This is a new era defined by lack of transparency, little fiscal discipline and emergency management. Undoubtedly, the children of Oakman Elementary School will suffer. Oakman, a school for children with special needs, is a wonderful place to send your child. It is one floor with wide hallways, a vibrant parent network and just about 300 students. ...

Why do sports play such a prominent role in college education? Does it crowd out the attention we pay to other aspects of college life? Why are student athletes treated like slaves or gladiators, playing to pay colleges for the fruits of their labor? Other students enjoy “school spirit” when their team wins, and universities collect revenue from advertisers when they make it to the big leagues. ...

Homeowners and former homeowners rallied in front of the Department of Justice Monday to demand the Attorney General Eric Holder hold banks accountable for foreclosures. The groups are asking the Department of Justice to prosecute banks and to protect the 13 million homeowners who struggle today with underwater mortgages. The groups organizing the protest, the Home Defenders League and Occupy Homes, are pus ...

Parents of children at Oakman Orthopedic School have questions that no one in the administration of Emergency Manager Roy Roberts seem able to answer. Roberts told Oakman parents April 10 that the school was closing. He made the decision without their input or comments and could not answer specific questions, according to LSCO President Alyia Moore. Since then, questions have multiplied, Moore says. ...

I think as a newer politician — someone who came back to Detroit and had to knock doors to win, who cold not get support from the political establishment — I look at the emergency manager as a verdict on some of the people who have been around Detroit. We have been taken advantage of politically. We haven’t been taking care of business like we should have. ...

This week, Tom Barrow asked City Clerk Janice Winfrey to disqualify Mike Duggan from the mayoral race. Barrow says Duggan’s filing fails to meet Detroit City Charter residency requirements. According to the city charter, “All candidates for elective office and elected officials shall be bona fide residents of the city of Detroit and must maintain their principal residence in the city of Detroit for one year ...

While mind snacking on the ever-growing list of erstwhiles that have managed to do a stint in federal prison, the names of Martha Stewart and Michigan’s own billionaire philanthropist Al Taubman got their jit on during mind snack time. I have steadfastly refused to comment much more than an elder’s grunt when asked about another federal pen luminary Monica Conyers, who was recently released from custody of ...

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s report has been greeted with little enthusiasm. It has not offered any clarity on plans for the development of the city under the new regime. The vague promises of improving the quality of life, while stripping the city, are as hollow as the document itself. Meanwhile, the city is developing. Dan Gilbert now owns 17 downtown buildings, totaling 2.9 million square feet o ...

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan visited Detroit’s Fellowship Chapel Banquet and Conference Center to address some 3,500 guests May 17. The controversial religious leader’s comments, expected to focus on the sociopolitical and economic concerns of Detroit, a city the Nation of Islam calls home, addressed a different elephant in the room. Farrakhan’s message of Christ-likeness called out the c ...

Given the enormous catalogue of violent street stories and misogynist lyrics currently flooding the radio and video airwaves, any casual listener would believe that hip hop as a culture is limited to masculine bravado and female sexualization. ...