Claire Keenan-Kurgan
News ReporterClaire joined Interlochen Public Radio in summer 2024. She covers general assignment news with a focus on labor, growth, and the economy of northern Michigan. She also covers immigration. Before arriving at IPR, she interned for WBEZ’s data journalism team in Chicago and for the investigative unit of American Public Media.
She studied sociology and global studies at the University of Chicago and she speaks Spanish. Contact her at claire.keenan-kurgan@interlochen.org.
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Nurses with the Traverse City Munson Nurses Association — a local union — have reached a tentative agreement with Munson Hospital after months of negotiation. One of the big issues on the table throughout the bargaining sessions was the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare. -
The Michigan Department of Corrections has announced a $10,000-a-year hike in starting pay at five Upper Peninsula prisons. U.P. prisons house about a fourth of the state’s inmates but record nearly three-fourths of assaults on prison staff. -
High gas prices have some in the tourism industry worried that summer vacationers will choose to stay home this year. But it’s complicated up north, where high travel costs nationwide could actually drive more visitors to northern Michigan—visitors who would normally look to travel farther away. -
Last year, multiple lawsuits alleged physical and sexual abuse at a Missouri mental health facility. Around the same time, Grand Traverse County kids were sent there for treatment. -
The candidate, who’s running for the Democratic nomination for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, made a pitch in downtown Manistee on Tuesday afternoon that he could win over people who voted for President Donald Trump. -
The Michigan Bureau of Elections has threatened Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop with criminal charges if she continues her efforts to change the county's voter rolls. -
Barn 206, once part of the Traverse City State Hospital, has been reborn as an event space — with a message from a former hospital worker preserved on a wooden beam in the old hayloft. -
"This is probably one of the very most important things I've ever done in my life," says Julie Cordier. -
Michigan’s neighbor Wisconsin is often cited as an example of how to fix prison staffing challenges. Outrage over staffing levels led to efforts to recruit more staff and raise pay. -
Detainees at North Lake Processing Facility, the 1,800-bed immigration detention center in Baldwin, started a hunger strike Monday. By Wednesday morning, there were reports that many had stopped.
