Temporarily minus the long hair and beard that gave him his nickname, Scott “Caveman” Miller is a frequent visitor to “charity” poker rooms in Southeast Michigan. (Bridge photo/Lon Horwedel) Thursday night at the Electric Slick, and the poker tournament does not really have 100 percent of the Caveman’s interest. The NFL draft is playing on […]
An ordinary bar on an ordinary night, but poker supplies the drama
Posted inBusiness Watch
Detroit, Grand Rapids are at two ends of ‘job sprawl’ scale
As policy-makers and regional leaders in Southeast Michigan, and other parts of our state, work to grow jobs and connect residents to economic opportunity following the Great Recession, it’s important to remember that with jobs, location matters. The location of employment within a metro area intersects with a range of policy issues — from transportation […]
Posted inPhil's Column
‘Sanity caucus’ shepherds preschool reform, dollars through capital gridlock
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. I’ve had a few days now to mull over the goings-on at last week’s annual Mackinac Island Policy Conference. Much of the talk on the enormous porch of the magnificent Grand Hotel was how our political system seems incapable of dealing with big subjects on […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
GOING DOWN: The Citizens Research Council calculates that with inflation and payments to retirement programs, per-pupil funding reaching Michigan classrooms has declined since 2004. (courtesy graphic/Citizens Research Council) *Confused about the claims over school funding? Is it going up, as Gov. Rick Snyder and allies claim, or down, as school groups say? The nonpartisan Citizens […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Grand Rapids races ahead of state on teacher evaluations
(courtesy image/used under Creative Commons license) The old system of evaluating a teacher’s performance – a principal observing in a classroom – was not particularly effective, school administrators and teacher union leaders agree. The challenge is in coming up with a better system. A committee of education experts – the Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness […]
Posted inSuccess
MSU prof preps state's spirits to follow craft beer's success
IT’S A REALLY HARD CLASS: MSU professor Kris Berglund stands amid some of the work product of the Artisan Distilling Program at the university. Berglund predicts that Michigan-made liquor will soon have similar economic impacts to craft brewing in the state (Bridge photo/Nancy Derringer) Kris Berglund’s business cards identify him as a distinguished professor of […]
Posted inSuccess
Class in Upper Peninsula school sparks students’ interest in powering the world
MARQUETTE — Doug Elliott’s class at Ishpeming’s Westwood High School goes way beyond the focus of many a shop class: making wooden birdhouses, shelves and such. Elliott’s students get into computer numerical control and sensors. Entitled “Survival in an Electrical World,” the class covers the basics and far more. An advanced class, for example, gets […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest commentary: Owosso’s budget woes are warning to state policy-makers
By Tom Cook Tom Cook is a member of the Owosso City Council and executive director of the Cook Family Foundation. The city of Owosso has a budget problem — and has had one for the last five years. Good management, tough policy decisions and sacrifices by residents and employees of the Shiawassee County community […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
LOOKING GOOD: Housing prices in Detroit are up nearly 20 percent in the last year. (Bridge archive photo) *Home prices are rising across the country again – even in Detroit. The city saw an 18.5 percent increase over the last year in home prices, tracking nicely with the recoveries seen in other epicenters of the […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Dig it: Detroit’s urban farms are nothing new, but newly popular
GREEN ACRES: Call them farms or gardens, all across Detroit, residents are turning over the soil on vacant lots and growing food for themselves and others. (Courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) In the 1950s, my dad would take me and my siblings fishing in the Detroit River two or three times a week during […]