immigrants with advanced college degrees to come to Michigan to live and work. I’ve asked the Department of Civil Rights to work with the MEDC in this effort. We need to be a place that openly encourages innovators and entrepreneurs to come to our state. […]

Yesterday I posted the results of an analysis I did of all 242 Republicans in the US House of Representatives. I looked at the bills & resolutions each of these men and women had sponsored and cosponsored. What I found was that, on average, 46% of the bills any individual sponsored or co-sponsored was related to the partial or complete […]

The Public Interest Research Group in Michigan (PIRGIM) has released a study that shows repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would be very costly to Michigan residents. Consumers and small businesses in Michigan will face significantly higher insurance premiums and could see costly coverage denials and price discrimination if efforts to repeal the federal health care law prevail in Congress […]

This past weekend, Organizing for America (OFA) groups across the country held training sessions for folks interested in getting/remaining involved as we head into the new year. After a debilitating mid-term election, many folks have argued that Democrats are demoralized, unenthused and disinterested in being involved and active. This is hardly the case. In Michigan alone, we had four of […]