Deal to end the shutdown in — effectively, original deal gets done after Senate passes general continuation and House passes gen gov’t

The state budget deadline has officially passed with no agreement, meaning state government is technically shut down with no money appropriated to run it.

In the last hours, the budgets for K-12 education and general government appeared to be the sticking points.

The Republican-controlled Senate could forward a temporary or continuation budget to the governor but Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, had said he did not want to do that in favor of passing a permanent 2009-10 budget.

At last report, the Democrat-controlled House was voting on the K-12 budget, which includes a $218 per-student funding cut. It appeared not to have the votes to pass.

On the Senate side, Republicans have gone into caucus.

Tempers flared in that chamber after some Democrats refused to give “immediate effect” to some budget bills they opposed and Republicans put an income tax up for a vote. (Immediate effect is a sort of supermajority required to send the budgets on to the governor.)

The tax increase — an income tax hike — put up for a vote by Republicans — was not the sort of budget-balancing revenues most Democrats had in mind. The measure was roundly defeated and Democrats cried foul, saying putting up the income tax for a vote — and not a more narrow tax such as a bottled water deposit — was political.

Afterward, Bishop said Democrats were playing politics because of their refusal to vote for immediate effect. Bishop claimed it was the governor — and her control of Senate Democrats — that blocked budget progress.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi, D-Ishpeming, called the income tax vote “crap” and said his caucus could not support the all-cuts budgets proposed by Republicans.

After some Senate Democrats failed to give immediate effect to some budget bills they opposed — preventing them from going to the governor — Senate Republicans put forth a revenue bill.

Some Democrats have said they want revenues as part of a solution, but most said they didn’t want to see a vote on a broad tax like the one Republicans put forth: an income tax increase.  (Revenue proposals have included ticket taxes or a bottled water deposit.) The vote failed overwhelmingly, with only two Senators supporting it.

After the votes, the party leaders in the Senate held dueling press conferences. Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop accused Democrats of disrupting the deal and said the governor was to blame.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Prusi called the income tax vote “crap” and said his caucus simply wouldn’t go along with an all-cuts budget solution.

Prusi said he doesn’t think Bishop will put up a continuation or temporary budget for an immediate effect vote, sending it to the governor.

The Senate would have roughly 50 minutes now to do that.

In the House, some members have said the plan is to push remaining budgets through before midnight — even the tougher ones like K-12 education and general government, which includes revenue sharing to cities.

But if the budgets pass the House, they would still need to pass the Senate.

Rick and I are still in Lansing — we’ll be here until at least midnight.

Follow twitter.com/tonytagliavia for the little bits and pieces coming out…

lots of little bits and pieces coming out — follow me on twitter (twitter.com/tonytagliavia)

The state Senate has passed the corrections bill — it’s now taking up the Michigan State Police budget. The chamber failed to adopt the MSP budget on the first vote; it’s now being reconsidered.

House Speaker Andy Dillon is now on the floor (9:49pm) talking with Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop.

There’s some word on the Senate floor that we may enter the new fiscal year — which starts at midnight — with all the final budgets passed except for K-12 education.

K-12 is one of the most contentious budgets because it would cut $218 in funding for every district for every student they teach. In Grand Rapids Public Schools, the cut would exceed $4 million. Kalamazoo and Forest Hills would see cuts over $2 million and Portage and Kentwood would each see a roughly $2 million cut.

The K-12 budget bill was put up for a vote in the House this afternoon but it didn’t have the votes to pass.

Which brings us back to the talk in the Senate.

Having no K-12 budget could be feasible, people on the Republican side of the Senate are saying, because state payments to schools aren’t due until later in October. The state would have several weeks, in theory, to figure out a school budget and how to fund it.

But a spokeswoman for House Democrats said the idea wasn’t really part of the plan in her chamber.

We’ll keep our eye on it.

–Tony

Senate just voted to go into recess until 7:30 p.m.

We’re waiting to see if the Senate will pass the continuation budget on to the governor, which would give lawmakers another 30 days to arrive at a final 2009-10 budget. A spokesman for the majority leader says he’d rather see work on a final budget rather than voting on continuation.

(Meanwhile, on the House side, the first attempt to pass the K-12 budget was ended after it could not get enough votes to pass.)

As far as the regular budgets, Senators are waiting to vote on the corrections and general government budgets, which will come from the House. (General government includes revenue sharing.)

The Michigan State Police budget will originate here on the Senate side.

Rick Albin and I remain at the Capitol and will keep you posted.

MGM calling for extras in remake of “Red Dawn” in Michigan

 UPDATE: The production has chosen Pontiac as one of the sites to shoot scenes for the remake of “Red Dawn”.  The Oakland Press reports that the production will spend two weeks at the end of September and a few days in October in Pontiac.  Crews will transform “the area along Saginaw Street, just north of Huron, into a movie set depicting Spokane, Washington.

Also, Connor Cruise (Tom Cruise’s son) and Edwin Hodge have joined the rest of the cast listed below.

According to various other sources, Cruise is playing Daryl, the mayor’s son and best friend of tech geek and Hodge will play Danny, the coolest kid in school and star wide receiver who helps establish the resistance.

The cast reportedly is going to military training in an undisclosed location for a few weeks and then shooting begins after that.  MGM hopes to release the movie September 24, 2010.

 Originally posted August 8th:

Earlier this week, WXYZ reported that the production crew for the remake of  ”Red Dawn” (1984) will be coming to Michigan, mostly in the Southeast part of the state, but some scenes may be shot in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula from September through December.

Information from casting websites and Facebook say that there is a call for hundreds of extras (18 and older), many of which will be needed for consecutive days, some for multiple weeks.   They are ALL PAID positions.  (more…)

Ed Harris replaces Liam Neeson, open casting call for “What’s Wrong With Virginia”

“What’s Wrong With Virginia” Casting Changes

TicTock Studios announces that Academy Award Nominee Ed Harris (“Appaloosa” (2009), “Gone Baby Gone” (2007), “A Beautiful Mind” (2001), “The Truman Show” (1998), “The Rock” (1996), “Apollo 13″ (1995)) is joining the cast.  Harris is replacing Liam Neeson as a sheriff that sees his state senate bid slide away from him when his daughter begins to date the son of a woman (Academy Award Winner Jennifer Connelly) with whom the sheriff has engaged in a 20-year affair.

Check out my interview with Ed Harris for “Appaloosa”

Academy Award-Winning screenwriter of “Milk”, Dustin Lance Black, wrote the story and will also direct.  Academy Award Nominee Gus Van Sant will executive produce.

The movie is expected to start shooting in September.

Here’s the details on the open casting call, from a press release: (more…)

Outgoing Grand Rapids school board member David Allen accused the teachers union leadership Monday night of never having “any intention of settling a contract” with Grand Rapids Public Schools.

During remarks at his last meeting as a board member, Allen said union leaders, including President Paul Helder, did not bring a potential contract agreement to member teachers in February.  District teachers just finished their second school year without a contract.

“Imagine that: seven people deciding the fate of over 1,700.  That does not sound like a democracy, it sounds like a dictatorship, ironically one of the things of which [the union] accuses (Superintendent) Dr. Taylor,” said Allen, a one-time board president. He said the union’s tactics have mirrored a 2003 warning presented by a staffer at Michigan Association of School Boards

Allen, who has served since 2002, also discussed what he saw as successes during his tenure: the passage of a school bond, making needed building and program cuts, more schools meeting state and federal standards and looming high school reforms.

In an interview after the meeting, Helder told 24 Hour News 8 Allen is entitled to his opinion.  But he said there never was a tentative agreement he could have presented to his membership.  And the union president said he would literally be willing to be locked in a room with negotiators until a contract is settled.

“We’re offering right now again: go into a building, chain the doors — we’ll get flat food, you can slide it under the door,” Helder said.  “And we’d like Dr. Taylor there as well.”

Also Monday night, the board approved pink slips for 141 teachers.

The district typically recalls most of the teachers who receive the slips, although because of lower than expected retirements and the elimination of 95 full-time positions, that may not be the case this year.

Those 95 positions will be cut through not replacing retirees, moving some teachers from full- to part-time and laying off some teachers.  Helder said he expects roughly 30 retirements this year.
Also Monday night, Superintendent Bernard Taylor offered a moment of silence for two members of the school community who lost their lives recently, including Nathaniel Jones, who was shot Thursday afternoon near Fuller Avenue and Kalamazoo Street SE.

GRPS has announced LEED certification, a nationwide environmental designation, for Gerald Ford Middle School. It’s the third district building to receive the honor.  A fourth has applied for it.

The board also approved the lease of Park School, 1150 Adams Street SE, to Michigan Family Resources/Head Start.

Keep it here for the latest.

–Tony

Even the menu seems epic. (click to enlarge)

I’ve taken my time with the Demigod review.  I wanted to make sure that the game I enjoyed playing, the game underneath all of the issues that plagued its launch, got a fair shake.

The issues were bad enough for the Stardock CEO Brad Wardell to post a blog called “Demigod: So what the hell happened?” a couple of weeks back.

I feel it’s had enough time though, and that playing the game now and offering my review gives an accurate view of what the game is like now that Stardock and Gas Powered Games have had a chance to get things under control. (more…)