All this week, we've been digging into the causes, and perhaps solutions, to the financial troubles facing our schools. As Michigan Radio has been reporting, some 50 public school districts across our state are facing deep deficits. And, for the first time in Ann Arbor history, the school district may have to lay off 50 teachers.
Today we focused on teacher salaries. Just what should determine teacher pay in Michigan?
And, Daniel Howes talked with us about the business community in Detroit.
First on the show, farmers all over Michigan are keeping their fingers tightly crossed and their eyes on the weather forecast.
Most Michigan farmers are struggling to recover from 2012: the worst growing season in more than 50 years.
That combination of extremely warm weather in March, followed by a hard freeze in April, and then a hot summer drought crushed farmers, especially fruit farmers.
That's something that hits all of us, because agriculture is the second-biggest industry in Michigan, pumping $37 billion into the state's economy, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
We've discovered that "preventative agricultural technology" is giving farmers some weapons in their battle to save their crops from unpredictable weather
Don Armock with River Ridge Produce in Sparta is one of these farmers. He joined us today in the studio.
