Author Archives: admin

Free Press censors

Posted on July 13, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell [donation] The big question in this whole Detroit Kwamegate scandal — the best entertainment we’ve had in decades — is this: How did Detroit Free Press sleuths Jim Schaefer and Mike Elrick get their hands on the … Continue reading →

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Reverend huckster

Posted on July 10, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell [donation] A minister? A lobbyist? Wait a minute — this is the same person? Can somebody out there tell me what the hell a minister was doing trying to persuade members of the Detroit City Council to … Continue reading →

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Detroit newspapers: Layoffs possible

Posted on July 10, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell [donation] Operative word: “Layoffs.” Detroit Media Partnership has offered its latest buyout to members of eight unions representing workers at the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News, according to a letter to employees from Kristi Bowden, vice … Continue reading →

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Brooks barges in

Posted on July 9, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Where were Bob and Kwame? The scene couldn’t have been more Detroit, more Wayne County: I’m standing on a barge docked at the mouth of the Rouge River opposite Zug Island. The huge black blast furnaces of … Continue reading →

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Watson to the nth

Posted on July 8, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell JoAnn Watson has had enough. So have I — enough of her holier-than-thou chatter. The Detroit city councilwoman was upset that the city’s law department hired two lawyers to help besieged Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick keep the … Continue reading →

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Sugar-coating the buyout

Posted on July 7, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell It’s hard for newspapers to cover their own industry. It’s even harder for them to report news about their own newspaper. Maybe that’s an excuse the Detroit Free Press could trundle out for running today’s (July 7, … Continue reading →

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Right after all

Posted on July 6, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell   News in late June that the Detroit Free Press will print its last editions of the Community Free Press on Aug. 1 stunned the reporters, editors, photographers and myriad freelancers who’ve diligently worked to make those … Continue reading →

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Where did turkeys go? Gleaners asks if Conyers’ staff helped needy people

Posted on July 5, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell [donation] One more in a series of articles I wrote for the Detroit Free Press about the way U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr. handles business in his congressoinal ofices. This story appears with permission of the Detroit … Continue reading →

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Fourth of July revery

Posted on July 4, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell What if we lived in a country where companies could ban employees from voting? How democratic would that be? Well, it hasn’t happened. But it could. And there is an industry where political activity already is looked … Continue reading →

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Cart before the nag: Kwame’s innocent until…

Posted on July 3, 2008 by admin

By Joel Thurtell Reading the Detroit Free Press, you’d think Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was already behind bars, convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the text message scandal. Maybe that’s where the paper’s staffers would like him to … Continue reading →

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