A few weeks ago, Grand Rapids TV station WZZM posted a request on its Facebook page: Tell us about about the worst roads in West Michigan. Comments poured in. An Ottawa County resident described James Street, a road near Holland, as “horrible, has been for a long time. Not only filled with potholes but way […]
In West Michigan, evidence mounts of statewide road crisis
Posted inBusiness Watch
Bad roads throw up barriers to farmers, auto firms, tourists
Better than most, Cass County resident Cliff Poehlman understands how bad roads raise the cost of doing business. Poehlman farms about 2,000 acres of corn, wheat and alfalfa in southwestern Michigan. He is also a 22-year veteran of the Cass County Road Commission. In recent years, Poehlman said, the commission has been forced to issue […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Michigan politicians starve the engines of economic growth: universities
While we consider Gov. Rick Snyder’s budget message – to be delivered Thursday — we might want to look at some facts underlying our economy. The (persistently) bad news: Since 2008, Michigan has slashed state support for public colleges and universities by 21.5 percent. The (sort-of) good news: We rank only 11th among states in […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
* Another hospital in Michigan says it won’t hire smokers. McLaren Greater Lansing calls the policy change a “‘no-brainer’ given McLaren’s mission to promote healthy lifestyles and save lives.” And, dear smoker, lest you think you’ll just go work for yourself and get your own insurance plan, comes the news that, “The Affordable Care Act — […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Make every vote count
By Dan Brown The result of gerrymandering is the antithesis of representative government. As Phil Power recently noted, when the 2012 election gives one party 54 percent of the seats in the Michigan House of Representatives while receiving only 45 percent of the vote, the concept of representative government is negated. But, is it only […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Demographic trends improving in Michigan, but need to bolster education remains
The end-of-year reports on 2012 are coming in at a quick clip now – and the news appears to be consistently positive. Michigan’s jobless rate came in at 8.9 percent for 2012 and the state experienced its second straight year of job growth. (The 2009 rate was 13.4 percent.) Total nonfarm employment rose by 47,300 […]
Posted inTalent & Education
School in Thumb takes online learning to the max
Allison Ruiz was attending the Thanksgiving parade in downtown Detroit two months ago when she got a call from a student with a homework question. Nothing unusual for a teacher whose classes are 100 percent online — and whose students hit the keyboards whenever and wherever the mood strikes. “I was a little leery about […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Whole Foods exec sees opportunity in Detroit’s urban farming, artisanal food scene
Red Elk Banks, executive operations coordinator for Whole Foods Market, is playing a role in one of the bright spots in Detroit’s tumultuous recent history – overseeing the construction of a Whole Foods Market in the city’s Midtown neighborhood. Detroit has long been (wrongly) perceived as a “food desert” for its lack of any national-chain […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: Audit should prompt scrutiny of MEDC’s fundamental purpose
By Gary Wolfram/Hillsdale College A recent Auditor General’s report found that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation has failed to establish a comprehensive method to properly evaluate the effectiveness of one of its major programs: Renaissance Zones. From the inception of the Renaissance Zone program in fiscal year 1995-96 through fiscal year 2009-10, the MEDC abated […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
* Michigan is no. 11 in this chart of 38 states that have “slashed” higher funding in recent years. “Cash-poor state legislatures have gone to town on their higher education budgets, and as they’ve hacked away, tuition has risen along with the sums undergraduates have had to borrow. In total, 38 states cut post-secondary funding since […]
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