The Oakland County Board of Commissioners is working on a plan to live stream on the Internet its full board and committee meetings, following submission of a General Government Committee recommendation that the county approve a one-year contract with SoundQue Multimedia to make various county meetings available for viewing on the Web. County commissioners are expected to send that recommendation to another committee for some more study on the full cost of such an endeavor, [...]

Abortion opponents in the state Legislature have called for a ban on the procedure 20 weeks after fertilization, based on what they contend is “substantial medical evidence” that an unborn child beyond that stage in a pregnancy is capable of feeling pain. However, in the proposal sponsored by the entire Republican state House delegation representing west Oakland County, an exemption is included to protect the life of a mother — yet no exemption is drafted [...]

What some call “the silly season” is nigh. Translation? Bone up for the 2012 election campaign, west Oakland residents. It’s going to be a doozy. Not only will we be bombarded with political ads from presidential, congressional, and U.S. senatorial campaigns, but also those from local candidates — some of whom will be deploying an array of so-called “robocalls,” which are automated political telephone calls designed to sway voters. Much like telemarketers, they have developed [...]

Wolverine Lake officials are contemplating whether to use the Internet and a web camera to stream video of the village’s various public meetings. Given the relatively small cost of the necessary equipment and the potential benefit of streaming meeting sessions to the community, we’re encouraging village officials to give the initiative a stamp of approval. The Village Council is expected to take up the proposal at its meeting tonight, Wednesday, Feb. 8. At issue is [...]

The issue of regulating the use of road ends — publicly-dedicated streets that terminate at the edge of navigable waterways — has resurfaced in Lansing, with the state Senate recently approving a lakes area lawmaker’s bill seeking to govern the sites that provide public access to lakes and streams. Because the Senate bill caters to the wishes of most local riparian property owners and matches rulings by Michigan courts, we’re asking west Oakland’s House delegation [...]

With the personal property tax (PPT) that generates as much as $1.2 billion annually, according to some estimates, seemingly on the chopping block with Republicans controlling the Governor’s Mansion and the state Legislature, local units of government are facing a possibly precarious situation, particularly those with tax bases that are largely commercial. Although we do see the merit in nixing the PPT — which we see as a roadblock to business expansion and retooling in [...]

It’s been just over a month since three gunmen returned to a Waterford Township skating rink after a private pre-Christmas skating party, opened gunfire and wounded five people, including a White Lake Township resident. There is surveillance camera footage and the suspects have been identified, although only one was in custody as of press time yesterday, Tuesday, Jan. 24: Cheyenne Benjamin Ingram, a 17-year-old Pontiac resident who was nabbed a week thanks in part to [...]

Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Bill Bullard, Jr. says the Feb. 28 Michigan presidential primary election is causing confusion among some voters, which in turn is posing some additional burdens on municipal clerks responsible for managing the election. According to Bullard, the presidential primary election term itself implies to many voters that they can look at candidates on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the ballot and cast a vote for a Republican and [...]

We know we’re not alone in lamenting the timing of some elections featuring millage or bonding ballot questions, as we often hear complaints about so-called “stealth elections” that include funding questions. We’re not really fans of that particular term, but we share the aversion to seeking an increased, new, or even renewed tax question on an odd-numbered year date or any date in an even-numbered year other than the traditional August primary or November general [...]

The White Lake Township Board of Trustees has thankfully instituted a 180-day ban on the enforcement of an onerous ordinance that prohibits township residents from storing recreational vehicles on their property so officials can come up with regulations that allow for the storage of such vehicles on private property. While not an endorsement of any proposal the township may consider in the coming weeks and months, we are hopeful that community members soon be afforded [...]