http://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.aspNews Blawghttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1106After party caucuses cut short the May 27 Michigan House Transportation Committee meeting and prevented some people from testifying about the Complete Streets bills, leaders are bringing them back in a second committee hearing this week, scheduled for Thursday.Chair Pam Byrnes (D-Chelsea) and one of the bills' sponsors, has said she hopes to vote them out of committee and have them ready for full House consideration as early as this week.The proposals, considered at the May 27 Transportation Committee meeting, would require Michigan road projects to take into account all users of transportation corridors, not just cars and trucks. Complete streets designs could include better pedestrian crossings, marked bike lanes and adding or configuring space for bus stops, for example.The County Road...Wed, 09 Jun 2010 08:01:42 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1099Michigan's medical marijuana community was abuzz with the news that a so-called "smokers club" in the Lansing suburb of Williamston had been raided by police on Wednesday.The Lansing State Journal reported that the club's owner, an ordained minister, the Rev. Ferderick Wayne Dagit, had previously claimed the Green Leaf Smokers Club was a place where legal medical marijuana users could gather to purchase pot from caregivers and smoke in a social setting.However, Dagit was charged Thursday with felony drug charges that include delivery or manufacture of more than 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of marijuana, two counts of delivery or manufacture of 5 to 45 kilograms of marijuana, and maintaining a drug house and possession of marijuana,  according to the paper.Detroit resident Tim Beck, who ha...Sat, 29 May 2010 11:09:52 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1096This is shaping up to be a particularly bad week for Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun. First the Michigan House approved legislation that kept alive the prospect of a competing, publicly owned bridge being built downriver from the span connecting Detroit and Windsor. Then, Friday morning, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled against Moroun and his Ambassador Bridge Co. in a major case involving the Gateway Plaza project.Gateway is a public-private effort designed to provide direct freeway access to the Ambassador. It ended up in court when the state claimed the company illegally altered aspects of the contract it had committed to. Unless the bridge company files an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, it must now com...Fri, 28 May 2010 12:45:10 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1094That thunderous, angst-filled groan you might have heard yesterday was coming from Grosse Pointe billionaire and Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun, who saw likely competition from a new, publicly owned span take a big step closer to reality when the Michigan House voted to move forward with what's known as the Detroit River International Crossing. And that loud clanging that filled the air? That would have been the Moroun machine moving into high gear in preparation for what will certainly be an all-out effort to get the DRIC — a cooperative effort between Michigan, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Transport Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Transportation — killed in the Michigan Senate. If the House vote is any indication, approval of the DRIC by the GOP-contro...Thu, 27 May 2010 15:42:54 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1093"Everybody is speculating, but I'll tell you: I'm turning myself in tomorrow," Sam Riddle told the News Blawg when we ran into him at Floods Bar and Grille with a small circle of well-wishers and supporters early Monday evening. He portrayed the slammer as a detour rather than the end of a political career.Political consultant Riddle's course was set last Thursday in U.S. District when he and co-defendant Mary Waters entered guilty pleas in their federal bribery and extortion case in connection with the Southfield City Council's approval of the relocation and expansion of Zeidman's Jewelry and Loan. Riddle pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit bribery, extortion and to file fraudulent tax returns — punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. As summarized in l...Mon, 24 May 2010 21:36:37 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1091 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}   Converging on Campus Martius in a wave of bright colors, helmets and two wheels, about 60 people took part in the National Bike to Work Day May 21.   ...Fri, 21 May 2010 12:39:10 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1072Chanting "Education not deportation," a dozen marchers set off from southwest Detroit's Clark Park Thursday morning, heading to Ann Arbor, where President Barack Obama will speak at Saturday's commencement.Jose Franco, a 22-year-old Detroit resident, literally wore his status on his T-shirt, which was emblazoned with the word "undocumented."Brought by his mother to the United States from Mexico when he was 2, he has known no other country. He went to Detroit schools but says in high school he quit trying when he learned what being undocumented meant: not having the papers and social security number needed for some university applications equaled no future."At the time, I didn't think I could even go to college," he says.But then he learned about the DREAM Act — the Development, Relief and...Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:26:11 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1055There's an interesting article titled "Lithium Dreams" in the March 22 edition of The New Yorker that draws a parallel between Detroit and the slums around the Bolivian city of Potosi.As the article notes, Potosi was once among the world's largest cities. As the center of a region that produced half of the silver coming out of the New World between the middle of the 16th century and the middle of the 17th century, the town's very name became a synonym for good fortune.And now it is viewed as a "symbol of plunder, or exploitation, or humiliation." It is also "one of the poorest places in what has long been one of the poorest countries in South America."The article by Lawrence Wright then transitions from that disheartening reality to this one:"Acr...Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:05:56 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1054After the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office dropped its efforts at his retrial in a decade-old murder, Dwayne Provience's ankle tether came off on Wednesday. "I'm free, mom," he said moments later as his mother, Vonzella Battle, sobbed in his arms. "You don't have to worry no more." Provience's ankle had been encircled and his movements limited and monitored since November when law students and attorneys from the University of Michigan Law School's Innocence Clinic won him a new trial. Prosecutors agreed he could be released from prison but continued their efforts at retrying him until yesterday when they dismissed the murder and felony fire arms charges. In 2001 Provience, 36, was convicted in the 2000 shooting death of Rene Hunter, a killing police said was drug-related. Sentenced to 3...Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:59:10 ESThttp://www.metrotimes.com/blog/newsblawg.asp?perm=1053The 12 principles are pretty basic. For instance: Be welcoming and embrace our diversity. ... Preserve our authenticity. ... Promote sustainability. ... Demand government accountability. ... Think regionally and leverage our geography.And more than 2,000 people have signed online as supporters of what's being called Detroit Declaration, which is the subject of a forum Tuesday evening scheduled to coincide with — and react to — Mayor Dave Bing's State of the City address.  "We are calling for all signers and any public interested in being part of the process to come to the Majestic Theater for a forum and discussion before we collectively watch the state of the cityy and then have comment and feedback," said Claire Nelson, owner of Bureau of Urban Living, a mid-town shop, and one of the declar...Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:51:35 EST