After Brighton Area Schools declined to charter their school the organizers of the proposed charter school in Brighton called the Livingston Classical Academy, formerly the Lindbom Classical Academy – which is part of the American Classical Academy group, formerly the American Christian Academy – have not given up. According to two recent articles, the group continues to shop around for […]

Last December, the National Labor Relations Board issued a new rule to “modernize and streamline the process” of forming a union. The new rule: Provides for electronic filing and transmission of election petitions and other documents; Ensures that employees, employers and unions receive timely information they need to understand and participate in the representation case process; Eliminates or reduces unnecessary […]

It could be worse, I suppose. We could be Florida. At the risk of giving Michigan Republicans any ideas – because their love of destroying public education in favor of for-profit charter schools that sap resources from our public schools is well-documented – I present you with Florida House Republicans, leading from the rear. A recent education reform effort, one […]

Today’s guest post was written by Tali Wendrow. She and her husband Julian, the parents of an autistic daughter, were put through a legal ordeal unlike anything you’ve likely ever heard of. In her essay, Tali contrasts their own experience with the favorable treatment that Alan Gocha, Jr. recently received when Gov. Rick Snyder issued a rare pardon for Gocha, […]

For-profit prison food vendor Aramark is back in the news again with revelations that its employees served food that had been in the trash and were rinsed off, reheated, and served to inmates. Aramark has a long history of patently absurd violations of state rules and, frankly, the norms of society, all of which have been documented here at Eclectablog. […]

There are several ad spaces on Eclectablog that are filled by a third party. They serve up ads based on who is paying for them and then push them out to various sites like ours. That’s why the ads change when you visit more than once. I recently took some heat for having a Walmart ad on my site. I […]

Conventional wisdom in the 21st Century says that the salvation of our economic future will come from the so-called “knowledge economy“, an economy based largely on technology and that sees education and knowledge as both a business product and a productive asset. In knowledge economies, the need for high-skill workers is amped up and these workers are, presumably, paid more […]

Michigan’s Bigot-in-Chief, Attorney General Bill Schuette, has put forth some pretty remarkable excuses for his crusade to ensure that same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children together. For example, he suggested that marriage in our state is for regulating sexual relationships to make babies, news that came as a HUGE surprise to Michigan couples who cannot or choose not to […]

Montanans are a special breed of Americans. They are fiercely independent and, in general, quite conservative. However, one thing that most folks from Montana have no patience for is when outsiders come into their state, run down their elected officials, and try to tell them how to vote. That’s exactly what the Koch brothers corporatist front group Americans for Prosperity […]

“It is as if the government had developed the economic policy equivalent of smart bombs, except these bombs carry payloads of cash for their carefully selected recipients,” Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson write in Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer — And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class. Those carefully selected recipients are the richest 1 […]

It’s good to be know the king… Alan Gocha Jr., attorney for the maker of 5-Hour Energy drink got himself in trouble back in 2007 when he crossed the center line while driving drunk and landed in jail. He appealed the conviction but, after running out of appeals, decided to go for a gubernatorial pardon instead. This past week, Michigan […]