MACKINAC ISLAND — Everybody knows a chirpy optimist, one of those sunshiny people always telling you to turn your frown upside down and look on the bright side. But spend a while listening to Fareed Zakaria, and it’s hard not to be swept along by this self-described seeker of the bright side. The writer, editor […]
Nancy Derringer
Nancy Nall Derringer is a former reporter at Bridge
Posted inQuality of Life
Vaccine 'gap' costs Michigan $500 million a year
On the subject of vaccines, medical opinion is widespread and settled: They are among the triumphs of public-health medicine, preventing thousands of deaths every year — not to mention millions in lost sick time and other productivity. And yet, getting a fully vaccinated populace, from infants through senior citizens, remains an elusive goal for doctors […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Urban farm plan reels in cash, tilapia
Gary Wozniak regards his domain with the enthusiasm of an evangelist. Where most people would look at these wide expanses of Detroit blight and see dark despair, he sees nothing but gleaming possibilities. “This is the center of the farm,” he said, gazing over the corner of Warren and Grandy on Detroit’s near east side […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP leaders eye state contribution in tweak to MPSERS reform bill
Confronted with concerns that a bill to revamp the teacher retirement system would lead to a mass exodus of veteran teachers this year, Republicans who control the Legislature are tinkering with Senate Bill 1040 to reform the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. Faced with $45 billion in unfunded liability and with contributions from school […]
Posted inTalent & Education
A film about Detroit manhood scrambles for funding
Veteran Detroit screenwriter and teacher Harvey Ovshinsky likes to say Detroit is the Saudi Arabia of stories, and all an aspiring filmmaker needs to do is go out there and grab one. Certainly, many have been taking his advice; documentaries set in and around Detroit have exploded in recent months, prompting the Free Press to […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Spend a little on kids now, save a lot later
Call it common sense, call it common knowledge, but now it has a number attached: $40,000. Or $100,000. The first number is the amount the state of Michigan saves on every child who arrives at kindergarten “ready to learn,” that is, with an adequate preschool or similar early-childhood experience. The six-figure sum is what the […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Everybody feels our pain
From the comments piling up on Bridge’s stories about school-employee pension reform, both here and at Mlive, where Bridge shares content, you’d think…well, you’d think a lot of things. For a topic that involves actuarial tables and lots of numbers, it gets blood boiling like few others. But if there’s one takeaway I hope every […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Teacher retirement fund has $45 billion hole
When something once vital and secure dies, it must be mourned. And so David Campbell, superintendent of the Livingston Educational Service Agency in Howell, likes using the language of a funeral director when discussing Michigan’s retirement program for school employees. “We’re in the middle of a grieving process,” he said recently, going through stacks of […]
Posted inMichigan Government
GOP fix for MPSERS calls for bigger checks from teachers, retirees
The way state Rep. Rick Olson sees it, there are only three places to find a solution to financial problems in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System. “Increased contribution by employees, reductions in benefits — or find a magical money tree somewhere,” the Saline Republican said. With no magic to call on, a group […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Educators see violation of trust in pension proposal
When Kathy Kapera started working as a Michigan teacher in 1976, she made about $7,000 a year. Over the course of her career — most of it spent teaching hearing-impaired children in Royal Oak — she earned a master’s degree, and steadily accumulated seniority and experience that all led to the moment in 2010 when […]