My written testimony for a meeting today of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections: “Good afternoon. Thank you Senator (John) Proos and fellow members of the committee for the opportunity to speak with you today. In 2008, the Center for Michigan organized a diverse group of business, nonprofit and public sector organizations all concerned with the […]
John Bebow
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links: Prison edition
The political dynamics of each state will vary, but the trend toward changes in how states deal with prisons and holding felons is unmistakable. A few highlights from around the nation: * A full rundown, from an advocacy group, of state by state reform efforts, including whether the states have sentencing commissions: http://www.famm.org/StateSentencing.aspx * Georgia […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Poll: Voters back university funding pool
Michigan voters are supportive of state universities’ positive role in the Michigan economy. And they’re interested in looking at new ways to improve campus funding and accountability. Those are key conclusions from a new Business Leaders for Michigan poll released today. The poll of 600 statewide voters, conducted in January, found: * 92 percent support […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Student debt snapshot for each Michigan university
Is Michigan experiencing an unsustainable student loan bubble? Students at Michigan’s 15 public universities took out nearly $2 billion in student loans in the 2009-10 school year. That one-year, statewide student debt load increased $600 million – or 49 percent – in just three years (from 2007 to 2010). Click on the university names at […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Paterno didn't see it coming, but Hutchins did
Surveying the events out of State College, Pa., in recent days, I was reminded of a comment from a wise man: “A student can win 12 letters at a university without learning how to write one.” So said Robert Maynard Hutchins about the problems he saw in marrying big-time athletics to universities. In fact, as […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Earned a college degree; got a pizza box
Last Monday evening, a professional career counselor in Plymouth named Jim Danielski received this email: “Mr. Danielski: I am trying to assist my college graduate son in his pursuit of a job. He graduated in 2010 with a degree in Political Science. He really didn’t have a plan of where that would lead him for […]
Posted inTalent & Education
'Skills gap' goes national
Via Politico.com, a new analysis is out from Bloomberg BusinessWeek on a topic familiar to Bridge readers this week — the “skills gap”: “FIRST LOOK: AMERICA OUT OF WORK – Bloomberg BusinessWeek cover, “America Isn’t Working,” looks at the skills gap among American workers. From the piece by Drake Bennett: “Even with 14 million Americans […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Why Snyder's government reform plan may sound familiar
(Originally published March 22, 2011) Gov. Rick Snyder’s speech Monday aimed at reinventing local government actually reinvented (or at least reiterated) numerous reform ideas offered in recent years by the Center for Michigan and other public interest groups. Examples: • Intensifying local government consolidation and service sharing was a key recommendation of the Center’s citizens’ […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Redistricting: How political map-making leaves voters with uncompetitive, pre-determined elections
(Originally published Feb. 10, 2011) In the past decade, voters decided 664 races for seats in the Michigan Legislature. The majority of those races were never in question. Millions of votes didn’t really matter. Districts for many state representatives and senators are not competitive. Many seats are engineered for partisan advantage. A consequence is the […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Undiscovered Traverse City
(Originally published June 2, 2011) If you’re among the hundreds of thousands of people who get an opportunity to spend a little time each summer in Traverse City, you have probably recognized the impact of Michigan’s decade-long recession along East Grand Traverse Bay. For many years, the little community of Acme included a bustling community of […]