Under newly proposed House legislation by the East Lansing Democrat, the state constitution would be changed to double a single House term from two years to four years, and expand a Senate term from four years to six years.

Meadows is not the first lawmaker to propose tinkering with House and Senate terms in the wake of term limits passed in 1993, but his proposal is unique.

"Term limits have been an experiment that always haven't produced very good public policy," State Representative Gretchen Whitmer said. "There's less experience. There's greater reliance on (lobbyists) for information and finances."

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Each month, the program focuses on one area of emergency preparedness and provides a variety of actions that you can take to become better prepared.

If you do1thing each month, by the time a year has passed, you will have taken big steps towards preparing yourself, your family, and your community for emergencies and disasters.

Dave Bing says he has data indicating up to 80,000 of the 350,000 buildings in Detroit are vacant or ramshackle. He wants to rid the city of those structures and transplant any residents who live in those neighborhoods considered beyond repair.

"If we don't do it, you know this whole city is going to go down," Bing told me this week. "If they stay where they are, I absolutely cannot give them all the services they require.

Bing acknowledged the difficulty ahead in choosing "winners and losers" among Detroit's neighborhoods and he knows court challenges will be forthcoming. But he's beginning to garner support. Funding and other assistance is being pledged by the Kresge and Skillman foundations. Even a one-time opponent of such citizen dislocation is supporting the mayor.

But the two former politicians from different parties played nice and spoke about the challenges facing the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate.

"Sooner or later, the great state of Michigan will rise again," Blanchard said. "The only question is when and how and what we can do about it."

But there was plenty of common ground. Engler and Blanchard agreed that term limits need to end, that a new publicly owned bridge connecting Windsor and Detroit needs to be built soon and that reaching across the aisle to get work done is a noble endeavor.

The federal funds -- to be announced today -- are a big boost for the M-1 Rail Project, which would represent Detroit's first foray into rail-based public transit since the opening of the People Mover in 1987.

Local funds totaling $93 million, most of it from a consortium of private backers, will pay for the infrastructure of Phase 1, including tracks, train cars and electrical lines to power the trains from Jefferson to West Grand Boulevard. The system will span 3.4 miles, and construction is slated to begin later this year.

Twelve stations are planned along the route, which officials estimate would be up and running by 2013.

Phase 2, envisioned as connecting New Center northward to Eight Mile and eventually into Oakland County, is still seeking funding and is part of a larger plan to offer mass transit throughout the Metro area and west to Ann Arbor