The state democratic party is in flux and in need of new blood. This is the rumbling coming from local democrats. The Michigan Democratic Party (MDP) Convention will be held Feb. 23 at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. Many are looking to replace Party Chair Mark Brewer, while others are more focused on their local districts. ...

Last week, the Roberts Riverwalk Hotel was buzzing. Progressive teachers, professors, students, artists, organizers and philosophers from around the country came to Detroit to re-imagine education. ...

The threat of emergency management has become more real in the last week for Detroit. The financial review team, appointed by Gov. Snyder, is closer to making their recommendation for financial management. Mayoral Candidate Lisa Howze says her goal is to eliminate the need for the measures put in place to “turn the city around.” Howze says she would work to eliminate the Financial Advisory Board and put in ...

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer may be on his way out. Many Democrats believe it is time for new leadership and will select a new chair Feb. 23 at the 2013 party convention in Detroit. “Mark Brewer is one of the most ineffective chairmen we have ever had. He is absolutely not producing,” said political analyst Art Blackwell. “You can’t point to one election he was directly responsible for and he ...

City Council voted Feb. 12 to impose furloughs on its staff. The vote passed 6-2 with Council members Brenda Jones and JoAnn Watson voting “no.” Councilmember Kwame Kenyatta was absent. The vote came a day after the Financial Advisory Board reportedly voted in favor of furloughing about 600 unionized city employees. Council’s furlough days for its 40 staffers amount to a 10 percent pay decrease. ...

The things that we are known for in Detroit are cars and arts. The arts save lives. It keeps the kids focused on math and science so that they can focus on art. It is so much we can do with the art. It is very important to keep the arts; it’s hope. ...

The effort by the state to take over Belle Isle is not likely to fade away. Instead, local corporate media (LCM) is using this situation to redouble its efforts to denigrate and distort the opposition to state-foundation-corporate driven development. After the City Council refused to consider the offer by the state to lease the island, Gov. Rick Snyder said he was pulling the deal off the table. The central ...

After laying out a progressive agenda for his second term in his inaugural address, President Obama followed up with a series of specific proposals in his State of the Union address Feb. 12 that include increasing and indexing the minimum wage, repairing deteriorated infrastructure, and investing in education and clean energy. ...

Tom Barrow, C.P.A., is a life-long Detroiter who started his own accounting firm. He ran against Mayor Coleman Young in 1985 and again in 1989. He ran against Dave Bing in 2009. Barrow is a 2013 mayoral candidate. He challenges the notion of a city financial “crisis” and believes much of fiscal woes are due to poor administrative oversight. Barrow says he would undo much of the outsourcing, privatizing and ...

“We’re fighting for ourselves and our civil rights,” Helen Moore of Keep the Vote/No Takevoer, announced to the group of students, parents and public education advocates on the bus upon reaching the nation’s capital the morning of Jan. 29. Turning to the students who attend Detroit Public Schools and the state district Education Achievement Authority schools — including Mumford, Cody, Central and Henry Ford ...