Phil's Column

True excellence brings with it the impulse for aspiration, a model for following, a standard that invites achievement, for all of Michigan.

The traditions of African culture run up against opportunities for prosperity in a developing Kenya.

With prisons gobbling 20 percent of state spending, policymakers are grappling how to reduce Michigan's incarcerated population while still keeping those on the outside safe.

Three Center for Michigan conferences this fall will put state political, business and education leaders in the same room with ordinary Michigan residents to talk college affordability, job training and career opportunities.

Both Trump and the Center, in VERY different ways, are working to impact a troubled political system.

Four years in, Bridge Magazine is helping to shape the policy conversation in Michigan with research-based, bipartisan reporting on issues important to the state.

Five generations of the Power family are tied to the Montmorency “sour” cherries of northern Michigan. Now, put them in your belly!

A promise of beauty and wisdom amid the wonders of Michigan.

Momentum is building among conservative policymakers to reduce costs in the state’s expensive prison system

Programs that help vulnerable families with pregnancy and infant care, as well as child-care options, are shown to pay dividends for early learning.

Like the aftermath of a sudden spring snowstorm, the ground is blanketed with various proposals to fix Michigan’s roads. And most have something else in common with spring snow: They’re likely to have melted into the ground once the sun comes out.

In today’s digital world, old school political leadership mechanisms don’t work well anymore.

Common-sense solutions should constitute a third force in Michigan politics, which could move our two entrenched political parties toward collaboration for the public good.

There is something deeply disgusting when a very few people dominate financing of our ostensibly “democratic” political system without even the pretense of public engagement.

A book recounting how FDR’s struggles with polio helped shape his worldview reminds the author of a turning point in his own life.

The CMU event, open to the public, will bring experts on early childhood development from around the world to Michigan.

A program in Washington D.C., Baltimore and Miami holds promise for low-income students, but going big with this reform carries its own risks.

The Michigan Legislature needs to get moving by passing critical reforms that will reverse the state’s declining performance

When political parties control who gets nominated for the state board of education and other policy offices, the candidates that emerge are too often the product of special interests.

There’s compelling evidence that investing in infants all the way through age eight brings disproportionately high returns.