' Safety Net'
Poverty rises even as economy turns
One trend belies the notion that a rising economy lifts all boats: Michigan’s growing poverty rate. Michigan’s economy bottomed out near the end of 2009, and employment and incomes have been creeping upward ever since. But ...
Michigan Radio continues look at welfare reform’s consequences
How are Michigan families faring after losing welfare cash assistance? Tracy Davenport lost her house and her car — and can’t find work because of a medical condition that causes her to fall down constantly. Learn ...
Welfare reform: Back to the drawing board
What would you do if you could reform Michigan’s welfare system? That may be a question state leaders are asking today, after Michigan’s massive welfare reform was thrown out in court. Calling it an “end-run around ...
Welfare reforms put care-givers in a wrenching bind
Todd Stafford has an uncontrollable neurological disorder that causes him to beat himself in the head hundreds of times a day. The beatings have made him blind and caused his head to “look like Frankenstein,” he ...
Extra attention keeps frequent fliers from landing in ERs
A groundbreaking health care clinic in Grand Rapids expects to save millions of dollars a year by targeting a chronic cause of high medical costs: patients for whom the emergency room is a virtual revolving door. ...
$400 prom dress, in shades of gray
The headlines practically write themselves. “Taxpayers on the hook for $400 prom dress.” “$2,000 cheerleading camp on the state tab.” Scrape away the easy sensationalism, and the story is more complex. The Michigan Department of Human ...





















State waits for Legislature to do its job on transit
What would be the goal of the RTA? Is the priority to design a rapid,
Not much above par on Michigan's scorecard
For a quick look at a state with a good "dashboard", read this piece a
Poverty rises even as economy turns
Since the 1960s 4 out of 5 manufacturing jobs have been lost to automa
Not much above par on Michigan's scorecard
Wait a minute here, Snyder and the Repugs gave $1.8 Billion to corpora
State waits for Legislature to do its job on transit
Thank you for calling out the legislature for dragging their feet on a