When you represent rural Michigan, health care affordability is an issue you hear every day. It’s the neighbor who skips his follow-up appointment because he can’t afford the copay. It’s the young family that…
Posts published in “Guest Column”
Recently, we traveled to Belfast with a group of American faith and civic leaders to learn about healing and reconciliation in deeply divided communities. Nearly three decades after the Good Friday Agreement helped bring an…
Michigan families are fed up with utility bills that are too high. Here is the good news: There are policies introduced in Lansing that would help lower gas and electric bills for Michiganders. Even if…
Michiganders don’t agree on everything. But across our state, there’s growing agreement on one thing: Our political system isn’t working the way it should. Families are paying more for energy while utility companies report record…
When a 17-year-old sat in my exam room recently, he didn’t look like someone in the grip of nicotine addiction. He was a focused high school senior and aspiring pilot — the kind of…
Michigan has not identified cychlorphine in overdose surveillance, and state health officials say no public alert has been issued because no confirmed detection has occurred. That is reassuring, but only up to a point.…
We find ourselves at a historic moment in 2026, one made even more significant by its ties to west Michigan. This month Artemis II took a crew of humans to fly by the Moon,…
I started my journalism career with a typewriter, a notebook and a pretty basic motivation: I wanted to know what was happening in my community, and why. The typewriter is long gone, replaced by…
Michigan is set to receive over $173 million in federal funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program to improve health care access in rural communities. This is thanks to President Trump’s One Big Beautiful…
Spring break is here. Across Michigan, families are packing suitcases, planning road trips and looking forward to a few days of rest and reconnection. Travel broadens children’s worlds and can introduce them to new…