Tagged: newsmaker interviews

Dayne Walling was elected to a second term as Flint’s mayor last week, and since then was told his city is facing a financial emergency.

Michigan Radio's Jennifer White spoke with Walling about the situation.

Walling said he has a lot of questions about how things will unfold, and added, "the Governor and Treasurer have pledged for this to be a collaborative process, but I know that can mean a lot of different things to different individuals."

“I’m prepared to play any positive role that I can in this position," said Walling.

Mayor Walling also gave suggestions on how to work with city leaders and residents.

The Emergency Unemployment Compensation and Extended Benefits programs are set to expire at the end of the year. The programs provide up to 73 weeks of additional unemployment benefits. If the programs are not extended more than 2 million Americans will be cut off from benefits by February with another 6 million losing benefits by the end of 2012.

Democratic Congressman, Sander Levin, is a ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee. He’s calling for a swift extension of the programs.

A week from today, Michigan voters head to the polls for a number of millage and mayoral elections. In Genesee County, there will also be a recall for Republican State Representative, Paul Scott. He serves as chairman of the House Education Committee.

In this interview, Michigan Radio's Jennifer White asks Rep. Scott why he thinks he has been targeted for recall and what he plans to do over the next week to try and keep his seat.

The U.S. Senate will soon vote on a bill that would punish China, and other countries, for manipulating their currency. U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat from Michigan, has been leading the charge on the legislation.

We are now just a few days into the state’s new fiscal year. State Budget Director, John Nixon gives us an update on the state of Michigan’s finances.

Nixon says many states relied on federal stimulus money, and now it's time to look at other options.

“We had a huge infusion of stimulus money and then there was a big cliff because once that stimulus money went away all the states are scrambling saying, “oh my gosh how do we keep our programs whole?” Well that’s what we’ve done. We cut a billion and a half dollars of spending out the budget and we balanced the budget.”

In 2010, Grand Rapids was named the most sustainable mid-sized city in the U. S., by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic leadership Center and Siemens Corp. When he took office in 2004, Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell implemented what he calls a “triple bottom-line sustainability planning process. ” He talks with Michigan Radio's Jennifer White about what it takes to create a long term sustainable future for the city.