Lights Out, Bills Up, Everyone's Fed Up
About this episode
The episode discusses recent power outages in Detroit, rising utility bills, and the political implications surrounding campaign finance.
Lights were out, bills are up, and a lot of folks around here are just done with it. On today's Daily Detroit, Norris and I talk through the long Fourth of July weekend that turned into days without power for hundreds of thousands of people across metro Detroit — including me. As it seems like every year living in a Detroit neighborhood, I deal with 3 to 4 days in a row without electricity. From there, we zoom out. We talk about DTE's grid, why it seems like storms knock out power every year, and the growing conversation around a ratepayer bill of rights and the Michigan Money Out of Politics (MMOP) petition. We ask what would it look like if major state contractors couldn't pour money into campaigns? A We also kick around whether our politics could work differently (although we know the change would be hard legally to pull off): calendar windows for campaigning like other countries have, hard caps on campaign cash, and even making Election Day a holiday. In the back third of the show, we answer listener questions about what to do with your ballot now that Mallory McMorrow is out of the race, including how and when you can spoil a ballot and get a new one. As always, I'd love to…
People in this episode
Host: Norris
Topics covered
- power outages
- utility bills
- politics
- campaign finance
- listener questions
- Fourth of July
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: DTE, Michigan Money Out of Politics
Places: Detroit, Michigan
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