With far fewer houses, Michigan’s real estate market is ‘absolutely crazy’
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Thinking about buying a house in Michigan this spring? Here’s some advice: Stop listening to your parents, grandparents, or friends who tell you that paying list price will always be too much. And get ready to compete with other buyers — probably a lot of them — who will start […]
Visitation resumes amid COVID in Michigan nursing homes — with limits
by Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) Michigan’s nursing home residents — many isolated and having not felt the touch of loved ones for nearly a year — are once again able to accept visitors, two at a time and under restrictions. The new Residential Care Facilities Order, enacted Tuesday, clears the way for visitors, even in areas […]
FBI informant: Facebook led me to infiltrate plot to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) It started with a Facebook recommendation. Dan, a 34-year-old Michigan man whose last name prosecutors are withholding for security reasons, testified Friday that he was scrolling the social media site last year when it suggested he join the Wolverine Watchmen group. An Army veteran and firearm safety instructor, Dan said […]
Recreational pot is nestling comfortably into small-town Michigan
by Ted Roelofs (Bridge Michigan) LOWELL—Judging by the day-long stream of traffic at a local marijuana shop, this small community in Kent County is all in on pot. “We’ll see anywhere from 450 to 800 people a day,” said Kyle Miller of Meds Cafe, as locals and customers from Lansing to Grand Rapids pulled in […]
Half of Michigan seniors still awaiting shots, as state expands vaccinations
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge Michigan) Renee Leon kept hearing friends in other states complain about how hard it was to get the coronavirus vaccines. That surprised Leon, 69, who lives near Traverse City. She didn’t have to scour the internet nor call pharmacies and doctor offices. Instead, the Grand Traverse Commission on Aging called her […]
Michigan Gov. Whitmer pledged transparency. Now she defends secret deals.
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Gretchen Whitmer stood on the floor of the Michigan Senate in 2013 and unloaded on a governor she claimed was operating in a “cloud of secrecy.” Serving as Senate minority leader at the time, Whitmer lambasted then-Gov. Rick Snyder for convening a private “skunk works” commission to develop public school […]
Michigan passes $4.2B COVID relief, after Whitmer, GOP play loose with facts
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) LANSING — Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature finalized its long-awaited COVID-19 plan last Wednesday, authorizing the state to spend $3.45 billion out of roughly $5 billion in federal funding sent here in December by Congress and former President Donald Trump. Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wanted a $5.6 billion plan and is likely […]
Stuck at home, Michigan turns to alcohol amid COVID: Sales jump 20 percent
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge Michigan) Alcohol sales in Michigan surged 20 percent last year, as residents took to drinking while cloistered at home during the coronavirus pandemic, state records show. In a year in which little was normal and stress was plentiful, alcohol may have offered solace from thousands of illnesses, more than 15,400 statewide deaths […]
Lake Superior is warming faster than many of the world’s big lakes
by Lester Graham (Bridge Michigan) The downtown office for the Sault Sainte Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians Fisheries Management Program is a simple, small two-story brick building. But you don’t have to guess whether you’re in the right place. Pickup trucks with the tribe’s Natural Resources Services emblem are usually parked at the side […]
COVID reveals Michigan’s internet broadband gap. Will take years to close.
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING—When the COVID-19 pandemic closed Michigan school buildings last March and sent students home for remote learning, Amy Zicafoose and her two children scrambled to find internet access wherever they could. Since broadband is not available at their home in rural Jackson County, they did school work from the car in the […]
