Blogs: News Blawg

I went on Charlie Langton’s radio talk show this morning to discuss Monday’s presidential debate, with the affable Langton serving as moderator as Henry Payne and I debated the outcome of the debate. Payne, an editorial cartoonist at The Detroit News and editor of an online publication called The Michigan View, carried the conservative...
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If you aren’t among the 47 percent of Americans Mitt Romney considers to be freeloaders who will support Barack Obama no matter what (check out the video, obtained by Mother Jones magazine), and are instead one of the undecided Mitty must attract in order to win come November, we want to direct your attention...
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The Detroit Branch of the NAACP has sent letters to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade asking that the Justice Department assist the organization in its attempts to have a referendum on the state’s controversial emergency manager law placed on the November ballot. Intervention by the feds is justified, the...
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There were two questions at the heart of today’s oral arguments in Lansing before the Michigan Supreme Court, which is being asked to decide whether a referendum on the state’s controversial emergency manager law should be on the November ballot. The first question: Does the heading on a petition signed by more than 200,000...
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When we contacted U-M Professor Miles Kimball about William Greider’s column, he sent us a number of links to his blog.supplysideliberal.com and further thoughts on the idea of using federal lines of credit as economic stimuli: • In particular, here is my reply to Bill Greider, which has some important clarifications: blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/27017988298/bill-greider-on-federal-lines-of-credit-a-new-way-to • The...
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The 24 winners of the 2012 Kresge Arts fellowships are a talented bunch: poets, playwrights, essayists, musicians in a variety of genres. They have earned their $25,000 each by proving to be innovative and creative. Some of that creativity has spilled over from our cover story (“Jolly Good Fellows”) into these clips. Enjoy! Xiao...
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Republican Gov. Rick Snyder bucked his own party on Tuesday, vetoing a three-bill package passed by the GOP-controlled House and Senate. Critics said the bills would have suppressed voter turnout, especially among young people, senior and minorities — all groups that tend to vote Democratic. U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat, was quick...
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Scores of angry people don’t usually show up to watch an attorney file paperwork with the Michigan Court of Appeals. But then again, what’s going on right now with the attempt to have voters repeal Michigan’s emergency manager law in November is anything but normal. Were things operating as usual, the question of repealing...
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An air of jubilation filled the auditorium at the AFSCME building in downtown Detroit on Thursday as members of the Stand Up for Democracy coalition celebrated a victory in their fight to have Michigan’s emergency manager law overturned. “Rumors of the death of democracy in Michigan are somewhat premature,” announced coalition attorney Herb Sanders....
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Noted Detroit attorney William Goodman had a distinctly Mark Twain moment when he learned that a front-page story in the Sunday edition of The Macomb Daily contained what could charitably be called a slight inaccuracy. Goodman and his firm are representing the estate of a Detroit teen who died after being Tasered in the...
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