Ron French

A potentially deadly disease in infants, whooping cough — pertussis — has exploded in Michigan this year, in part because of decreased vaccination rates.

More doctors but fewer insurance options for the needy? Tax credits for private schools, but not EVs? Here’s what residents can expect in 2025 under President-elect Donald Trump.

Michigan is 31st nationwide for broadband access, with 1 in 10 residents lacking access. Slowly but surely, though, it is spreading across rural Michigan.

When big box stores receive lowered tax assessments, the impact is felt in schools and township halls. The tax policy may be debated in the upcoming ‘lame duck’ session.

The bills would set statewide standards, requiring books and movies to be declared obscene by courts before they are challenged. Democrats have six weeks to pass the legislation before losing the majority in the House.

Calls to Michigan’s problem gambling helpline tripled after gambling on phones and laptops was legalized in 2021.

The state and a national health care provider are squabbling over a contract, and the losers are Michigan ambulance services

The money coming into Michigan communities is intended to help with the drug epidemic. The Oakland County suburb is using it to pay itself back for old costs.

A group that has called for more transparency in how the state fights opioid addiction is the focus of a fight between Republicans and Democrats.

At a Sasquatch conference in northern Michigan, experts preach tolerance, a willingness to engage with skeptics and keep an open mind — all lessons that could help in the leadup to Nov. 5 as easily as in the woods.

Universities have aggressively expanded medical schools with the hope that could curb a looming doctor shortage. Instead, the shortage worsened as newly licensed doctors left Michigan.

More than 1 in 4 Michiganders live in an area with a shortage of health providers. Primary care is among the worst hit.

The culture wars have led to compromise in northern Michigan, with a library moving books and county commissioners rescinding a threat to fire library board members.

An internal email lays out plans to dissolve a legislative commission that has pushed for transparency and accountability in how the state spends $1.6 billion in opioid settlement funds.

Democrats are trying to throw part of the blame for the opioid crisis on U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who advocated for greater pain med access two decades ago.

Use Bridge’s database to search how opioid settlement funds are being allocated by community in Michigan. Most of the money is being spent on recovery, drug courts, defibrillators and the like.

Farmington Hills has used about $120,000 from an opioid lawsuit settlement to repay itself for past drug-fighting costs. Almost all other cities are using the money to help current users or future drug-fighting efforts.

Michigan doesn’t track how cities are spending their share of a landmark lawsuit settlement with opioid manufacturers. A Bridge investigation finds 4 in 10 haven’t spent money yet on the crisis that has upended thousands of lives.

A three-month investigation by Bridge Michigan has revealed that only 28% of the $156 million received by Michigan counties and municipalities so far as part of nationwide opioid settlement agreements has been budgeted or spent.

Mike Rogers advocated for policies to increase opioid prescriptions as the national addiction crisis unfolded. Now running for U.S. Senate, Rogers blames doctors and a lack of federal enforcement.