Jobs are booming in tiny Newaygo in west Michigan, but housing hasn’t followed. So builders and city leaders got creative to put less expensive homes on the market — and other cities may follow.
Rural Michigan
Posted inTalent & Education
‘It’s been hell.’ 1 house, 5 kids, and a pandemic struggle to learn at home
Up to half of all Michigan K-12 students were taking all of their classes from home, with more added after the recent state coronavirus health order. Rural areas are particularly struggling.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Upper Peninsula man nearly killed by COVID. He still doubts the data.
After nine days in the hospital, Dwaine Taylor — COVID case #290 in Delta County — said he no longer believes the coronavirus is a hoax. But he remains skeptical of the cases elsewhere, underscoring an awkward truth: COVID is complex, and so are people and politics.
Posted inMichigan Government
Michigan’s Amish seem to love Trump. But voting is another matter.
Amish opposition to government regulation and abortion aligns with the political positions and rhetoric of the current president. But this small but growing conservative population in Michigan will likely stay home on Election Day.
Posted inMichigan Government
Leelanau condemned the N-word, but the fight over racism had just begun
Like the rest of the nation, northern Michigan began a reckoning on race after George Floyd’s death in May. Then, a Leelanau County road commissioner’s racist outburst made it an undeniably local issue.
Posted inMichigan Government
Whitmer orders restrictions in Upper Peninsula as coronavirus cases spike
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer requires the U.P. to adhere to the same guidelines as most of the Lower Peninsula. The move comes as cases have exploded in western counties near Wisconsin.
Posted inTalent & Education
A rural Michigan district has 15 COVID cases, one death, and few answers
Health officials say the school followed safety protocols, and the cases that suddenly proliferated in Carson City show how a coronavirus outbreak can happen anywhere. The district has ended in-person classes.
Posted inMichigan Health Watch
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula getting hit hard by surge of coronavirus cases
After months of relatively few cases, the Upper Peninsula has seen coronavirus case counts soar, with most in the western part of the region along the border with Wisconsin.
Posted inMichigan Government
Unfazed by crises, northern Michigan embraces Trump record on jobs, abortion
Welcome to Missaukee County, where 3 of 4 voters backed Donald Trump four years ago and voters say racial injustice and the coronavirus aren’t pressing issues. Trump needs to dominate in such rural areas if he hopes to repeat in November, experts say.
Posted inGuest Commentary
First Person | I opened schools early. Then COVID struck. I stand by the call.
No doubt, the coronavirus is dangerous, but so is social isolation, writes a superintendent, whose district had the first student in northern Michigan test positive for COVID-19.