Michigan’s lost winter cancels sturgeon season, ski, dog sled races
by Kelly House & Janelle D. James (Bridge Michigan) Warm weather has prompted the cancellation of the iconic Black Lake winter sturgeon fishing season, where anglers get a rowdy-but-brief opportunity to spear dinosaur-like fish through the ice. The cancellation, announced Friday morning less than 24 hours before the season was set to begin, is the […]
To fix education in Michigan, GOP senators push to resurrect old ideas
by Isabel Lohman (Bridge Michigan) Alarmed by reports of low student test scores, Republican leaders in the Michigan Senate laid out a legislative agenda on Thursday that they say will improve public education across the state. Many are longstanding GOP priorities such as a law requiring schools to hold back third graders who struggle with reading. […]
When to file Michigan state taxes and what’s new in 2024
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Tax filing season has begun, and Michiganders are gearing up for a year of changes. from revised state income tax rates to expanded benefits for retirees and revamped Earned Income Tax Credits. State residents can even join the organ donor registry when filing taxes this year. Here’s a guide to […]
Michigan to spend $19M for ‘last piece’ to redevelop ex-GM plant in Lansing
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Nineteen years after the last Pontiac Grand Am body rolled off of a General Motors’ assembly line here, Michigan this week committed $19 million to help bring manufacturing back to the razed facility. The money comes atop millions already committed by taxpayers to clean abandoned GM factories in and around Lansing, but […]
Gridlock grips the Michigan House amid partisan split
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) LANSING – The Michigan House this month approved honorific legislation to rename a portion of a state highway for a firefighter who died from a stroke. That’s it. One month into a House session that began with a temporary 54-54 split between Democrats and Republicans, partisan gridlock has effectively killed any legislative […]
Happy 187th birthday, Michigan! Fun facts about the Great Lakes State
by Janelle D. James (Bridge Michigan) Ask us where we’re from and chances are we’ll proudly point out our hometown on a hand, and while other states have tried to claim it, Michigan — the Mitten — is clearly most suited for this type of map. From ski resorts, to cider mills, to the tunnel […]
How Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer could win the White House — this year
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Gretchen Whitmer is 15 minutes late and nobody is complaining. Instead, the room of Democratic activists is buzzing as Michigan’s 49th governor sits for a TV interview next door, delaying the phone bank where she is expected to remind voters of abortion rights ahead of the 50th anniversary of Roe […]
Report: Michigan tumbling toward Mississippi territory in per capita income
by Paula Gardner (Bridge Michigan) Michigan will become among the least prosperous states in the nation if it doesn’t shift its emphasis from manufacturing jobs, according to a new report. Michigan now ranks 39th in personal income per capita — down from 16th in 1999 — and is poised to tumble further if it doesn’t […]
How Michigan schools are teaching the Israel-Hamas war (Very delicately)
by Isabel Lohman & Micah Walker (Bridge Michigan) ANN ARBOR—Daniel Crowley, a middle school teacher in Ann Arbor, had been teaching about refugees this fall when the Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel catapulted the region into chaos. In the days and weeks afterward — as the bloody attack in Israel gave way to devastating death […]
Who is Pete Hoekstra? Meet the Trump ambassador in fight for Michigan GOP
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge Michigan) Pete Hoekstra stood in front of one half of a divided Michigan Republican Party on Saturday and declared the “days of division are over.” A faction of state committee members had just elected him as the new Michigan GOP chair even as Kristina Karamo continued to claim that title. The bitter […]
