In January, when Lake Michigan’s chronically low water level reached its nadir, Leland Harbormaster Russell Dzuba faced the prospect of closing the popular harbor to keep commercial fishing vessels and pleasure boats from running aground in the shallow channel. Leland is one of dozens of Great Lakes harbors that have struggled for two decades with […]
Up or down? Which way are Great Lakes water levels headed?
Posted inGuest Commentary
Redistricting reform is key to fixing our “jerry-rigged” government
Jocelyn Benson and Joe Schwarz (courtesy photo) Washington is broken. Those three words may have become the most common description of the sad state of affairs in our nation’s capital. But they don’t begin to capture the frustration, anger and disgust that Americans feel when they watch our Congress careen from one manufactured crisis […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Visiting a diminished D.C. still productive for Nature Conservancy
WORTH A VISIT: Washington D.C. may be a ghost town in a government shutdown, but they left a few lights on, and Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers are glad they did. (Photo by Flickr user Kevin Burkett; used under Creative Commons license) By the time you read this, let’s hope the federal government shutdown is […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Six weeks in the woods that restore the soul
PALACE IN THE POPPLE: Inside sits a man composing poetry. Or maybe just a few raccoons. (Photo by Flickr user Charles Dawley; used under Creative Commons license) I don’t keep an archery hunting journal, but if I did, a typical edition would read like this: Oct. 1: Opening Day. Warm; light south wind. In my […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
The race to join the middle class: it’s a steeper climb for minorities
ON TRACK: Students learn machinist skills in a Focus: HOPE classroom. The program is designed to put them on a career path to a middle-class income. (Courtesy photo) Craig Vanderburg will be the first to tell you that he’s worked hard for what he has, but caught a few breaks along the way. He came […]
Posted inTalent & Education
In a game ruled by PACs, Michigan higher ed stays on the bench
One represents a special interest group of about 20 property owners. The other serves an institution known around the world, with thousands of employees, tens of thousands of current users and hundreds of thousands who once passed through its doors. Both have an abiding interest in how Michigan’s state government sees their activities. So of […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
A crucial ingredient as one young Michigan resident signed up for Obamacare
Marianne Udow-Phillips is the director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation, a nonpartisan health policy center based at the University of Michigan with a mission to promote evidence-based care delivery, improve population health and expand access to care. Like everyone I know who is a health policy junkie, I have been very excited […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Michigan classrooms loaded with rookie teachers who soon wash out
“I started teaching in a charter school in Taylor. I showed up and they said, ‘Here’s a curriculum,’ and they handed me a USB (drive) and a pile of books and said, ‘Teach this,’ and you’re kind of left alone. You’re almost creating your own curriculum, and as a 23 year old, I didn’t have […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Poor students are more likely to get Michigan’s least experienced teachers
The Michigan children most in need of experienced teachers are the students least likely to get them. A Bridge analysis of state data found that inexperienced teachers appear to be clustered in Michigan’s poorest schools. The students in those classrooms will, on average, learn less than their suburban peers taught by more experienced teachers, widening […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Vagaries of student teaching give newcomers vastly different experiences
How long will they student teach? It depends on which university they attend. From left to right, Haslett student teachers Kayli Carter (GVSU), Melissa Lynch (CMU), Sam Georgi (MSU), Justine Dailey (CMU) Anaite Castaneda (MSU). (Bridge photo by Ron French) Theory ran into reality the day Melissa Lynch walked into a fifth-grade class in Haslett, […]
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