Michigan Watch
Summary: Michigan Watch is Michigan Radio’s investigative/accountability reporting unit. Headed by veteran reporter Lester Graham, Michigan Watch provides in-depth reports on topics of importance that may require a longer and more involved examination. These include the workings of state government, education, the environment, and jobs and the economy. Among the specific topics covered by Michigan Watch have been the influence of money and politics in Michigan elections, changes to the state’s mandatory no-fault insurance system, following Michigan families that have been removed from welfare, and separating truth from fiction in election advertising.
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Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan planned to have a lot more buses on the streets by this point. There’s been progress in some areas: more buses, better maintenance. But the bus system is still not reaching its goals.
While central business districts in Detroit are seeing the beginnings of resurgence, the neighborhoods are lagging behind. People who live in the city need jobs. To get them, many need new skills. In the second of a series of reports for the Detroit Journalism Cooperative , we're following a student who is trying to get the training she needs to help her family. In the first report, I introduced you to Fatima Mixon. She’s been studying at Focus: HOPE to become a machinist. A few weeks after I
The unemployment rate in Detroit is nearly double the statewide rate. Detroit residents need jobs. But too few people have marketable skills. What does it take to go from out-of-work to trained and employed? For 30 years a group in Detroit has been training people to go to work as machinists, in IT, and beginning this year, in health care. “When folks come out of here with that Focus: HOPE stamp of approval, you can be certain that you’re getting somebody who should work out pretty doggone well
Detroit is seeing more private investment and new businesses in its downtown areas, but some residents in the neighborhoods don’t see how they’re benefiting from that. On a recent weeknight, I visited ten of Detroit’s popular night spots ranging from the trendy to the tourist spot to the traditional. All but one had something in common, the vast majority of the patrons were white.
Just three months after the November elections, a Democrat has announced she’ll run against Republican Congressman Tim Walberg. Second-term Michigan State Representative Gretchen Driskell (D-52nd) is challenging Walberg in the Seventh Congressional District.
A Canadian official says construction of a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit can start soon, maybe 2015. It’s just a matter of waiting for some money
If you’re gay or lesbian and you want to adopt a child, not every adoption agency in Michigan will be willing to help. If you do find an agency that will
About a decade ago, judges stopped approving adoptions for lesbian and gay couples. It stopped after a controversial move by a Supreme Court Judge. Nancy
In Michigan, if you’re gay or lesbian, you can’t get married. And for LGBT partners who adopt children it’s nearly impossible for both to have parental
My Michigan Martini (recipe by Lester Graham) 5 parts Knickerbocker gin 1 part Vya Extra Dry vermouth 1 dash Fee Brothers orange bitters Add several ice
Broadcasters are fighting a new rule to disclose more about who’s buying political ads. The Federal Communications Commission wants TV stations to post information about the political ads they air on a government website.That will make it a lot easier to find out what groups are spending money to influence voters.Recently, I met Rich Robinson in the parking lot of his office in Lansing. He was taking me on a little trip.
It appears a superPAC and other political groups are coordinating their purchases of TV ads running in Michigan. This means a more efficient use of secret money to influence voters.Michigan TV stations across the state are running a series of ads critical of President Obama and his administration.Here's an example of one of the ads.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sJgKX1pgHAThe messages of these ads are similar, they have the same look. And, as it turns out, that’s not all they have in common.
The Michigan legislature will soon vote on whether to shift more of the state’s tax burden from business to households. Last year the legislature and the governor shifted about one-and-a-half billion dollars in tax payments from small and medium sized businesses to retirees and the working poor. This year there’s a proposal to cut another business tax. That proposed tax cut could mean higher real estate taxes for homeowners and revenue cuts to local governments.
Elected state officials in Michigan can be more secretive about money than federal officials. At the state level, the disclosure laws on money and politics make it easier to hide conflicts of interest and influence on politicians.When Governor Rick Snyder delivered his State of the State address last January, he tucked into it a quick mention about making state government more open.
