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Last week I talked to a woman in an accounting office about an issue involving an electronic tax payment.

“I’ll take care of that Monday,” she told me.

"I don’t think you can," I said. "Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday."

“What?“ she said. “Oh, that. I don’t celebrate that,” she said with a tone of annoyance.

It wasn’t her holiday, she wanted me to know, and she thought it was highly inappropriate for anybody to get a day off, and for government offices and banks to be closed.

You won’t be surprised to learn that she wasn’t African-American. Nor that she didn’t know much, really, about Dr. Martin Luther King. However, I’m not sure that a lot of the people who do enthusiastically celebrate it know much about him either.

Awaiting the SOS

Governor Rick Snyder delivers his first State of the State address on Wednesday night to a joint session of the Michigan Legislature. There’s a lot of anticipation for details about how the governor plans to revive the state’s economy but, Snyder is not expected to give specific plans for the state budget until next month, Laura Weber reports. Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer will deliver the Democratic response after Governor Snyder’s address.

UAW Members to D.C.

Some 1,000 members of the United Auto Workers union will be in Washington, D.C. today for the beginning of a four-day conference.  The UAW says attendees will discuss the union’s legislative and political priorities for the coming year and prepare for the 2012 electoral campaign. The meeting will open with a speech from UAW President Bob King and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (CA-D) is also expected to speak.

Remembering MLK, Jr.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  The day, which falls on the third Monday of each January, is a federal holiday that marks the January 15th birthday of Dr. King. Mark Brush has a nice piece this morning that explores the legacy of Dr. King, particularly in the light of the Arizona shooting that killed 6 and injured U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords among others. Brush is asking for your thoughts about the day and it what means to you.

The recent attempt on Representative Gabrielle Giffords life sparked new debate about the state of public discourse in our country. How could this have happened? What does this type of violence say about us? Have we reached a breaking point?

As the news rolled in, and it appears the violence might have been the work of a mad-man, hearts were still broken, but there seemed to be some relief that the act seemed less about our politics, and more about a lost soul.

Events like these are unsettling, and it often makes me wonder what it was like for Americans when the violence was more directly tied to our political discourse.

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was shot and killed in Memphis in 1968. Violent riots followed in what surely must've felt like an unraveling of American society.

Two communities in West Michigan are trying an online coupon program to help spur the economy. The program called ‘Try it local’ is similar to Group-on.

Governor Rick Snyder will deliver his first State of the State address to a joint session of the state Legislature on Wednesday evening. Laura Weber is in Lansing and sent this report:

Governor Snyder is expected to focus his speech on Michigan’s economic future. But the governor is not expected to give specific plans for the state budget until next month. Democratic House Minority Leader Richard Hammel says he has not heard enough details yet from Snyder.

I mean, there’s been a whole lot of talk about moving Michigan forward, and not looking in the rearview mirror and reinventing Michigan, and I think that’s wonderful. We all feel that way. But we’re waiting for details before we can really react.

Snyder has said all areas of state government will be considered for further budget cuts to close a nearly $2 billion dollar estimated deficit.

Members of the United Auto Workers union will be on Capitol Hill today in Washington, D.C.. Some 1,000 union members will be there for a four-day legislative meeting.  As the Associate Press reports:

They'll be hearing from UAW President Bob King on Monday on the start of the four-day conference. The Detroit News says King plans to talk about efforts to persuade non-U.S. automakers to make it easier to unionize their U.S. plants.

In a statement, the UAW said, those at the meeting will:

...discuss the union's legislative and political priorities for the coming year, meet with members of Congress to advocate on behalf of working families and prepare for the union's 2012 electoral campaign.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is expected to speak at the conference.

The money the state sends to local governments is called revenue sharing.  But "sharing" might not be quite the right word.  It’s actually a promise, a deal the state made with the towns we live in. 

Summer Minnick is with the Michigan Municipal League.  It represents the interests of the cities, villages and townships to state leaders.  She says decades ago, local governments gave up the power to charge their own sales tax to raise money.

Michigan State University will unveil a new exhibit on Monday that uses art and sound to explore Martin Luther King Junior’s dream of racial equality.

Jackson County Commissioners are considering tough new regulations for owners of dogs that attack.

James Shotwell is chairman of the commission. He says a judge will determine whether a dog owner will have to get one hundred thousand dollars of liability coverage for the animal.

"The language is something that is established by the courts, after the person is cited with the animal repeatedly," Shotwell says.  "So it’s not like everyone who has a pit bull or has a vicious dog has to have liability insurance. That’s not what we’re saying.”

This Wednesday, the Michigan Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that may determine if police officers have an expectation of privacy when they are doing their jobs.

It all started with a video.

Detroit city police and members of former Mayor Dennis Archer’s staff wanted to prevent a sexually explicit video from being played at a Dr. Dre concert in July 2000.

A camera crew for the rapper videotaped police officers saying they would pull the plug on the concert.

Former police officer, and current Detroit City Council president pro-tem Gary Brown, is seen on the video saying "we're going to shut this show down."

Eventually, Dr Dre decided not to show the video police were concerned about.

But the video of the police officers making their threats was put onto a concert DVD.

Thanks to YouTube user "snoopfroggydogg," you can see the "Detroit Controversy" videos here (WARNING: they contain images and words not suitable for younger viewers):

Detroit city officials sued, claiming the DVD makers violated Michigan’s anti-eavesdropping law by putting the video on the DVD without their permission.

The city officials and police officers claim their privacy was invaded by being videotaped and the video being shown publicly.

Attorney Herschel Fink represents the DVD’s producers. He says police officers have no 'right to privacy when they’re doing their job:

"I think the very essence of law enforcement is transparency...and I think this case has implications for mainstream news gathering and not just private citizens who are videotaping police berating them which was the case here."

Lower courts have tended to side with the DVD producers.

Michigan Radio news intern Bridget Bodnar filed a report on a new study published in the Journal of Personality.

The study found that young people prefer praise over things like sex, favorite foods, seeing a best friend, getting a paycheck, or drinking alcohol.

Ohio State University put out a press release on the new research. From the release:

La Shish Restaurants were once famous in Michigan for good middle eastern cuisine. But the restaurants closed when La Shish's owner got into legal trouble and fled the country.

Now, Jeff Karoub reports for the Associated Press that the La Shish name will come back to Dearborn:

Restaurateur Carmel Halloun said Friday that he's acquired the rights to use the La Shish name and plans to open a restaurant in March in the former chain's first location in Dearborn.

The name doesn't come without baggage. The La Shish chain of restaurants closed when the former owner, Talal Chahine, fled the U.S. Karoub writes that in 2005 Chahine "was charged with multiple counts of tax evasion and citizenship fraud."

The new owner of the La Shish name says he thinks enough time has passed. From Karoub's article:

Halloun said he knows people loved the food and is willing to take a chance. He said he wouldn't reopen at La Shish's first location without the restaurant's original name. "I want people to come back," he said.

Many Michigan school districts are struggling to stay afloat.  Some have to borrow money to pay employees.

The city of Albion boomed in the 1950s and ‘60s, but fell into a steady decline in the 1970s when auto-related industries began to close.

Albion’s population shrank and so did the property taxes the school district depends on.

To make matters worse, state revenue sharing has been in tumult the past several years.

John Waugh is Albion Public Schools’ accounting supervisor.

Last year the number of passengers traveling through Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids went up more than 20%. The airport served more than 2.1 million passengers in 2010; a new record for Michigan’s second largest airport. 

Bruce Schedlbauer is a spokesman for Ford Airport. He thanks a combination of factors. Foremost, he says a more stable economy helped boost the numbers.