WHERE THE HANDGUN (PERMITS) ARE: On a per-capita basis, handgun permits are more common in Michigan’s northern and rural counties than in urban counties such as Wayne, Ingham and Kent. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) Guns are becoming more uncommon in households across the United States. The most recent national survey found the […]
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
Violence hasn’t disturbed guns’ role in state culture
Rodrick Dantzler fired the first shot before 2:30 p.m. on a Thursday — July 7, 2011. Minutes later, his mother phoned Grand Rapids police to report her son had called and told her he had killed his wife. Had that been his only crime, it would have been just one of more than 500 firearm […]
Posted inMichigan Government
As cars get safer, gun deaths eclipse traffic fatalities
If you live in Michigan, you’re more likely to die from a bullet than from a motor vehicle accident. In 2010, the death toll from motor vehicle traffic accidents in Michigan was 942, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported. That same year, 1,056 people died from gunshot wounds, including 440 homicides and 599 suicides, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
ID gap makes streets meaner for ex-cons
GRAND RAPIDS — Jeff Lowery figured it was going to be a tough road as he left state prison in late February, hoping to find work and housing. But without proper identification, he feared it would be impossible: “There is nothing you can do. It’s absolutely horrible.” Six months before was discharged, Lowery said, he […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Bridge survey finds big support for easier absentee voting, yet legislation lags
Michigan has plenty of people who commit a crime come election time. They aren’t trying to vote twice, or do anything to improperly tilt the results of an election. They simply want to vote at their convenience. But in Michigan, convenience is something meant for only a select group of voters: the elderly, the disabled, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Auto rates drive Detroit voters into hiding
Alok Sharma analyzes data for a living. In 2010, he had a client, a politician, who was running for office and wanted to know if it was worth his time to campaign door-to-door in Detroit’s high-rise apartment buildings. Sharma thought the answer might be found by running a high-rise address through the Qualified Voter File, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Detroit’s troubles spreading to other Michigan cities, finance expert says
With Detroit’s recent appointment of an emergency manager, the state and the region will witness a long-deliberated and – for many city residents – hotly contested financial restructuring in one of the nation’s major municipalities by a gubernatorial appointee. Eric Scorsone, who studies local government finance at Michigan State University, discussed last week the potential […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Handshake deal with state haunts Detroit
DEAL BREAKER: Fifteen years ago, the state and Detroit agreed on a funding scheme – a deal that Detroiters say the state soon broke, helping propel the city into its current fiscal crisis. That agreement has been a point of contention between Detroit mayors (Dennis Archer, Kwame Kilpatrick, Dave Bing) and Michigan governors (John Engler, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan’s obesity straining more than waistlines
If Michigan took an honest look in the mirror, the reflected image would reveal far more than a few unsightly extra pounds. Now ranked fifth in the nation in obesity, state residents are on track to rack up 1.4 million new cases of type 2 diabetes, 2.9 million cases of coronary heart disease and 2.6 […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Blue Cross revamp: What does it mean for your pocketbook?
Blue Cross Blue Shield is, in some ways, health care in Michigan. The nonprofit firm and its family of companies cover 4.4 million Michigan residents – or almost half the state. It paid out more than $18 billion in claims in 2011 – most of it in Michigan – while doing business with 158 hospitals […]
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