Coronavirus Diary #2 — In Pandemic America 2020, Flint knows we are “collateral damage in a rigged deck casino”
Apr29

Coronavirus Diary #2 — In Pandemic America 2020, Flint knows we are “collateral damage in a rigged deck casino”

Ed. Note: Here is the second of an East Village Magazine’s new feature, the Coronavirus Diaries — personal accounts and commentary from our writers to attempt to capture some of what we’ve all been going through and reflecting on what it means. By Robert Thomas Like an old crow perched on the very thin wire of elder mortality, I see dead bodies and lethal viruses everywhere. While COVID-19 is particularly dangerous...

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Review:  Need some pandemic reading? These two books offer pertinent context on the plague we’re in
Apr27

Review: Need some pandemic reading? These two books offer pertinent context on the plague we’re in

By Harold C. Ford Two recent reads provide some historical context for the current coronavirus pandemic: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (1999, W. W. Norton & Company) traces the long history of human pandemics to the domestication of animals. How to Hide an Empire, A Short History of the Greater United States, by Daniel Immerwahr (2019, The Bodley Head) details the racial inequities of health care and research by...

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Flint Community Schools implementing pandemic response plan with Mott Foundation aid
Apr27

Flint Community Schools implementing pandemic response plan with Mott Foundation aid

As the Flint Community Schools (FCS) district grapples with needs for remote learning with all schools closed in the pandemic crisis, a new grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation aims to expand internet access for FCS students and keep them safe through a filtering app. A Foundation grant of $163,000 to the FCS will be used to purchase 800 mobile WiFi hot spots and 1,500 “Mobile Guard” applications– needed technology to...

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“Still waiting for justice” — Six years in, water warriors remember Flint water crisis
Apr27

“Still waiting for justice” — Six years in, water warriors remember Flint water crisis

By Tom Travis Remembering the sixth anniversary of the Flint water crisis, several local water activists gathered on the front lawn of City Hall Saturday. Democracy Defense League members Claire McClinton and Claudia Milton-Perkins led the effort to broadcast an online remembrance of what became one of the most notorious and tragic manmade environmental disasters in the country’s history. On April 25, 2014, then-Flint Mayor...

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Ananich on the water crisis sixth anniversary:   Hoping for justice, but “Man, could Flint just catch a break?”
Apr24

Ananich on the water crisis sixth anniversary: Hoping for justice, but “Man, could Flint just catch a break?”

By Jan Worth-Nelson Sitting in a small room in the State Capitol waiting for a floor vote Friday afternoon, State Sen. Jim Ananich, also Senate Minority Leader, made a call to Flint.  He had agreed to offer updates to East Village Magazine, all of whose staff are sheltering in place, about the sixth anniversary of the Flint water crisis, the prospect of action from the State Attorney General’s office, and how the city he grew up...

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