Michigan’s Emergency Managers in the national spotlight In the current issue The Nation magazine, I have a piece titled “The Scandal of Michigan’s Emergency Managers” which is a general overview of Public Act 4, Michigan’s Emergency Manager law. For regular Eclectablog readers, there isn’t much new there but for those who haven’t been following, it’s likely to be a bit […]

Rachel Maddow did a fine job last night of reporting on an issue I wrote about twice this week (HERE and HERE): the selling off of Benton Harbor’s city radio station equipment. Here’s the video: This was great journalism – kudos to TRMS producer Laura Conaway – that brought together some seemingly unrelated pieces to show the complete picture including […]

Well THAT didn’t work Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris’s effort to sell the city radio station’s equipment (or should I say “Eequiptment”?) on eBay is now over. The auction resulted in [ahem] ZERO bids. Click image for larger version UPDATE: It’s baa-aack. Yup, he reposted it on eBay again. You now have just under three days to bid. Same […]

Seriously? TWO HOURS??? Professor Lisa Disch, the woman who organized the Emergency Manager forum in Ann Arbor on February 6, 2012 left me a very kind comment on the cross-posting of my report over at Blogging for Michigan. In her comment, Professor Disch informs us that Representative Mark Ouimet cancelled his appearance only two hours before the event was scheduled […]

What’ll ya give me for it? Back in January, I wrote about Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris closing down the radio station that was run from the City Hall basement. He figured it would save the city $10,000-20,000 a year. This week, Harris put the equipment up for sale on eBay: Click image for larger version Item specificsLow Power […]

We’re sorry, the number you have dialed… All photos by Anne C. Savage – used with permission On Monday, February 6, 2012, the Political Science department at the University of Michigan held a public forum/debate on Public Act 4 – the Emergency Manager law. The panelists were Representative Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor); Howard Ryan, Director of Legislative Affairs, MI Department […]

Emergency Manager law under the microscope Tonight, a community forum will be held in Ann Arbor on the subject of Public Act 4, the Emergency Manager law. On Monday, February 6, from 6 to 8pm in the Eldersveld Room in the Department of Political Science (Haven Hall 5th Floor), the Undergraduate Political Science Association will host: “A Debate on the […]

Oops Yesterday in my Emergency Manager news round-up, I linked to reporting by WXYZ saying that a Lansing judge had “ruled” that meetings by financial review teams, in a lead up to imposing an Emergency Manager on a school or municipality, violated the Open Meetings Act. Turns out that WXYZ had it quite wrong and Judge Collette made no such […]

The GOP finally finds a good tax: on the poor As bad as things are right now in Michigan, they are about to get so much worse that I fear there is a genuine risk of the types of riots we haven’t seen since the 60s & 70s in my state. If you think we have too many failing schools […]

This is becoming an every day thing… John Conyers & Rev. Charles Williams confront Gov. Rick Snyder in Washington, D.C.While Governor Rick Snyder was in Washington, D.C. yesterday, giving testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Education & the Workforce Committee, he was confronted by Congressman John Conyers and Rev. Charles Williams II about Public Act 4. U.S. Rep. John […]

It just goes on and on and on again… Decision to close Highland Park school not made by Emergency Manager Jack MartinContrary to what some outlets have reported, the decision to close Barber Focus school was NOT made by new Emergency Manager Jack Martin During a parent meeting on Monday, superintendent Edith Hightower announced that Barber Focus School would merge […]