There is a 22-percent gap between white and black graduation rates atMichiganpublic universities – significantly wider than the national public university racial gap of 16 percent. Wayne State University has the largest racial graduation gap in the state, and the largest in the nation among public universities. Here are rates for 2009, the most recent […]
Racial grad gaps at Mich. public universities
Posted inSuccess
Bridge, MLive team up to spread Bridge stories
Two leading Michigan media organizations announced a new partnership today aimed at bringing additional in-depth news and analysis to statewide readers. Beginning this week, in-depth reports and commentary from Bridge Magazine (www.bridgemi.com) will run in the statewide online and print news publications of MLive Media Group (www.mlive.com). The nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Michigan launched Bridge […]
Posted inMichigan Government
On Medicaid, nursing homes — and your home
There may not be a government program as misunderstood as Medicaid. The program’s name has become synonymous with government spending and with a certain connotation on “welfare” — good money going to people making bad decisions. The facts about Medicaid are far different. In large measure, Medicaid is actually a middle-class entitlement program. So why […]
Posted inChildren & Families
$400 prom dress, in shades of gray
The headlines practically write themselves. “Taxpayers on the hook for $400 prom dress.” “$2,000 cheerleading camp on the state tab.” Scrape away the easy sensationalism, and the story is more complex. The Michigan Department of Human Services paid almost $400 for a prom dress for a foster care teen — one of several eye-popping expenditures noted […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Somewhere, Alaska
John Boehner of Ohio. Mike Castle of Delaware. Jeff Flake and John Shadegg, Arizona. Butch Otter, Idaho. Ron Paul, Texas. Jim Sensenbrenner, Wisconsin. Mac Thornberry, Texas. And C.W. “Bill” Young, Florida. This slender cohort of current and former U.S. representatives, along with nine others who did not vote, can rest easy this campaign season, knowing […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Rust and the rest: Reinventing cities
When Chattanooga made the national news one evening in 1969, it wasn’t for a good reason. Air pollution had won the Tennessee industrial center the federal designation of being the dirtiest city in America. It was “a real wakeup call,” said Mayor Ron Littlefield. And “the city and the county and the region, decided when […]
Posted inBusiness Watch
Double-down on strengths, urban report advises Michigan
Revitalizing Michigan’s cities and urban areas doesn’t begin and end at their borders. Michigan needs to build off the strengths and potential of its metropolitan areas and employ regional strategies, accompanied by strategic urban focus, suggests a new report commissioned by the statewide CEO group Business Leaders for Michigan. The report, prepared by Lansing-based Public […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Urban chief outlines new normal for cities
Harvey Hollins III is the director of the Michigan Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives and is a principal adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder on urban economic development. He is a loaned executive through the Council of Michigan Foundations, and his salary is supported by individual foundations through the council. Bridge spoke with Hollins in […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Truth Squad tackles presidential primary ads
Leading up to what could prove a pivotal Michigan Republican presidential primary, the Michigan Truth Squad, another project of the Center for Michigan, is hard at work assessing the claims in various campaign ads and materials from the leading candidates and their political allies. See what fouls have been called on the bids by Mitt […]
Posted inPhil's Column
A plan to curb carp, before it's too late
Since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, the Great Lakes have been locked in an unhealthy marriage with the Atlantic Ocean and the rest of the world. Before then, the Great Lakes had evolved over the millennia their own ecosystem, physically separated from invasion by non-native species. But once oceangoing freighters could take on […]