With Detroit’s recent appointment of an emergency manager, the state and the region will witness a long-deliberated and – for many city residents – hotly contested financial restructuring in one of the nation’s major municipalities by a gubernatorial appointee. Eric Scorsone, who studies local government finance at Michigan State University, discussed last week the potential […]
Michigan Government
Citizens cannot do their job of running their government if they don’t know what their public servants are doing.
Posted inMichigan Government
Handshake deal with state haunts Detroit
DEAL BREAKER: Fifteen years ago, the state and Detroit agreed on a funding scheme – a deal that Detroiters say the state soon broke, helping propel the city into its current fiscal crisis. That agreement has been a point of contention between Detroit mayors (Dennis Archer, Kwame Kilpatrick, Dave Bing) and Michigan governors (John Engler, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan’s obesity straining more than waistlines
If Michigan took an honest look in the mirror, the reflected image would reveal far more than a few unsightly extra pounds. Now ranked fifth in the nation in obesity, state residents are on track to rack up 1.4 million new cases of type 2 diabetes, 2.9 million cases of coronary heart disease and 2.6 […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Blue Cross revamp: What does it mean for your pocketbook?
Blue Cross Blue Shield is, in some ways, health care in Michigan. The nonprofit firm and its family of companies cover 4.4 million Michigan residents – or almost half the state. It paid out more than $18 billion in claims in 2011 – most of it in Michigan – while doing business with 158 hospitals […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Truth Squad calls foul on ‘birthday tax’ claim on Snyder road proposal
MICHIGAN TRUTH SQUAD ANALYSIS: “Happy Birthday From Governor Snyder” Who: Joel Charles Featured Material: Web video Truth Squad Call: Foul To background sounds of the Beatles’ “Birthday,” Gov. Rick Snyder is portrayed in a clownish birthday hat, noisemaker in mouth and birthday cake in front of him. What follows is an attack on Snyder’s plan […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Hunters, anglers get Michigan licenses cheap
Much has changed in Michigan since 1997: Gasoline prices have tripled, food prices increased more than 40 percent and health-care costs have skyrocketed. It seems that everything costs more today than it did 16 years ago — unless you hunt or fish in Michigan. The price of hunting and fishing licenses here hasn’t increased since […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Where Michigan stands on hunting, fishing fees
As Bridge reported last week, Gov. Rick Snyder is taking aim at Michigan’s outdoor bargains: “The cost of shooting a deer in Michigan would double next year, under Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2014 budget, and more conservation officers would patrol the state’s woods and waterways. “Released Thursday, Snyder’s budget calls for $354.3 million for the […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deer, fishing fees headed for change under Snyder plan
The cost of shooting a deer in Michigan would double next year, under Gov. Rick Snyder’s proposed 2014 budget, and more conservation officers would patrol the state’s woods and waterways. Released Thursday, Snyder’s budget calls for $354.3 million for the Department of Natural Resources, which would allow the agency to hire 41 more conservation officers, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder vetoes looser rules on owning lions, tigers, bears
UPDATE 1-2-13: Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed two bills last week that would have changed the state’s Large Carnivore Act, but encouraged lawmakers to resubmit them with specific changes in the new session. Bridge reported on the tie-barred Senate Bills 703 and 1236 last month (story below), which passed in the last hours of the Legislature’s […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Gun bill questions go unanswered
Why? Why would a young man enter a school and kill 20 children and the adults who sought to protect them? What, if anything, can be done to stop America’s recurring nightmare with public massacres at the hands of crazed shooters. Those are nearly universal questions across America now. Questions made even more timely in Michigan with […]
You must be logged in to post a comment.