Bertie Marble’s death certificate points to pneumonia. But an attorney for her family, and her own medical records, raise questions about whether she was an uncounted victim of Legionnaires’ disease. Experts say toll may be far larger.
Chastity Pratt
Chastity Pratt is a former reporter for Bridge.
Posted inChildren & Families
Legionnaires’ disease timeline
Bertie Marble’s 2015 death coincided with a trio of emergencies in Genesee County: the Flint water crisis, an increase in pneumonia and flu deaths, and a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak
Posted inChildren & Families
Down and out in purest Michigan
In a U.P. forest, the “‘hood in the woods” has struggled to build a real community on an abandoned military base. The results so far are mixed
Posted inMichigan Government
In Saginaw, parks and wreck
Saginaw’s recreation department was eliminated following cuts to state revenue sharing money, which used to be the city’s biggest funding sourc
Posted inBusiness Watch
People need jobs. Factories need workers. Busing, a love story.
A partnership is connecting poor, hard-to-employ Flint residents with a factory hungry for workers in Howell. How a public-private transportation program is helping both sides thrive.
Posted inUrban Affairs
State launches investigation into Detroit charter school
In the aftermath of Bridge’s story on the Detroit Community Schools, the Michigan Department of Education is checking for certification violations
Posted inUrban Affairs
One poor neighborhood, one struggling school
A low-achieving Detroit charter, now run by former city councilwoman Sharon McPhail and administrators with checkered pasts, is the only high school in Brightmoor. Other city neighborhoods face a glut of schools. Can a new commission bring order to Detroit’s chaotic school landscape?
Posted inTalent & Education
A Bridge Q-and-A with Detroit’s Big 3 education chiefs
It’s a high-powered trio presiding over huge changes for Detroit’s public school system. Judge Steven Rhodes, interim Supt. Alycia Meriweather and EAA chief Veronica Conforme reveal their priorities in the push to finally fix city schools
Posted inUrban Affairs
Detroit schools and the $715-million Band-Aid
Seven reasons why Detroit Public Schools (and other Michigan districts) are destined for future deficits, even if their debts are erased now
Posted inMichigan Government
What Flint lost
After more than a year of misinformation, Flint residents say they can no longer trust anything the government tells them. Paranoia? Or history?