Residents who depended on the hospital in tiny Haleyville agreed to pay hikes in sales and property taxes. Their sacrifice in tax-averse Alabama may portend what it will take to keep other rural medical facilities in business.
Rural Michigan
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
Michigan’s UP is full of closed mines. Technology may give them new life
Upper Peninsula communities struggled when mines shuttered. Now, researchers are studying whether closed mines could be used to store energy, lowering cripplingly high energy costs.
Posted inMichigan Government
Whitmer’s road funding plan could pit Michigan cities against rural areas
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed making roads with the heaviest traffic a priority for more than $2 billion in new funding. That’s not going over well in rural Michigan.
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
How a typo revived a Michigan fish feud over hungry Yoopers and science
A brouhaha over brook trout has bubbled up in Michigan, pitting older anglers against downstate ones and prompting questions about whether science or special interests sets policy.
Posted inChildren & Families
Where have all the babies gone? Michigan births lowest since 1944
In some counties, there are three funerals for every birth. That’s not a trend that bodes well for the state.
Posted inChildren & Families
Suicides, often linked to opioids, spike in rural Michigan and among young
A new study finds links between two grim causes of death, but also poses some proven ways to reduce rates
Posted inTalent & Education
A $18B debt is coming due, and it’s haunting small town Michigan
See how your town compares as a new state law tracking public pension and health care debt lays bare the financial woes of rural Michigan.
Posted inChildren & Families
Pregnant in rural Michigan? Fill up your gas tank for delivery day.
As rural hospitals close their obstetrics units, many mothers and their babies will pay a price in far longer journeys for hospital care
Posted inChildren & Families
For some rural mothers, there’s no place like home (births)
Michigan midwives deliver hundreds of babies a year at home, an option that may be more attractive to rural expectant mothers with no hospitals nearby
Posted inMichigan Environment Watch
A slow-moving ‘disaster’ is threatening Lake Superior and way of life
The Buffalo Reef in the Keweenaw Peninsula teems with lake trout and whitefish. But a mountain of waste from a closed mine is slowly seeping into the water, prompting a desperate search for a solution.