NMU Professor Publishes New Book, 2026 Ballot Proposals, Food Insecurity Programs in the UP, and Michigan: A Poor State?
– INFORMED BREVITY –
Happy Memorial Day
Today we honor and remember the women and men who served in our military and died in service to their country. They are all heroes and deserve to be honored.
People Who Chose to Stay
NMU’s Professor Dr. Weronika Kusek has written a new book, “Moving Up North.” Oral history interviews make this book well worth your time to read. She “interviews immigrant professionals who built careers and live across the Upper Peninsula.”
The interviews are with people from medicine, education, engineering and remote work.
Immigrants have been a large part of the culture and history of the Upper Peninsula. So this oral history is important to document that fact.
2026 Ballot Proposals On and Off the November Ballot
A group that was proposing to abolish all property tax in Michigan does not have enough signatures to make the ballot this year. AxMiTax said it failed to get valid signatures by the state deadline.
Another group has been circulating petitions to require proof of citizenship for voter registration and tighten rules for voter identification says it has submitted enough signatures to qualify to be on the ballot this Fall. The petition signatures have not yet been certified by the State Board of Canvassers. (Bridge)
Food Insecurity Programs in the Upper Peninsula
A reader of Rural Insights in Alger County sent us information about “a unique program called Farms for Folks in Alger County. It connects local farmers, local volunteers, and local funders with families experiencing food insecurity. Here is how it works—donations are collected to get farmers income for their produce; volunteers collect the food and get it to families every week or bi-weekly. The program also provides families with cooking and nutrition information for the food that they get from the program.
Michigan: A Poor State or Not
This from Michigan Futures Inc.: “Michigan was a 20th century high prosperity state. Now we are a 21st Century poor state. We rank 40th in per capita income, 13 percent below the national average n 2024. This is the lowest Michigan has been in per capita income compared to the nation-ever.
“To put it simply, either Michigan get younger and better education or we will get poorer. Michigan needs to get better educated by increasing the proportion of adults –particularly young adults—who have a four-year degree or more.”
College Enrollment Down
The rate of sending high school graduates to college dropped in 2025, despite there being millions of dollars in state and college scholarships. Only 54.6% of the class of 2025 enrolled in college last year. That number is down from 56.8% the previous year. In 2015-16 that number was 64.7% .
Quotes
“War has rules, mud wrestling has rules, politics has no rules.” Ross Perot
“A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act, which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.” Thomas Jefferson.
Talk To Us
Keep your raves, laurels, rants and darts coming. Send them to us at david@ruralinsights.org. We love to read them.
About Us
Rural Insights connects policy, information, news and culture to raise topics and stories/information you might have not seen or overlooked. We bring you original writing from Rural Insights and other researchers, change makers, and storytellers, as well as our latest research and analysis.
Like Whispers?
If so, please forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here or on our website: www.ruralinsights.org.
TWITTER/X: Follow us @ruralinsightsUP.
“WE BELIEVE YOU ARE SMART ENOUGH TO FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS, AND WE TRY TO GIVE YOU SOME SOURCES TO DEVELOP YOUR OPINIONS.”
For the ballot proposal group that wants to put citizenship with proving it on the ballot I say if people been voting for 10 years 20 years 30 years 40 years why now would they have to prove their citizenship? Most voting is done in local areas where most people know each other especially the rural areas. Also the fraud that’s been stated by current president has never been proven and the fraud is less than a 1/10%. If the system ain’t broke, please don’t fix it. Before the current president, we all had trust in our government as we should. When things become errant the public needs to step forward and make sure honesty in democracy is working for the people. Also, we need more immigrants since we don’t have enough folks in Michigan. It would be wise to encourage folks to move to Michigan, especially strong, ethnic folks.. remember the Copper mining era.
Great common sense insights. I think of all the poll workers , usually older folks, now having to deal with antagonistic voters saying “ no thanks I don’t need the aggravation.” Also with the aging population of Michiganders we need the inflow of immigrants in many fields not the least being healthcare.
I work as an election judge and see the system first hand at local precinct, not in Michigan, but the system is both secure and valid and I suspect the same in Michigan, the odds of true fraud are fractionally tiny. I don’t have a big problem with proving some status at initial registration, but it should not be required after the first time. And of course the drastic cutting of immigration does not benefit states like Michigan with declining birth rates and outflow. Common sense seems short in supply these days on most things.