Review: Semaj Brown at the FIA a poet, a priestess, a force of nature borne of anger and love
By Jan Worth-Nelson In the opening of Semaj Brown’s Jan. 26 performance at the Flint Institute of Arts, FIA director John Henry described Brown, Flint’s first poet laureate, as a “science-driven author, dramatist, playwright, and educator who builds inter-disciplinary curriculum.” And since Brown’s appointment as poet laureate by former Mayor Karen Weaver last year, she has plunged with high-octane...
“Now is the time to stand for the earth,” award winner tells FRWC audience at “Voice of the River” celebration
By Jan Worth-Nelson On a gloomy late January evening when the national airwaves were flooded with endless reasons to despair, one of the award winners at the annual celebration of the Flint River Watershed Coalition (FRWC) stood up and offered a startlingly different view. “I promise you, I have never been as hopeful as I am right now, right here,” said Linda Berker, a Davison attorney and mediator, named board member...
Registry extends $50 bonus through February for filling out surveys
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Flint Registry is extending a “thank you” offer to pay Flint residents $50 each to fill out a survey detailing their experiences during the Flint water crisis. The deadline for receiving the bonus is now Feb. 29, extended from the end of January. To enroll or learn more, information is available at flintregistry.org, by emailing CHM.Flint.Registry@msu.edu, or by calling (833) GO-FLINT. The Registry...
It’s beginning — Flint Public Library schedules renovation kickoff party Feb. 29
By Jan Worth-Nelson The Flint Public Library has scheduled a celebration of its last day before a major renovation, a kickoff party from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 29. After 60 years at its Kearsley Street location, the library will be undergoing a $27.6 million upgrade, facilitated by $16 million from major donors and by a bond approved by 68 percent of voters in November that will raise an additional $12.6 million. The building’s...
Education Beat: Flint’s public schools face existential challenges
By Harold C. Ford “Education is the great equalizer…You can never bring families to Flint unless we improve the schools.” …Dana Dyson, Flint resident, Flint Board of Education meeting, Jan. 23, 2020 After seven meetings of its board of education in the first three weeks of calendar year 2020, Flint Community Schools (FCS) face an existential challenge probably unlike anything since the opening of Flint High School at S. Saginaw and...
Analysis: Bipartisanship the driving force in Michigan’s newly reformed no-fault auto insurance
By Jeffery L Carey, Jr. If you own and drive a vehicle in the Flint community, then you have likely grown accustomed to hefty insurance rates. This is because Michigan is the most expensive state for car insurance in all of the United States for the sixth consecutive year. “The Wolverine State,” described in Insure.com’s 2019 edition of, car insurance rates by state, “is in a league of its own when it comes to car insurance, with an...
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