Matt Gougeon runs the Marquette Food Co-op, a store that began the way a lot of co-ops did in the 1970s, as a buying club for a number of families who wanted food that was hard to find in the Upper Peninsula. Over the years, it’s grown into a 3,200-square-foot store with $5 million in […]
Quality of Life
Michigan is a great place to live. Bridge will report that fact often — and on potential threats to the assets that make it so.
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan gets med-school boom, doctor bust
More doctors will be graduating from Michigan medical schools in the next decade. Whether that means more doctors practicing in Michigan is another matter. New medical schools have opened, or will open soon, at Oakland University, Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University. Michigan State University’s two medical schools also are greatly expanding their enrollment. […]
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Beaumont's success fuels medical brain drain
You can’t swing a stethoscope at Beaumont Health System without hitting a resident. More than 400 young doctors — 429, to be exact — are working as residents and fellows at hospitals in Royal Oak, Troy and Grosse Pointe, making Beaumont, until recently, the largest training hospital in the country without its own medical school, […]
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Vaccine 'gap' costs Michigan $500 million a year
On the subject of vaccines, medical opinion is widespread and settled: They are among the triumphs of public-health medicine, preventing thousands of deaths every year — not to mention millions in lost sick time and other productivity. And yet, getting a fully vaccinated populace, from infants through senior citizens, remains an elusive goal for doctors […]
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Poverty rises even as economy turns
One trend belies the notion that a rising economy lifts all boats: Michigan’s growing poverty rate. Michigan’s economy bottomed out near the end of 2009, and employment and incomes have been creeping upward ever since. But so has poverty. The share of Michigan residents living in poverty jumped from 13.5 percent in 2009 to 16.8 percent […]
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Michigan's air cleaner, but watch out for carp and friends
Michigan may be best known as the home of the domestic auto industry, but state officials are focusing more on creating a wider public image, focusing on the spectacular natural world found so near the auto assembly lines. The state’s highly successful Pure Michigan tourism advertising campaign showcases many of them, including the Great Lakes, […]
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Urban farm plan reels in cash, tilapia
Gary Wozniak regards his domain with the enthusiasm of an evangelist. Where most people would look at these wide expanses of Detroit blight and see dark despair, he sees nothing but gleaming possibilities. “This is the center of the farm,” he said, gazing over the corner of Warren and Grandy on Detroit’s near east side […]
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Conservationist's message: Nature is just out your door
Ask John Hartig about his childhood, and you’ll hear about fishing with his father in Northern Michigan, biking around Belle Isle and hiking and canoeing at church camp Up North. Hartig, who manages the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge, wants every Michigan kid in even the most urban environment to develop a love for the […]
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Bandwidth by the barrel: Bloggers take aim
The old saw says it’s unwise to pick a fight with anyone who buys ink by the barrel. Updated for the digital era, it might say something about bandwidth or Twitter followers. As old-style editorial-page fire-breathing waned with newspaper cutbacks and consolidation, bloggers happily stepped into the breach to fire their slingshots at policymakers who […]
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Is it bad to turn on a light?
As Bridge’s Rick Haglund reports in today’s magazine, the high hopes of many political leaders for the impact of “green” energy have yet to materialize. I wouldn’t say those hopes are dashed entirely, but the big talk has exceeded the actual results to date. A new report from the federal Energy Information Administration gives some […]