Last December, Aric Nesbitt, a proud Republican member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), introduced a bill, H.B. 5205 that went largely unnoticed. The bill would reclassify petroleum coke (“petcoke”) and solid waste as a “renewable energy resource”, eligible for renewable energy tax credits. Yes, you’re right to gasp. Earlier this month, Executive Director for the Michigan League of […]

The response has been outstanding, but there are still more uninsured Michiganders to reach—and Enroll Michigan is on it. You might say there was some pent-up demand. Michigan’s Medicaid expansion program under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) didn’t launch until April 1, so uninsured Michiganders had to wait three extra months to enroll in the Healthy Michigan Plan. That’s because […]

Last week I wrote about how the corporatist front group Mackinac Center had sent a mass email to teachers in over 50 school districts in Michigan encouraging them to leave the Michigan Education Association, one of the two largest teachers unions in the state. Their effort didn’t stop there. This week, teachers across the state received postcards in the mail […]

Bills would undo the law that requires women to buy extra insurance for miscarriages and abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. See update below. In a decisive move, Democratic State Representative Sarah Roberts and State Senator Gretchen Whitmer introduced bills on Monday that would repeal a controversial law that forces women to buy additional health insurance coverage for […]

Back in 2010, Rick Snyder was a relative unknown in Michigan at this point in the midterm election cycle. In fact, he didn’t crack 50% on name recognition until the after the primary election in August. In contrast, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer is known by over 60% of the electorate according to recent polling by Mitchell Research (pdf). Not […]

Michigan’s Republican led legislature adjourned on Thursday without passing the package of road repairs Governor Rick Snyder says he’s been working on for years. This should be clear reminder what happens when you elect Republicans to public office: sabotage. Business leaders need to face that an increasingly intractable GOP has no interest in doing anything that might give voters the […]

The UAW is vilified on a regular basis by anti-union corporatists, including their Republican shills in our state legislatures and the federal government. Our domestic vehicle manufacturers are being hobbled and strangled by the “union bosses” and “union thugs” who have the audacity to collectively bargain for good wages and benefits. Now that the Great Recession is largely in our […]

Michigan GOP’s new motto: “(Over)react first, get the facts later” Last March, Michigan Republicans announced that they were going to essentially fine Michigan State University a half million dollars for having the audacity to provide courses that were, in their words, “encouraging labor disputes”. As it turns out, that wasn’t the case at all. The courses were not open to […]

On April 1st, I ran an April Fool’s Day joke post that I titled, “BREAKING: EAA Chief unexpectedly quits to take new job – ‘Screw you, guys. I’m going home.’” This morning the Detroit News is reporting that my parody post was not far off the mark and that this is actually happening – John Covington, Chancellor of Gov. Snyder’s […]

It’s been a mixed bag for women’s reproductive rights in Michigan this week. Good to know people are paying attention. News about the heinous package of three fetal heartbeat bills introduced by Republican State Rep. Tom Hooker in the Michigan House quickly went national. So Michigan now has the dubious distinction of joining the ranks of some of the most […]

After working until 1 in the morning the previous evening, the Michigan Senate was looking at another marathon session as they tried to tackle road funding and a last minute push to expand the Education Achievement Authority. Although EAA expansion had been considered dead earlier in the afternoon, a group of EAA lobbyists, representatives from their two law firms, their […]