Potential damage to the dams during last week’s high waters means the risk of dam failure could still exist.
Justin A. Hinkley
Justin A. Hinkley has worked in journalism for two decades, beginning as a cub reporter at his hometown paper, the Battle Creek Enquirer, where he covered everything from local government to cops and courts to education and everything in between. He then worked as an investigative journalist at the Lansing State Journal, focusing on state government, before moving to the Alpena News, where he served as managing editor and then publisher. He joined Bridge in February 2025. He lives in Alpena with his wife and son and was born and raised in Battle Creek.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan flood watch: Whitmer declares emergencies in Iron, Marquette counties
Flood warnings remain in effect, but, statewide, rivers have crested and little rain is forecast.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Flooding has Michigan ‘in crisis mode now,’ Gretchen Whitmer says
The governor visited Cheboygan, where waters were rising behind a downtown dam. One state senator called Michigan flooding a ‘slow-motion disaster that’s still unfolding.’
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Floods, tornadoes, rains ravage Michigan: ‘My hot tub was floating away’
Amid fears of dam collapses, roads wash away, tornadoes touch down and emergency crews try to protect life and property throughout Michigan.
Posted inQuality of Life
Most Michigan counties gained population last year. See where
Michigan’s population grew between 2020 and 2025, new Census estimates show, but some parts of the state are doing better than others.
Posted inQuality of Life
Photog on devastation of Michigan synagogue attack: ‘Worst fears come true’
Photojournalist Emily Elconin hopes her images of the destruction left by the March 12 attack on Temple Israel show people that ‘antisemitism is a threat to Jews everywhere.’
Posted inQuality of Life
Northern Michigan digs out of another devastating winter storm
Sunday’s storm brought nearly 3 feet of snow to parts of the Upper Peninsula and a quarter-inch of ice to the northern Lower Peninsula. Tens of thousands remained without power Monday.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Appeals court allows Mackinac Island authority over ferry rates — for now
The federal appellate court tossed out a lower court’s injunction that prevented Mackinac Island from enforcing an ordinance regulating ferry rates, but upheld a ruling that the city can’t control parking rates.
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan falls behind in race to save disappearing farmland
Thousands of farms and hundreds of thousands of acres of farmland have been lost to development and other economic pressures in recent years. Michigan does less than most to stem the tide.
Posted inQuality of Life
After nixing castration, Iron Mountain to close deer pen. Can it save the herd?
The state has forbidden the city from moving the animals, meaning killing the caged creatures might be the city’s only option after a split vote to close the deer enclosure at a city park.