Michigan has $1B left over from budget. What happens to all that money?
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) Michigan’s state budget finalized last week outlines how the government will spend around $59 billion over the next year. It was hard-won: Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Republican leaders Sen. Mike Shirkey and Rep. Lee Chatfield are at odds over many funding priorities such as schools and roads, making for months of turbulent […]
Tiny school districts to Lansing: Stop acting like ‘middle-schoolers’
by Ron French (Bridge) As principal and superintendent of the one-building Whitefish Township Community School in the Upper Peninsula community of Paradise, Tom McKee recognizes middle-school behavior when he sees it. His school district is set to lose 16 percent of its funding because of vetoes by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the failure of the […]
Ethan Warren achieves Eagle Scout Rank, with a little help from his friend
Ethan Warren, 16, of Manchester, achieved his Eagle Scout rank in Troop 426 on July 9. This elite status, achieved by only about 4 percent of all Scouts, is the highest honor in all of Boy Scouting. The rank of Eagle may be earned by a Scout who has been a Life Scout for at […]
Lions Club to revive annual cider sale
The Manchester Lions Club will carry on the former Kiwanis Club’s tradition of the annual Cider Sale, which will be held this year on October 26. “With the demise of the Kiwanis of Manchester, at their request the Lions took over their Cider Sales fundraiser,” said Barry Allen, president of the Lions Club. “This is […]
National Walk To School Day a small-town success
They say it takes a village. And it did. Well, then you can throw in some local clergy, fire department volunteers, school board and village council members, police, school staff and administration, parents, and even retired teachers, and you get a pretty good idea of what it took to pull off a successful Walk to […]
Seeking a cure: The quest to save the Midwest’s rural hospitals
by Jennifer Hemmingsen for IowaWatch, (via Bridge) Small rural Midwest community hospitals, squeezed by financial and regulatory pressures, are scaling back on services, merging with larger hospital systems and searching for other creative ways to survive in the short term, an Institute for Nonprofit News investigation by 12 news organizations in seven states revealed. Rural […]
Preparing Michigan cities, health systems for more ransomware attacks
by Ted Roelofs (Bridge) About an hour before dawn in April 2016, a Lansing utility worker opened an email and clicked on a link. In an instant, that set loose a computer virus that locked out the Lansing Board of Water & Light accounting and e-mail networks and closed customer helpline phones for two weeks. […]
Michigan counselors fighting ban on right to diagnose, give psychotherapy
by Ted Roelofs (Bridge) In a dozen years of counseling in suburban Detroit, Anahid Derbabian has helped clients navigate everything from depression to suicidal thoughts, grief over the loss of a spouse or a job, and a range of marital issues. “My work is extremely important to me – life and death important,” Derbabian said […]
It’s National Walk to School Day on Wednesday
The walk to school group is gaining new walkers (and bike riders) each day. With a five-day per week program, there is a variety of opportunities for kids–and adults–to get healthier by adding more activity to your week! This Wednesday, is a very special milestone day as it is National Walk to School Day. This […]
