Quality of Life

HARBOR SPRINGS – “You caught me with my dinner!” says Cynthia Shafer, holding a bag of movie theater popcorn and a soda. She asks the concessions attendant if she can leave her food behind the counter, and steps outside The Lyric theater in downtown Harbor Springs. She’s looking forward to seeing a movie with friends, […]

EAST LANSING – Lisa King has a job, a husband, two kids, a suburban home with a camper parked beside the garage, a living room full of toys and a cat named Whiskers. One thing she doesn’t have: friends or family who she knows are Trump supporters. “I have a couple cousins who are conservative, […]

SANILAC COUNTY – Tom Herbon owns an 1880s farmhouse in Sanilac County in Michigan’s thumb. The 57-year-old lives in Troy, but this is where he and his family spend most of their summer weekends. A 1962 Allis-Chalmers tractor is parked in a corn crib. From the side of the crib hung a large American flag. […]

For three generations, the odds of outearning your parents has dropped. Today, a young person’s odds of climbing higher than their parents are no better than a coin flip.

Your chances of living the American Dream – climbing higher up the economic ladder than your parents – used to be a sure thing. Times have changed, and not for the better.

How much of the political divide is an economic opportunity gap? In Bay City, which went twice for Obama, the focus is, as President Trump likes to say, jobs, jobs, jobs.

Census shows Michigan’s population woes aren’t distributed evenly. As Detroit withers, many of its suburbs are adding thousands. And while much of northern Michigan is shrinking in population, west Michigan is growing.

More kindergartners get their shots after the state made it harder to receive a waiver for them. Now, two lawmakers want to go back to the old system, but health officials say doing so is an invitation to trouble.

Immunization rates have risen in Michigan after a rule change. Use this database to see how your school compares.