For all the talk, from Clint Eastwood on down, that Michigan is turning the corner, Gov. Rick Snyder’s new budget fails to match the moment. Instead, the administration has agreed to play “small ball” with Republican lawmakers worried about re-election prospects. This budget appears to be carefully crafted to protect GOP House incumbents in 2012. […]
The 'tough nerd' sidesteps a fight
Posted inBusiness Watch
Good for GM, good for social conservatives
General Motors says it had a record annual profit in 2011 of $7.6 billion, up 62 percent from the previous year. Since we are hip deep in a political campaign, it seems reasonable to ask: Who gets the credit for it? In practical terms, GM’s improvement benefits anyone who now holds political office in Lansing […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Ancient Chinese secret: No bad publicity
Even the star of Pete Hoekstra’s “Debbie Spend-it-now” campaign now says it was a bad idea, and has apologized, via her Facebook page: “I am deeply sorry for any pain that the character I portrayed brought to my communities,” Chan wrote. “As a recent college grad who has spent time working to improve communities and […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Biz leaders make prison-higher ed connection
Business Leaders for Michigan, a group formerly known as Detroit Renaissance, is a major player in how state policy is shaped in Lansing these days. So when it takes a stance, it’s advisable to pay attention. And BLM on Wednesday made an important statement about prison costs — in its bid to reinvent the state’s […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Policy winds blow through Mich. forests
An hour’s drive south of the Mackinac Bridge, a 67,000-acre patch of state forest known as Chandler Hills offers a stunning glimpse of how Michigan appeared in 1800, before a century of logging left much of the state looking like a moonscape. The hiss of wind coursing through towering hardwoods and the gurgle of a […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: AARP blasts Legislature on voter ID bills
By Mark Hornbeck/AARP AARP Michigan opposes bills (Senate Bills 751 and 754) moving through the Legislature that will make it more difficult for many state residents to register to vote and to participate in elections. Michigan already meets federal election standards. States should not impose unreasonable identification requirements that discourage or prevent citizens from voting. […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Pressure mounts on Michigan's K-12 schools
There was a lot of education news last week — much of it grim, and all of it indicating that this state needs to make big changes. Pronto. First of all, The Education Trust-Midwest, a statewide policy organization, released a new report that showed academic achievement among Michigan’s higher-income and white students has declined when compared […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Ruling could bog loggers in paperwork
Margaret Minerick’s family has survived many challenges over the past four decades as they built a large and successful timber business in the Upper Peninsula community of Sagola. Today, Minerick Logging and its sister company, Sagola Hardwoods, employ more than 100 workers in the western U.P. But Minerick, who is president of Sagola Hardwoods, fears […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Many services, one patient, one roof
Dianna Thompson often has felt like a piece in a puzzle no one could solve. She saw doctors for physical conditions that include epilepsy, diabetes and chronic pain and others for treatment of bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. But one group of professionals seldom talked to the other. “I was just running around from […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Who are you? What have you done with Mitt?
Writing on his own blog, Bridge contributor Rick Haglund touches on one reason Mitt Romney may be polling so poorly in advance of the Feb. 28 GOP primary: Is Mitt Romney really George Romney’s son? he asks. Hmm. Ignore the obvious family resemblance, Haglund says. Look at what he says: Romney writes (in a Detroit […]