Analysis: Medicaid work requirements take effect Jan. 1: difficulties likely for the poor
by Madeleine Graham A law establishing work requirements for about 270,000 Medicaid recipients in Michigan takes effect Jan. 1, 2020–sending state officials and recipients scrambling to understand how they will be affected. “At this time what we have to do is prepare to implement the law as it is written currently,” according to Bob Wheaton, public information officer of the Michigan Department of Health and Human...
Council fails to pass recreational pot ordinance; has till Nov. 1 to act
By Luther Houle An uncharacteristic turnout of about 60 Flint residents appeared at the Oct. 14 City Council meeting to voice their opinions and observe the city’s legislative process. Their reason for coming: a proposed “opt-out” ordinance that would limit which businesses would be able to get recreational marijuana licenses. After a public hearing and council discussion, the ordinance failed to pass on a 4-4 split vote, with the...
Review: Spirited “Memphis the Musical” dancing up a storm through Oct. 19 at McCree
By Patsy Isenberg The Tony Award winning musical, “Memphis,” at The New McCree Theatre, running through Saturday, Oct. 19, has a huge cast of talented local singers, dancers, and actors and is directed by Cathye Johnson. The musical tries to take the audience back to the 50s. And it does, using music to illustrate the changes that started taking place at that time. The production has 22 actors listed in the playbill and several of...
“A common sort of hunger,” competitive spirit motivate street art, muralists assert at FPAP panel
By Patsy Isenberg Assessing public art such as the dozens of murals that have sprung up in Flint over the past year, one of the artists involved in the Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) said Friday street art is “a vehicle for social change.” “This whole program proves that you can lift yourself up– people will come around and give you support and the sky’s the limit … the places that need it bring out the best...
Humanity in Harmony festival returns Saturday Oct. 19
By Jan Worth-Nelson The seventh annual Humanity in Harmony Music Festival featuring a quartet of four varied acts is set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Flint Institute of Music’s MacArthur Recital Hall. The event is sponsored by the Flint Jewish Federation. The festival also offers a free master class in jazz performance at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 followed by a free Meg Okura concert at 7 p.m., as a part of The FIM’s...
“Forget what you thought about Flint before,” mural artists declare at festival panel
By Jan Worth-Nelson A conversation about the Flint Public Art Project (FPAP) murals in Flint Wednesday night at the Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) was a celebration of the city as experienced by outside artists. It also was a conversation among the panelists, all of whom are gay, about the responsibility to create safe space for LGBTQA+ people, not co-opting a culture for profit, and acknowledging that speaking...