I don’t know what it is with me and paying for energy, but whatever it is, I inherited it from my father. Growing up, my friends referred to our chilly winter house as “the meat locker” and knew that just because the house looked dark when they pulled into the driveway, it didn’t mean we […]
Lightening the lead foot
Posted inQuality of Life
Bandwidth by the barrel: Bloggers take aim
The old saw says it’s unwise to pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. Updated for the digital era, it might say something about bandwidth or Twitter followers. As old-style editorial-page fire-breathing waned with newspaper cutbacks and consolidation, bloggers happily stepped into the breach to fire their slingshots at policymakers who […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Ethics expert: Michigan gets lapped by New Jersey
Michigan’s public sector is not congenial to ethics, according to a recent grading by the Center for Public Integrity. Michigan earned an “F” and a numerical ranking of 43rd (with No. 1 being least corrupt) in the nationwide CPI study. “The analysis of 330 indicators of state accountability measures shows that this state of almost […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Science is the knowledge of consequences, and dependence of one fact upon another” — Thomas Hobbes, 17th century English philosopher. *Remember when Michigan was talking so much about the need to increase the number of college degrees among its populace? And now: Jackson Community College saw a 12 percent enrollment decline for its winter (current) […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Everyone loses if Detroit's course doesn't change
Oddly, the first question the politicians asked after the Detroit City Council finally voted to approve the consent agreement with the state of Michigan was not “will it work,” but “Who won?” Short Answer No. 1: Too early to tell. Short Answer No. 2: Wrong question. Third Answer, a little longer: Sadly, in most cases, […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Awaiting green energy's payoff
A North Carolina company canceled a wind farm project in January that would have placed as a many as 112 towering turbines across two counties in northwest Michigan. Energy Conversion Devices, one of the state’s pioneer manufacturers of advanced batteries and solar panels, filed for bankruptcy protection in February. Several ethanol refining plants planned for […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Is it bad to turn on a light?
As Bridge’s Rick Haglund reports in today’s magazine, the high hopes of many political leaders for the impact of “green” energy have yet to materialize. I wouldn’t say those hopes are dashed entirely, but the big talk has exceeded the actual results to date. A new report from the federal Energy Information Administration gives some […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
State sails toward renewable energy mark
Michigan electricity providers are making good progress toward meeting the state’s 2015 renewable-energy mandate, mainly because of a sharp drop in wind-power generation costs, a recent state Public Service Commission report found. The commission also says the cost of renewables is lower than the projected cost of producing electricity from a new coal-fired plant. Spokesmen […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Parolable lifers are safe to release; expensive to keep
By Paul D. Reingold/University of Michigan Law School In the public debate over how to save money in corrections, one group is consistently overlooked — the roughly 850 “parolable lifers” who are eligible for release. Paroling just half of them could save about $16 million a year. And the risk to the public would be […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest” — Confucius. * From a new AARP report: “According to Genworth, the median daily rate in Michigan for a nursing home in 2011 was $235 for a private […]