Politics & Government

Budget Negotiations

Lawmakers at the state Capitol will continue today to resolve the differences between their various state budgets. The Associated Press reports:

Joint panels of House and Senate members are scheduled to begin formal conferences on the budget Wednesday and Thursday.

The House and Senate have approved different versions of the next budget and compromises must be reached before a spending plan can become law.

A key factor for the overall budget plan will be determining how deep to cut state aid to K-12 schools. Gov. Rick Snyder has proposed an additional $300 per student cut for the fiscal year that starts in October, on top of a $170 per student cut that's already on the books.

Some Senate Republicans are among the many lawmakers seeking to make the school cuts less deep.

Cities want Emergency Managers?

Jackson’s Mayor has asked the state to review the city’s finances. Michigan Radio’s Tracy Samilton reports that’s the first step towards the state appointing an Emergency Manager for the city. From Samilton:

Mayor Karen Dunigan says the city needs the state’s help, even though it has a balanced budget.  She says the budget covers payroll and not much else, and meanwhile, the city has $80-million in debt, with no plan to pay anything on the debt except the interest expenses. The state has also been asked to look at Allen Park’s finances, and Flint’s Mayor says he wants a state review, too. A new state law allows an Emergency Manager to set aside union contracts, along with elected officials' powers.

Obama Job Approval

A new poll finds President Obama's favorability rose among Michigan voters after Osama bin Laden's death. But, as the Associated Press reports, the poll, “finds that most state voters are unhappy with how he's handling the economy. The EPIC-MRA poll released Tuesday showed 53 percent of 600 likely voters polled May 9-11 had a favorable opinion of the Democratic president, up 9 points since February. Forty percent had an unfavorable opinion and 7 percent were undecided. A third gave him a positive job rating on handling the economy, while 66 percent gave him a negative rating and 2 percent were undecided.”

The Michigan Supreme Court says a judge appointed by Governor Jennifer Granholm as she was preparing to leave office can stay on the bench. The state attorney general challenged the appointment, arguing it should have been made by Governor Rick Snyder after he took office at the beginning of this year.

Governor Jennifer Granholm filled the vacancy in December after she named Judge Amy Krause to the state Court of Appeals. Krause had just won re-election to the Lansing district court in November. Granholm named Hugh Clark to fill the balance of Krause’s term as well as to the new term that began January first.

Republican state Attorney General Bill Schuette challenged the appointment to the new term. Schuette said it should have been made by the new governor, Republican Rick Snyder.

A bipartisan majority on the state Supreme Court ruled timing worked in favor of Granholm making the appointment. The court said Granholm held office until noon on January first, while Judge Clark’s new term began that morning. The ruling also means Governor Snyder will have the power to name people to jobs that begin the day he leaves office.

The state is looking at requests to investigate the finances of two Michigan cities.

Jackson’s Mayor has asked for a state review of the city's books.  That's the first step towards the state appointing an Emergency Manager. 

Karen Dunigan says the city needs the state’s help, even though it has a balanced budget.    She says the budget covers payroll and not much else, and meanwhile, the city has $80-million in debt, with no plan to pay anything on the debt except the interest expenses. 

Part of a projected budget windfall is expected to go toward reducing proposed cuts to Michigan’s K-through-12 schools.

The question floating around the state Capitol is how much of a projected boon in tax revenue collection will go toward reducing cuts to per-student funding, and how much will go toward paying for pensions or into the state’s “rainy day” fund.

I didn't think a Michigan angle would present itself on the Arnold Schwarzenegger story, but hold on a sec... we have Twitter!

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm suggested on her Twitter page that people should elect more women governors:

Another guy guv admits 2 cheating on his wife. Maybe we need more women governors. Guys: keep ur pants zipped, for Pete's sake. #Arnold

The Arnold "hash tag" (#Arnold) is how Twitter users are organizing their conversation around this story - first revealed by the Los Angeles Times:

Former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, separated after she learned he had fathered a child more than a decade ago — before his first run for office — with a longtime member of their household staff.

Shriver moved out of the family's Brentwood mansion earlier this year, after Schwarzenegger acknowledged the paternity. The staff member worked for the family for 20 years, retiring in January.

I imagine there will be a multitude of angles revealed on this California shocker in the coming days and weeks.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A poll finds that President Barack Obama's favorability rating rose among Michigan voters after Osama bin Laden's death.

The poll, however, finds that most state voters are unhappy with how he's handling the economy.

The EPIC-MRA poll released Tuesday showed 53 percent of 600 likely voters polled May 9-11 had a favorable opinion of the Democratic president, up 9 points since February. Forty percent had an unfavorable opinion and 7 percent were undecided.

A third gave him a positive job rating on handling the economy, while 66 percent gave him a negative rating and 2 percent were undecided.

Half gave Obama a positive job rating for conducting foreign affairs and waging the war in Afghanistan.

The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The Detroit Tigers have been playing baseball for nearly two months now, but for Steve Peck, the start of the season that really counts is still more than two weeks away.

He’s the non-salaried, happily genial commissioner of the Miracle League of Michigan, where everyone is a true all-star.

The Miracle League is designed to give children with every kind of physical and mental disability the chance to play baseball.

One little boy named Dylan can’t walk, but thanks to his able-bodied buddy, has no trouble rounding second base. The parents of Jennifer, a little girl with Down’s syndrome, say they’ve been blown away by how much self-confidence playing has given her.

Peck, a radio host and marketing and communications consultant, says he thinks this may be the most rewarding thing he’s ever done. It started almost eight years ago, when by chance he saw an HBO special about the first-ever Miracle League, which had been founded in Rockville, Georgia in the late 1990s.

The kids played on a special rubberized diamond, so that wheelchairs and walkers could move around. Every child was able to get hits, make runs, and round the bases, thanks to the assistance of a volunteer buddy. There was nothing else like it in the country.

Peck was inspired. Why should Georgia have all the fun?  He went to work and got the City of Southfield to donate some prime land in their civic center complex.  He raised the $325,000 necessary to have the special rubberized field built, and got the league going.

That was eight years ago. Things have been expanding ever since. There are various levels of play now. Some are non-competitive, where everyone just scores runs and has a good time. In others, they play for keeps.  There are now some Miracle Leagues groups where challenged adults can participate.