Flint: Guantánamo North

President Obama plans to close Gitmo in Cuba, and Senator Carl Levin says relocation of the potential terrorists to Michigan might help the local economy. Why not Flint?

Josh Rogin at Congressional Quarterly reports:

"Most lawmakers view the prospect of moving prisoners from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to their districts as a negative proposition. But at least one Democratic senator is open to the idea as a potential economic boost to his struggling state.

"Carl Levin , chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said that construction and staffing at a new maximum-security prison in Michigan could help his cash-starved state.

“'If the governor and the local officials are open to it, that’s something that should be considered,' said Levin, making the point that each state should make its own determination."

Field of weeds

Photo courtesy of Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may have perjured himself to hide an affair, but his biggest crime just might be what's happened to Tiger Stadium on his watch. Joe Lapointe of The New York Times reports:

"The stadium sits empty. Late last year, the city auctioned mementos like grandstand seats, a dugout urinal, Al Kaline’s locker and the fence in front of the right-center-field light tower, hit by a Reggie Jackson home run in the 1971 All-Star Game. Last month, the city tentatively awarded a partial demolition contract for the stadium, which opened in 1912 as Navin Field.

"An opposition group, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy, has until June 1 to raise $369,000 to try to save part of Tiger Stadium, even temporarily. The group includes Ernie Harwell, the retired Tigers radio broadcaster.

"If that goal is reached, Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said he would seek greater financing in the 2009 federal budget to preserve the oldest part of the structure around the infield and redevelop the playing field for amateur teams.

"'The field is sort of sacred ground,' Levin said in a telephone interview."