The state of Kentucky used occupational licensing laws to shut down an advice columnist, according to an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.
"Was Dear Abby a career criminal? Can 'The Dr. Oz Show' show be censored? Absolutely — at least according to the Kentucky attorney general and the state's Board of Examiners of Psychology, which just banned one of the most popular advice columns in the United States from all of Kentucky's newspapers," wrote Paul Sherman and Jeff Rowe, attorneys with the Institute for Justice, who are representing the columnist.
People embracing civil society is helping Detroit receive services where the city government has failed, according to Fox News, including volunteers who mow grass in city parks, a charter bus company and a civilian organization that helps board up abandoned buildings.
Detroit-area members of the media have high praise for Michigan Capitol Confidential in a story about the Center’s news outlet posted today at Columbia Journalism Review.
Bill Shea of Crain’s Detroit Business told CJR that the Mackinac Center is a “professional and responsive” organization and “a serious player in the state conversation,” noting that he thinks “It’s hard not to use them” as a source.
Although the Legislature is in a summer recess with occasional pro forma sessions and no votes expected until July 17 at the earliest, this week did see an attempt in the Senate to advance the Medicaid expansion bill to the Senate floor. This report contains the vote on that, and some recent votes of interest not included in previous issues for reasons of space.
In the Mackinac Center’s most recent bimonthly magazine IMPACT, my colleague Michael LaFaive has an interesting piece dealing with personal finance. It is worth extrapolating on some of the points.
In the article “Will Financial Illiteracy Harm Future Voters?” LaFaive wrote:
Education Policy Director Audrey Spalding was cited in the Port Huron Times-Herald on recent talk about school consolidation and her commentary on the matter appears in the Manistee News Advocate (subscription required).
Spalding told the Times-Herald she didn’t think countywide school districts would bring the savings proponents claim.
An Op-Ed by Editor Lindsey Dodge and Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh explaining why Medicaid expansion is wrong for Michigan appears in The Detroit News today.
For more analysis and commentary on the matter, see here.
Executive Vice President Michael J. Reitz was a guest on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing today, talking about the Center’s upcoming series of town hall meetings focusing on government transparency, the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act.
Detroit-area media are widely touting the accomplishments of Thirkell Elementary School, which is the top-ranked school on the Mackinac Center’s new Elementary and Middle School Context and Performance report card. Thirkell is one of eight in Detroit Public Schools that placed among the top 100 on the report card. Some 2,300 schools statewide were ranked.
Once again, Michigan education officials are floating the idea of school district consolidation as a cost-savings measure. This time, State Superintendent Mike Flanagan is proposing that school districts be required to centralize certain services at the county or regional level.
A crackdown on Dearborn residents using their own garages as “living spaces” has resulted in national coverage — and outrage.
The city planning commission claims the ordinance is there to prevent (in the words of one commissioner) “eyesores” like sliding doors on garages and “chaos” from more cars being parked on the streets.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new "Context and Performance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into standardized test scores for over 2,000 public elementary and middle schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Here's a list of the top performing rural elementary and middle schools on the report card.
The Center’s labor policy expert does not think a recent Michigan Supreme Court decision not to issue an advisory opinion on the state’s new right-to-work law reflects poorly on the law, but it does have a negative impact on civil service employees, according to The Detroit News.
While State Superintendent Michael Flanagan wants to explore the idea of school district consolidation that would include countywide districts because he believes it will save money, according to the Detroit Free Press, Mackinac Center analysts have already answered that question.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new "Context and Performance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into standardized test scores for more than 2,000 public elementary and middle schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Here's a list of the top performing town elementary and middle schools on the report card.
Although the Legislature is in a summer recess with occasional pro forma sessions and no votes expected until July 17 at the earliest, this week did see an attempt in the Senate to advance the Medicaid expansion bill to the Senate floor. This report contains the vote on that, and some recent votes of interest not included in previous issues for reasons of space.
MLive, The Kalamazoo Gazette, Michigan Public Radio, WATZ AM1450 in Alpena, The Grand Rapids Press and The Flint Journal are all reporting on the Mackinac Center’s newly released elementary and middle school report card. Julie Mack, education reporter for The Kalamazoo Gazette, wrote a separate column about the report card.
By Jack McHugh
Mackinac Center analysts have argued that if Michigan legislators adopt the Obamacare Medicaid expansion it reduces the likelihood of this vulnerable law being amended next year, perhaps in ways that significantly reduce the harm we believe it will cause.
Gaps in educational outcomes between Detroit Public Schools students and those in other school districts around the state have been a sad, prolonged reality. Differences between schools within the city, however, are less well known. These differences can be found in the Mackinac Center’s new Elementary and Middle School report card. The report card compares student educational outcomes while controlling for socio-economic status.
This week we will mark the 237th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. A day or two off from work, travel, leisure and firework displays are among the usual ways to celebrate the occasion.
At the various 4th of July events across the land, two words of enduring importance will be repeated — freedom and liberty. To what extant they'll be spoken in sincerity and fully appreciated by listeners is a question worth considering.
By Jack McHugh
(Editor’s note: The following is an edited version of Senior Legislative Analyst Jack McHugh’s testimony submitted to the Michigan Senate Government Operations Committee on Wednesday.)
People should understand the real reason we're here today. It's not "to help the poor," or because "Obamacare is the law," or because the reforms the House bill would supposedly require are so awesome.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy's new "Context and Performance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into standardized test scores for over 2,000 public elementary and middle schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Here's a list of the top performing suburban elementary and middle schools on the report card.
The Mackinac Center recently released its first ever Elementary and Middle School Context and Performance Report Card. It not only takes into account the test scores of students, but also factors in socioeconomic status, making the ranking a true determinant of how a school is doing with the resources it has. You can see how the school in your area scored by going to the searchable database here.
Our new "Context and Performance" Report Card factors student poverty levels into standardized test scores for more than 2,000 public elementary and middle schools in Michigan and ranks the schools accordingly.
Here's a list of the top performing city elementary and middle schools on our report card.
Editor's note: Much of the following is derived and in some cases directly quoted from previous Mackinac Center articles, studies and blog posts.
-- According to the “official” state numbers, starting in 2020 the Medicaid expansion will impose $300 million in annual costs on Michigan taxpayers. That money will have to come from either tax hikes or cuts to current government services. Gov. Snyder proposes placing half of any short-term savings in a lockbox to cover these future cost increases. >>> https://www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa/Publications/Issues/MedicaidExpansion/MedicaidExpansionProposal.pdf
