#factsmatter, The Citizens Research Council Of Michigan Podcast

Although seasonal flu shots are low-cost, widely available and convenient, Michigan lags the country in flu vaccination rates. Why?

Why is Michigan education spending up, but teacher salaries are not? In a word: Pensions.

How might we do a better job fixing the damn roads? How about starting with the local roads, which most of us drive on every day? We have some ideas for a better array of local-option taxes to raise the revenue.

Schools in Benton Harbor, Michigan, have been failing on academic and financial fronts for years. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has a plan to deal with it, but it's not going over well. Craig Thiel explains the dilemma in southwest Michigan.

When is a tax not a tax? When it's a "special assessment." Today we look at the subtle differences between two forms of local-government finance.

Why do Michigan residents pay through the nose to insure their cars? We take a look at the history. Semi-spoiler: It seemed like a good idea at the time.

How should state policymakers respond to the explosion in popularity of vaping? Our health policy expert, Tim Michling, leads us through some of the pertinent issues.

Almost a decade ago, Michigan Republicans redrew legislative districts. Last week, a federal court called some of them "a gerrymander of historic proportions."

The "Outline of the Michigan Tax System" is a comprehensive guide to all 64 taxes the state and local governments are authorized to collect. We walk you though what's new this year.

Does Michigan have a teacher shortage? Depends on who you ask, but it's certainly not as simple as some would have it.

The last weeks of the legislative year after 2018's election bring Lame Duck season, when lawmakers with nothing to lose take one last stab at getting their legislation through to the governor. Some audio issues with this one -- echo on one track that we simply can't get to the bottom of. Apologies, but we hope you'll like it anyway.

We discuss Proposal 1, which would legalize recreational mary jane in Michigan.

What's behind the legislature's adopt-and-amend strategy around minimum wage legislation? And what do we need to know about Proposal 3?

The first of the Research Council's analyses of this fall's ballot initiatives drops, with Proposal 2, the Voters Not Politicians-led anti-gerrymandering effort. We also ask the question that perplexes policymakers -- what's the difference between a fee and a tax -- and ask why it matters in considering a proposal to fund water infrastructure.

The Research Council's latest podcast covers our curtain-raiser research on public health efforts in Michigan. #FactsMatter

Is Michigan gerrymandered? Our research says yes. Eric and Jordon discuss how we made the determination, and what it means.

About half the states have some form of citizen-initiated lawmaking via ballot petitions. Michigan does, but it handles its process differently from all the others.

Episode 9 covers the complications of approving recreational marijuana in Michigan, as well as why it's so difficult to fund anything regionally here without raising property taxes.

Wayne State U. professor Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson discusses her years-long research, along with her husband, Lyke Thompson, into the effects of term limits on Michigan politics.

In this edition of #FactsMatter, we take a look at what changed in Michigan tax law in 2017, as well as explaining why it's important the U.S. Census is entirely accurate, citizenship question or not.