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 […]
Climate change could bring woe to Michigan’s lakes, farms, forests
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) It’s not just heat. A growing body of research predicts climate change could bring a host of problems in the coming decades in Michigan, from increased algae blooms on the Great Lakes and crop-killing pests on farms to extinctions and increased air pollution. Last October, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate […]
Think it’s hot now? Michigan’s 90° days could quadruple in 20 years
by Magdalena Mihaylova (Bridge) All 83 counties in Michigan are getting hotter, and a report released Tuesday predicts it will only get worse, as the number of days with heat indexes over 90 degrees will quadruple in the next 20 years. The report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit science advocacy group, predicts extreme temperatures […]
Michigan prison inmates need job skills, but technology books are banned
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) Inmates in Michigan state prisons who want to learn how to design a website, code a computer program or wire a house may find themselves a little light on reading material. At least 60 books related to computers, electronics and other technology are banned from state prisons for security reasons, according […]
Michigan Supreme Court hears debate on minimum wage, sick leave laws
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) LANSING—At the Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday, an attorney defending actions by Republican lawmakers to weaken citizen-initiated laws to raise the minimum wage and require paid sick leave was asked if he could explain why legislators did it. Attorney John Bursch said he couldn’t answer for certain, though he offered a […]
