Quality of Life

The village president’s inflammatory Facebook posts leads to an evening standoff along the normally placid main street of Kalkaska.

For three generations, the odds of outearning your parents has dropped. Today, a young person’s odds of climbing higher than their parents are no better than a coin flip.

Your chances of living the American Dream – climbing higher up the economic ladder than your parents – used to be a sure thing. Times have changed, and not for the better.

How much of the political divide is an economic opportunity gap? In Bay City, which went twice for Obama, the focus is, as President Trump likes to say, jobs, jobs, jobs.

Census shows Michigan’s population woes aren’t distributed evenly. As Detroit withers, many of its suburbs are adding thousands. And while much of northern Michigan is shrinking in population, west Michigan is growing.

More kindergartners get their shots after the state made it harder to receive a waiver for them. Now, two lawmakers want to go back to the old system, but health officials say doing so is an invitation to trouble.

Immunization rates have risen in Michigan after a rule change. Use this database to see how your school compares.

Click on a county to see how rates changed overall and in public and private schools.

It wasn’t always comfortable. But more than 200 brave souls from around the country (and six nations) switched to news feeds with a different political viewpoint. A few have yet to switch back.