FPL architect says “Libraries are the greatest act of love you can give your community” as area residents pour in
May22

FPL architect says “Libraries are the greatest act of love you can give your community” as area residents pour in

By Jan Worth-Nelson When Kay Schwartz and her crew of 31 staff and the library’s board of trustees began the planning process seven years ago for the Flint Public Library’s major renovation which culminated with a three-day opening celebration May 19-21, one value emerged over all others. “We wanted it to be a welcoming community space above everything else,”  Schwartz said, walking around the capacious new...

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Flint Schools Superintendent considers library opening:   “We got next”
May19

Flint Schools Superintendent considers library opening: “We got next”

By Jan Worth-Nelson After the joyful ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Flint Public Library Thursday, Flint Community Schools Superintendent Kevelin Jones slipped away alone across the parking lot from the glossy new building to the empty wreck that is the former Flint Central High School, closed in 2009 and now crumbling, tagged, vandalized and boarded up just a few dozen yards away. The contrast could not have been more pointed....

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Education Beat: Schools board postpones closures after 30 speakers plead to keep Pierce, ALA open;  district released from State-imposed Emergency Finance Plan
May16

Education Beat: Schools board postpones closures after 30 speakers plead to keep Pierce, ALA open; district released from State-imposed Emergency Finance Plan

By Harold C. Ford A six-hour meeting of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE) on May 11 began with purported good news that Flint Community Schools (FCS) had been released from the imposition of an enhanced deficit elimination plan (EDEP) by the Michigan Department of Treasury.  But any euphoria elicited by the EDEP-dismissal announcement quickly evolved into a parade of FCS constituents anxiously and unanimously urging the district not...

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“Heinous,”  “scary,” “devastating”– Area women react to possible end of Roe v. Wade
May15

“Heinous,” “scary,” “devastating”– Area women react to possible end of Roe v. Wade

By Jan Worth-Nelson I set out to try to find out how some area women view the possibility that Roe v. Wade might be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The 1973  decision gave women the right to decide whether they wanted to continue a pregnancy; at long last, first trimester abortions were made legal. Some forget that that decision struck down a Texas ban on abortion, establishing that it was unconstitutional.  The majority...

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Education Beat:  Keiona Murphy settles in as Flint School’s assistant superintendent; aims to help district “move forward”
May02

Education Beat: Keiona Murphy settles in as Flint School’s assistant superintendent; aims to help district “move forward”

By Harold C. Ford Keiona Murphy has settled in to her new position as assistant superintendent of Flint Community Schools. Murphy was elevated from her interim status as assistant superintendent. Her salary of $114,954 is augmented by an additional $4,200 stipend.  Her appointment on Feb. 9, along with other central administrators, was approved by a unanimous vote, 7-0, of the Flint Board of Education (FBOE). Murphy’s responsibilities...

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