Sarah Cwiek

Governor Snyder will name an emergency financial manager for Detroit today and groups that oppose the move are gearing up.

Some Detroiters fiercely believe that an emergency manager would be an illegal action that deprives them of local control.

Tom Barrow is a former Detroit mayoral candidate with the group Citizens for Detroit’s Future.

He says some people have vowed what sounds like an insurrection.

In a weird twist of fate, two remarkable events in Detroit’s recent history are happening at virtually the same time.

Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted of multiple federal corruption charges Monday. And Governor Snyder is expected to appoint an emergency financial manager within days.

The timing is a coincidence, but there’s some connection between the two events—and a lot of symbolism.

The Detroit City Council will press a challenge to Governor Snyder’s decision appointing an emergency financial manager—but they’ll do so without Mayor Dave Bing’s support.

The Council voted to approve that challenge Wednesday afternoon. Bing then held a late afternoon press conference declaring his opposition to the Council's tactics.

“I tried to figure out a way to support the Council in their efforts to appeal the Governor’s decision and to challenge the Financial Review Team’s assertion that we did not have a plan in place to fiscally stabilize the City,” Bing told reporters.

Detroit city officials are struggling to come up with a unified response to Governor Snyder’s decision to appoint an emergency financial manager.

They now have less than a week to decide if they want to challenge that. If they do, Governor Snyder has said a hearing will be held March 12.

Most members of the City Council want to at least pursue a public hearing challenging Snyder’s decision. But several say that’s difficult because Detroit mayor Dave Bing hasn’t publicly declared his position.

Governor Snyder announced last week that he’ll appoint an emergency manager for the city of Detroit.

That means an unelected person will have sweeping powers to try and stop Detroit’s financial hemorrhaging.

Of course, emergency managers are controversial. And though they don’t have a choice in the matter, Detroiters are very much divided about whether this is a good thing.

A Detroit mayoral candidate says a state financial review team vastly overstates the city’s debt burden—and their motives are political.

Lisa Howze, a former state representative and an accountant, says her own calculations show the city’s debt load is just a little over $2 billion.

In its report outlining Detroit’s financial emergency, the state review team put the number at closer to $15 billion. Their report is now in Governor Snyder’s hands as he decides whether to appoint an emergency manager for the city.

It’s not a surprise, but it is official: Mike Duggan wants to be Detroit’s next mayor.

Duggan was CEO of the Detroit Medical Center until recently. He’s spent the last few months laying the groundwork for a mayoral run.

At an official campaign kickoff Tuesday evening, Duggan touted his credentials as a turnaround artist in both the public and private sectors.

He told the crowd Governor Snyder shouldn’t appoint an emergency manager for Detroit, because that won't solve the city's financial problems.

And he says even if the Governor does appoint one, he'll be ready to challenge the appointment if he's elected mayor.

"We’re going to bring the talents of this community together," Duggan said. "And we’re going to put together such a powerful turnaround team, that we'll go to the Governor in a positive way and say, ‘We don’t need an emergency manager.'"

Duggan has been a longtime player in Detroit politics, though he only moved to the city recently. He’s lined up some influential supporters, including ministers, two former Detroit police chiefs, and business leaders.

Duggan’s run has drawn a lot of attention, in part because he’s the first white candidate for Detroit mayor in decades.

Duggan didn’t address that directly, though he--and some of his African-American supporters--said his candidacy "shouldn't be about color."

Duggan did say that Detroit should be open to anyone who wants to help rebuild the city: “Whether you were born in this city or you were born in another country, if you want to come to Detroit to be part of our future, you are just as welcome as anybody else.”

Despite the likely appointment of an emergency manager--and a very uncertain future for Detroit's elected officials--the mayor's race has gotten rather crowded.

In addition to Duggan, former State Representatives Lisa Howze and Fred Durhal are running, as is former Detroit corporation counsel Krystal Crittendon. Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon is also widely expected to jump in the race.

And Detroit mayor Dave Bing has so far refused to say whether he'll seek re-election.

A study by researchers at the University of Michigan links lead exposure in children to lower achievement on standardized tests.

It's published in the March issue of the American Journal of Public Health.  Click here to read the study. 

From the study:

Detroit has an extensive lead poisoning problem. Although only 20% of Michigan’s children younger than 5 years lived in Detroit in 2010, childhood lead poisoning in Detroit has consistently accounted for more than 50 percent of the state’s total lead burden.

Detroit Free Press reporter Keith Matheny's article explores the research further and the schools affected.

The greater the lead poisoning in a Detroit Public Schools student's blood, the higher the likelihood he or she will do poorly on achievement tests -- even after accounting for contributing factors such as poverty. That's the finding of a collaborative study that provides one of the most detailed assessments yet of the impact of lead poisoning on students' learning ability.

It appears that officials might be laying the groundwork for a so-called “managed bankruptcy” in Detroit—though it’s something they hope won’t actually happen.

A process for going through Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy is laid out in the state’s new emergency manager law that kicks in next month. And it could happen even if Governor Snyder appoints an emergency manager for Detroit.

Both state and city officials used to say that bankruptcy was completely off the table for Detroit.

The Education Achievement Authority says new data show students in that school district are making progress.

The EAA is a state-run district for the lowest-performing schools. It launched just this school year with 15 former Detroit public schools.

The district gave all students a Scantron Performance Series benchmark test at the start of the year, to establish baseline skill levels. Students in grades 2-9 were just tested again in late January and early February.

Results show that 27% of students have made what the district counts as one year’s worth of progress in just a few months. 22% have made the same level of progress in math.

Overall, the district says 48% of students are “on track” to achieve at least that much progress in reading, and 43% in math, by the end of the school year.

EAA Chancellor John Covington says in the district’s eyes, those numbers equal success.

“It takes time for all of us to learn this new way of doing things,” Covington said. “And so with that being true, we were thinking at least 50% [making grade-level progress] in the first year. And we’re getting pretty close to that.”

Covington says these results show the EAA computer-based curriculum of “student-centered learning”-- based on “meeting students where they are" at “instructional levels” rather than typical grades--can help even the lowest-performing students improve.

This is the first real batch of data to come out of the EAA.

MEAP tests for grades K-9, administered last fall, showed “minimal proficiency levels,” Covington said. High school students won’t be tested until March.

The state’s attempt to create a “recovery district” for Michigan’s lowest-performing has been controversial for various reasons.

Many are leery of the idea of the state seizing locally-controlled schools—especially Detroit Public Schools, which have a troubled history of state intervention.

The district isn’t currently operating under state law, but rather an interlocal agreement between the Detroit Public Schools and Eastern Michigan University.

Governor Snyder says codifying the district into state law—and expanding its reach statewide—is one of his priorities for this legislative term. An effort to do so in last year’s lame duck session failed.

Most Detroit residents and Detroit-watchers are resigned to the fact that it's likely a matter of when, not if, Governor Snyder will appoint an emergency manager for the city.

Nobody was surprised when a state financial review team found Detroit is in a “local government financial emergency” and that the city’s current leadership “lacks a plan” to deal with it.

Detroit’s elected school board will have short-lived authority over some key decisions.

A Wayne County judge ruled Wednesday that the district’s emergency financial manager had exceeded his authority on some issues.

Judge Annette Berry said Roy Roberts must consult with the school board on school closings, security, and some other issues.

Roberts is supposed to share authority with the school board. He oversees finances, while the board supervises academics.

But the two are hard to separate, and both sides have brought court cases over how that should work in practice

Detroit school board President Lamar Lemmons says the ruling granting board members a partial injunction proves Roberts overstepped his authority.

"He’s used the fact that he’s had financial authority to, if you will, bully the staff into cooperating with him,” Lemmons said.  “And for all intents and purposes, ignoring the board and its designated superintendent.”

The arrangement will be short-lived, though. A new emergency manager law kicks into effect on March 28th, once again giving Roberts broad powers over the whole district.

Lemmons says the board plans a court challenge to the new law.

We should know more about Detroit’s grim financial situation on Tuesday.

That’s when Governor Snyder is expected to receive a long-awaited report on the city’s finances.

A state-appointed review team began the process in December. Governor Snyder gave the group an extension because he wanted them to take a deep dive into Detroit’s long-term debt--estimated at more than $12 billion.

Snyder's office declined comment on Monday. But speaking to reporters a couple of weeks ago, the Governor said he’ll move quickly after he gets the report.

“It will probably take a week or two for me to make a full analysis of the report, and then decisions will be made,” Snyder said. “My reputation is not one to be sitting on things rather than making decisions.”

It’s widely expected that the report will depict a city on the brink of insolvency, a mayor and City Council unable to handle it—and suggest further state intervention.

Detroit has had a “financial stability agreement” with Lansing for nearly a year, but the city’s financial picture has only worsened since then.

Snyder has acknowledged interviewing candidates to potentially serve as the city’s emergency manager.

An advocate for the disabled will represent Detroit on a new regional transit authority board.

Mayor Dave Bing announced his selection of Lisa Franklin during his state of the city address last week.

Franklin is the President of Warriors on Wheels. That group has built expertise and credibility as they’ve fought to draw attention to systemic dysfunction in Detroit’s transit system, particularly for the disabled.

Franklin said she’s genuinely excited about her appointment. She believes the authority’s first overarching task is to outline a unified vision for mass transit in Metro Detroit.

“Personally, I would like for us to all sit down and figure out what we want. The best possible service that we can have,” Franklin said. “And then from that point we need to figure out how to connect all of the dots, and then figure out how much it will cost and how we can pay for it.”

Franklin also brings her perspective as a Detroiter who relies on transit. She said one of her main concerns will be how to build a functional and unified public transit system overburdening the low-income people who rely on transit the most.

“I’m hoping that we can connect all of the counties, so that people can go to work, go to doctor’s appointments, without any limitations,” Franklin said.

Governor Snyder just signed Regional Transit Authority was signed into law just last December, and likely won’t start meeting for several more months.

It joins representatives from Wayne, Washtenaw, Oakland and Macomb counties and the city of Detroit to coordinate Metro Detroit’s historically fragmented public transit systems.

The authority likely won’t get rolling until later this year. Besides Detroit, only Washtenaw county has appointed representatives. Once the full board is seated, they’ll need to pick a director.

The U.S. Department of Transportation had withheld millions to build up Detroit area transit--including a proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) line--until an RTA was formed.

If you’ve driven on any Metro Detroit’s major highways recently, you may have spent some time in the dark.

That’s because the region’s highways have been plagued by some recurring power outages.

The outages have hit most major highways in and around the city, especially portions of I-94 and I-96.

In some cases, whole stretches of highway have repeatedly gone completely dark.

Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi said MDOT has removed some streetlights because they were old and unsound, and lost others to accidents.

But Morosi says the bigger issue is thieves who target transformer cabinets beside the highways, particularly for their copper wire--which can be sold for scrap.

“And we’re seeing an increase in copper theft in and around the metro Detroit area, and most of these lighting outages can be attributed to that theft,” Morosi said.

Morosi says MDOT is trying to fix the problems, but funding is tight and repairs are expensive.

“At this point in time, funding is an issue for this department,” Morosi said. “Infrastructure investment is obviously something we’re keeping a close eye on, and we’re hoping something can be done in Lansing.”

MDOT officials also hope proposed legislation to crack down on scrapyards will help out.

Morosi says it’s difficult to put a price tag on fixing the problem because “it’s such a moving target.”

Nearly all major freeways have been affected, and Morosi estimates as many as 20 percent of the freeway lights around Metro Detroit aren’t working for one reason or another.