HEALTH POLICY: Michigan can’t continue to rely on an oral health policy built on charitable contributions from private dentists, argues Norm Palm. (courtesy photo/used under Creative Commons license) Any serious effort to provide dental care to underserved people in Michigan must better incorporate private practice dentists in the plan. A new survey released by the […]
State, citizens can’t treat dental care as a luxury
Posted inQuality of Life
Region struggles with sick economy, sick families
(Bridge illustration/Howard Davy) When Dr. Marion Hautea looks out at the waiting room at Thunder Bay Community Health Service in Rogers City, he sees diabetes. He sees hypertension. He sees abscessed teeth and coronary disease. Mostly, though, he sees jobs. Jobs that have left Northeast Michigan, burdening the region with the highest unemployment rate […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Volunteers offer short-term foster care for families in crisis
Nothing matters more to Stephanie Murphy than her girls. So when the single Holland mother of three had a medical crisis in 2011, she felt backed into a corner. Her oldest, Alexis Borgman, then 13, could stay with her father, who had visitation rights. But she feared that her other two daughters — Aaliyah and […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
(Bridge archive photo) *Not all charter schools in Michigan are alike. Some focus on quality; others focus on marketing to attract parental attention, reports Michigan Radio. This leaves some high-quality charters still struggling to enroll students. *In Indiana, “lawmakers are considering forgiving $12 million in loans that ‘failing’ charter schools accepted from the state. Isn’t this […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Schools, colleges aren’t preparing students for careers in Michigan
Phil Power is founder and chairman of the Center for Michigan. Paul Hillegonds, who these days is a vice president at DTE Energy, is one of Michigan’s most plugged-in and thoughtful people. Whenever something valuable and useful is going on in our state, Paul, a former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, is […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest commentary: Educators ready to join governor in open discussion of school reform
(Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) By William Mayes/Michigan Association of School Administrators On April 22, leaders from the education, business, manufacturing, government, and nonprofit sectors gathered for Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2013 Education Summit. The day’s events focused on ways Michigan could better serve its students while boosting the economy by creating a smoother transition from school […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Bridge readership survey 2013
Bridge will celebrate its second birthday in a few months. As a media “toddler,” we are still learning the best ways to present the most important topics to our readership across Michigan. To that end, we need to learn more about you – our readers. Each year, we survey our readership on a variety of […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
Medical marijuana is legal; Michigan needs sensible policy to provide it
Nearly five years after the passage of the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, the biggest obstacle for patients who want to use marijuana remains … actually getting some. IT’S THE LAW: Michigan voters overwhelmingly approved the use of medical marijuana in 2008. It’s incumbent on lawmakers to devise a system of distribution that works for patients, […]
Posted inBrunch with Bridge
A survivor’s tale of a bumper-sticker outing
I was 37 years old when I put my first bumper sticker on my car. I’d always had a car. When I turned 16, my mother gave me her silver 1980 Pontiac Phoenix and said, “Now you can drive yourself wherever you need to go — but you also have to take your sister anywhere […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan’s STD belt: It’s not what you think
(Bridge illustration/A.J. Jones) A line of Michigan counties, stretching along Interstate 94 from the Detroit River west to Lake Michigan, carries a dubious distinction: some of the highest rates of a sexually transmitted disease in the Great Lakes State. This phenomenon – an (un)chastity belt, if you will – is not, however, the result of […]