Michigan is obese, unhealthy and dying young. And that’s costing billions.
by Mike Wilkinson, Ted Roelofs (Bridge) Blessed with abundant water, beaches, hiking trails, bike paths and locally grown fruits and vegetables, Michigan has all the makings of a healthy and fit state. But look closer and the reality is grim: All too often, in much of the state, residents can鈥檛 do a simple push-up or […]
DTE chief: We鈥檙e cutting carbon because it 鈥榙efining issue of our era鈥
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) Coal once reigned supreme on Michigan’s electricity grid. Not anymore. Touting landmark goals to slash carbon dioxide emissions that speed global warming, Michigan biggest utilities are shuttering coal plants favor of cheaper generation from natural gas and renewables like wind and solar. That includes DTE Energy, which provides electricity to 2.2 […]
When Michigan school districts go into debt, kids and communities pay price
by Emily Richmond (Bridge) WHITMORE LAKE鈥擶hitmore Lake Road is a two-lane stretch of blacktop cutting through wide fields and dense woods. In the predawn hours, around a curve, the community high school, a modern brick and glass edifice, beams out of the darkness. For the small, unincorporated community of 6,000 just north of Ann Arbor, […]
Whitmer seeks a $5 million Pure Michigan cut to apply to roads. GOP balks.
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer would cut $5 million from the popular $36 million Pure Michigan travel campaign next year, instead directing the money toward her top priorities to fix the state infrastructure and public schools. Yet some state lawmakers, from both parties, are vowing to use the state budget process to keep […]
Whitmer and Republican leaders join forces to study Michigan jail reforms
by聽Lindsay VanHulle聽(Bridge) Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Wednesday launched a bipartisan effort to study Michigan crowded county jail system and recommend policy changes to cut costs and reduce the number of return offenders. Through an executive order, Whitmer created the Michigan Joint Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration鈥, which is to report its findings 鈥 […]
Dana Nessel, Michigan attorney general, plows through Lansing
by聽Riley Beggin聽(Bridge) Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel last read Margaret Atwood novel 鈥淭he Handmaid Tale鈥 as a senior at the University of Michigan. The book misogynist dystopia is now close to reality, she told a room of nodding, pink-clad women at a Planned Parenthood conference in Lansing on Tuesday. If modern politics become more like […]
2019 Academic State Champs honors Michigan schools where college is the norm
By Ron French, Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) Academic State Champs annually recognizes great schools across Michigan. It tough to do that this year without also praising a community. Forty Michigan high schools are 2019 Academic State Champs, with the award based this year on the percentage of grads who聽enrolled in a two- or four-year college. The […]
Shooter drills. Anxious teachers. Flying staplers. Michigan schools prepare.
The image that keeps Laura Roth awake at night is a door. It is metallic blue with a silver door knob and a poster filled with quotes from students in Roth seventh-grade history class at Tappan Middle School in Ann Arbor. At night, she pictures her classroom door locked during a school shooting. According to […]
Michigan doesn鈥檛 track school security 鈥 or fund safety office it created
by聽Ron French, Lindsay VanHulle聽(Bridge) How prepared are Michigan schools to thwart a mass shooting? It difficult to tell, because of minimal state-level regulation and reporting. No office collects or records what schools across the state are doing to thwart school shooters, according to Nancy Becker Bennett, director of the grants and community service at Michigan […]
Fixing typo, Michigan loosens U.P. brook trout limits 鈥 for now
by聽Jim Malewitz聽(Bridge) LANSING 鈥 Anglers this season may catch up to 10 brook trout per day across 33 Upper Peninsula streams stretching 1,200 miles, double the limit elsewhere in Michigan. But the relaxed regulation could be short-lived. The state Natural Resources Commission last week reaffirmed the 10-trout threshold for a select group of streams scattered […]
