News

Detroit to get $21M from Feds to fight blight

October 28, 2015 | The Detroit News

Lansing — The Michigan State Housing Development Authority on Wednesday redirected $32.7 million in federal funds intended for preventing residential foreclosures toward the demolition of blighted buildings in Detroit and Flint.

The state authority’s board voted on the recommendation during a Wednesday meeting.

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Ananich blasts former emergency manager for Flint water switch ‘fairy tale’

October 28, 2015 | MLive

LANSING, MI — Michigan Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich had harsh words on Tuesday for former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, who has denied any culpability for the city’s switch to Flint River water.

“This kind of fantasy, this fairy tale stuff, is just irresponsible, and he needs to take accountability for his failings in the past before he expects us to trust him in the future,” said Ananich, D-Flint.

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Detroiters Have ‘No Right To Water’: Appeal Pursued In Long-Running Dispute Over Water Shutoffs

October 25, 2015 | CBS Detroit

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – Critics of Detroit’s water shutoffs aren’t giving up.

They’re appealing court rulings that offered no relief to people who lost service over unpaid bills.

During Detroit’s bankruptcy last year, Judge Steven Rhodes said there was no right to water. He said he also didn’t have the power to keep taps open.

Read more from CBS Detroit

Michigan health officials scramble to help lead-poisoned Flint

October 25, 2015 | USA Today

FLINT, Mich. — To the panicked parents in Flint: Help is on the way.

That’s the message from doctors, university researchers and public health officials mobilizing to move an embattled city beyond shock and anger over its toxic water to a brighter next chapter — one that involves wrapping services around Flint’s children to protect them from the worst effects of the lead that streamed through the city’s water […]

Why Michiganders will pay less to heat their homes this winter

October 21, 2015 | MLive

LANSING, MI — Michigan residents heating their homes this winter will see a lower price tag thanks to warmer temperatures and lower fuel prices, according to an analysis from the Michigan Agency for Energy.

The agency releases an annual winter energy appraisal for Michigan residents. It also releases tips to help residents lower their energy costs during the winter.

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State says it will speed up money transfer to Flint for Detroit water

October 22, 2015 | MLive

FLINT, MI — The state says it will speed up funding to help Flint buy Detroit water. The promise came less than 24 hours after top city officials said the cash was needed now — not in 2016.

Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said Flint should receive $4 million in one or two business days.ater but that project is not expected to be completed until mid 2016. […]

City will conduct internal review of Flint water crisis, administrator says

October 21, 2015 | MLive

FLINT, MI — The city will conduct its own internal investigation of Flint’s water crisis, City Administrator Natasha Henderson said Wednesday, Oct. 21.

Henderson told the City Council her planned review will include “the steps that were taken” since 2013, when officials decided to join the Karegnondi Water Authority.

Read more from MLive

Michigan DEQ ‘completely failed’ Flint residents, says Ananich, calling for water investigation

October 20, 2015 | MLive

LANSING, MI — The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality “completely failed” to protect Flint residents from contaminated drinking water, according to Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, who is calling for a formal investigation by the Legislature.

Emails released this week show that the federal government warned the DEQ as early as February that Flint River water was causing lead and other contaminants to leach from pipes, posing a health risk […]

Emails show feds warned state in February of leaching lead in Flint

October 19, 2015 | MLive

FLINT, MI — The federal government told the state more than seven months ago that the chemistry of Flint River water was apparently causing transmission pipes to leach contaminants such as lead into city water, according to emails among environmental regulators.

But the state Department of Environmental Quality continued to operate under the incorrect assumption Flint wasn’t required to develop and implement plans for controlling corrosion, something the agency didn’t […]

Detroit Land Bank program boosts vacant lot sales

October 19, 2015 | Crain’s Detroit Business

or the last few years, Latesea Howard looked longingly at the vacant lot next door to her Detroit house. She thought it would be a perfect space for her children.

Three months ago, Howard learned through a flier in the mail that she could purchase the lot for $100 through the Detroit Land Bank Authority’s Side Lot program. “I was already taking care of it, and […]