For a quick and thorough review of what the issues are in the push to change Michigan’s no-fault/unlimited medical coverage system for catastrophic injuries in auto accidents, check out Pat Shellenbarger’s piece last week in Bridge. Pat made two points that have received far little coverage elsewhere, but reflect, I think, the fundamental dysfunction in […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Coming to your hometown: Fewer services
While there has been much talk in Lansing in recent weeks about reducing revenue — again — for local governments, the folks actually in charge of running public service on the city/township/village level are dealing with the consequences of previous reductions, caused either by a bad economy or state funding choices. Tom Ivacko and the […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Will they ever work again?
File this under depressing chart of the day: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/chart-of-the-day-long-term-unemployment-is-a-huge-problem—-especially-if-youre-old.php?ref=fpa About 1 in 3 of the officially jobless have now been without work for more than a year. For the context: The previous high for that figure in the last half-century was about 14 percent. With Michiganrunning a jobless rate above 11 percent — and with […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Literacy woes hamstring Detroit's revival
When Averil Dixon was a senior at Mumford High School in Detroit, the only people who knew he couldn’t read or write were his family, a few teachers and his closest friends — the ones who helped with his homework. “I was a cool kid,” said Dixon, 19. “If everybody knew I couldn’t spell or […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Mining boom roils Upper Peninsula
Ron and Carol Henriksen retired to the kind of place most people can only imagine — a riverfront house in an area of the Western Upper Peninsula that is so serene, the dominant sound is often the whisk of trees rustling in the wind. After living in suburband Chicago for three decades, in the path […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Report: Michigan is high on price of college degrees
College graduates in Michigan and elsewhere are rightly anxious about their future job prospects — an anxiety only heightened by the piles of debt so many have accumulated while on campus. Erin Dillon, senior policy analyst for Education Sector and co-author of a new report highlighting the relationship between obtaining a college degree and acquiring […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“It is not the quantity but the quality of knowledge which determines the mind’s dignity” — William Ellery Channing, an American writer. * “Michigan now consistently ranks in the bottom of states in both performance and improvement in student achievement, after a continued relative decline, according to data released today from the 2011 National Assessment […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Who are the state academic champs?
Welcome to the real state high school playoffs. Don’t get me wrong, I love sports, and I have great admiration for the dedication and skill of high school athletes. The lessons they learn in leadership, teamwork and persistence are lessons they can use long after they hang up their helmets. But if Michigan is going […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Mines begin digging into U.P. free of key state tax
In September, after years of heated debate and legal battles, Kennecott Eagle Minerals began blasting into the ground at its controversial nickel mine near Marquette. The company, a subsidiary of London-based mining giant Rio Tinto, believes the Eagle mine will yield 300 million pounds of nickel and 250 million pounds of copper. Kennecott is one […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Taxation on resources varies widely among states
Severance taxes that Michigan and other states levy on extractive industries are used for a variety of purposes, from funding pollution cleanups to supporting public education, according to a new study. Most of the $57 million that Michigan collected in severances taxes on extractive industries in 2010 went into the state’s general fund, according to […]