Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative

As of a couple years ago, the State of Michigan had spent about $125 million investigating PFAS contamination and mitigating its potential harm statewide. Testing all private wells in Michigan would cost around $600 million.

A township in Antrim County has taken the first step toward repealing all zoning laws which would clear the way for one of the township’s trustees to build a lucrative gravel mine on his property.

The decision comes after years of outcry from some farmers that the cost of labor, transportation and housing for H-2A workers was making it impossible to break even.

A new state grant will build on a model developed in Leelanau County, hoping to alleviate the so-called “child care deserts” in parts of northern Michigan.

With little pine left to harvest, foresters and sawmills worry what the next several years will look like until newly planted trees can replace what the ice storm took away.

Understaffed, untrained, and sometimes even married townships officials control taxpayer dollars in many northern Michigan communities.

Six months after an ice storm hit northern Michigan, people are still clearing debris and repairing homes, tree services remain in high demand and direct financial assistance is limited for individuals.

Northern Michigan’s agriculture industry is feeling the impact of rising costs, supply shortages and less research funding, among other things that benefit farmers.

Cases in Benzie County, the Upper Peninsula and elsewhere demonstrate that small communities are not immune from big theft, and that the betrayal is deeply felt.

In Lake County — population 12,000 — a new ICE facility is opening in a shuttered private prison, promising to create hundreds of jobs in the poorest county in the state. Many residents have doubts about whether the jobs will last.