Quality of Life

This year’s bloom promises to be bigger, slimier and more trouble for marine life than past years. While experts are calling for tougher regulation of industrial farming, the state says Michigan’s current conservation efforts are working.

Fifteen years after landowners along the Mississippi River were asked to help reduce conditions for blooms, there has been no reduction in a marine dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. One expert suggests tougher regulation.

The state’s Master Angler program rewards those who catch the biggest everything, from bass to pike, crappie to walleye. But its database also rewards novice anglers.

Use Bridge’s database of data from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to find where Michigan’s biggest fish are hooked. Plus, see a slideshow of monster fish submitted by readers.

Living far from a major hospital may not always be a hindrance to high-quality health care. Telemedicine can deliver healthcare to rural corners of Michigan, where a specialist may be hundreds of miles away.

A shortage of primary care doctors is associated with worse health outcomes and higher death rates. What steps Michigan can take to close the doctor gap.

Since 1974, Michigan State University's medical school has offered intensive training for rural primary care physicians

Michigan's state park system adapts to budget squeezes and changing values about the outdoors. But major costs kicked down the road.

Could Michigan’s coast tracing the Mitten and Upper Peninsula be the centerpiece of a Great Lakes walking trail? At more than 10,000 miles, a proposed Great Lakes trail would be the world’s longest.

High up on Michigan’s Mitten, arthritis is creeping into the fingertips. Michigan leads the nation with the most counties with a median age over 50.

Flint calls on the state to clear up the city’s low-quality drinking water. Who is responsible for the city’s water problems?

A Bridge article revealing possible oil leasing under the virgin pines produced a backlash from environmental groups, and from the family that donated the land. The DNR says it may still allow drilling in other parts of the park.

The state may allow an oil lease under the largest stand of virgin white pine in the Lower Peninsula. Experts say drilling wouldn't harm trees. But critics fear a booming oil rig at Hartwick Pines State Park.

Revenue and jobs? Or undisturbed quiet? Make your voice heard on drilling proposals. Also, see if you live near a proposed drilling site.

Have plankton-devouring Asian carp finally reached the Great Lakes? After years of trying to block the invasion, the answer is: Nobody knows. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says it needs another $18 billion to cut the carp’s march up the Mississippi.

Where they come from, what they do, and how they threaten the ecosystem of the Great Lakes.

A new form of DNA allows scientists pick up the trail of the invasive species from the slime or waste detected in water samples.

Nonprofit community hospitals, once a backbone of civic life, are increasingly selling out as health care changes make survival difficult. For-profits bring infusions of cash to hospitals and communities, but also concerns about costs.