Phil's Column

Michigan’s public education system is so disjointed that it’s impossible to know who to hold accountable. Lose the school board and make the governor responsible for turning around our state’s declining schools.

Michigan is now an educational backwater, for wealthy white kids along with poor students of color. But Lansing is more focused on tax breaks than our children’s economic future.

The university’s commitment to top-flight research and activism is celebrated by an alum who bleeds maize and blue.

The memories of the burning and looting remain deeply engraved as a cautionary tale of how things can go south so quickly

A social media industry that ducks its public responsibility to accuracy is an industry that is setting itself up for a devastating comeuppance

Will the U.S. Supreme Court strike down a Wisconsin system that heavily favors one political party over another? If so, watch for seismic changes in states like Michigan.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley’s initiative would only double down on the inexperience that’s already hurting the Legislature’s ability to pass good policy

Memorial Day reminds of our national values and shared sacrifice

Instead of buying in mindlessly to either Republican (cut) or Democratic (spend) doctrine, politicians running for state office in 2018 must think about what ordinary residents want. Creating a citizens’ agenda for Michigan.

Automation, globalization and fears raised by immigrants raise political stress that will only yield to leaders who can bring people together.

Phil Power visits three candidates, Dan Kildee, Bill Schuette and Gretchen Whitmer, all likely to seek the governorship in 2018. All are smart and able, but each has yet to find a theme that can bring Michiganders together.

The riot – or rebellion, as some call it – raised long-suppressed issues of race, poverty, joblessness and despair among African-American Detroiters. How much has truly changed?

Michiganders told us they can’t count on Lansing to handle the basics. Ending term limits and legislative gerrymandering are two ways to make politicians more responsive to all residents.

If we don’t have public confidence in our system of representative government and in our political leaders to reform and improve, our options are pretty much reduced to chaos or authoritarianism.

How you can help the state clean up the best of the worst examples of incomprehensible government forms, laws or other documents.

Lansing’s tax-cutting obsession is leading Michigan down the drain

Bridge Magazine just won its second straight “Newspaper of the Year” award. Dogged reporting like that shown in uncovering some mysterious pneumonia deaths near Flint is one reason why.

Lawmakers are floating elimination of the state’s income tax at a time when evidence shows that Michigan desperately needs more state revenues to fix crumbling roads and keep drinking water safe.

Bridge Magazine’s “Michigan Divided” project aims to walk in the shoes of, and find common values among, those who are different from us.

Living in a post-fact world, in which there is no independent standard by which to judge the accuracy of any assertion.