(Bloomberg) -- The White House withdrew its nominee for an Energy Department posting, ending a months-long standoff and handing a win to Senator Joe Manchin, who has protested the agency’s plans to regulate gas stoves.

Jeff Marootian’s nomination to be assistant secretary of the Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy had been stalled since May, when Manchin, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, scrubbed a committee vote. At the time, Manchin argued he was “not comfortable moving forward” with Marootian, who had been tapped to lead the Energy Department division spearheading the stove energy-efficiency rule that the senator opposed.

https://news.yahoo.com/biden-pulls-energy-department-nominee-220252685.html

Protecting our tax dollars is a priority at MacDowell Preparatory Academy, or so says school board chairwoman Nicole Wells Stallworth, who mentioned fiscal responsibility at least eight times in a June commentary under the headline "Michigan charter school boards ensure financial accountability."

That's what makes it so hard to understand why board members at the Detroit charter school hired a principal who has been convicted of eight felonies for ripping people off; who has a history of being evicted and refusing to pay his bills; who has failed to report money his charity collected; who owes thousands of dollars in fines for violating Michigan campaign finance regulations; and who, at the time he was hired, was being dogged by a legal firm that specializes in debt collection.

Only 7% of MacDowell's students were proficient in all subjects on state tests in 2021-22, according to the most recent state data available. The state average was 37%. The school also lagged well behind the state average in the percent of students making progress toward proficiency or increasing their proficiency in all subjects. At MacDowell, 21% of students were making progress in 2021-22. The state average was 40%. The numbers for the previous school year were about the same.

Banks had been trying to get back into elected office since he resigned as a state representative in 2017 as part of a plea deal that allowed him to avoid up to 14 years in prison for defrauding a credit union. He ran for state Senate in 2018, but failed to win the Democratic nomination. On Aug. 2, 2022, he was defeated in his bid to be the Democratic nominee for the Wayne County Commission's 1st District. Ten days later, on Aug. 12, 2022, Banks applied for a school administrator certificate, according to the Michigan Department of Education.



https://www.freep.com/story/news/columnists/ml-elrick/2023/08/27/detroit-school-former-felon-as-principal/70669868007/

All Along the Watchtower is one of rock's most widely covered songs, first written I believe by Bob Dylan and made most famous by Jimi Hendrix. IMO, the artist that did it best was Dave Mason.

Dave was a friend of Jimi's and played the 12 string acoustic guitar on Jimi's version, so he has made it part of his repertoire for decades. I love this performance of a 67 yr old Dave Mason playing it in 2013.

&t=6s

https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2023/07/02/atlanta-police-motorcycles-burned-intentional-fire-officials-say/70377123007/

When I was a teenager, my mother bought an inexpensive home stereo for the family. It came with three vinyl records that were compilations of various songs; most of which I was not at all familiar with. This was one that was on there.


Lyrics were great "Ain't got time to be unhappy, lovin' you makes me want to slap my pappy" What ??? My friends and I thought it was hilarious!

[link:https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/05/02/mackinac-island-fire-e-bike-battery-fires/70170466007/|

It’s an issue that rarely if ever crosses the minds of most drivers in New York City or elsewhere: the fraudulent sale of temporary license plate tags — “temp tags” — and the subsequent illegal use of them in hit-and-run accidents, shootings and robberies. One such finding examines a hit-and-run in Queens, New York last year, in which a five-year-old boy died when he was struck by a driver with a suspended license and a counterfeit New Jersey temp tag. “Temps from New Jersey are among the most common on the streets of New York City, as are tags from Georgia and Texas,” the report says.

In one particularly stunning example, the report cities one F&J Auto Mall in Bridgeton, New Jersey, “although the primary owner listed an apartment in upper Manhattan as his address when forming the company, business records show. F&J issued 36,000 temporary license plates in 2021—more than any other dealership in the state, including the used-car juggernauts Carvana and CarMax combined.” Although potential profits for F&J were in the millions, the agency, which was shut down by the motor vehicles department, was fined $500.

In New York, for example, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority alone loses around $11 million annually in unbillable tolls at its bridges and tunnels due to bad paper tags, according to the story. “Traffic tickets, sales taxes, registration fees and other tolls that go unpaid because of sham paper tags likely bring the total cost in New York into the tens of millions, if not higher,” the report says.

[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/the-harm-and-hurt-caused-by-illegal-temp-license-tags/ar-AA19E1hc?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=46da5e63ca3349569ed471556560c1d4&ei=24|

[link:https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/window-into-history-tapes-detail-lbj-s-stolen-election/ar-AA19kE5b?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=42fff1524c3a46b192df6e21cf944d64&ei=16|

State officials Tuesday identified 43-year-old convicted felon Anthony McRae as the attacker who shot and killed three people and wounded five others at Michigan State University. But police had been called to the residence before because of the sound of gunshots, Megan Bender said. Megan Bender said Anthony McRae would fire out of the back door of the home, she believed for target practice.


[link:https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2023/02/14/msu-shooter-anthony-mcrae-a-convicted-felon-with-weapons-history/69901983007/|

Edit: His original felony charges were plead down to a misdemeanor. Why have strict gun laws if they are plead down and/or ignored ?