Jay Bavers’ Russian grandfather first taught the East Jordan glassblower the details of the craft. At Jordan Valley Glassworks, glassblowing remains a family affair, as Bavers and co-owner Glenna Haney rely on assistance from Bavers’ wife, daughter, son and grandson. Jordan Valley has been going for 14 years and, despite a recent dip due to […]
A day at the Jordan Valley Glassworks
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Replace expensive, unreliable wind power with natural gas
By Kevon Martis/ Interstate Informed Citizen’s Coalition Michigan voters recently defeated a renewable energy mandate by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. Since Michiganders desire cheap, clean, abundant electricity, should we try again to mandate higher percentages of renewable energy? Or is there a wiser path? Industrial wind facilities are similar to that disappointing Christmas […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Legal immunity worries child advocates
The fear of getting sued if a foster child attempts suicide or theft prompted private social service agencies to push in the waning days of the lame-duck session for a law granting them limited immunity to lawsuits. They got their wish late in the night of the last session of the Legislature last week, even […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
* Regardless of where you stand on gun control, isn’t it always better to do the actual research on an issue? “Now, a huge problem when delving into gun safety research, as I wrote about in July, is that Congress has suppressed, and in some cases explicitly outlawed, the use of government funds to research gun […]
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 […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
What you need to know about Legislature's 'lame-duck' session
A post-election headline in Bridge summarized expectations for an “active” “lame duck” session of the Legislature. We didn’t know the half of it. Ending at 4:30 a.m. last Friday, the Michigan Legislature passed almost 300 bills in the holiday season, including fundamental changes in how Michigan handles unions, business taxes, abortion regulation, welfare limits and even […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Policy reasons for exempting police, fire from Right to Work remain unclear
Michigan’s new Right to Work law presents a huge challenge to the future of unions in a state known as the home of the modern labor movement. But not for the approximately 1,700 bargaining units representing thousands of local police officers and firefighters in Michigan. Lawmakers who rammed RTW bills through the Legislature during the […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Legislature, Snyder can’t deny public their 2014 crack at Right to Work, tax changes
Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican lawmakers are aiming to funnel reaction to what has been an extraordinary two years of controversial legislation onto the partisan section of the 2014 general election ballot. How negative the reaction is will determine the shelf life of the pro-business agenda they’ve spent two years enacting. The 96th Michigan Legislature […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Life isn’t like it used to be, and that’s a bad thing
Like many other dogs, my black lab, HomeTown, has a bed in the back hallway. It used to be his preferred snoozing place. No longer. Several weeks ago, he chewed a big hole in the bed cover, and we sewed a piece of heavy cloth over the hole. HomeTown has yet to sleep on his […]
Posted inMichigan Government
700 families get to keep cash welfare benefits
About 700 families who can’t hold jobs because they’re caring for seriously ill or disabled family members will continue to receive welfare cash assistance, under the terms of a welfare reform bill awaiting the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder. The bill codifies policies put in place by the Department of Human Services in the fall […]