Tagged: Stateside

We talked with Marvin Gaye's little sister about a stage performance ("My Brother Marvin") on his life.

Take a listen to our conversation above.

Universities across the country are opening up campus housing to transgender students and it's happening right here in Michigan.

The University of Michigan housing has announced it will set aside a block of gender neutral rooms for transgender and gender non-conforming students in the fall of 2013, as a part of the gender inclusive living experience.

We speak with Amy Navvab, a student at the University of Michigan and Chair of the Open Housing Initiative, and Amanda Hobson, Residential Coordinator at Ohio University where gender neutral housing is already available to students.

Listen to the interview above.

Last night, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing reaffirmed the city’s financial troubles, outlined some of the ways his administration has worked to cut costs and still maintain basic city services and introduced programs to demolish the Brewster projects and establish a Detroit Blight Authority.

The Mayor said the story of Detroit is not all doom and gloom and quote, "we can’t – we won’t give up on our city," he said.

Mayor Bing joined us today.

And we talked with Michigan Radio's Detroit reporter Sarah Cwiek about Bing and his speech.

Take a listen to our conversation with him above.

On today's Stateside:

• Last night Detroit Mayor Dave Bing reaffirmed the city’s financial troubles, outlined some of the ways his administration has worked to cut costs and still maintain basic city services. He introduced programs to demolish the Brewster housing project and establish a Detroit Blight Authority. The Mayor said the story of Detroit is not all doom and gloom and quote, “We can’t – we won’t give up on our city.”

• And universities across the country are opening up campus housing to transgender students and it's happening right here in Michigan. We'll talk about gender inclusive campus housing.
• And, we'll be talking with Marvin Gaye's little sister about a stage performance on his life.

• And, it's Valentines Day! We'll bring your stories of love and disappointment.
  

The Syrian conflict seems distant to most of us, but one of the opposition leaders lives here in Michigan.

She's one of the few women within the effort seeking to overturn the Assad regime.

Click the audio above to hear our conversation with her.

Lester Graham fills in for Cyndy. He talks the "State of the Union" and global warming with Donald Scavia, Donald Scavia is the Director of the University of Michigan Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute.

And he talks "State of the City" of Detroit with Daniel Howes of the Detroit News, and Michigan Radio political analyst Jack Lessenberry.

Click the audio above to hear their conversation.

Today on Stateside, Lester Graham fills in for Cyndy. He talks the "State of the Union" and the "State of the City" of Detroit with Daniel Howes of the Detroit News, and Michigan Radio political analyst Jack Lessenberry.

Also, yesterday we talked to a policy expert, a teacher educator and a high school principal about how to hold teachers accountable and get them better prepared for the classroom. Today, we talk to a "Teacher of the Year" finalist about education in Michigan.

And, dog sledding in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Get ready for the UP 200!

The following is a summary of a previously recorded interview. To hear the complete segment, click the audio above.

After the Center for Michigan released its big report on public education in Michigan last month, one of the big themes that emerged for discussion was how to evaluate teachers, and how to better prepare teachers to do their jobs.

We wanted to bring a teacher into the discussion, so we brought in Robert Stephenson.

He taught elementary school for 18 years in Okemos, and he is currently an administrator at Donley Elementary School in East Lansing.

Robert Stephenson was also one of the top five finalists for National Teacher of the Year in 2010.

The report from the Center for Michigan took the thoughts and opinions of people all over the state.

Four out of every five people say they want teachers to be better prepared for the classroom, and two out of three said "we need to hold teachers more accountable."

We asked Stephenson about teacher evaluation, and about what's  missing when it comes to preparing teachers to stand in front of that classroom.

The following is a summary of a previously recorded interview. To hear the complete segment, click the audio above.

Last month, The Center for Michigan, a non-partisan, non-profit think tank, released its major report on K-12 public education in our state.

It was the largest effort ever to collect and analyze what the public thinks about Michigan schools and teachers.

As we heard here on Stateside, that report was based on hundreds of meetings with people all over the state.

And emerging from those discussions was a clear theme: the best way to improve Michigan schools is to improve the skills of the person standing at the front of the classroom.

Two-thirds of Michiganders say we need to hold teachers more accountable.

Four out of every five say they want teachers to be better prepared for the classroom.

Cyndy spoke with a high school principal, an education expert and a professor of teacher education to make sense of these statistics.