by P.D. Lesko It’s no surprise Republican Rob Steele couldn’t unseat Representative John Dingell in 2010. However, Steele’s run, which campaign emails intimated would be financed with the doctor’s own “fortune,” rattled Team Dingell. Former President Bill Clinton came to Michigan and stumped for the Dean of the House prior to the November election. It’s [...]
by P.D. Lesko Fifth Ward Council member Carsten Hohnke has had enough. In his email to constituents, Hohnke told readers he was stepping down after two terms to “spend more time with his family.” A classic political dodge. Norman Fowler, a member of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet, was supposedly the first politician to give the “spend [...]
by Joseph DiSano It’s the time of year when every wannabe pundit and political Nostradamus unveils their prognostications on this year elections. Guess what? No one knows for sure, and those that claim to are lying. A common prediction you will hear from every player in the Pundit Olympics is which party will claim control [...]
by P.D. Lesko Between 2003 and 2010, while total enrollment in Ann Arbor’s middle and high schools fell, average class sizes increased significantly, and so have actual class sizes, resulting in classrooms stuffed with 10, 12 and sometimes even 20 students more than the District’s class size targets. Class size targets for 2011 were 23-25 [...]
by Ernesto Van Dersar John Wiley & Sons, one of the world’s largest textbook publishers, is continuing its efforts to crack down on BitTorrent piracy. The company has now named several people who allegedly shared Wiley titles online, and is demanding a jury trial against them. If these actually go ahead it will be the first [...]
by Robert Paarlberg From Whole Foods recyclable cloth bags to Michelle Obama’s organic White House garden, modern eco-foodies are full of good intentions. We want to save the planet. Help local farmers. Fight climate change — and childhood obesity, too. But though it’s certainly a good thing to be thinking about global welfare while chopping [...]
Representative Jeff Irwin, a Democrat, served for a decade as a Washtenaw County Commissioner. In January 2011, he began his first term in the Michigan House of Representatives. In his regular column, House Calls, A2Politico will pose a single question to Representative Irwin and he will answer it. The questions will focus on his work in [...]
by Hannah Wallace When he was seven-years-old, Malik Yakini, inspired by his grandfather, planted his own backyard garden in Detroit, seeding it with carrots and other vegetables. Should it come as any surprise that today, Yakini has made urban farming his vocation? The Executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), which he [...]
by Rob Smith It’s not unfair to say that the Michigan GOP has been muscling aside the Democrats in Lansing on their way to pass some pretty pernicious legislation. Cut 11,000 families off of state assistance? Check. Expand Public Act 4 (Emergency Manager law) to the point of thwarting democracy—imposed primarily on black folks? Check. [...]
by P.D. Lesko Saline’s mayor, Gretchen Driskell, formed an “exploratory committee” in February 2012 to see if she could have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning back the 52nd District State House seat from Repblican Mark Ouimet. The Michigan GOP targeted the seat, held by Democrat Pam Byrnes, in 2010 when Byrnes stepped down [...]
