As readers of Bridge and supporters of the Center for Michigan know, the Center is spending the next year hosting conversations around the state about K-12 education and how citizens can improve it. Without doubt, it is vital to get more citizens involved in the policy process. I’m going to indulge my curmudgeonly side a […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Delray neighborhood has hopes, worries for a new bridge
If advocates get their way, the Next International Trade Crossing bridge would be built with its U.S. terminus in the Delray neighborhood of Detroit, southwest of downtown and of the existing Ambassador Bridge. Community leaders and residents who spoke to Bridge Magazine about the proposal offered mixed views, with hopes of improved economic activity leavened […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Michigan lost more people in 2009-10 than once thought
Larry Rosen of Public Policy Associates in Lansing recently utilized data from the Census Bureau’s 2010 American Community Survey to analyze residential patterns for Michigan in- and out-migrants between 2009 and 2010. This analysis has drawn significant media coverage. Sometimes, though, the data can lead you astray. The conclusion that “The data indicate a continuing […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Center will make your voice heard on schools
I know I’m not alone when I say I’m disgusted with the way our political system is (not) working these days. What seems to be happening all over the country is that a mixture of highly partisan activists from both parties, passionate ideologues and special interest groups are succeeding in mostly closing off the political […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Group wants surpluses spent on children
The Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan, a collection of business, nonprofit and educational groups, has some advice for the Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder on using the projected surpluses from the 2011 fiscal year: Spend it on the kids. In a new letter (see full draft below), the group argues, “Viewing them as investment strategies, […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours” — John Locke, 17th century English philosopher * Propublica says the EPA has a report linking fracking chemicals to an instance of groundwater contamination in Wyoming. This has huge import for the state of Michigan, where hydrofracturing, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Guest column: Snyder charts right course on roads
By James A. Jacob/Ajax Paving Cars swerving to miss potholes, bumper-to-bumper congestion, concrete falling from dangerous bridges and a lack of enhanced safety features such as broad shoulders along roadways create hazards for Michigan drivers. Michigan roads are notoriously known as some of the worst in the nation. A recent trucker survey ranked Michigan second-worst […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Kalamazoo gains strength from Promise
Jasmine Granville learned about the Kalamazoo Promise riding the bus back from a basketball game at Battle Creek Central. “I don’t remember if they played it on the radio, or people were calling people,” she said. “I remember a bunch of the seniors were just bawling their eyes out.” As a freshman at Kalamazoo Central […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Get the mentally ill out of prisons, jails
Michigan taxpayers could save millions of dollars every year, not suffer any hardship and do humanity a service. How? Simply by shifting treatment of the mentally ill from state prisons and local jails to a system of outpatient treatment and mental health courts. This shift also would reverse a past mistake of epic proportions. Over […]
Posted inQuality of Life
State effort to replicate Promise yields mixed results
The Kalamazoo Promise has inspired 10 Michigan communities to develop college promises of their own — without relying on a few generous benefactors to underwrite the whole thing. The communities, mostly distressed urban areas, are creating Promise Zones, with the goal of promising all high school graduates living within the school district boundaries financial support […]
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