One Michigan entrepreneur, a purveyor of online sex toys, is selling bargain-priced bulletproof vests to folks attending the Republican National Convention this week.
Nancy Derringer
Nancy Nall Derringer is a former reporter at Bridge
Posted inChildren & Families
Businesses gain from stable child care, but what are they doing about it?
Quality child care for low-income workers benefits families, but also the businesses that parents work for. Yet only a small fraction of businesses subsidize child care and the Michigan Chamber says it is not pushing to increase state funding.
Posted inChildren & Families
State child-care program still reeling from claims of lax oversight
A federally funded program to help the poorest workers pay for child care used to serve 60,000 Michigan families, three times what it serves now. A 2008 audit exposed financial lapses, caregivers with criminal pasts, and possible fraud. The numbers have yet to recover.
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan’s low investment in child care costs state and poor children alike
Michigan has one of the most restrictive policies in the nation on giving low-income families access to subsidized child care. Yet research shows investing in high-quality care can put more parents back to work and improves the odds for vulnerable children
Posted inMichigan Government
Bridge book on Flint crisis offers lessons on government failure
“Poison on Tap,” the first book released on Flint’s lead-poisoning disaster, shows how a series of government missteps left children in this impoverished city with a lifetime of heartache. A portion of book sales will go to help those children.
Posted inChildren & Families
Human trafficking fight plagued by bad data, as well as bad guys
Sex and labor trafficking are problems. But the state is left to create laws with no reliable data on the scope of problem in Michigan, or even a common understanding of what constitutes trafficking. Too often, Hollywood fills the vacuum.
Posted inMichigan Government
In Battle Creek, a starving Cereal City
The “breakfast capital of the world” is having its lunch eaten by a fraying municipal infrastructure.
Posted inMichigan Government
Not waiting for government, philanthropy steps up to help Flint
In an echo of Detroit’s “grand bargain,” 10 Michigan foundations, led by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, are combining to inject up to $125 million into Flint’s recovery.
Posted inMichigan Government
Are tampons as essential as toilet paper? Menstruation goes mainstream
The Michigan Legislature has yet to hold hearings on a measure that would require that tampons be provided free in public schools and state buildings. Other bills would exempt menstrual products from the state sales tax
Posted inMichigan Government
Felony charges filed against state, city employees in Flint water crisis
The state attorney general promises more will be held responsible for the city’s lead-tainted water, while singling out two DEQ employees, as well as Flint’s water-quality supervisor.