Here comes aNOTHER one, just like the OTHER one Another Michigan city staring down the barrel of an Emergency Manager: Taylor, Michigan. TAYLOR — The audit presentation to the City Council by Plante Moran painted some grim financial realities Saturday morning. A general fund deficit of $1.7 million was discussed, which the audit found of the fiscal year ending June […]

Wait. He said WHAT???! Michigan Lt. Governor Brian Calley has a most amazing quote up on the front page of MIRS News’ website today: Every once in a while you have to rise above principle and do the right thing. – Lt. Gov. Brian CALLEY in talking about his support for legislation requiring insurance companies include autism treatment in its […]

What’s say you and him and her fight? When Michigan Republicans redistricted our state this past year, they intentionally created a major battle ground in Michigan’s 14th Congressional District which makes up much of the metropolitan Detroit area. As was already announced, Hansen Clark who currently represents the 13th District and Gary Peters, Representative from MI-09 will be contending for […]

Brothers & sisters, can you spare a dime? Hello, folks. As I have been talking about for some time, I am going to be doing quarterly week-long fundraising drives for Eclectablog. This is in place of running those incredibly annoying third-party ads for cellulose reduction or hot Russian singles that you see on some blogs. Once a day for seven […]

Crikey, enough of the emergency manager stuff already This is the funniest damn thing I’ve read in ye very long tyme: IN WHICH I FIX MY GIRLFRIEND’S GRANDPARENTS’ WIFI AND AM HAILED AS A CONQUERING HERO. Lo, in the twilight days of the second year of the second decade of the third millennium did a great darkness descend over the […]

Historic Detroit treasures lost in rush to save money Eric T. Campbell has a fine piece up at The Michigan Citizen where he talks about the loss of Detroit’s historic school buildings. The Detroit Public School Emergency Managers Robert Bobb and, now, Roy Roberts, don’t appear interested in saving these historic buildings. Once they are gone, they are gone forever. […]

Emergency Managers: Not just for black cities anymore As I wrote last week, tiny Suttons Bay in the “Pinky” of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula is facing the imposition of an Emergency Manager for their school district. This past week they held a community budget forum to discuss the issue. Here is video of the 90+ minute forum: You can see the […]

Collective Bargaining Contracts Vulnerable I have been wondering how long it would take for a state other than Michigan to pursue an Emergency Manager law. The wait is over. This week, a Republican-sponsored bill allowing the imposition of an Emergency Manager on a “distressed political subdivision” (i.e., a municipality or school district) passed out of committee and goes on to […]

No earth-shattering news about Michigan’s on-going Emergency Manager Emergency, but there are some tidbits worth noting. Flint Community Leaders Hold Public Forum to Discuss Emergency Manager Emergency.Flint community leaders held a public forum on Tuesday to discuss Public Act 4 and its impact on the community. The panel discussion will revolve around “The Emergency Manager: Concerns and Outcomes for Flint,” […]

My wife, Anne C. Savage accompanied me and Christine Barry, owner of Blogging for Michigan, to the State of the State address on Wednesday. She was there, as were we, with media passes. However, her effort to actually do any photographing of the event was completely shut down by overly-aggressive security and what seems to be a clear effort by […]

Rick Snyder is the master of the “fake concession”. He takes money away from something, gives a little back and then paints it as a “concession”. It’s not. He did it on the Earned Income Tax credit in late April: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s proposed budget eliminates the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which helps the working poor, especially those […]