Traverse City

It can be hard to get to the doctor regularly for vulnerable communities. A Traverse City nonprofit is bringing doctors to patients who need them most with a free clinic on wheels.

Safety complaints in a Traverse City park are causing leaders to consider stiffer penalties for "prowling," which could bring 90 days of jail time. As police step up enforcement, we hear from people who are homeless and spend time in the park, as well as city officials.

Renewed interest in the ordinance comes as Traverse City Police recently stepped up enforcement at Hull Park following mounting safety complaints.

A new Traverse City Resilience Program group gives people experiencing homelessness a space to share experiences, find peer support and discuss local services.

We're talking tourism, tradition, farming and aerial stunts on this special edition of the Up North Lowdown.

Teams from NextCycle Michigan pitched ideas to judges on how to reduce food waste in rural areas or reuse plastic for fixing roads, competing for funding and business partners.

“Nobody gets into farming for sane reasons, other than the sanity of knowing where your food comes from and just general health,” said one student at the Great Lakes Incubator Farm, which teaches people how to work in agriculture.

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.

The nurses at Munson Medical Center are finishing up their third week of working under an expired contract. They're planning a "practice strike" on April 9.

Three years ago, Goodwill Northern Michigan bought the East Bay Flats apartment complex, turning a long-held concept into a reality — housing without conditions on sobriety or employment. Studies show this kind of program reduces homelessness by almost 90%. But what the day-to-day experience looks like is often less talked about.