MICHIGAN TRUTH SQUAD ANALYSIS: What: Public statements concerning state Representative Roy Schmidt’s political party switch. Who: Schmidt (a Grand Rapids Republican) and House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall. Truth Squad Call: Flagrant foul against Schmidt; foul against Bolger. In May, at the filing deadline for this year’s state House of Representatives elections, Schmidt switched parties, from […]
Truth Squad issues flagrant foul to Schmidt, foul to Bolger on election scheme
Posted inPhil's Column
School reform push focuses on learning results, not funding buckets
They say great oaks from little acorns grow. Maybe the same thing will happen as a result of last Tuesday’s meeting in Lansing to consider how to re-work the School Aid Act into the “Michigan Education Finance Act of 2013.” The School Aid Act was originally written in 1979. It’s been amended many times since. At […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Sorry, baby: Delivery docs in short supply Up North
Kristin and Warren Scaife fishtailed along the gravel road that winds south out of Grand Marais, on the rocky shores of Lake Superior. Kristin was in labor, but she couldn’t go to the closest hospital. Helen Newberry Joy Hospital didn’t have a birthing unit. A decade earlier, Kristin’s mother-in-law had found that out when she […]
Posted inQuality of Life
CMU eyes locals to relieve doctor shortage for rural Michigan
Northern Michigan needs to take a gardening approach to solve its shortage of medical services, and grow its own doctors. That’s the advice of Ernie Yoder, dean of the yet-to-open Central Michigan University College of Medicine. The shortage of physicians in the northern half of the Lower Peninsula and in the U.P. causes some rural […]
Posted inSuccess
Michigan firm has bright idea to make camping a sunny experience
Dustin Denkins has fueled his interest in renewable energy into a successful company that makes portable generators. Except he doesn’t use fuel. In 2010, Denkins created Suburb Solar, Inc., which he operates out of his solar-powered, off-the-grid home in Cooks, a small town near Manistique. “Really, it kind of formed because of a lifelong passion […]
Posted inGuest Commentary
Guest column: 'Doctor shortage' doesn't affect everyone in Michigan equally
By Marianne Udow-Phillips and Josh Fangmeier/ Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation Ron French’s recent piece in Bridge highlighted concerns about the supply of primary care physicians in Michigan, today and into the future. In 2014, assuming the Affordable Care Act takes full effect in Michigan, the state’s primary care system will be further strained […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Education talk slated for Grand Rapids on July 25
Gov. Rick Snyder has detailed a veteran Lansing lawyer and political adviser to lead a reconsideration of how the state funds public schools, it was announced Tuesday. Panel leader Richard McLellan says public hearings in coming months will gather comment from citizens on flaws and potential improvements in school finance. No need to wait for […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“You can’t know too much, but you can say too much” — Calvin Coolidge, president of the United States, 1923-1929. * The operator of a charter school for Muskegon Heights promises a public meeting a bunch of big changes. Among them: “school days will be longer – 7 ½ hours”; the school year “will include […]
Posted inPhil's Column
A revolution in Ann Arbor is led from the corner office
Mary Sue Coleman is a rock star college president. Since being appointed the 13th president of the University of Michigan in 2002, she has been on a tear, successfully guiding the U of M to ever-increasing stature through very difficult times. The U of M has risen in reputation to No. 18 in the entire world, […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Ad matches up with reports about Detroit-Windsor span, Truth Squad finds
Gov. Rick Snyder and the government of Canada recently brokered an “interlocal” agreement to proceed with construction of a second bridge linking Detroit and Windsor, Ontario. That plan has long been opposed by the ownership of the existing Ambassador Bridge between the two communities. Said owners, the Moroun family, have funded numerous media ads decrying […]