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RECENT POSTS

February 10, 2012 | 9:39 AM | By Dustin Dwyer

Midwest Memo: Breaking Down The Foreclosure Settlement Numbers, Right To Work In Ohio And A Surplus In Michigan

Follow the money Yesterday, the federal government announced a $25 billion settlement with mortgage companies who are accused of improperly handling foreclosures during the housing crisis. $1 billion of that amount will go to Illinois. $790 million will go to Michigan. $335 million will go to Ohio. $145 million will go to Indiana. And $140 million will go to Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker announced that part of the money will go toward filling the state’s budget deficit. It’s a controversial decision.

Budget cuts? Who needs ‘em? Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced his budget plans yesterday. The state is projecting a surplus this year. Snyder proposes spending a little extra money on education, if student performance goals can be met. He’s also proposing a spending increase for public safety, and saving $130 million for a rainy day fund.

A Right to Work battle for Ohio? Partner station WCPN Ideastream reports that activists in Ohio are gathering signatures to put a Right to Work measure on the ballot for a vote. Organizers say it will be a challenge to gather enough signatures to get the issue on this year’s ballot, but they believe they can get it on in 2013.

Taking back the street The Detroit Free Press has a fascinating story about how a group of neighbors in Southwest Detroit managed to get a drug dealer on their street put behind bars.

Health care investment The Detroit Medical Center is planning a new $50 million facility in the suburb of Royal Oak.

Car show The Chicago Auto Show opens today. Partner station WBEZ has a look at what to expect.

FILED UNDER: Midwest Memo, auto show, budget, Detroit Medical Center, foreclosure settlement, foreclosures, Right to Work
February 8, 2012 | 5:06 AM | By Niala Boodhoo

Originally Exempt From State Cuts, Wisconsin Police And Firefighters Now Face Changes Too

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This is the second in a two-part series about what’s changed for public workers in Wisconsin, one year after labor protests gripped the state (part one is here).

Brian Austin is a Madison police detective. When he's not working, he's been active in protests against Gov. Scott Walker (Niala Boodhoo)

The Capitol building in Madison is amazing – anyone can just walk in. And in Madison, people often do just visit, like Brian Austin, who often brings his children here.

Austin is a detective with the City of Madison’s police department. He was also one of the tens of thousands who packed this building in protest when Gov. Walker proposed limiting union rights for public workers. The law – Act 10 – passed anyway. So Austin says when he goes into the building now, he can’t help think of it as a “completely different” building – and he means that in both a positive and a negative way.

His ambivalence is because he says Walker has brought the Wisconsin workers together – even though they’re suffering now.

The Wisconsin state worker’s union estimates that some 22,000 public employees are taking home 13 percent less pay since the law has taken effect. As it was written, public safety workers like police officers were supposed to be exempt.

But now, police and firefighters are finding, they, too, are facing increased pension and health care costs.

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Government, Industry, Politics, Act 10, budget, Public employees, recall, Scott Walker, Wisconsin
November 16, 2011 | 3:07 PM | By Micki Maynard

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Scores A Big Political Victory

Rahm Emanuel has only been in office since May, but today he scored his first major political victory. Chicago’s city council voted 50-0 in favor of a budget plan that calls for fee increases, layoffs and major changes in the way the city does business.

That isn’t to say all the aldermen liked it. During two hours of debate, there were complaints about aspects of the plan that will close libraries and close six mental health clinics.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

But there also was praise for Emanuel for working closely with city council members on his proposal to address a $635 million deficit. Ed Burke, considered the city’s most powerful alderman, said the budget process was the most cooperative he had seen in 42 years.

While he was working on the plan, Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, said he was no longer going to “kick the can down the road” on the city’s problems  — a veiled reference to his predecessor, and political mentor, Richard M. Daley. (I looked at Emanuel and Daley in this story for Atlantic Cities last month.)

In Wednesday’s debate, Alderman Richard Mell told the mayor, “It’s obvious that when you we’re a kid, you never learned the game of kick the can. Everybody felt the pain. The only way you are going to make the gain is to feel the pain.”

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FILED UNDER: Communities, Government, Jobs, Politics, budget, Chicago, Rahm Emanuel