What are the top 10 charter schools in the state? The top 10 affluent school districts? What schools get the most academic achievement from their fourth-graders? The winners, ranging from small rural districts to urban charter schools, are the state’s best at raising student achievement above expected scores for the student body’s income level, according […]
Academic state champs: Top 10 lists
Posted inTalent & Education
Searchable Database: Academic State Champs
Fifty-four Michigan public school districts and charters were named 2013 Academic State Champions. Winners represented the top 10 percent of districts and charters in a database created by Bridge Magazine and Public Sector Consultants that used test scores and socioeconomic status to determine which schools are exceeding expectations. How to read the chart: An Academic […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Record-breaking winter brings memories of Alaska
This arctic January has all of us thinking back to winters past. Has the 'polar vortex' made this the coldest, snowiest winter for you? Maybe you should try winter in Alaska…
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
A simple fix could enlarge GOP tent; will they make it?
In Michigan, it’s still perfectly legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. (Photo by Flickr user ep_jhu; used under Creative Commons license) A hot air balloon is aloft over Lansing. Various GOP corners have rebuked Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema for two weeks about inflammatory remarks he posted online. The latest comments to […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
What's that sidewalk snowplow pushing? Complacency, alienation, obesity…
Want a closer neighborhood? Ditch the expensive sidewalk snowplow and clear your own walks. And your neighbors’. (Photo by Flickr user Simon Law; used under Creative Commons license) It comes in the night, disrupts our sleep, blocks the driveway and rips the grass, and leaves in its wake what it touches at its point. I […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Detroit's successes have a thousand parents; its struggles are orphans
Everybody loves a festival at Hart Plaza. The trash? Eh, someone else’s problem. (Photo by Flickr user ario_; used under Creative Commons license) For some reason, expectations for Detroit were high during Gov. Rick Snyder’s fourth State of the State address. With Detroit’s looming money problems, there was anticipation – or blind hope – that […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan rivers polluted by human, animal waste more than double previous estimates
Sign warns swimmers of pathogen pollution at a northern Michigan beach. Pathogen pollution in Michigan’s lakes and rivers – caused by human and animal waste draining into surface waters – is far more widespread than previously documented, according to new state data. The identification of rivers impaired by potentially harmful pathogens has more than doubled […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Emergency managers in black-majority cities reflect growing income gap
Reynolds Farley Benton Harbor, Detroit, Flint, Highland Park, Inkster and Pontiac. What do they have in common? They are municipalities that, in recent years, had emergency managers appointed by the state or signed a consent agreement to avoid an EM. Buena Vista, Detroit, Highland Park, Inkster, Muskegon Heights and Pontiac? They are all school districts […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Traverse City splits over festival fatigue
With its hip film festival, music and culinary scene, Traverse City is attracting the kind of young creative class that other cities would kill for. But as it basks in its moment, some locals cite ‘festival fatigue.’ How much is too much for Up North tourism? (photo by Joel Williams) On a cold night […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michael Moore: Traverse City and the Next Cool Thing
Filmmaker Michael Moore is bullish on Traverse City’s festival boom. (courtesy photo) Bridge recently asked Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, founder of the nonprofit Traverse City Film Festival, to talk about the city’s thriving arts scene, some local complaints of festival fatigue, and what the region needs next. Bridge Magazine: When you look around Traverse City […]
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