Winfrey defeats Mays for Flint city council president, Galloway elected VP as new configuration kicks in
By Meghan Christian Meeting for the first time Monday night after a swearing-in ceremony just hours before, the new Flint City Council elected two members to serve as its leaders and approved two of Mayor Karen Weaver’s appointments — for chief financial officer and director of public works. Sixth Ward Councilman Herbert Winfrey, returned for a new four-year term Nov. 7, was elected president over First Ward Councilman Eric...
Weaver survives recall, city council undergoes major realignment, voter turnout hits 17 percent
By Jan Worth-Nelson Incumbent Mayor Karen Weaver, two years into her four-year term, soundly overcame a recall effort against her triggered by activist Arthur Woodson with 53 percent of the vote. Her closest competitor, longtime city councilman Scott Kincaid, came in a distant second with 32 percent. His defeat means the end of a 32-year career in city politics, because a judge ruled that he could not keep his name on both the ballot...
Flint wheat weaver makes big investment to save treasured grain for an ancient art
By Dylan Doherty In the spring of 2015, Melissa Ruboyianes of Flint got a life-changing e-mail. She learned that Dennis and Sharon Hanson, owners of Black Beard’s wheat farm in Turtle Lake, North Dakota, were retiring after 35 years in the wheat business. Ruboyianes, 58, a craftswoman in the ancient art of wheat weaving and co-owner for the past 30 years of a Flint-based wheat weaving craft company, despaired. Black Beard wheat was a...
Former Mott Park golf course tees off to new life with neighborhood energy, disc golf
By Teddy Robertson On this wet, gray evening in mid-October, the 55-degree air feels colder after several days of balmy October sunshine. Beneath the dripping trees at the former Mott Park Municipal Golf Course, closed since 2009, the parking lot—surprisingly—is two-thirds full. Inside the old golf clubhouse, its windows protected by blue-painted plywood, board members of the Mott Park Recreation Area Association (MPRAA)...
“Where are the journalists?” Part Two: Capturing the heart of the community
By Harold C. Ford This three-part series aims to explore, analyze and lament how many forces challenging the Fourth Estate are playing out in our own community – specifically in a close look at changes in The Flint Journal, now dwindled to a local staff of fewer than 10 people, and subsumed by M-Live Media Group and Advance Publications, its corporate owner. We contend that as the whole of journalism struggles, its troubles triggered...
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