Happy (Chinese) New Year

Chinese New Year - Photo by Irum Shahid

Today is the Chinese New Year. Billions of people will celebrate beginning of the year of the Snake today with fireworks, food, and other festivities. For those who believe in gambling, today is also considered by some to be the luckiest day of the year.

As for me, I will mark this occasion with Chinese food and lots of friends.

In a related note, today is also the day when I usually make all of my New Year's resolutions. When I make them on January 1, I never keep them. However, when I make them on the Chinese New Year, I almost always do.

FBI Launches Investigation into Detroit EMS

I posted a prediction on my Twitter feed last week that Detroit Mayor Dave Bing would likely face his first federal indictment by June of 2014. A lot of people thought I was nuts when I posted that.

Of course, those who think I'm nuts for predicting a criminal indictment against Mayor Bing haven't spent the past few years digging through the City of Detroit's financial records and its budget, attending community meetings, and filing Freedom of Information Act requests.

In a completely unrelated event, Charlie LeDuff of Fox 2 News broke the story last night that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Michigan Attorney General's Office are investigating the Emergency Medical Services Division of the Detroit Fire Department. They are looking at whether or not the Detroit's EMS has been used by the City's administration to obtain fraudulent reimbursements for services from Medicaid and Medicare.

I have to admit that there is a part of me that just wants to sit back with a large bowl of popcorn as this story evolves. Things, my dear readers, are going to get interesting in the coming weeks and months.