Bridge Magazine is taking a hiatus this week to enjoy the festivities surrounding Independence Day. New stories will appear at Bridge on July 10. In the meantime, please feel free to explore the site. For example, check out some of our searchable databases: * See how your local schools do on college remediation. * What […]
Derek Melot
Derek Melot is a former assistant editorial page editor, columnist and reporter at the Lansing State Journal, where he covered state and local issues extensively, earning awards from the Associated Press and Michigan Press Association. The Oklahoma native moved to Michigan in 1999, and served as Bridge editor through mid-2013.
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Knowledge must come through action; you can have no test which is not fanciful, save by trial” — Sophocles, ancient Greek playwright. * The Michigan Legislature considered a move into the private prison business this spring, with a proposal to shift prisoners from a state facility in Ionia to one in Baldwin owned by GEO […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Show (yourself) the money!
The good news: It’s an election year. Michigan voters get to pass judgment on filling 110 seats in the Michigan House of Representatives, plus some seats on the state Supreme Court, the Michigan Court of Appeals, the State Board of Education, Michigan State University Board of Trustees, University of Michigan Board of Regents, and Wayne […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating — people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing” — Oscar Wilde, Irish playwright and author. * Durable goods manufacturing, as a percentage of total economic activity, is “at or near pre-recession levels for each Seventh District state,” says the Federal […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“If you can’t explain to a 5-year-old what you’re doing, you don’t know what you’re doing” — Robert D. Ballard, explorer of shipwrecks. * The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities addresses “some basic facts” about state and local workers. Among them, “Benefits like pensions and health insurance are larger and more secure for most […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“They used to say that knowledge is power. I used to think so, but I now know that they mean money” — Lord Byron, 19th century English poet. * The first charter-school program got legislative authorization in Minnesota 20 years ago. Its author writes in Education Week to dispel myths about the formative years of […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“We owe almost all our knowledge not to those who have agreed but to those who have differed” — Charles Caleb Colton, 19th century English writer. * Bridge’s media partner, Mlive.com, is publishing an impressive series this week on self-defense shootings in Michigan. First major point: There are far more of these shootings than the […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment” — Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism. * The Center for Michigan broke the story back in 2009 that the Michigan school calendar was shrinking right before parents’ eyes. The Legislature subsequently made changes to state law on the subject, but, for the 2012-13 […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Pew study says Michigan spends cash it doesn't have to on prisons
Michigan almost doubled the average time behind bars for its prisoners between 1990 and 2009, says a new study by the Pew Center on the States released Wednesday. While the trend mirrored a national one, Michigan’s practices on longer incarceration for all types of crimes was particularly notable, and expensive, the report’s authors stated. “The […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“True scholarship consists in knowing not what things exist, but what they mean; it is not memory but judgment” — James Russell Lowell 19th century American poet and editor. Welcome to a special Ron French edition of Land O Links. Each link you see here was recommended by Bridge’s senior writer, a master of the […]