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 […]
Detroit’s ‘ghost’ streams can be a threat in the present
by Jena Brooker (Bridge Michigan) Setting out by foot or by bike, Joanne Coutts has mapped more than 200 miles of buried creeks and wetlands across Detroit’s landscape over the last year-and-a-half. Her work is part of a growing interest in buried and forgotten historical waterways to better inform water and flood management in the […]
State board OKs petition to repeal Michigan renewable energy siting law
by Kelly House, Bridge Michigan LANSING—The Michigan Board of State Canvassers on Friday approved summary language for a proposed ballot initiative that aims to repeal a law that allows the state to override local rejections of large wind and solar projects. The bipartisan board’s 4-0 vote clears the way for the group Citizens for Local Choice to […]
Michigan school closings: how superintendents make decisions on snow days
by Isabel Lohman (Bridge Michigan) Cold temperatures and the potential for snow mean early mornings for Michigan school superintendents. It was about 4:20am on Friday, January 12, when Matt Stuard, superintendent at Fowlerville Community Schools, made the call to cancel school last Friday. “I have to make sure that my phone is not muted and […]
Lawsuit could complicate drone laws for Michigan hunters and anglers
by Ben Eiler, Great Lakes Echo (Bridge Michigan) The founder of a company that uses drones to recover deer carcasses that hunters cannot find says that Michigan’s prohibition of the practice violates his First Amendment rights. The suit questions one of the core principles of hunting and fishing in the United States, some experts say. It […]
