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 […]
Court elections put big money in charge
Posted inMichigan Government
Show (yourself) the money!
The good news: It’s an election year. Michigan voters get to pass judgment on filling 110 seats in the Michigan House of Representatives, plus some seats on the state Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, the State Board of Education, Michigan State University Board of Trustees, University of Michigan Board of Regents, and Wayne […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating — people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing” — Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and author. * Durable goods manufacturing, as a percentage of total economic activity, is “at or near pre-recession levels for each Seventh District state,” says the Federal […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan's prescription for foster kids: drugs
Taxpayers have spent more than $70 million in a single year in Michigan on psychotropic drugs for foster kids and other children on Medicaid. And, nearly a quarter of Michigan foster kids were on psychotropic drugs to counteract behavioral problems and diagnosed mental illness in 2008, according to a recent government report. That report comes […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
What's the business case for second Detroit bridge?
Editor’s note: Gov. Rick Snyder joined Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper last Friday to announce a formal deal to start construction on a second bridge linking Detroit to Windsor, Ontario. Snyder announced his support for the span in his first weeks as governor in 2011. Michigan’s share of the construction costs — $550 million — […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Should the Legislature enact changes to abortion law?
A broad package of bills dealing with Michigan regulations on abortion were filed in the Legislature on May 31. Within a week, they had advanced to the full House of Representatives. On June 13, after a heated debate that has drawn national attention to Michigan, one bill, House Bill 5711, passed with 70 votes in […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“If you can’t explain to a 5-year-old what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re doing” — Robert D. Ballard, explorer of shipwrecks. * The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities addresses “some basic facts” about state and local workers. Among them, “Benefits like pensions and health insurance are larger and more secure for most […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Colleges' ROI more complicated than simple math
Philip Swanson, fresh from earning his degree in civil engineering from Wayne State University, already is among a fortunate minority. While more than 50 percent of college grads under age 25 are either jobless or under-employed, Swanson has secured a full-time job in his field of study. And, because he earned a baseball scholarship and […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Is Michigan higher ed headed for a shakeout?
Richard Vedder is a higher ed heretic. At a time when virtually everyone is pushing for more kids to go to college, the director of the Center for College Affordability & Productivity argues the traditional college deal is not what it used to be. With college graduates plentiful and jobs scarce, a diploma from a […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Cheboygan hospital's turmoil, shrinkage part of necessary change in rural health
By Marianne Udow-Phillips/Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation Debates about the Affordable Care Act will continue — in the Supreme Court, in the halls of Congress and around the country — but health reform is already happening all around us. All we need to do is look. A case in point is Cheboygan on the […]