A WORLD OF …: This riding lawnmower was swallowed by a pit created by a failed septic system in Midland County. The state estimates that 10 percent of septic systems in Michigan – more than 130,000 – have failed. (courtesy photo/xxxx) In 2004, former Gov. Jennifer Granholm unveiled a water protection plan that called for […]
Michigan Government
Citizens cannot do their job of running their government if they don’t know what their public servants are doing.
Posted inMichigan Government
At Michiganology, using history to help preserve history
(courtesy image/Michiganology) Back in the 1950s, business leaders gathered to consider how best to promote Michigan as a great place to live, work and do business. From that idea sprang an event — Michigan Week — and an image to promote it: a little bird named “Chesty Robin.” Well, he’s back – with a name […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Survey: Michigan can do much better on volunteering, being neighborly
Fewer Michigan residents may be freely offering their time and energy to good causes — or even saying hello to the senior citizen down the block — a recently released study on volunteerism and social interaction has found. A 2012 survey on the state’s “civic health” found that the percentage of Michigan residents volunteering their […]
Posted inMichigan Government
No answer to the call button: Nursing shortage looms in Michigan
In 2007, warning of a nurse shortage in Michigan and long admission waiting lists for nursing schools, then- Gov. Jennifer Granholm proclaimed: “Something’s wrong with this picture and we are going to fix it.” ON CALL?: Michigan soon may confront a shortage of nursing professionals, say industry leaders. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) Well, […]
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Research: Politicians have little idea what voters are thinking
Politicians aren’t particularly adept at knowing the views of their own constituents – and conservative politicians are the least adept of the bunch. Those are some of the major findings of a recently released research paper co-authored by a graduate student at the University of Michigan. Chris Skovron, of U-M’s Department of Political Science, along […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Group aims to make voting cool in Detroit
At 27, Allison Kriger knows why many people her age choose to live in Detroit, but not necessarily vote there. As a Bridge story pointed out last month, expensive auto-insurance rates drive many residents to conceal their true addresses from their insurers, and fail to register to vote at their Detroit addresses. But Kriger, an attorney […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Easier carry permits haven’t led to more gun deaths
(Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) Before Michigan joined a growing number of “shall issue” states on July 1, 2001, making it easier for residents to get concealed pistol permits, opponents feared and argued it would lead to an increase in gunplay, violence and death. It hasn’t. “Even legislators who voted against it have told me they […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Snyder, senator at odds over guns in schools
Ron Mead doesn’t think teachers – or anyone else, other than police – should be allowed to carry guns in schools. “To me, that’s just inviting trouble,” he said. “We want schools to be something comforting and inviting.” PHYSICAL REMINDER: Ron Mead, shown in a 1998 photo directing traffic at Chelsea High, is now retired. […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Chelsea school shooter: Gun control won’t help
CARSON CITY — Stephen Leith avoids newspapers, television and anything else that might tell him what’s going on outside these prison walls, anything that might remind him of why he’s here. Sometimes he can’t avoid it, as when his cellmate has a TV on. That’s how he heard about the mass shootings of 20 little […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Mental health policy is wild card in gun safety
(courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) On his way home to Chicago, University of Michigan student Kevin Heisinger stepped off Indian Trails bus no. 4560 and walked into the restroom of a Kalamazoo bus station. There he was beaten to death by a paranoid schizophrenic man who was not taking his medication. Heisinger’s death […]