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Quality of Life
Michigan is a great place to live. Bridge will report that fact often — and on potential threats to the assets that make it so.
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Articles
As cities rush to sell off utilities, Wyandotte boasts 3 city-run systems
Cities across the nation are selling off utilities to raise cash for other needs. But Detroit’s downriver neighbor still runs its electrical, water and cable systems, sparking community pride.
Canada geese are as annoying as hell. In Alpena, that’s a death sentence.
Pooping, squawking and bullying, Canada geese are back from the brink of extinction and irritating much of Michigan. Alpena has a big surprise for them.
In Charlevoix and Petoskey, pricey housing leaves businesses without workers
Picturesque views of Lake Michigan draw tourist crowds but push out the workers who make shoreside cities run.
Message from marijuana country: We love legal pot. Will Michigan?
For three weeks, I traveled the marijuana highway from Colorado to California and up to Washington. Most like the taxes pot provides and shrug off worries about legalization. But it’s not a cure all.
Support legal pot in Michigan? Know the latest health risks (and benefits)
The latest research shows pot is less dangerous than tobacco or alcohol, but it’s not without health risks. Here is what you should know before Michigan votes on legal weed.
More pot and lower taxes if Michigan marijuana vote passes this fall (slideshow)
The Michigan marijuana initiative would allow customers to possess more pot and pay lower taxes than most states that legalize recreational marijuana. Bridge compares state laws.
What’s legal, and what isn’t, under Michigan recreational marijuana plan (slideshow)
Legalizing recreational marijuana would not mean a free-for-all. Here are the legal limits if the measure passes in November.
Traverse City grows as local workers search for a place to call home
Michigan towns that rely on tourism like Traverse City are flourishing. But high housing costs paired with low wages leave many local workers scrambling for a place to live.
Despite opioid problems, small-town Hastings, Michigan ‘a good place to be from’
Southeast of Grand Rapids, Hastings is battling opioid addiction and other challenges as it maintains its easy-going character. Bridge pays a visit during its 2018 Truth Tour.
A Northern Michigan town waves as I-75 drivers barrel past
West Branch wants to become a destination for tourists and new businesses. Residents plead for more job training. And the town may even ditch its Victorian past. (With slideshow)
Plans on track for passenger train from Ann Arbor to Traverse City, group says
Booming tourism in Traverse City and interest justifies daily passenger trains from Ann Arbor through stops to Up North, study shows.
Michigan’s riding high. But a downturn is coming and the safety net is frayed.
A peak economy is the perfect time to expand job training and assistance. Instead, state officials are squandering the good times, experts warn.
Michigan falls short in frontline treatment for opioid crisis
The state, hard hit by opioid deaths, has a shortage of doctors trained to prescribe medication that’s critical to recovery.
Lansing provides sluggish response to Michigan’s rising drug prices
Expected bills aimed at skyrocketing drug costs face an uncertain fate in the Michigan Legislature
How other states are fighting prescription drug costs
From pressuring drug manufacturers to offer bigger discounts to seeking bulk sales from Canada, other states are taking aggressive steps to help consumers.
Did a Michigan campus narrowly avert a massacre like the Florida shooting?
We’ve all seen the horrible scenes from a Florida high school. But similar carnage may have visited Lansing Community College in November. But then a worried friend called police.
Aging area near Traverse City joins “village movement” to stay at home
Graying populations in regions across Michigan can benefit from grassroots membership networks that help with rides, nursing visits, and other challenges for older residents who want to remain independent.
An election divided them. A year later, they meet face to face.
We’ve followed Michigan residents with diverse political views since the 2016 presidential election. They came together in one room on a recent morning. Here’s what happened.
Trump and anti-Trump Michiganders meet: A photo story
Coffee, donuts, laughs and a few tears: a year after a divisive presidential election, voters meet to swap political views amid hopes they can work together on some issues.
Chemical Valley and the threat to Michigan’s drinking water
The Enbridge pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac gets all the attention. But a sprawling industrial complex in Ontario has a long history of chemical spills and botched communications with its coastal neighbors in Michigan.