A slow fade in, and a tinkling piano picks out a familiar phrase. The camera watches a familiar Metro Detroit main drag bathed in the golden light of a summer afternoon, while a mellow man’s voice speaks: “Downtown Royal Oak brings to mind one word.” The shot dissolves to a quartet of young men walking […]
Pure snark: St. Clair Shores man scores with video spoofs
Posted inPhil's Column
Learning still starts at home
Over the years, I’ve been a big admirer of Rochelle Riley’s columns in the Detroit Free Press: Last Friday, she had a particularly valuable piece concerning the Detroit Parent Network, which is developing parent resource centers and connecting parents with those who teach their children. “The result is that a third more parents attended parent-teacher […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Sorry, governor, Mich. still losing families
During his 2012 State of the State speech last week, Gov. Rick Snyder included, among his “Dashboard Updates,” a special mention of the newly released Atlas Van Lines moving index. The stated reason for the mention was that Atlas’ index showed that, in 2011, Michigan stopped a six-year trend of more people moving out of […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Snyder shows farmers the love
Did anyone else notice the little linguistic trick Gov.Rick Snyder played in his State of the State Wednesday night? At one point, he started talking about unsung heroes of the economy and mentioned agricultural. He then said, “We are the second … I was sure he was forming a an all-too-familiar paean to the “second-largest […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Renaissance snares Detroit championships
Detroit’s Renaissance High School opened its new location in 2005, an airy, light-filled building designed to house the district’s brightest and most ambitious students. Applicants must pass a test to be admitted and maintain a 2.5 grade-point average, and be admitted to a college or university to graduate. Standards are high at Renaissance, and are […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Challenge accepted: Detroit students soar to titles
Bates Academy and Davison Elementary-Middle are just two of approximately 90 Detroit Public Schools campuses that serve children in elementary and middle grades. These two campuses, though, accounted for victories in five of six available categories in Bridge Magazine’s Academic City Championships. Bates Academy scored highest in the 2010-11 school year in 8th Grade Science, […]
Posted inTalent & Education
See Detroit's champs and full district results
To determine Academic City Champions for the 2010-11 school year, Bridge Magazine collected and analyzed data for each campus in the Detroit Public Schools. All were judged by academic results relevant to their grade levels (testing at the fourth and eighth grades, ACT results and high school graduation rates for high-school grades). The results of […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Snyder's message wasn't friendly to Capitol majority
Gov. Rick Snyder may not be a typical politician, but he’s also no fool. With fresh good news to share in his second State of the State address before a statewide television audience, Snyder led with it. And he invited Republican lawmakers in the House chambers to take credit for the positive unemployment report released […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest post: Mich.'s campaign disclosure rules stink
By Rich Robinson/Michigan Campaign Finance Network It was welcome news when Gov. Rick Snyder announced, during his 2012 State of the State address, that he believes Michigan needs campaign finance, lobbying and ethics reforms. It has been a long time since a Michigan governor has expressed serious interest in this important area of government accountability. […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Education conversations reach Traverse area
The Center for Michigan, Bridge Magazine’s parent and Michigan’s very own “citizenship company,” is engaged in a year-long series of community conversations on a vital topic to our state: the future of K-12 education. Modern lives are busy, especially so for parents, but I urge you to take the opportunity to join a community conversation […]