Michigan Governor Rick Snyder will today sign a bill giving Detroit $194.5 million as part of a "grand bargain" designed to lift the city out of bankruptcy, the Free Press reports. That money, combined with $370 million from charitable foundations and $100 million from the Detroit Institute of Arts, should help the city restructure its debt and get out of bankruptcy, while protecting some benefits for pensioners and the Institute's collection.
Snyder will sign the bill at the Globe Trading Co. building, a long-abandoned factory that's slated to be converted into a recreation center. "The Globe building is a great representation of the comeback of Detroit," Snyder said. But it's too soon to pop the champagne, Daniel Howes at the Detroit News cautions, because pensioners still need to sign off on the deal, and that's "no sure thing, no matter how strongly the state's powerbrokers want it to be." Retirees have until July 11 to vote on the matter; if they vote against the plan, all the money goes away. (More Rick Snyder stories.)