Ren Brabenec | Author

National Parks at the Center of Debate Over How to Tell America’s Story

May 9, 2026

About 10 percent of Michigan land is managed by the federal government, with nearly 3.6 million acres maintained by the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service (NPS). Most of this land is untouched wilderness, a pride and joy for hunters, foragers, and backcountry campers.

Som… Read More >>

Roadless Rule in Flux

May 9, 2026

The Great Lakes State is also the Great Forest State, because, according to the Environment Research & Policy Center, Michigan has more national forest land than any state east of the Mississippi River at a whopping 3 million acres.

Yet, on June 23, 2025, Agriculture Secretary B… Read More >>

Detroit Is Back, But It Never Really Left

April 25, 2026

Trivia question: What U.S. city can lay claim to having been all of the following: the arsenal of democracy; the center of the U.S. economy; the manufacturing capital of the world; and the wealthiest city per capita in the United States?

If you guessed Detroit, Michigan, you’d… Read More >>

Housing Incentives at the State and Local Level

April 4, 2026

According to the United States Census Bureau, the 2026 median household income in Michigan’s 1st Congressional District is around $64,000, a slight uptick from $56,000 in 2018. A $64,000 income supports a home price of about $200,000-$250,000, depending on one’s debt-to-income r… Read More >>

The March 2025 Ice Storm, A Retrospective

March 21, 2026

For countless residents, the northern Michigan ice storm of 2025 was an experience unlike any other. Families huddled under blankets in dark houses. Many could not leave their homes due to blocked driveways and roads. Thousands went without power, some for over two weeks.

One year l… Read More >>

Local Moms, Students, and State Leaders Address Gun Violence and Safe Gun Use

Feb. 21, 2026

On Nov. 15, 2025, 32-year-old Traverse City Parking Services employee Larry Boyd was shot and killed while confronting two individuals engaged in car break-ins in downtown Traverse City.

Just a few months prior, on July 26, 2025, law-abiding gun owner Derrick Perry held Bradford Gil… Read More >>

The Top Five Issues Impacting Northern Michigan Farming in 2026

Feb. 14, 2026

When’s the last time northern Michigan had a full cherry crop? According to Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center Coordinator Nikki Rothwell, cherry farmers haven’t enjoyed a bona fide “good” crop since 2016.

From the rise of chemical-resistant dis… Read More >>

To Comedy, or Not to Comedy? The Path of TC's Voyageurs

Jan. 10, 2026

The lower level of the historic Beadle Building at the corner of Cass and Front Street has sat vacant since Mackinaw Brewing Company closed its doors in December 2022. In 2026, the venue will transform into a 50- to 60-seat comedy club with a full bar and a four-night-per-week comedy lineup… Read More >>

Climbing Out of the Winter Blues

Dec. 20, 2025

Sixteen years ago, Kevin Vlach was fresh out of college at the University of Michigan and living abroad in Spain. That was when he first heard the siren song of climbing.

“I’d heard about these locals who would go down into these huge culverts below highway overpasses an… Read More >>

Grief Support Up North

Dec. 6, 2025

According to a WebMD survey, about 57 percent of Americans experienced a major loss in the last three years, and loss goes hand-in-hand with grief.

Grief is not just an emotion. Health problems associated with grief include depression, anxiety, and heart disease. According to the Na… Read More >>

Music That Feeds the Soul

Nov. 22, 2025

“This is where it all started,” 89-year-old Dr. Robert Pattengale says as he plays a few keys on the old harpsichord in his living room. “I had originally said, ‘If this thing lasts three years, that’d be a good run.’”

Pattengale co-founded … Read More >>

50 Years Since the Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald

Nov. 1, 2025

Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” helped the world immortalize the shipwreck on Lake Superior. Now, Michigan resident and New York Times bestselling author John U. Bacon has contributed his own work to the living history of the ship with his latest gr… Read More >>

The Science Behind Smoky Summer Skies and Fall Fire Risks

Oct. 18, 2025

The Great Lakes State is renowned for its pleasant summer weather, but when Michigan was shrouded in a cloud of choking smoke day after day this summer—including days where the might Mackinac Bridge seemed to disappear—a sense of anguish set the tone, as many residents could not… Read More >>

Elder Law Up North

Oct. 4, 2025

Northern Michigan’s population is aging. Various factors have contributed to the demographic shift, such as out-migration of younger adults, below-replacement fertility rates, and an influx of Baby Boomers seeking retirement in the region.

As reported in our sister publication… Read More >>

Local Experts Push Back on Criminalizing Homelessness

Sept. 27, 2025

On July 24, the Trump Administration issued an Executive Order titled “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” While the EO is not law, it does provide instructions on how the current administration wants communities, healthcare providers, housing organizations, a… Read More >>

Fall Is for Surfing

Sept. 6, 2025

September 2008 was a particularly challenging time for the building trades, as it coincided with the housing market crash. But renovations and construction projects never slowed down at Northport Point, and residents became used to seeing pickup trucks and vans parked along the Point’… Read More >>

What’s Hot in Vinyl?

Aug. 30, 2025

Humanity’s technological advancements are such that when something new comes along, the old is often relegated to the far back corner of the closet or junk drawer (looking at you, VHS tapes).

However, there are exceptions to this rule, because new doesn’t always mean bet… Read More >>

Population Pressures Up North

Aug. 23, 2025

According to Bridge Michigan, K-12 Michigan’s student enrollment fell again in 2024-25, though the 0.5 percent drop was the smallest drop Michigan has seen in several years. Statewide, 6,441 fewer students enrolled in the 2024-25 academic year compared to the 2023-24 academic… Read More >>

One Day, One Photo, at a Time

Aug. 16, 2025

According to Dr. Andrew Wang of Yale School of Medicine, autoimmune diseases are on the rise. Not only are more people being diagnosed with such ailments year over year, but the list of named autoimmune diseases is getting longer, too.

“Our genes haven’t changed much in … Read More >>

A Museum for All: Dennos Museum Center

July 26, 2025

“The Dennos Museum Center builds community, sparks conversation, and inspires change for audiences of all ages through its exhibitions, programs, and the collection and preservation of art,” reads the mission statement of a Traverse City staple that’s stood at the southwes… Read More >>