Published: 10/6/2010
Types: News, Environmental
A few years ago, a mid-Michigan group of fly fishermen won their immediate court fight to prevent an energy company's wastewater from being piped across state land and into the headwaters of their treasured Au Sable River. An Otsego County judge stopped the pipeline, which would have pumped more th...[MORE]
Published: 10/6/2010
Conventional thoughts Re: "Making real change" (Sept. 29), in calling for a "yes" vote on the constitutional convention ballot question, Proposal 1, Jack Lessenberry made the same mistake as other con-con proponents: He failed to outline the state government overhaul that a con-...[MORE]
Published: 10/6/2010
Just because the Detroit Election Commission chose not to put the question of legalizing marijuana on the Nov. 2 ballot doesn't mean there's no cannabis drama in this election. At least for Michigan medical marijuana activists, the contest for attorney general is crucial. "We're concerned abou...[MORE]
Published: 10/6/2010
When the wimps running the British government sold out Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Winston Churchill, not yet in power, reportedly growled that they had been faced with a choice between war and shame. "They've chosen shame. They'll get war later." Last week, the Michigan Legislature did mu...[MORE]
Published: 10/6/2010
18 years ago in Metro Times: Ron Williams writes "A City of Dreams: Ideas to transform the city," outlining 20 ideas that could improve Detroit economically, culturally and politically. His ideas include creating neighborhood food cooperatives, fostering entrepreneurial development, and re...[MORE]
By Rebecca Bowe
Published: 10/6/2010
The world was a different place in 1976 when Carl Jensen, a professor of communications at Sonoma State University, founded Project Censored to highlight important national news stories that were underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream press. Back then, there were few good alternatives ...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
Types: News, Transportation
The perfect storm — and we mean it in a good way — of Mayor Dave Bing's renewed emphasis on redesigning Detroit, the state's new Complete Streets legislation, and a grassroots movement toward increasing the safety of and opportunities for nonmotorized transportation has Miguel Pope cauti...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
"You were had," Maj. Robert Smith of the Oakland County Sheriff's Department told News Hits when we gave him a call after hearing from a well-informed source that a photo we'd run in this column wasn't the real deal. The picture, part of a digital press kit handed out by Rick Thompson of ...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
Elder's wisdom Loved Jack's article about "greasy Mike" Bishop ("Bought and paid for," Sept. 22). I went to the mat with Mike Bishop for a couple of years, trying to finally get Michigan free of smoke in restaurants. At one point he advised me to go a website that listed more th...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
Here's what puzzles me most about the Tea Party movement, as well as everyone else who says they want serious change in this state. This fall, they've got a tremendous opportunity to do so — right there for the taking. And yet, they show no interest. Maybe that's because they — and mayb...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
The first phase of Mayor Dave Bing's planning process for reinventing Detroit is done. The five forums for citizens to voice concerns, issues, gripes and goals were attended by some 4,000 people — more than the city initially anticipated. That was a great show of civic involvement by Detroit...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
26 years ago in Metro Times: Bob Gordon covers the unveiling of the 1986 Cadillac models at the Center for Creative Studies. The event marks Cadillac's bid for a younger crowd, with spokesman John Selaski saying such vehicles as the El Dorado and the Seville will soon be popular among younger people...[MORE]
Published: 9/29/2010
Highest greetings from Amsterdam. My name is John Sinclair and I've been a marijuana legalization activist ever since I founded Detroit LEMAR (LEgalize MARijuana) in January 1965, following the receipt of a LEMAR flyer sent from New York City by poets Allen Ginsberg and Edward Sanders, the progenito...[MORE]
Published: 9/22/2010
After 30 hours of testimony in an unusual two-day hearing, the Michigan Parole and Commutation Board is wrestling with deciding the fate of convicted murderer Frederick Freeman: Is he a dangerous man, rightfully locked up or the victim of a wrongful conviction in a 1986 shotgun slaying? Witnesses c...[MORE]
Published: 9/22/2010
The Rev. Robert Blake sits in the office of his Highland Park church, leafing through a folder filled with stories of teenagers who have run afoul of the law. There's a 17-year-old arrested for carjacking. A 14-year-old who was skipping school and hanging with gangs. Another who committed unarmed r...[MORE]
Published: 9/22/2010
Class schooling Re: "The ambassador" (Sept. 15), I take great offense to Toby Barlow's comment that "Detroit has no middle class of any substantial size and certainly has no real upper class." While it is admirable that Mr. Barlow is a fan of the city, being a resident for four ...[MORE]
Published: 9/22/2010
State Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop would have been regarded as an honest politician by at least one member of Abraham Lincoln's cabinet. Secretary of War Simon Cameron is now mostly remembered for saying, "an honest politician is one who, when he is bought, stays bought." Cameron him...[MORE]
Published: 9/22/2010
16 years ago in Metro Times: Cathy McCormick writes on ways for struggling families in southeast Michigan to seek out help in the article "Helping families, helping kids." McCormick offers suggestions for struggling metro area families, including free immunizations, vision and hearing test...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
There was much tough talk when a crowd of about 250 medical marijuana advocates gathered outside the offices of Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard on Monday to protest recent raids on clinics where pot was being sold. Along with outrage over the way patients were treated — allegedly thrown ...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
Here comes the judge Jack Lessenberry's jeremiad regarding Michigan's current system of selecting Supreme Court justices ("Let's make a deal," Sept. 1), while perhaps rhetorically satisfying to him, displays a lack of understanding and appreciation of how well the mixed system of appointm...[MORE]
By Bill McGraw
Published: 9/15/2010
Types: News, Government
If Detroit were a normal city, the Fire Department's dispatcher would have sent Engine Co. 47 first when reports started coming in Sept. 7, about fires breaking out around East Robinwood and Van Dyke. Engine 47 is only 1.3 miles away, and it's the closest rig to the scene with the ability to put wat...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
More than a half-century ago, the Democrats had a candidate who in some ways was sort of a white Barack Obama. His name was Adlai Stevenson. He was a brilliant speechmaker, also from Illinois, smart, sane and witty. Once, an adoring woman told him that all the thinking people in the country were be...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
As I was watching TV the other night, my dog started growling and pacing around the room. I know from experience that means someone's approaching the house. I looked out the front window but didn't see anyone. Then I heard a tapping sound at the back door. I went into the kitchen and peeped out. The...[MORE]
Published: 9/15/2010
27 years ago in Metro Times: Bill Rowe writes on his opposition to electronics, gizmos and automation in pop music in the article "Grabbin' Gizmo: How are your waveform options?" He writes, "I took a look at the nationwide Top 50 last week. Of the 44 tunes I knew well enough to gauge,...[MORE]
Published: 9/8/2010
18 years ago in Metro Times: Even after the Cold War has ended, Star Wars, properly known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), is still going strong. President Ronald Reagan proposed the orbital nuclear defense grid nearly 10 years earlier, and the Pentagon has been funding it since, despite t...[MORE]
Published: 9/8/2010
When last we checked on Royal Oak resident Tom Mahany, he was recovering from a nearly month-long hunger strike he'd conducted in Washington, D.C., in an attempt to draw attention to the problems faced by soldiers being subjected to repeated deployments in war zones, known as "stop loss." ...[MORE]
Published: 9/8/2010
A reader recently contacted MT and suggested we check out the Facebook page of a guy named John Truscott. People who pay attention to politics will recall that Truscott was the wunderkind mouthpiece for John Engler during his reign as our governor. As the profile on the website of his public relati...[MORE]
Published: 9/8/2010
Taking aim After reading your opinion concerning guns at Arts, Beats & Eats ("Arts, Beats & Ammo," Aug. 25), I had to respond. First, you feel it's "terrible" that citizens have the right to keep a handgun for their own defense. Studies show that 800,000 to 2.5 million c...[MORE]
Published: 9/8/2010
Let's get the good news out of the way first. In President Obama's Iraq speech last week, he said that the U.S. combat role in Iraq has ended and that Iraqis have "responsibility for the security of their own country." He said that "all US troops will leave by the end of next year.&qu...[MORE]
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