How are Michigan families faring after losing welfare cash assistance? Tracy Davenport lost her house and her car — and can’t find work because of a medical condition that causes her to fall down constantly. Learn her story at Michigan Radio, which has teamed up with Bridge Magazine to chronicle the first year after welfare […]
Michigan Radio continues look at welfare reform's consequences
Posted inQuality of Life
State attracts visitors of motor-less bent
For seven days last summer, James Jeske, 66, bicycled along Michigan’s western shore. The 500-mile-long trek took him from New Buffalo at the base of the Mitten to Mackinaw City at the tip of the Lower Peninsula. Jeske did not cycle the peninsula alone, though. He was with 400 other cyclists on the Shoreline West […]
Posted inTalent & Education
Is the state retreating from public education?
In coming weeks, the Michigan Legislature will finish work on Michigan’s fiscal 2013 budget — including funding out of the state’s School Aid Fund to local public schools. In today’s 42North debate, Glenn Nelson and Brit Satchwell of Ann Arbor argue that Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2013 (and 2014) budget plans continue a harmful policy of […]
Posted inPeter Luke: Eye on the Capitol
Legislators want to run, not pay for, Mich. universities
Spring budget treks to the State Capitol by the presidents of Michigan’s public universities weren’t always this pointless. When lawmakers appropriated half the money or more that universities spent for operations, it paid for presidents to express gratitude to the veteran legislators whose long careers were built on protecting the interests of their favored (hometown) […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“I have approximate answers and possible beliefs in different degrees of certainty about different things, but I’m not absolutely sure of anything, and of many things I don’t know anything about, but I don’t have to know an answer” — Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning American physicist. * Michigan’s local governments were collaborating and sharing services […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Prospects brighten for Mich. heavyweights
At Kelly Services Inc., business is good — quite good. In Michigan alone last year, the global staffing company placed approximately 2,500 more people in positions than it did in 2010, spanning industries and all lines of Kelly’s business: temporary help, temp-to-hire and direct hires. There’s been steady, increased demand for Troy-based Kelly’s services as […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Housing, office furniture still under economic clouds
The economic signs are encouraging; company financials have improved. But some sectors of Michigan’s economy still are navigating bumpy terrain. Office furniture production has climbed up from a 2009 trough, but, after seeing gains in 2010 and 2011, U.S. production is expected to drop 2 percent this year, then rebound in 2013, according to one […]
Posted inPhil's Column
Time to discuss radical options for Detroit
Most of the sound and fury enveloping Detroit these past few weeks has been about the near-bankrupt city’s immediate financial survival, whether via a consent agreement between the city and the state or, failing that, an emergency manager. No one doubts Detroit is in terrible financial shape. The reported annual operating deficit is near $270 million. There’s […]
Posted inLand O Links
Land O Links
“Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful” — Samuel Johnson, 18th century English essayist. * In our increasingly “yes/no” political world, let’s start off today with a thought experiment about “maybe.” Settle in. What if you were told the Legislature and governor just enacted bills to increase […]
Posted inQuality of Life
Michigan's map of LUST
There are approximately 9,100 underground storage tanks in Michigan (LUSTs in environmental parlance) leaking fuel into the surrounding soils and water. While more than 13,000 such sites have been cleaned up over the years, Michigan’s current backlog is the second-largest in the nation. Half of the current sites fall under the responsibility of the state — and the […]