LANSING– Both chambers of the Michigan legislature remained in session Thursday night, preparing for four bills lawmakers say are key to Michigan’s educational future.
Four bills are pending in joint House-Senate conference committees. There lawmakers will hammer out the differences between the bills passed in the Democratic dominated House and the [...]

For some perspective, the entire budget for the State of Michigan in one year is about $45 billion. That is money for things like public education, prisons, and roads.
In Washington, DC though that is [...]

Tim Melton
LANSING — It’s not Shakespeare, but it’s drama nonetheless at the Capitol today.
House Democrats held a press conference at 12:30 p.m. to vent their frustrations with Senate Republicans who walked away from a joint House-Senate conference committee last night. The committee has been working to [...]
Jocelyn Benson has secured the endorsement of John Conyers for Secretary of State. This is not terribly notable in its own right, since Benson is the only Democrat in the running for the job, but it is a continued sign that this campaign is laying all the right foundation [...]
MIRS breaking news thingy:
Rep. Tim MELTON (D-Auburn Hills) said this morning that negotiations are currently stalled after Senate Republicans walked out of the room last night having tried to interject new issues into the negotiations. "I'm still at the table, as far as they know I'm still in the room" [...]

Ex-home of the Detroit Lions
Just when you thought the sorry saga over the bargain-basement sale of the Pontiac Silverdome was over, comes even more legal maneuvers. Except they aren’t nearly as cheap, according to Pontiac emergency financial manager Fred Leeb.
“Every [...]
Tonight in celebration of the event that arguably started it all, we had a Tea Party and candle light vigil. The Boston Tea party of December 16, 1773 was the spark that ignited the colonial revolution against the King.
80+ patriots showed in spite of blistering cold temperatures in front of [...]
The wily Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Livonia), in an appearance on CNN Monday night, told host John Roberts that President Barack Obama needs to stop calling bankers “fat cats.”
“I think that first the president should stop calling them fat cats, because people like cats,” McCotter said. “I don’t know you’d want [...]
I love it when the New York Times introduces me to the rituals and stories of cultures I would otherwise never encounter. White people from Pittsburgh, for example. Today’s food-section piece on the local custom known as the cookie table was a series of delights, starting with finding out [...]
The bipartisan Michigan congressional delegation in Washington D.C. has successfully pushed the Army Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies to divert an additional $13 million to help fight the Asian carp. Sen. Carl Levin has been circulating a letter in the Senate while Rep. Bart Stupak and other Michigan [...]
From the Port Huron Times Herald:
"They in Lansing need a two-by-four to the side of the head," (Port Huron school board treasurer Geoffrey -- my add, based on no other Herings referenced ~ed.) Herring said.
What would prompt one public official to suggest that a whack to the head is [...]
The last time we checked in with Nestle spokeswoman Deb Muchmore, she was warning darkly that saying mean things about the bottled water industry might prompt Nestle to build a new water bottling plant in Indiana instead of West Michigan. It's been a couple of years since she had [...]
The Washington Post reported just before midnight Monday that the Obama administration has agreed to acquire a prison in Illinois to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay Cuba.
The critical step toward fulfilling President Obama’s pledge to shut the Guantanamo detention center will be announced Tuesday, said the official, who [...]
You might think that the second largest car company in the country might be happy to see the first and third largest car companies go bankrupt and not come back. You’d be wrong. The chairman and heir of Ford Motor Company visited the White House on Monday and praised President [...]