Browsing Tag
A2Politico
by P.D. Lesko
Guess what you can get in Michigan for a $10,000 donation to Rick Snyder's campaign? You can get $18,000,000 in state money to bail you out when your project crashes and burns just 10 months after it's launched. You can also…
Ann Arbor School Officials First Deny Having Actual Enrollment Numbers—After Multiple FOIAs & 72 Days Officials Relinquish Numbers
by P.D. Lesko
On December 13, 2011, A2Politico posted a piece titled, "30? 40? 50? Ann Arbor Officials Have No Idea Exactly How Many Kids Are In District Classrooms." For several days, it was among the top 5 most clicked headlines in the…
Reader’s Choose The 2011 Whopper of the Year Award
It's time for readers to help choose the A2Politico.com Whopper of the Year Award winner. A2Politico.com gave the 2010 Whopper of the Year to former City Administrator Roger Fraser. For 24 months, Fraser fibbed to Ann Arbor residents…
A Local Political Machine Gets Sabotaged From Within — Again
by P.D. Lesko
How many direct hits from within can the Hieftje-Hive-Mind-Collective Cube withstand?
In summer 2009, the Cube took its first hit from within: Ann Arbor residents woke up to a front page piece in the Ann Arbor News that was…
The Parent Trap: Trippin’ With Six — Travel With Kids
by Betsy McMillin
This article is my Holiday gift to you. No advice, no deep thoughts, just the gift of a thought: "Thank God I don't have to travel with six kids."
Many of you will be traveling soon, by car, plane, train. And yes, we all…
Savaged: Mainstream Media’s Love (Free Content) Hate (Scooped Again!) Relationship With Citizen Journalists
By Chris Savage
By some estimates, there are close to two hundred million blogs in the world, about half of which are in the United States. This number is growing each year. At the same time, the size and number of what are considered…
30? 40? 50? — Ann Arbor School Officials Have No Idea Exactly How Many Kids Are In District Classrooms
by P.D. Lesko
Class size: one time when size does matter. Research on the success of K-12 students has concluded definitively that class sizes impact the performance of all students. Kids learn better in small classes. According to…
The Culture Vulture: Movie Review—The Descendants
by William Belle
I'm repeating myself. (Repeating yourself is a sign of senility. If I've said that once, I've said it a thousand times.) The best films I've seen do not necessarily involve a car chase scene. The special effects are…
The Culture Vulture: Gangster Movie Madness
by Nick Leshi
Even though they are often fraught with stereotypes, gangster movies are still one of my all-time guilty pleasures. Some of my favorite films are in that genre: The Godfather, Carlito's Way, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, TV's …
Why Is Ann Arbor’s State Senator Accepting Free Meals From the City’s Own Lobbyist?
by P.D. Lesko
In September 2011, MLive political analyst Susan J. Demas outed Democratic State Senator Rebekah Warren (left) as one of only four Michigan legislators who had accepted more than $1,800 in free food and drinks from lobbyists…