Enbridge Energy has historically kept inspection data about the Straits of Mackinac pipeline to itself.
Ted Roelofs
Ted Roelofs of Kentwood, has written extensively on healthcare as well as prison and juvenile justice reform. Roelofs spent nearly three decades at the Grand Rapids Press where he covered politics, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, rural poverty and mental illness among the homeless. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. Reach Ted at ted.roelofs@gmail.com
Posted inMichigan Government
43,000 Michigan prisoners: Who should we cut loose first?
Reform advocates agree that Michigan could save millions by reducing its prison population, a cost that has risen seven-fold over three decades. But with politics never far from the surface, can policymakers agree on who doesn’t belong?
Posted inMichigan Government
Hell freezes over – GOP and ACLU push prison reform
An unexpected coalition of conservatives and progressives is forming around finding ways to reduce Michigan’s costly prison population
Posted inQuality of Life
Algae bloom, the sequel, spells big trouble for Lake Erie
This year’s bloom promises to be bigger, slimier and more trouble for marine life than past years. While experts are calling for tougher regulation of industrial farming, the state says Michigan’s current conservation efforts are working.
Posted inQuality of Life
Voluntary measures haven’t stopped algae blooms in Gulf of Mexico
Fifteen years after landowners along the Mississippi River were asked to help reduce conditions for blooms, there has been no reduction in a marine dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. One expert suggests tougher regulation.
Posted inQuality of Life
In rural Michigan, a doctor shortage promises to get worse
A shortage of primary care doctors is associated with worse health outcomes and higher death rates. What steps Michigan can take to close the doctor gap.
Posted inQuality of Life
MSU’s mission to train rural doctors
Since 1974, Michigan State University's medical school has offered intensive training for rural primary care physicians
Posted inQuality of Life
Five years later, state parks Recreation Passport a financial success
Michigan's state park system adapts to budget squeezes and changing values about the outdoors. But major costs kicked down the road.
Posted inQuality of Life
State park neglect
In just about every corner of Michigan’s state park system, there is evidence of the heavy price of years of deferred maintenance. Roads and parking lots cry out for patching and resurfacing, buildings need repair or replacement, as do decks, boardwalks and fishing piers. Water and sanitary sewer systems are aging. According to a 2014 […]
Posted inTalent & Education
In paychecks, Michigan women have a long way to go, baby
Women in full-time jobs earn on average three-fourths the pay as men in Michigan, a wider margin than most of the nation. While critics question the scale of the gap, policymakers debate ways to close it.