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Twenty years ago today, my hometown burned. I had moved to Miami the year before, and there is, let me tell you, something surreal about watching television as places you've been and streets you know are smashed and burned.
An article from National Review, a conservative magazine, says “Let Detroit Fail” as it compares the Motor City to a backsliding junkie, bashes Mayor Dave Bing and describes Detroit as a “fiscal millstone around the state’s neck.”
In the National Review, a conservative magazine, a staffer reviews the Volt in a DC-to-New York trip.
I sat in a courtroom not long ago and watched yet another child, his face still round with baby fat, go away to adult prison. It is Michigan's ugly little secret: We are second in the world in the number of juveniles we sentence as adults. There are currently more than 350 prisoners serving life sentences in our state who were incarcerated as children, some when they were as young as 14. We're topped only by Pennsylvania, with 444.
JOHN TRUSCOTT: In an effort to clutter Michigan's ballot and make it look like California's typical election mess, it appears Democrats are pushing several initiatives to fundamentally take Michigan backward.
This week's "Caption This" photo of basketball legends Magic Johnson and Larry Bird at a performance of the Broadway play "Magic/Bird" drew 96 replies. Check out our favorites.
John Raese is feeling persecuted.
On Saturday, thousands of graduating students will pack the Big House at the University of Michigan as they look toward the future. But with an unstable job market and more applicants than positions, the future for my classmates looks uncertain at best. We are Generation Y or, as I say, Generation Why?
Acres of Potential: This commentary is part of an occasional series of guest columns detailing the challenges of the city's vacant land and strategies to find uses for it.
Back in 1962, when Inforum was founded as the Women's Economic Club, many questioned whether it was proper for women to work outside the home once they had children. It never occurred to some people that there was no "correct" answer. How is it possible that 50 years later this question is still being asked?
Michigan's counties, cities, villages, townships and school districts have been pummeled on the frontlines of our state's economic crisis since its inception....
How would you caption this photo of longtime basketball rivals Earvin (Magic) Johnson and Larry Bird when they appeared at a performance of the Broadway play “Magic/Bird” in New York City earlier this month? E-mail your best ideas to captionthis@freepress. Thursday. We'll publish the best captions online and in print Sunday....
Michigan may not have seemed like the most obvious choice for a information technology research and development facility, but GE saw something.
Sometimes, it seems as if every cover of every tabloid and magazine has a headline about some actress or reality show personality and her crusade to find -- or keep -- a man. Either she has been dumped or he has cheated, or she is thinking of taking him back, or she is lonely without him, or she is struggling to conceive, or the wedding is off, or the wedding is back on, or she has found new love after the divorce, yadda, yadda and yadda.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the citizens of Detroit, and everyone across the state and country, for your get-well wishes, cards, letters and flowers. The genuine thoughts and prayers I've received have served as a vivid reminder of why I'm doing what I'm doing. My recovery is on track, and I expect to return to the office by the end of the month....
This photo of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reading newspapers as she cohosted NBC’s “Today” show in a guest appearance drew 195 replies. Our favorites follow. And please come back Wednesday for another opportunity to “Caption This.”
Detroit, we have a problem. Far too many adults in our region can't read or do not read well enough to get a job that can sustain a family.
Today we celebrate the 42nd anniversary of Earth Day - an important opportunity to really think about the planet and what we must do to ensure it continues protecting, supporting and sustaining us. From the waters of our splendid Great Lakes to the air we breathe, to the land beneath us and the skies above us, Earth is a treasure that we must not take for granted....
Contact the following agencies to volunteer for Detroit Reading Works.
If President Barack Obama had a son, he would look like Trayvon Martin. So the president famously said.
In 1975, when I was not quite 15, my family moved from southern Ohio to Rochester, leaving me for a time isolated, rattled and glum. I retreated to my room when not in school, and deeper into my obsession with music: American songwriters in particular, though not exclusively.
A few years ago, I was at a middle school teaching the students about the law. I asked the class: "How many of you have seen someone who has been shot or have a relative or friend who has been shot or have been injured by a shooting yourself?" Out of the 40 or so kids in the audience, about 25 kids raised their hands, a number that astonished me.
Frustration is the mildest term I can use to describe my feelings over what is going on with an expensive add-on to everyone's auto insurance bills. Citizens are about to get a 21% increase, from $145 to $175. It is time for some sunshine to be blown into this process.
Despite a number of predictions that 2012 may see record numbers of foreclosures after the worst foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, politicians and other interests have their eyes on Michigan's $97-million share of the recent National Mortgage Servicer Settlement.
How would you caption this photo, courtesy of NBC News, of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reading newspapers as she cohosted NBC's “Today” show in a guest appearance earlier this month? E-mail your best ideas to captionthis@freepress. Thursday. We'll publish the best captions online and in print Sunday....
The gap between men and women’s pay shows up as they work and again in their retirement benefits.
It's time to move toward a tax code that protects working families by ensuring that the most fortunate Americans pay their fair share.
There is a single shot, just seconds long, in James Cameron's newly re-released movie, "Titanic," that says it all with poignant eloquence.
This photo of Detroit Red Wing Drew Miller at a recent team practice received 117 replies. Our favorites follow. And please come back Wednesday for another opportunity to “Caption This.”
Mike Wallace walked along the busy summer streets of Manhattan. I tagged along, picking his brain. "What should I do?" I asked. "I don't know," the "60 Minutes" newsman replied. "Do whatever you want." Not much help.
Imagine that you own a house whose basement is flooding from a leaky pipe and whose walls are gradually caving in. You repair the pipe to stop the flood, but the walls require a structural fix.
Barack Obama himself has never had the guts to say it. Indeed, while it is famously difficult to prove a negative, it seems apparent that few people in all of politics and media have had the guts to say it. Did John McCain ever say it? Did Rick Santorum or Bill O'Reilly?
As the Free Press' “Living with Murder” series has vividly illustrated, reducing homicide and violent crime in Detroit is essential to improving our quality of life. Even those who live outside the city should be concerned about crime in Detroit, because it affects the success of our region and our state. We cannot allow Detroit to be defined by homicide and violence....
Right-to-work legislation will not be good for Michigan's economy. One, it would provoke a pointless political war distracting Michigan from solving problems related to growing jobs.
For all this talk of green, you'd think we're making real progress toward reducing waste and conserving natural resources. But the spin doctors are working overtime on an odious proposal that would put leaves back into landfills and would bankrupt 60 Michigan composting operations.
For many of us, the public library will always be synonymous with books. The books drew us to the library in the first place, helped us discover new worlds. Libraries continue to embody that same spirit of search and discovery, but in a manner that has been transformed. They make this new digital era available to all Americans.
How would you caption this photo of Detroit Red Wing Drew Miller at a team practice in Joe Louis Arena Monday? The Red Wings start their Stanley Cup playoffs tonight in Nashville. E-mail your best ideas to captionthis@freepress.com by 2 p.m. Thursday. We'll publish the best captions online and in print Sunday.
Meet Nathan Fletcher, candidate for mayor of San Diego. He will lose, at least if the polls are right. But he has raised a minor stir through a video posted online a few days back. In it, he explains his decision to leave the Republican Party and identify henceforth as an independent.
Ever since Michigan Senate Democrats unveiled the Michigan 2020 Plan to provide free college tuition for all Michigan high school graduates, it has created a buzz with business people, educators, parents and most importantly students.
This photo of Tigers manager Jim Leyland talking with pitcher Justin Verlander at spring training drew 147 caption suggestions. Our favorites follow. And please come back Wednesday for another opportunity to “Caption This.”
The consent agreement that the Detroit City Council approved last week is an important first step in putting Detroit's financial house in order. But, if it works, it will not be enough to turn the city around. Unless the city's economy expands and its population stabilizes, Detroit cannot survive.
Several weeks ago, I was walking my dog through my community, as I often do, when an older man pulled up to the curb and sought my attention. Thinking that he was looking for directions, I went over to talk with him.
Once upon a time in the late '90s, a certain black newswoman was awarded her own column. She wrote 12 pieces, three of them about race. That was too many for her boss, who told her to tone it down. Confused, she went to a white colleague for advice. He explained that, being black, she lacked the judgment to decide if a given racial matter merited a column....
Former Jackson County Sheriff Daniel Heyns became director of the Michigan Department of Corrections on June 1, 2011. He plans big changes for a department that oversees a $2-billion-a-year budget — nearly 25% of the state's general fund — and 32 prisons....
As Detroiters watch fundamental issues affecting our city's future being debated and decided by our city and state elected leadership, it is clear there are no easy answers.
How would you caption this photo of Tigers manager Jim Leyland talking with pitcher Justin Verlander while other team members do warmup exercises during spring training? Verlander is scheduled to be the starting pitcher at the Tigers' opening day game Thursday. E-mail your best ideas to captionthis@freepress.com by 2 p.m. Thursday.
Warning: This column contains language some readers may find unsuitable for children. Parental guidance is suggested. Still here? OK, fine. Don't say you weren't told. Here's one of the offensive words: "Dinosaur." And another: "Birthday." And another: "Pepperoni." And yes, yet another: "Dancing."
Detroit’s leaders are fiddling while the city burns, writes Irvin Reid, member of the Financial Review Team for Detroit, who in a guest column advocates for an emergency manager for the city of Detroit.
In this financial crisis, race relations are the elephant in the room that no one seems to be actively stepping forward to address with the sober seriousness it deserves, writes Bradford Frost, a member of the Detroit Revitalization Fellows.
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Mike Thompson
