High inflation has led to a lot of tough choices for Michiganders lately. For Lucas Dent’s family in Cadillac the budget for fun activities like going out on weekends or buying new clothes is now dedicated to the weekly grocery bill. In the Upper Peninsula, where gas prices have stayed 10 to 20-cents higher than the rest of the state, Luke Sentowski weighs the cost-benefit of delivering orders for DoorDash for supplemental income. Post-pandemic recovery has been turbulent and it’s been hard to regain a foothold on normalcy. Sentowski said he feels like he’s been hammered with bad news since March of 2020. “At first it was all the different variants and then Ukraine and now the gas prices,” he said. “We just want a break.” READ MORE
After three decades representing West Michigan in Congress, U.S. Rep. Fred Upton announced his plan to retire on Tuesday. Upton, 68, is the fourth Republican who voted to impeach former president Donald Trump to decline to run for reelection. For political junkies and insiders, the news comes as no surprise. Many viewed Upton’s departure as the next step in the so-called ‘RINO hunt’ being led by Trump-allied Republicans looking to oust members critical of the controversial president. Upton, Michigan’s longest serving member of Congress, had fallen out of favor with local Republican leaders, who censured the congressman over his votes to impeach Trump. READ MORE
Michigan’s hockey team is in the Frozen Four for an NCAA-record 26th time, but its opponent is no stranger to deep tournament runs, either. Denver had its run of 12 straight NCAA Tournament appearances snapped last season but has had a resurgence in 2021-22. Like the Wolverines, the Pioneers also earned a No. 1 seed in their region and advanced to the Frozen Four for an 18th time. READ MORE More in sports:
The median Bloomfield Hills house in ZIP code 48302 sold for $437,000 in 2019. In 2021, it jumped to $604,000 – up 38%. But home prices didn’t just skyrocket in the affluent suburbs. Morley’s 49336 ZIP code, which is just south of Big Rapids, had a median home price of $89,000 for the 29 homes sold there in 2019. It 2021, the median sale price was nearly $172,000 for the 30 homes sold – up 93%. In an MLive analysis of 596 southern Michigan ZIP codes, the median sale price for 2021 was about $42,000 higher than in 2019. TAKE A LOOK
Good news for anyone who wants to help Michigan’s native bees but doesn’t want to give up a beautifully lush lawn: The two can actually go hand in hand. “Bee lawns” combine grasses with low-growing flowering perennials to provide food for bees and other pollinators while also maintaining the function and tidiness of a typical lawn. A new free online workshop this month from Michigan State University Extension will explain the steps to creating a bee lawn, as well as the many merits of doing so.
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