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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.
Articles
In rural Michigan, a doctor shortage promises to get worse
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.
MSU’s mission to train rural doctors
Since 1974, Michigan State University's medical school has offered intensive training for rural primary care physicians
Five years later, state parks Recreation Passport a financial success
Michigan's state park system adapts to budget squeezes and changing values about the outdoors. But major costs kicked down the road.
Dreaming big: A walking trail spanning Michigan’s vast coastline
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.
A graying population poses challenges for Up North counties
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.
Cringe over troubled water - Flint’s smelly dilemma
Flint calls on the state to clear up the city’s low-quality drinking water. Who is responsible for the city’s water problems?
DNR yields to public and will not allow drilling under prized land at Hartwick Pines
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.
Oil lease proposed under 400-year-old virgin pines
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.
How to comment on possible oil drilling under 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.
The fish that got away
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.
Asian carp, from mouth to tail
Where they come from, what they do, and how they threaten the ecosystem of the Great Lakes.
Hunting for Asian carp by what they left behind
A new form of DNA allows scientists pick up the trail of the invasive species from the slime or waste detected in water samples.
For-profits gobbling up community hospitals in Michigan
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.
Michigan hospitals – Who owns what
Keeping a tally of the changing hospital landscape in Michigan: At least a dozen community hospitals in Michigan have been purchased since 2010 by larger health systems
Hospital consolidations tend to raise prices, change priorities, studies find
Competition among hospitals tends to keep medical prices down. Other studies find that for-profit hospitals tend to invest more in services that make more money.
Downhill run for Sugar Loaf: Property decays and owners dither
Since its closing in 2000, the iconic Leelanau ski resort has been a case study on how to turn a magnificent property into a rotting, unsellable eyesore.
Community groups try, and fail, to reopen Sugar Loaf
Hearts are in the right place, but missteps dog efforts to sell the scenic resort.
How to run a profitable ski resort? Think summer, too
A beautiful mountain is no longer enough to keep a ski resort in business in Michigan. Successful resorts include facilities and attractions to keep tourists coming year-round.