* “Looking solely at the federal budget, an elderly person receives close to seven federal dollars for every dollar received by a child.” I’ll repeat that: For every $7 the federal budget spends on an elderly person, it spends $1 on a child.” Discuss amongst yourselves. * David Eggert of AP’s Lansing bureau reports on the […]
Land O Links
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* Michigan State University professor David Arsen whips out the v-word in an open letter to Gov. Rick Snyder about his school ideas: “The Oxford funding proposal and HB 5923 represent a truly dramatic strategy to shift the provision of Michigan’s educational services outside locally-governed school districts. They would establish the closest approximation to a universal […]
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* We are letting thousands of our best teachers walk out the door each year, says a new report: “So who are the Irreplaceables? They are, by any measure, our very best teachers. Across the districts we studied, about 20 percent of teachers fell into the category. On average, each year they help students learn […]
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* So much for Michigan’s fracking boom. Remember when media outlets – including this one — were full of references to the Antrim shale formation and how the natural gas there would be a big deal. Well, not so much, according to these charts from ProPublica. The wellhead price of gas has dropped by half since […]
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* The Capitol news service MIRS is paywall protected, but I wanted to share some basic data it collected on salaries for top political appointees in Michigan. “Salaries of the department directors as of Jan. 10, 2013: – John Nixon, Department of Technology, Management and Budget: $250,000 – Mike Flanagan, Department of Education: $189,515 – Andy Dillon, […]
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* Another hospital in Michigan says it won’t hire smokers. McLaren Greater Lansing calls the policy change a “‘no-brainer’ given McLaren’s mission to promote healthy lifestyles and save lives.” And, dear smoker, lest you think you’ll just go work for yourself and get your own insurance plan, comes the news that, “The Affordable Care Act — […]
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* Michigan is no. 11 in this chart of 38 states that have “slashed” higher funding in recent years. “Cash-poor state legislatures have gone to town on their higher education budgets, and as they’ve hacked away, tuition has risen along with the sums undergraduates have had to borrow. In total, 38 states cut post-secondary funding since […]
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* The emerald ash borer has devastated the ash forest in Michigan. And the bug may be felling Michigan’s human residents, too: “Something else, less readily apparent, may have happened as well. When the U.S. Forest Service looked at mortality rates in counties affected by the emerald ash borer, they found increased mortality rates. Specifically, more […]
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* The expiration of the payroll tax cut did not get nearly enough attention during all the “fiscal cliff” coverage out of D.C. (Could it be that the Beltway TV types live in an econ bracket where payroll taxes are an inconsequential thing?) Well, as reported by Lester Graham over at Michigan Radio, the payroll tax […]
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Land O Links K-12 edition
The Center for Michigan’s new report on public attitudes on school reform drew widespread coverage from Michigan’s media this week. * mlive.com: “A majority of Michigan residents give the state’s public K-12 schools a grade of “C” or lower, and they see the best ways to fix the system as expanding access to preschool and improving […]