Michigan’s unpaid, overworked caregivers reaching a breaking point
by Hayley Harding, The Detroit News & Sarah Rahal, The Detroit News (Bridge Michigan) Rosa E. Hunter sees her mother as a future version of herself. They even share the same name. As 94-year-old Rosa L. Hunter suffers from dementia, she relies on her youngest daughter for around-the-clock care. And while 68-year-old Rosa wouldn’t have it any […]
Eastern Michigan faculty strike disrupts second week of classes, EMU sues faculty union over strike
by Isabel Lohman (Bridge Michigan) Eastern Michigan University faculty did not teach classes Wednesday after voting Tuesday night to strike. The EMU chapter of the American Association of University Professors (EMU-AAUP) contends the university is dragging its feet on negotiations, while the university said the decision to strike disrupts students’ education. The union’s contract expired […]
Should you get a flu shot and COVID booster at the same time?
by Robin Erb (Bridge Michigan) With two relatively non-existent flu seasons — not to mention a weariness over repeated COVID boosters — Michigan residents might be reluctant to roll up their sleeves this fall for an annual flu shot. Not good, experts say. “Flu is going to circulate — absolutely,” said Joe Fava, assistant professor […]
With fewer inmates (and officers), Michigan closes another prison
by Ron French (Bridge Michigan) Prison facilities in Ionia and Adrian are shrinking this fall in the wake of a plummeting prison population and a crippling shortage of workers. The consolidations won’t result in layoffs, however. There are enough openings in prisons in each of the Michigan communities to absorb the employees of the mothballed […]
Voting rights ballot measure: What Proposal 2 would change in Michigan
by Lauren Gibbons (Bridge Michigan) Michigan voters will determine whether to implement nine days of early voting and a host of other changes to state election procedures when they consider Proposal 2 at the Nov. 8 general election. A “yes” vote would add several changes to the Constitution, including allowing nine days of early voting, […]
Term limits ballot measure: What Proposal 1 means for Michigan
by Yue Stella Yu (Bridge Michigan) LANSING — Michigan voters will decide how long state lawmakers should stay in office and what financial information they should disclose when they consider Proposal 1 on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Voting “yes” would apply a flat 12-year term limit to lawmakers’ tenure and strengthen financial disclosure […]
Danger looms where toxic algae blooms
by Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue (Bridge Michigan) TOLEDO — Just as Great Lakes scientists anticipated, the first blue-green swirls of a mammoth toxic algae bloom surfaced in mid-July in the nearshore waters of Lake Erie, between Monroe, Michigan, and this Ohio port city of 275,000. Viewed from above, the sweeping curls painted an absurd, […]
Michigan’s child care crisis is worse than policymakers have estimated
by Luca Powell & Derek Kravitz, Muckrock (Bridge Michigan) It was March 27, 2021, and an at-home day care in Grand Rapids was ready for a pool day. The day care’s owner took seven children — five of whom were just 2 and 3 years old — to a nearby Holiday Inn Express. She bought a room […]
Michigan to deepen Native American history in social studies standards
by Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Generations of Native American children across the country were taken from their homes and brought to federally funded boarding schools that banned their native languages, clothing and traditions. Now Michigan is ensuring public school students learn the history of abuse at those boarding schools that once tried to erase Indigenous culture. […]
Michigan’s 3rd-grade reading scores show the cost of remote COVID learning
by Tracie Mauriello (Bridge Michigan) Researchers found alarming increases in the proportion of Michigan third graders reading significantly below grade level and widening gaps in performance between Black and white students, and between students from low-income families and peers from wealthier families. The performance disparities provide more evidence of the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on at-risk […]
