Before debates, Gretchen Whitmer urges Democrats to protect Great Lakes
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer on Monday joined four other Democratic governors in unveiling a “Great Lakes 2020 Presidential Agenda” — a list of priorities they say are needed to protect “the ecology, economy, and health” of the Great Lakes and inland waterways. The six-item platform touches on topics ranging from fixing the region’s […]
U-M study finds surprising abusers of opioids: new mothers. The fix is easy.
Even as the opioid crisis ravaged the nation, more than 1 in 100 women who were prescribed powerful painkillers for childbirth had become persistent users just months after baby arrived, according to new research by the University of Michigan. It’s a grim statistic in a nation reeling from the epidemic, especially since many of the 3.8 million women […]
How Michigan can prepare for the coming Alzheimer’s crisis
by Ted Roelofs (Bridge) Michigan’s graying population is rapidly leading to a crisis in care for the state’s Alzheimer’s population, a trend expected to accelerate over the next years and decades. With associated costs of care estimated to rise above $15 billion annually, Michigan leaders and advocates face a host of challenges planning for the […]
Alzheimer’s in Michigan: The coming storm
by Ted Roelofs (Bridge) KENTWOOD—Just about every morning and evening, Wayne Goates makes his way to visit the woman he fell hard for in college. From all outward signs, she has no idea who he is. “The commitment and the romance is still there,” Goates says of his wife, Kristie, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s […]
Rural Michigan needs doctors. Paying their debts may be an answer
by Robin Erb (Bridge) Student loans opened the door to his career in medicine, but Brett Stacer’s $700 monthly bill to repay them landed him in a town he’d never heard of: Grant, Michigan. Population: fewer than 1,000 residents. The 29-year-old physician assistant had assumed he’d work in a large facility in Grand Rapids after graduating […]
As Michigan schools struggle, Democrats and Republicans try…talking
by Ron French (Bridge) Sheryl Kennedy and Brad Paquette loved working in Michigan schools. Each left their jobs to run for the Michigan Legislature, motivated by the belief that they could help fix the state’s struggling education system. When they arrived in Lansing, though, they walked into separate rooms on the second floor of the […]
Michigan jails fill as crime sinks–and nobody seems to know why
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) It’s a riddle at the heart of Michigan’s efforts to reform its criminal justice system: How can it be that the state’s county jail population has tripled over the past 50 years even as crime rates have plunged to levels not seen in generations? No one seems to know. One major […]
As PFAS fears spread, Michigan ramps up testing by zapping fish
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) LANSING — “Carp!” Michael McCauley shouted as he leaned over the bow of a powerboat. Net in hand, the electrofishing expert and contract field technician for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) stepped on a pedal that sent electricity through a claw-like contraption trolling in the water. A […]
It’s not just Flint: Poverty is bad for your health in Michigan, study finds
by Ted Roelofs, Jim Malewitz (Bridge) Five years after regulatory blunders exposed Flint residents to lead-tainted water, a University of Michigan study has flagged “hot spots of environmental injustice” across the state where residents are most vulnerable to pollution. Those include neighborhoods in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing and Kalamazoo, where mostly low-income people of […]
After three student suicides, a Michigan school district fights back
By Ted Roelofs (Bridge) In the course of a year, the rural Cedar Springs Public Schools district, north of Grand Rapids, came to know the raw pain of suicide and loss all too well. In August 2015, a 17-year-old rising senior at Cedar Springs High School took his own life. The following May, students on the […]
