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 […]
Guest column: Parolable lifers are safe to release; expensive to keep
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 […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Debate continues, but Volt retains its buzz
General Motors CEO Dan Akerson recently lamented that the Chevrolet Volt had become “a political punching bag” for conservatives who see it as a rolling symbol of liberal economic policies. But the repeated right hooks haven’t knocked the Volt out yet. Just weeks after GM announced a temporary production shutdown due to slow sales, the […]
Posted inTalent & Education
The day I almost killed Mike Wallace
One of the last times I saw Mike Wallace, he was in my rearview mirror, back bent, pushing my car down Washtenaw Avenue in Ann Arbor. He had a huge smile on his face. I had a look of terror on mine. It was Spring, 2003, and I was in the midst of an eight-month […]
Posted inQuality of Life
The unending ballad of Willie and Bronco
It takes three to make a trend, but maybe the word doesn’t apply for a city like Detroit, where the extraordinary news that fills the daily papers makes it one of the most interesting cities in the country. Last week, a 75-year-old man shot and killed an 18-year-old who had just kicked in his side […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan Radio continues look at welfare reform's consequences
How are Michigan families faring after losing welfare cash assistance? Tracy Davenport lost her house and her car — and can’t find work because of a medical condition that causes her to fall down constantly. Learn her story at Michigan Radio, which has teamed up with Bridge Magazine to chronicle the first year after welfare […]
Posted inQuality of Life
State attracts visitors of motor-less bent
For seven days last summer, James Jeske, 66, bicycled along Michigan’s western shore. The 500-mile-long trek took him from New Buffalo at the base of the Mitten to Mackinaw City at the tip of the Lower Peninsula. Jeske did not cycle the peninsula alone, though. He was with 400 other cyclists on the Shoreline West […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Is the state retreating from public education?
In coming weeks, the Michigan Legislature will finish work on Michigan’s fiscal 2013 budget — including funding out of the state’s School Aid Fund to local public schools. In today’s 42North debate, Glenn Nelson and Brit Satchwell of Ann Arbor argue that Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2013 (and 2014) budget plans continue a harmful policy of […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Legislators want to run, not pay for, Mich. universities
Spring budget treks to the State Capitol by the presidents of Michigan’s public universities weren’t always this pointless. When lawmakers appropriated half the money or more that universities spent for operations, it paid for presidents to express gratitude to the veteran legislators whose long careers were built on protecting the interests of their favored (hometown) […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and of many things I don’t know anything about, but I don’t have to know an answer” — Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. * Michigan’s local governments were collaborating and sharing services […]