Politics & Government

Fifty percent of people in Michigan are opposed to a new law that gives sweeping powers to emergency financial managers overseeing troubled cities and school districts. That’s according to a recent survey commissioned by the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics.

Bill Ballenger is editor of the newsletter. He says most people do not live in areas that would be affected by the new law because their local governments are running smoothly.

“If you ask them, do you want to give the power to the state to come in and completely play Big Foot here and come in and crush your collective bargaining rights, dissolve your municipality, and mandate your millage elections when in fact they’ve been doing everything right, they’re going to say no.”

Ballenger says he thinks misinformation about who the legislation would affect is causing many people to be upset. Governor Rick Snyder’s administration says no more than 10 local governments in the state would be in danger of being taken over by an emergency manager.

Andrew Shirvell gained national attention for his public campaign against a University of Michigan student.

Now, that U-M student is suing him.

The Detroit News reports:

A University of Michigan student is suing a fired assistant attorney general for allegedly stalking him and defaming his character last year in a scandal that received nationwide publicity.

The lawsuit was filed Friday in Washtenaw Circuit Court by Christopher Armstrong, 21, the president of the U-M Student Assembly, against Andrew Shirvell, who was fired by former Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox last November for using state computers to wage a campaign against the openly gay student.

President Obama once considered Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm for a supreme court judgeship.

Now, it looks like the administration was considering her for another job: the head of the new consumer financial protection agency.

But Granholm has declined to be considered for the position.

The Detroit News reports:

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said today she has no plans to head a new federal agency charged with protecting consumers of financial products such as mortgages and bank accounts.

Reuters reported that Federal Reserve board member Sarah Raskin also is under consideration to head the new consumer protection body called the Consumer Financial Protection Board.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will soon be moving to a state prison cell.

A federal judge today approved Kilpatrick's request to be transferred from a federal lockup in Milan, Michigan.   The Associated Press reports Kilpatrick was transferred to a facility in Jackson after today's hearing.  

He's locked up for violating probation in a criminal case that forced him out of city hall in 2008. Kilpatrick has been housed at Milan to be close to his Detroit-area attorneys as he prepares for trial on federal corruption charges.

But he needs to return to state prison in order to be considered for parole in July. Kilpatrick was in a good mood in court, even joking with TV reporters about the favorite newscast among inmates at Milan.