(courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) The old system of evaluating a teacher’s performance – a principal observing in a classroom – was not particularly effective, school administrators and teacher union leaders agree. The challenge is in coming up with a better system. A committee of education experts – the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness […]
Pat Shellenbarger
Pat Shellenbarger is a freelance writer based in West Michigan. He previously was a reporter and editor at the Detroit News, the St. Petersburg Times and the Grand Rapids Press.
Posted inMichigan Government
Easier carry permits haven’t led to more gun deaths
(Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) Before Michigan joined a growing number of “shall issue” states on July 1, 2001, making it easier for residents to get concealed pistol permits, opponents feared and argued it would lead to an increase in gunplay, violence and death. It hasn’t. “Even legislators who voted against it have told me they […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder, senator at odds over guns in schools
Ron Mead doesn’t think teachers – or anyone else, other than police – should be allowed to carry guns in schools. “To me, that’s just inviting trouble,” he said. “We want schools to be something comforting and inviting.” PHYSICAL REMINDER: Ron Mead, shown in a 1998 photo directing traffic at Chelsea High, is now retired. […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Chelsea school shooter: Gun control won’t help
CARSON CITY — Stephen Leith avoids newspapers, television and anything else that might tell him what’s going on outside these prison walls, anything that might remind him of why he’s here. Sometimes he can’t avoid it, as when his cellmate has a TV on. That’s how he heard about the mass shootings of 20 little […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Mental health policy is wild card in gun safety
(courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) On his way home to Chicago, University of Michigan student Kevin Heisinger stepped off Indian Trails bus no. 4560 and walked into the restroom of a Kalamazoo bus station. There he was beaten to death by a paranoid schizophrenic man who was not taking his medication. Heisinger’s death […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Gun shop finds itself a frequent target – of theft
TARGETED BY THIEVES: Felix Pytlinske’s gun shop has been robbed at least five times in recent years, most recently in January. Police say that guns taken in previous thefts at his shop have been recovered at crime scenes. (Bridge photo/Pat Shellenbarger) When Felix Pytlinske opened his West Olive shop the morning of Jan. 12, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Violence hasn’t disturbed guns’ role in state culture
Rodrick Dantzler fired the first shot before 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday — July 7, 2011. Minutes later, his mother phoned Grand Rapids police to report her son had called and told her he had killed his wife. Had that been his only crime, it would have been just one of more than 500 firearm […]
Posted inMichigan Government
As cars get safer, gun deaths eclipse traffic fatalities
If you live in Michigan, you’re more likely to die from a bullet than from a motor vehicle accident. In 2010, the death toll from motor vehicle traffic accidents in Michigan was 942, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported. That same year, 1,056 people died from gunshot wounds, including 440 homicides and 599 suicides, […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Snyder tries again on cut for business equipment tax
In the final weeks of the legislative year, the Snyder administration is pressing ahead with a plan to cut a tax on business equipment by attempting to appease two groups: local governments that count on that money to pay for services, and business groups that claim the levy is a job killer. With a set […]
Posted inMichigan Government
$152 million, and not even a T-shirt?
For $152 million, you could buy dinner and a cocktail for every Michigan voter who cast a ballot in the Nov. 6 election. Or you could give every man, woman and child in Michigan their very own Chia Obama or Chia Romney, depending, of course, on their political persuasions. Or you could have spent that […]