When I broke into the newspaper business back in 1965, there were maybe a couple busloads of reporters working in Lansing. Today, you can count them on your fingers. Of course, this is the result of the decades-long deterioration of “mainstream media,” mostly newspapers. Information and advertising, especially, have migrated to the Web. Although newspapers are trying […]
Phil's Column
Phil Power is the founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan.
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan has its education funding system backwards
One of the persistently enraging things about the workings of government is how often we see multiple disconnects between what we all know and what it does. Now that it’s back to school time, we can see these disconnects plainly. Example No. 1: It is beyond dispute that children learn the quickest and best from birth […]
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Michigan needs direct action to ban paying for petition signatures
“A republic, madam, if you can keep it” — Benjamin Franklin. The story goes that Franklin, at the end of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, was asked, “Well, doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” His answer was perfectly relevant to the political concerns of the 18th century, a world in which […]
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Mining remains a big deal in Upper Peninsula
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula has been a mining-oriented place ever since the 18th century, when explorers were astonished to discover enormous chunks of pure copper in the Keweenaw Peninsula, north of Houghton. The iron ore deposits uncovered west of Marquette in the 19th century were so rich that unprocessed ore was shipped directly to blast furnaces […]
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Teddy Roosevelt knew what Up North is worth
My family and I are observing a time-honored state tradition this week: Like thousands and thousands of Michiganders, I’m Up North with my family … in my case, way up north. Our cabin is on the south shore of Lake Superior, about an hour north of Marquette. When I got up at 6 a.m. the […]
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School reform push focuses on learning results, not funding buckets
They say great oaks from little acorns grow. Maybe the same thing will happen as a result of last Tuesday’s meeting in Lansing to consider how to re-work the School Aid Act into the “Michigan Education Finance Act of 2013.” The School Aid Act was originally written in 1979. It’s been amended many times since. At […]
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A revolution in Ann Arbor is led from the corner office
Mary Sue Coleman is a rock star college president. Since being appointed the 13th president of the University of Michigan in 2002, she has been on a tear, successfully guiding the U of M to ever-increasing stature through very difficult times. The U of M has risen in reputation to No. 18 in the entire world, […]
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Michigan universities face hostile financial, political circumstances
There’s little doubt that our universities are among Michigan’s most valuable and important assets. But real alarm about public higher education is spreading throughout the country — and threatening profound consequences for our state and it colleges. Take the case of Teresa Sullivan, a former provost at the University of Michigan and now president of the […]
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Court elections put big money in charge
When I think about the Michigan Supreme Court, I have to sadly conclude it represents the very best justice that partisan money can buy. That’s a scandal and a disgrace. Four years ago, the University of Chicago Law School ranked all the nation’s supreme courts. It rated Michigan’s dead last, based partly on its lack […]
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Snyder out-maneuvers Morouns, legislators to get critical bridge project going
So it looks as though Gov. Rick Snyder will get his bridge … which is to say that the people of Michigan will get their much-needed new bridge across the Detroit River. Obviously, this is not going to happen overnight. Those busy folks over at the Detroit International Bridge Co. (a.k.a. the Moroun family, which […]