Episodi

  • Special Episode: Kent ISD and The Howard Christensen Nature Center
    Oct 23 2026

    Special episode. Kent ISD is selling 135 acres of donated nature center land in Tyrone Township to the Land Conservancy of West Michigan for $1,000, and paying to tear the buildings down first. The day after the board approved demolition, the district told the public the land would be preserved indefinitely. Its own deed says ten years. Rita Williams walks through the contract, the 441 pages of emails Kent ISD released under FOIA, a $2,000 asbestos number for three buildings with documented asbestos, and what Clutch Justice uncovered this week about who sits on the buyer's board and which PR firm connects the story to Meijer. The buildings are still standing. The board meets again November 16.

    A special episode, out ahead of the Kent ISD board meeting on November 16.


    In 1974, Frank and Rita Christensen gave Kent ISD land for one purpose: a nature center. In March 2026, Kent ISD voted to sell all 135 acres to the Land Conservancy of West Michigan for $1,000, and to pay to demolish the buildings first. On October 20, the district told the public the land would be "preserved indefinitely." The deed it attached says ten years, then the restriction "shall automatically terminate."


    Rita Williams walks through 441 pages of Kent ISD emails, the ten-year ledger, the $2,000 asbestos figure, the free alternative the district refused, and what the new connections dossier found: a Grand Rapids PR firm with ties to both sides of the deal, and what the record does not show.


    What you can do before the buildings come down:

    - Kent ISD board, Monday, November 16, 4 p.m., Educational Service Center, 2930 Knapp St NE, Grand Rapids. Public comment at every regular meeting.

    - The two-minute public comment script: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/10/22/kent-isd-nature-center-indefinitely-false-demolition/

    - Michigan Attorney General, Charitable Trust Section.

    - Tyrone Township board.


    Read the reporting:

    - Kent ISD Says the Nature Center Is Protected Indefinitely. Its Own Contract Says Ten Years. (Oct 22, 2026): https://clutchjustice.com/2026/10/22/kent-isd-nature-center-indefinitely-false-demolition/

    - Kent ISD Says the Nature Center Deal Was Legally Done. That Is Not an Answer. (Oct 2026): https://clutchjustice.com/2026/10/03/kent-isd-nature-center-legally-done-open-meetings-act/

    - Kent ISD Committed to Demolishing The Howard Christensen Nature Center. The Full Cost Still Isn't Public. (Sept 10, 2026): https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/10/kent-isd-howard-christensen-nature-center-open-meetings-act/

    - The connections dossier: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/10/22/kent-isd-nature-center-indefinitely-false-demolition/


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    Clutch Justice: The Podcast is independent and listener-supported.

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    29 min
  • The 38th District: Judge Kathleen Galen and the Eastpointe Judicial Race
    Oct 22 2026

    Seven records, one courtroom. Rita Williams walks through what publicdocuments show about Judge Kathleen Galen's 38th District Court in Eastpointe, Michigan, ahead of the November 3, 2026 election: a magistrate who swore he left Warren, a campaign committee on a reporting waiver, one visiting judge paid 70 percent of the court's visiting-judge money, a sentence the Court of Appeals vacated, hearings attorneys say never made the record, endorsers who had already died, and the residency lawsuit her brother filed against her opponent. The closing minute is Rita's opinion, labeled as such: she endorses Richard Goodman.

    The reporting:

    The Wine Bar Clause: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/22/kathleen-galen-cork-wine-pub-jtc-admonition/


    Causing Her Problems: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/23/kathleen-galen-soward-ability-to-pay-reversal/

    Off the Record: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/24/kathleen-galen-off-the-record-pattern/

    Slumbering on Their Rights: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/24/kathleen-galen-goodman-residency-lawsuit-dismissed/

    Seventy Percent: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/29/seventy-percent-38th-district-court-visiting-judge-spending/

    The Endorsers Who Had Already Died: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/30/kathleen-galen-deceased-attorneys-endorsements-website/

    A Residency Question for Mark Makoski: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/09/27/mark-makoski-residency/

    Makoski Told the Assessor He Moved Out of Warren: https://clutchjustice.com/2026/10/06/mark-makoski-principal-residence-rescission/

    Clutch Confidential: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/clutchjustice/membership

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    ClutchJustice.com

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    22 min