Mike Wilkinson

The president-elect’s choice for education secretary is a big choice advocate. In Michigan, one quarter of the state’s 1.37 million public students attend a charter or school outside their district.

Michigan underreported total cases counts by 6%, the bulk of which came during the deadly omicron wave of 2021 and 2022. The state fixed the problem in October and blames a computer error.

Once a Democratic bulwark, Michigan went big once again for Republican Donald Trump. Check out maps from 2000 to now to see how the state has swung back and forth in presidential elections.

The former president cobbled together a solid victory through a simple formula: Boost turnout in counties that favor him, shrink it in ones that went for Democrat Kamala Harris.

Tuesday’s results could come at the margins, a few thousand votes here and there in Detroit, the suburbs, rural Michigan and Ottawa County.

Michigan voters have embraced early, in-person voting, with over a half-million casting ballots so far. Another 1.6 million have cast votes via an absentee ballot.

Michigan’s population will likely continue to decline, with worsening out migration no longer offset by more births than deaths.

Though Republican-leaning counties have cast fewer absentee ballots cast so far, they have closed the gap on Democrats, new absentee voter tallies show.

Automatic voter registrations with driver license renewals has caused voter registrations to soar. Republicans have sued, but the state says the litigation is part of an effort to sow distrust.

Some 10% of Michigan districts are going to voters with tax requests in November. Taxes for roads and public safety still overwhelmingly pass, but the success rate of school bonds has plummeted in recent years.

Bridge Michigan and Gongwer News Service analyzed several years of school bond data and the current ballot proposals. Here are five things to know about school funding efforts this fall.

The economy is the No. 1 issue for voters. But it’s defied traditional metrics. High interest means high costs but also high pay and investment returns: Charts and graphics explain economy that defies easy characterizations.

FBI crime stats released this week show violent crime fell in many Michigan cities but still remains higher than 2020. Different data sets, though, allow Trump, Harris to make their case to suit their views.

Most communities have trouble hiring police officers, according to a University of Michigan study of 1,800 local governments. Officials blame declining respect and lower pay.

Michigan students are already suffering from pandemic learning losses. High rates of absenteeism make it worse. Rates improved slightly from last year but are still well above 2019.

Household income down 3% since 2019 when adjusted for inflation. Despite other rosy economic data, median household income fell in 30 of 50 states since 2019 when adjusted for inflation.

Use Bridge’s database to search how opioid settlement funds are being allocated by community in Michigan. Most of the money is being spent on recovery, drug courts, defibrillators and the like.

Michigan doesn’t track how cities are spending their share of a landmark lawsuit settlement with opioid manufacturers. A Bridge investigation finds 4 in 10 haven’t spent money yet on the crisis that has upended thousands of lives.

Michigan is one of just four states with ‘moderate’ levels of COVID-19 detected in wastewater, while many states are seeing ‘high’ or ‘very high’ levels of infection. Case counts in the state are still rising, but more slowly.

Experts have warned that the pandemic’s effect on learning would last for a long time. Now, Michigan scores show third graders are scoring worse on reading than third graders prior to the pandemic.