Michael Gerstein

Journalist

U.S.

Michael Gerstein

Journalist

U.S.

GOP vows to ease gun access in Mich.
The nation’s deadliest mass shooting has temporarily delayed Michigan Republican lawmakers’ plans to scrap concealed pistol training requirements and expand gun access, but top GOP leaders say the fight isn’t over. Concealed carry permits need to be eliminated because they amount to an unfair “coat tax” costing legal gun owners money when a gun is hidden but not when it’s carried openly, Republican proponents say.
The Detroit News
Email: Legionnaires assertion would ‘inflame situation’
Emails between state health officials show that the state’s former drinking water chief was concerned in October 2014 about publicly identifying Flint’s water as a possible cause of an uptick in Legionnaires’ disease cases in the region. The Detroit News obtained the emails through an open records request.
The Detroit News
MSP: Flint’s water being taken out of city
Authorities believe people who don’t live in Flint are taking cases of bottled water from government-operated distribution centers for use outside the city. Michigan State Police Capt. Chris Kelenske said he and other officials have seen “a lot of anecdotal evidence” of cars packed with bottled water leaving the city, but he did not have any data to share at a recent Flint Interagency Coordinating Committee meeting where he made the allegation.
The Detroit News
Michigan bets on Cold War pollen to remain cherry king
On a sprawling 200-acre property about an hour’s drive from Lansing, the fruit is nearly picked clean on the nation’s most diverse tart cherry orchard. Mid-July is near the end of cherry season in Michigan, but Amy Iezzoni can still show off some of the 30 tart cherry varieties in the orchard nestled in a quiet town of 400 people.
The Detroit News
At Chicago’s longest-running slam poetry contest, teenagers get brutally honest
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter. Inside the Den Theater in Wicker Park, nearly two dozen teens nervously wait to step on the stage as a DJ plays uptempo pump-up mus
WBEZ Chicago
How much school are Illinois students in foster care missing? The state doesn’t track.
Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest education news. Hundreds of Illinois’ most vulnerable students are falling behind in school through no fault of their own: The state simply doesn’t have enough homes for them
Chalkbeat
After the Flood
This story was produced through a collaboration between Climate Central, BridgeDetroit, and Grist. Wilma Price was sleeping in her basement bedroom in 2021 when she woke up to a cacophony of noise, including an alarm coming from her sump pump, a device me
Grist
‘A good place:’ Queer youth seek acceptance at state’s first foster home for LGBTQ+ teens
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter. Jenny opens the door to her bedroom eager to show off what she says is the biggest room in the house. Inside is an unmade twin bed
WBEZ Chicago
New ghost gun rule unlikely to stem violence amid thriving youth gun culture
A high school junior steps out from his silver BMW not far from his school’s track and field on Albuquerque’s working-class west side. Andrew Burson, 16, is there because another kid, Marcos Trejo, 14, stole something from him — a ghost gun, witnesses tol
Youth Today
Unanswered questions over hospital debt despite policy changes
When Adriann Barboa’s 14-year-old daughter, Amarisa, needed surgery after contracting appendicitis eight years ago, Barboa wasn’t too concerned about the cost. She had a good job by New Mexico standards, and she had health insurance. So after Presbyterian
Businesses Applaud Supreme Court Vaccine Ruling, But Uncertainty Awaits
Business groups are applauding a Supreme Court ruling earlier in January that paused a federal vaccine mandate for large employers. But what lies ahead is an uncertain and potentially expensive survey through a muddle of state rules on vaccinations and testing and a protracted court battle likely to come.
Corp!
Omicron Surge Disrupts Essential Services From Restaurants to Grocery Stores to Schools
Alyssa Sylvester was born with asthma. She’s lived with it all her life. “Putting up with the crazy,” as Sylvester calls it, and the strain of being under-staffed is one thing. But daily health anxiety is another thing entirely. And the 30-year-old Milwaukee native understands the true risk that COVID-19 can be: In November, the pandemic took her grandfather.
Corp!
Pandemic burnout exacerbates state’s nursing shortage problem
The hospital was full. People were crammed in hallways, in closets, in a repurposed nursery — everywhere a bed could fit. Nurses, doctors, the whole hospital staff were still scrambling to care for everyone coming into the emergency room. It had been like that for more than a year when a nurse — who spoke on the condition of anonymity so as not to impact future job opportunities — decided she couldn’t go on like that.
Restaurant jobs abound. But many in NM want something better to come back to.
More than 71 percent of New Mexico residents have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Thousands of restaurant jobs are vacant statewide, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has even offered up to a $1,000 cash payment for workers to come back in July. “It’s every place. I’m gonna say 98 percent of restaurants don’t have complete staff,” said Carol Wight, executive director of the New Mexico Restaurant Association.
NM Political Report
Michigan's park visitors set of surge of search-rescue missions. Here's why
The Detroit News
Michigan parks see growth in visitors — and $264M in needed repairs
The Detroit News

About

Michael Gerstein

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I'm an award-winning writer and photographer focused on politics, the economy and the environment. I've covered the pandemic, state legislatures, governors' offices, congressional campaigns, the oil and gas industry, pollution, the Flint water crisis and more as a state politics reporter for The Associated Press, The Detroit News and The Santa Fe New Mexican. I also offer fact-checking and research services. Select clients include WBEZ (Chicago's NPR), Patagonia, The Detroit News, Youth Today (a project from the Center for Sustainable Journalism), Chalkbeat, Capital & Main and more.