Michigan lawmakers took $6.3 million in freebies – and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. That’s what ML’s student investigative reporting program Eye On Michigan found when they spent a year examining free meals and trips lobbyists reported giving to state officials.  

STRAIGHT DOPE: Prepare to be disappointed: Erika is off this week and ML is back in the big chair. After recapping his trip to Boston, he goes off the rail with a rant about StubHub and how they almost screwed him out of tickets he bought a month ago for the Michigan State Spartans versus Boston College Eagles in Chestnut Hill.

Fed up with StubHub, ML tries Ticket Club to score a big rebate from Rakuten, only to get stung by a bait-and-switch. Marc is not surprised.

Marc marvels at how ML continues to avoid hopping on the Detroit Lions bandwagon. Listen and find out what ML was doing while the rest of Detroit was watching the Leos feast on the birds from the coffee capital of the world.

Marc is alternately fascinated and confounded by ML’s allegiances, leading to a discussion of how ML Doc Martens played a factor in his decision to adopt West Ham United as his favorite Premier League team.

Shawn is AWOL after flying to Houston Monday night to watch the Detroit Tigers take on the Houston Astros in the first round of the American League Wild Card series. Marc asks ML if he likes the new playoff format, which is a major change from the one-game play-off of yore. Before Shawn can even think it, ML makes the Major League Baseball format all about him … and his beer league Bulldog hockey team.

Michigan lawmakers took at least 17,000 free lunches and trips from lobbyists over the last 20 years or so. That’s what ML’s student watchdog reporting program Eye On Michigan found during a year-long investigation. Click here see what happens when the kids ask lawmakers to explain themselves.

Eye On Michigan and the Free Press created a searchable database you can use to find out what any lawmaker who served since 2001 took from a lobbyist. Try it here.

If you want to support student investigative reporters and learn more about the program, click this link.

Marc muses over earworms and how hard it is to shake them, prompting ML to recall a once hard-to-find Pink Floyd track that he goes crazy trying to name.

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GEEK OF THE WEEK: Lobbyists upset they can’t keep giving free tickets to lawmakers like they used to are this week’s geeks.

ROOM 7609: Listener Randy digs deep into the 89X playlist for Canadian alt rockers 24 Gone and their shimmering single “Gift of Colours.” Send us your favorite deep cut or obscure band – and a story about them or why they mean something to you – by writing to [email protected].

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