Wednesday, October 9, 2013

A belated post on MLive's awards

In response to a comment on a previous item (you can see my response to the response here) I am posting a link to the editorial awards won by MLive.com here.  (Scroll down to the last three comments to view the exchange)

Honestly, I was not aware until the comment that they had won the awards (although it appears there are more than one "Newspaper of the Year.". I'm not a daily, or even weekly reader anymore of the print or online product so I just missed the honors, it was not a deliberate slight.

Congratulations to all the fine people at MLive for the achievement.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Flint, I see where the Swedish biogas project in Flint is sputtering (http://www.freep.com/article/20131017/BUSINESS06/310170093/Biogas-project-in-Flint-slowed-by-population-loss). Once the green energy darling of then-Governor Jennifer Granholm, the project stands at the latest testament to Granholm's failed corporate-welfare policy of tax credits to companies in return for seldom-achieved jobs pledges. Granholm handed out arguably unconstitutional (because they favored certain industries and employers and were not fairly distributed) tax credits to companies like Halloween candy. Of course, hers was less of an economic development tool, as she claimed till blue in the face, and more of a marketing tool to help her win re-election during some of the worst economic times ever in Michigan. In fact, her two terms serve as bookends for the Great Recession here. As quid pro quo for a tax credit, companies had to agree that their CEOs would attend a press conference with Granholm announcing the tax credits and job pledges. Typically, the press would heavily cover these tax credit press conferences, as the FJ did with Biogas, but go easy on a disappearing Granholm when it later leaked out that the company failed to create near the number of promised jobs. Heck, Granholm once even gave a tax credit to a convicted felon in Flint. Oops! But back to Biogas. This project was one of Granholm's favorites because, well, both hail from Sweden and she ventured to her homeland to court the company. As many of her tax credit recipients failed to produce their promised jobs, Granholm continued to point to Biogas as one of her great successes. Ha! Now we learn in the Freep that the amount of biomethane gas produced by Biogas is only enough to offset the company's own cost of natural gas -- and far below what is needed to fuel buses and other Flint transportation, as was its plan. Instead of admitting failure, a company whined that Flint needs to import more waste. Oh, the late night talk show hosts will have a field day with that one. So if Biogas received a Granholm tax credit, what happens now? Don't look for answers in the FJ. They rarely questioned Granholm on anything and, of course, she has long left Michigan in the rearview mirror of her Volt. All we have to remember her by is her failed tax credit companies with almost no jobs to show for the taxpayer dollars they received. It was classic government overreach and intervention into the free enterprise marketplace. Sad! On the bright side, we no longer must endure the disingenuous populist politics of the silver spoon, Harvard-educated daughter of a banker. Call her the queen of the limousine liberals! Good riddance, Jennifer!

Anonymous said...

Anon 23:05, your Free Press link actually is to an AP rewrite of a Flint Journal story.

Here's the original FJ story, which was linked from the AP one: http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2013/10/swedish_biogas_in_flint_is_at.html

Anonymous said...

Thanks Anon 02:18. Although I wasn't claiming the Freep beat the FJ on the Biogas story, using a Freep link might have so implied. I didn't see the FJ story because I don't take the paper anymore. So I referenced what I saw. Anyway, let's give credit where it's due. The FJ had the Biogas story first, as it should.