Last week, Michigan governor Rick Snyder signed into law a bill that ends welfare benefits for 41,000 Michiganders. Until then, there was no limit to how long poor people in Michigan could receive benefits. The law ends payments after four years. Nearly 30,000 children are affected by this axe which will save the state $77.4 million annually, according to the […]

In a somewhat surprising move given the majority Republican make-up of the Michigan Supreme Court, they have decided not to hear an appeal of a lower court decision brought to them by Republican Paul Scott. Scott is the Republican most responsible for most of the anti-teacher legislation to come before the state legislature. He was challenging the clarity of the […]

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville said yesterday on the news talk program “Off the Record” that he won’t pursue so-called “Right to Work” laws for Michigan EXCEPT FOR TEACHERS. These laws, often called “Right-to-Work-for-LESS”, remove the requirement for employees at a union shop to join the union. RTWFL laws are used to reduce the power held by unions and allow […]

Yesterday, I wrote about how the Snyder administration is freaking out over the legal challenge to the Emergency Manager law. On that same day, residents on the west side of the state starting getting these robocalls: NOTE: this player requires Flash. Click HERE if it doesn’t work for you. This is an identity theft alert. Petitions are being circulated door-to-door […]

I’ve written in the past (HERE and HERE) about how Rick Snyder uses a tactic of making draconian cuts to specific programs then dials it back a bit (but not all the way, of course) and calls it a “concession”. Well, he’s doing it again: As part of his agenda to reinvent Michigan, Gov. Rick Snyder reshaped revenue sharing, a […]

Organizers for the recall of Paul Scott (R-Grand Blanc) report that they now have enough signatures to put the recall on the November ballot. In addition, recall organizers for the recall of Nancy Jenkins (R-Clayton) will announce later today that, they too, have enough signatures. According to the Michigan Information & Research Service (MIRS), this brings to 26 the number […]

Like this one. The relatively inactive summer continues for the Michigan Legislature. The state House technically has a session scheduled for Wednesday but no roll call votes are expected. Attendance won’t be recorded. A House appropriations subcommittee has scheduled a hearing, but otherwise there are no formal meetings of lawmakers planned for the state Capitol. The next scheduled House session […]

Times are tough. People are out of work and many have been for a long time. You can almost imagine Michigan Republicans sitting around smoking cigars and drinking 20 year-old scotch wondering…wondering… “Hmmmm…let’s see…we shortened the time they can get unemployment, slashed aid to the working poor, cut education, eviscerated labor unions (especially teachers hahahahahahaaa) and started taxing old people. […]

Just when you thought the Republicans in Michigan had completely lost their minds, this week we find they had just a bit more of their minds to lose. On July 7, both the state House and Senate passed bills that will allow children under the age of 10 to carry loaded weapons to go hunting. I’m not making this up. […]

It’s been a really tough week in Michigan, but yesterday was the worst day. The Republicans in our state legislature passed a package of four bills designed to strip away significant rights from unionized teachers. Two of them, H.B. 4626 and 4628, were particularly egregious. House Bill 4626 allows schools to fire teachers for almost any reason that is not […]

MI House Spkr Bolger challenges constitutionality of Calhoun Cty Election Comm to derail recall effortDetails are emerging on Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger’s fight to avoid facing a recall. I have written about Autumn Smith’s efforts HERE, HERE and HERE, by way of background. In one of those posts, I noted this: I want to clarify Autumn’s situation a bit. […]