The Detroit News details the latest report this morning, this one from the Brookings Institution, that shows most big cities are home to about 55% of the total jobs in the metro area, the remaining 45% more than ten miles from the "city center."  

Detroit is home to only 23% of the jobs in her metro area, with 77% more than 10 miles away, and the effect that has on native Detroiters is pretty heavy.

"Job sprawl is detrimental to employment and raises a lot of challenges," said author Elizabeth Kneebone, whose study of employment trends mapped 98 metropolitan areas, from 1998-2006.

It means many low-income and minority residents are often isolated from job opportunities, she said, and it adds to commute times and expenses.

On a morning like this, that's an especially frustrating reality.  We're talking, what, five inches of snow in the D?  Love these Michigan springs.  But... and this is a big but... John Cherry may actually have a silver lining in all of this.

The Democrats presumptive 2010 Gubernatorial candidate has been running around the state telling voters and newspaper editorial boards (those still in operation) both that the record of his administration these last six-plus years is a strong one and that he'll be proud to run on that record next fall.

The Associated Press offers a headline this morning that provides the man with the perfect "I told you so!"

Bad economy holds highway deaths to 1960s levels

That, my friends, is the way you find a silver lining.

Read on...