Day: February 8, 2007

Bill Bobier, who’s a progressive Republican from Oceana County on Michigan’s west side, once represented four Lake Michigan counties in the state Legislature. At the time, in the mid-1990s, he was one of the rare good guys in a Legislature swinging so hard right that even Michigan Republicans didn’t recognize their own kind. What made Bobier especially distinctive was his farm, where he and his wife raised vegetables and beef. I once spent the day out there watching Bill …

Every now and again you cross paths with someone who just vibrates differently than the ordinary Joe. It’s more than superior intelligence, or charisma, wisdom, energy, and experience. It’s how rare people draw those gifts together in a way that is so graceful and encompassing and fearless. A statesman, if you will. Michigan is in desperate need of more of these kind of people. Michigan’s farm sector, fortunately, is graced by an authentic leader, a Nigerian-born agriculture economist named Soji Adelaja, who leads …

In Lansing today to cover the events and presentations during the day long Seeds of Prosperity Conference. Among all of the states, there is arguably none experiencing a greater economic struggle than Michigan. Measured in standard indicators of economic performance — joblessness, number of young adults departing the state, home foreclosures, and rates of childhood poverty  — Michigan ranks at the top or near the top. Personal income has fallen 5 percent below the national average, the first time that’s occurred since …