Up North Lowdown

It's a regional roundup today on the Up North Lowdown. We'll hear about a crucial millage vote in Benzie County, solar array concerns in Wexford County and how rainfall doesn't necessarily tell you much about wildfire danger.

Union nurses and Munson Medical Center in Traverse City have reached a tentative agreement after months of negotiation. Artificial intelligence was among the issues on the table during those talks. We hear why. Plus, other stories from northern Michigan.

Last year, you might recall, northern Michigan experienced three tornadoes on the same day. In 2022, Gaylord was hit by a deadly twister. And southwest Michigan suffered deaths and injuries after tornadoes earlier this year. What do you do if you live in a home with little shelter, like no basement, or lots of windows? More and more, people are turning to tornado safe rooms. Bridge Michigan's Nate...

Prison workers in the Michigan Department of Corrections have been upset about working conditions — including thin staffing, safety concerns and mandatory overtime — for a while. IPR, WCMU and the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative produced a series of reports about this back in April. Now, those workers are about to get a raise. Will it assuage any concern? Reporting for this episode came...

Some groups that do research and collect data on the Great Lakes face existential threats as the federal budgeting process gets underway. The president wants to cut their funding. That’s worrying scientists who say the work they do is the foundation of weather observations, water quality, maritime safety and recreation on the Great Lakes. IPR climate solutions reporter Vivian La tells us more. And...

How do you tell the story of a complicated country, for people you'll never meet? Hear our conversation with Interlochen resident Tom Medema, project manager for America's Time Capsule, part of the official celebration of the nation's semiquincentennial. The capsule will be buried in Philadelphia until 2276.

Michigan needs new farmers. So does the nation. But it's a hard business. There are big challenges, including high costs and access to land. That's to say nothing of fickle weather and a changing climate. Just south of Traverse City, an incubator farm is working to solve some of these issues. IPR climate solutions reporter Vivian La takes us there. And Austin Rowlader has details on a new investig...

Five children from Grand Traverse County were sent out of state for mental health treatment — to a Missouri facility with a history of allegations of sexual and physical abuse. Now, the mother of one of those children speaks out, telling IPR she warned the court about the facility's past, but her son was sent there anyway.

We first met Leslie Meyers, aka "the Dam Lady," back in October — long before rising waters this spring that flooded many households downstream of the dam in Bellaire. When that happened, in April, it was Meyers who was tasked with orchestrating the emergency response, issuing evacuation preparedness orders, handling media contacts, and overseeing repairs to the 100 year old earthen berm that hold...

The Traverse City Pit Spitters begin their season today in Kalamazoo. After two games there, the team comes to Traverse City for a Wednesday home opener against the Rockford Rivets. Last year the team had the second most wins in franchise history. But it's hard to how what will happen this year. Pit Spitters Manager Todd Reed explains why and talks about the importance of building a team around mo...

A 12-hour concert this weekend will celebrate the life of Holly T. Bird, a lawyer, activist, tribal judge and former TCAPS school board member. Also: Our gardening segment returns, and we hear about more data center angst.

The state accuses Antrim County's clerk of mishandling voter registration data. The clerk, Victoria Bishop, says she's doing what voters elected her to do. Township clerks seem largely frustrated by the changes. Voters seem confused. And the state Bureau of Elections has threatened legal consequences. Votebeat reporter Hayley Harding joins us to talk about the laws governing how voter registration...

Gas prices are up and plane tickets are more expensive. For many, a summer vacation — the sort of thing northern Michigan's economy counts on to get by — might be in question this year. But some say high overall travel costs might actually help local tourism. Plus, what happens if you want to stay here? We take a look at northern Michigan's housing market as we head into summer.

IPR has learned that Antrim County Clerk Victoria Bishop canceled voter registrations, despite denying it to the state. Also, we visit the set of northern Michigan filmmaker Rich Brauer's latest movie — set at a retirement home. Brauer has been making films for decades and says he's quite far from retirement, thank you very much.

It’s election season for races you’ve probably never heard about — but can impact your energy bill. Michigan’s rural energy cooperatives set rates, manage multi-million dollar budgets and decide reliability standards. They're board of directors are voted in by co-op members but annual elections for these positions have low voter turnouts — as low as 10% for some energy co-ops. This could be the ye...

The Up North Lowdown is all about bringing you the news from your own back yard. But sometimes it's important to leave our back yards for a while and experience how the rest of the world operates. That's exactly what our host Ed Ronco did this week. He was at the BBC, learning how they put together the Newshour. While he was there, he ran into BBC World Service host James Coomarasamy on the street...

Due to recent closures of mental health facilities across the state, children experiencing mental health issues are being sent out of state for care. In 2025, three children from Grand Traverse County were placed at the Lakeland Behavioral Health System in Missouri. Abuse allegations were made against the facility every year from 2011 until 2024. They now have multiple lawsuits filed against them...

The Antrim County Clerk, Victoria Bishop, owns a radio station where her husband airs a daily three-hour-long conservative talk radio show. Producer Austin Rowlader takes you inside one of his recent episodes where Trucker Randy raises money so the Antrim County Clerk's office can sue Michigan elections officials. For more information about the Antrim County Clerk and the recent allegations from t...

Grand Traverse County is moving ahead with new building projects, plus the state Natural Resources Commission could consider enacting a "one-buck" rule on deer hunters this week. We also talk with Matthew Burtner, a composer and sound artist who records soundscapes from different environments and makes them into music. Burtner is completing an artist residency sponsored by the Elberta Labor Herita...

The pink salmon first entered the Great Lakes when a small number were discarded into a sewer. They eventually made their way into Lake Superior. That was 70 years ago. The population has just experienced a sharp increase in numbers worldwide. Ellie Katz discusses possible Great Lakes implications. Also, a popular local restaurant is hoping to open a cafe and bakery in a vacant space in downtown T...

Isiah Smith was astonished when an author shared some of his research — a bill of sale that enslaved Smith's great grandfather, just a boy at the time. The retired attorney and northern Michigan author talks tonight with that author — Orice Jenkins — whose book, "The Early County Massacre: Goolsby vs. The State of Georgia" is set in the county where Smith was born. We hear from Smith in this episo...

The Father Fred Foundation food pantry in Grand Traverse County served 47,000 people last year. That's in a county of just over 90,000 people. We look at the demand on one resource in Grand Traverse County. Also, a newly restored barn just opened at Traverse City's Historic Barns Park and, when it did, the public got a look at a message left behind nearly 70 years ago by a grumpy worker who wrote...

Northern Michigan wineries are leaning on hybrid grape varieties to withstand less predictable winters and other obstacles brought on by climate change. Reporter Miles MacClure takes us to a winery in Charlevoix to learn more. Also, we hear about a conference planned for Traverse City that aims to prevent threats facing children — things like campus safety, internet predators, bullying and AI-driv...

We're talking about representation today. In one sense, it's literal representation — who will fill the open state Senate seat in Michigan's 35th District? It's far away from Up North, but the ramifications of today's special election could be felt statewide. We also hear from Classical IPR's Isabel Li, whose new podcast — AAPI Classical Musicians of Interlochen — looks at the musical contribution...

Bellaire, Michigan. People gather in a bar on a Saturday. Sports? No. Beverages? Maybe. Probably, really. But the main reason they're here is to copy the United States Constitution, every word of it, by hand. These events have been going on for a while now — and IPR's Austin Rowlader went to see what it's all about. He found some pondering over the document itself (why the weird capitalizations?)...