In a sort of fever-dream burlesque with a radical chorus chiming in, Detroit attorney Thomas Stephens channels, among others, Crazy Horse, Emma  Goldman, Harriet Tubman and Coleman A. Young to provide a distinctly lefty take on Detroit’s “consent agreement” and, as he describes it, the corporate power-structure’s plans to keep sucking blood from the...
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A just-released report titled “Basic Decency: Protecting the human rights of children” is both heart breaking and infuriating. The study looks at the way Michigan treats juveniles found guilty of first-degree murder. It is grim reading. As noted in the introduction: To date, 376 young people have been sentenced to life without the possibility...
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U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, a Detroit Democrat, is mentioned in an editorial in The Nation magazine regarding the student debt crisis. Clarke has introduced a bill calling for forgiving of “up to $45,520 in student debt after a borrower makes ten years of payments at 10 percent of income.” As the lefty magazine reports,...
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When Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen correctly pointed out last week that Ann Romney wasn’t exactly well qualified to be bolstering Mitt’s approval rating among women by speaking to the economic struggles they face, reaction from the Romney campaign was swift and the right-wing echo chamber went wild. All because Rosen said Ann Romney had...
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With the Detroit City Council’s 5-4 approval of a “financial stability agreement” with the state on Wednesday, Gov. Rick Snyder told reporters today that it is time to focus on the positive aspects of the deal. Flanked by state Treasurer Andy Dillon and Harvey Hollins III, director of the state’s Office of Urban and...
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Karen Plants, a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor, has been disbarred for the role she played in allowing a jury to hear perjured testimony in a 2005 cocaine trafficking case. Plants originally had her license to practice law suspended for two years by the Attorney Discipline Board following her conviction last year in Wayne...
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With completion of the controversial Gateway Project now in the hands of the Michigan Department of Transportation, there is no longer any reason to hold Manuel “Matty” Moroun and other officials of the Detroit International Bridge Co. in contempt of court,  Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards ruled today. But that doesn’t mean...
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Following last week’s decision by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards to have the Michigan Department of Transportation complete the Detroit International Bridge Company’s share of the long-litigated Gateway Project, MDOT is announcing that it will take a streamlined approach intended to finish the job as quickly as possible. As we reported last...
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The Gateway Project’s long, strange trip took another weird turn today when the judge hearing the dispute between the Detroit International Bridge Company and the Michigan Department of Transportation decided the DIBC should pay the state to complete the company’s share of the project. That decision by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards...
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Maybe it was that recent appearance on-stage in Royal Oak with bad-boy Kid Rock that narrowly put millionaire businessman Mitt Romney over the top with Michigan’s Republicans. Really, if you are looking to send the message to voters that you are a family values, church-going kind conservative, who wouldn’t want the Kid at their...
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