Guest Commentary

We have a choice this year to break from the longtime practice of secrecy and pork payouts. It’s a dramatic choice. Pork or progress.

Kneecapping our state universities by restricting or cutting off research funding is a destructive and senseless act of self-sabotage.

Michigan should enact a ban like New York state’s: no smartphones at school from bell-to-bell. We shouldn’t ask our children to resist technology that’s so addictive many adults can’t pull themselves away.

These funds were secured to repair the damage caused by the opioid crisis and there is no more effective way to do that than by helping people enter recovery and stay there.

These proposals will do nothing to actually make elections more secure, and instead, they will prevent eligible voters from participating in our elections.

This is one of the most consequential decisions Michigan’s State Board of Education will make in a decade. We urge the board to select a leader who is bold, transparent, and unwavering in their commitment to the children who have for too long been overlooked.

Getting a good deal is more important than a fast deal for our Michigan children in the upcoming state budget.

Medical debt is a public health issue, and Michigan should enlist Community Health Workers to help residents navigate a system designed to confuse.

Michigan needs real solutions, including hazard pay, rather than policies that steal corrections workers from their families.

We know that some elected officials still worry that comprehensive sex education is not popular with constituents. This is untrue. It is long past time to update Michigan’s sex and health education standards.

The 2022 clean energy plan was written to support unions like mine, making sure that American workers don’t get left behind.

We can fix our roads without reversing progress on clean mobility. Let’s not let a well-intentioned fix become a costly mistake.

The state has acted to attract more new teachers. Now we must take steps to improve retention.

Too often, Lansing has micromanaged school budgets, limiting the ability of local schools to respond effectively to the unique challenges they face. Our budget fundamentally changes this approach.

These earn-while-you-learn programs are one of the most effective tools we have to connect people with high-wage, in-demand careers.

Put the old-fashioned word “character” at the top of your criteria for selecting a new U-M president. The regents have neglected that trait twice in a row.

If Michigan students are to receive the support they need, we must invest in student mental health more intentionally.

Many assume the solution is simple: fill the funding gaps left by the federal pullback. But philanthropy alone can’t replace public investment – and many argue it shouldn’t.

The time has passed for empty campaign promises and meaningless headlines. Michigan’s leaders need to act and deliver a real solution for our road funding problem.

For our utilities and state leaders, the catastrophe is a warning of what’s to come if we don’t adapt our grids to an increase in both frequency and intensity of severe weather.