Diana Prichard
Idaho
Optimist Discontent. Catholic Riff-Raff. Co-Founder @FreeHumanProj. Consultant: Labor, Leadership, Legislation.
Articles by Diana Prichard
Opinion: Keep reducing incarceration with parole reform
In recent years, Republicans and Democrats nationwide have united around criminal justice reforms. As President Donald Trump said of his administration's reform efforts, “America wins when citizens with a criminal record can contribute to their communities as law-abiding members of our society.” Michigan has been a leader in enacting conservative criminal justice policy — reforms that make our state safer while reducing unnecessary and expensive incarceration.
Opinion: State should not limit nursing home beds amid pandemic
OPINION By Diana Prichard Published 11:00 p.m. ET June 29, 2020 A policy that forced nursing homes that were under 80% capacity to accept COVID-19-positive patients was necessary because we didn’t have enough long-term care facilities to handle the pandemic any other way. That’s according to Robert Gordon, director of the state Department of Health and Human Services, who testified before the Senate Oversight Committee on May 27.
Opinion: As virus threatens public health, Michigan limits hospital beds
Diana Prichard Published 11:00 p.m. ET March 15, 2020 The reality of an emerging pandemic is taking center stage as public health systems around the world become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of coronavirus cases that require hospitalization. In Italy, efforts to spare the public health system led to movement restrictions on the entire country, as officials scramble to add 50% more intensive care unit beds to hospitals in the hardest hit region of Lombardy.
Cultivating A New Immigrant Narrative
"T There are two stories to agriculture," said Luis Sanchez, "and I've seen both." Sanchez was born in Mexico in 1995. His mother raised him by herself for the first year of his life while his father established himself as a farm laborer in the United States. A year later, Sanchez and his mother obtained visas and joined his father in Gonzales, California, at the northern end of Monterey County. "We grow a lot of vegetables here," said Sanchez of the area around his California hometown.
Local preschool celebrates fifty years of top notch education at thrift store prices - literally
In 1964, when President Lyndon B. Johnson took the podium to deliver the nation’s annual State of the Union Address, he came with an agenda: to root out poverty and cure the nation of the negative effects associated with it. As a former teacher, Johnson believed education — especially early education — was integral to achieving that goal and by the fall of the following year federal grants were awarded to communities in need for that very purpose.
The art of frying fish to feed the masses
If you teach a man to fry fish he just might fry nearly 800 pounds of it per week during the Lenten season. But even that's just the beginning. Those nearly 800 pounds of fish will entice a few other dedicated men and women to spend their Thursdays and Fridays preparing homemade macaroni and cheese, baked potatoes, sheet cakes, fruit crumbles, and all the other fixings that go along with fried fish.
Robaire's Bakery brings the American Dream alive, one cinnamon roll at a time
Brooke Malley has been working at Robaire's Bakery on Mission, just north of Broomfield, for about a year and a half, and has no plans to leave the tiny shop where there's, "love in every bite," any time soon. "It's a very home grown business," says Malley, "Everyone puts their all into everything they do." The way Malley describes it, Robaire's is a familiar place whether you've been there or not.
Beyond potholes: fixing mid-Michigan roads could bring jobs, tourism
The state of Michigan roads has always been a hot topic, but when Governor Gretchen Whitmer released her proposed budget last month the issue came into sharper focus - especially for the state’s rural areas. Under the proposal a forty-five cent increase in the gas tax would fund road work projects and an adjustment to how those funds are distributed would channel most of the money to the state’s most highly traveled roadways.
Edwardian House Transformed Into Modern Home
This Edwardian house became a sleek family home thanks to the work of architect Pat Jost of Jost Architects. Apr 26, 2016 2:09am An Edwardian house can be appreciated for the charm, elegance and history it brings to the street, but in the case of Kate Lawlor and Justin Shanley’s old Melbourne home, it was so dilapidated it could only be appreciated by a family of rats! “It was beyond renovation,” Kate admits.
Karma Kat Cafe is making days brighter for cats and humans alike
Since opening on Broadway, just east of downtown Mt. Pleasant, a little less than a year ago, owner of Karma Kat Cafe Mystie Beckwith says only a few people have wandered in expecting more cafe and less cat. Beckwith pets an adoptable cat at Karma Kat Cafe“Once it was an older couple. They came in the front and looked around and asked if we had coffee.” Unfortunately, she had to disappoint them. There wasn’t coffee at that time, but now there is.
Ziibiwing Center dispels myths, honors Great Lakes Indian ancestors
In a quiet corner of the Ziibiwing Center, between permanent exhibits on the environmental changes that resulted from the effects of colonization and the sacred language and strength of the Anishinabe (first man), is a half-moon bench under a sign that explains the phenomenon of blood memory - the ancestral bond every person has to the language, music, spirituality, and other cultural components of their people.
An invasive species may help ward off cancer and chronic disease
Down a long winding driveway, off a wide flat-topped dirt road, just west of Mt. Pleasant, Paul Siers is farming a superfood. Kind of. Unlike other farmers and orchardists, Siers never plants a thing. That’s because, legally, he can’t. The crop at Autumn Berry Farm is an invasive species. Elaeagnus umbellata, or Autumn Olive as it is most widely known, is restricted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
In its tenth season, Wellspring Literary is art for all
A little over a decade ago Robert Fanning walked into ArtReach in downtown Mt. Pleasant and asked a simple question: “Have you considered holding poetry readings?” The professor had recently moved to Mt. Pleasant and delighted in exploring his new hometown. He’d been recruited by Central Michigan University for his passion, and it was that same passion and connection to the Michigan literary scene that made him the perfect person to spearhead a series of readings.
Bringing services under one roof is revolutionizing the way Mt. Pleasant combats poverty
In an unassuming building on the west side of Mt. Pleasant, the William and Jan Strickler Non-Profit Center is changing the way service organizations in Isabella County combat poverty in their community. According to Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation Executive Director Amanda Schafer, the center as it exists today is just the beginning though.
The CMU professor who wants to bring poetry back to the streets
Chances are if you have a picture of a stereotypical poet in your mind’s eye, Robert Fanning does not fit the bill. Fanning is young and intense, but accessible. The energy that drives his passion for poetry is palpable from the moment you meet him, and it’s hard to imagine him doing the sort of quiet contemplative work that we so often think of when it comes to poetry. Perhaps that’s the point. Poetry, Fanning says, is not just for tweed coats.
These mid-Michigan innovators are helping battle wild fires
Jeff Harrison is an innovator who has surrounded himself with nearly one-hundred other innovators. Together, they’re putting Mt. Pleasant on the map as one of the most forward-thinking manufacturing hubs in the country.Harrison’s Burch Tank & Truck specializes in building custom tanker trailers, and their handy work — those long, often shiny, silver bullets towed by semi-trucks carting one liquid or another — can be seen hurtling down highways all over the country.
At CMURC, a lifeline and community for central Michigan entrepreneurs
When Heather Jose floated her idea for a weighted ball cap to help neuro-diverse patients focus and remain calm, friends and family told her she should take the idea to ABC’s hit show Shark Tank. Instead, Jose ended up at Central Michigan University Research Corporation, a co-working space and business accelerator on the south side of CMU’s campus in the heart of Isabella County. Today, she tells people there’s a shark tank right in their backyard. “Why go all that way?
IMG launches ‘Epicenter’, a new digital magazine covering talent & growth in Mt. Pleasant
From her position at the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation, Executive Director Amanda Schafer has a bird’s eye view of the ripples of change emanating from Isabella County. And on more than one occasion, she’s been frustrated with the barriers that prevent her from getting the word out to her neighbors and friends in the region and across the state. “When we talk about community leadership, we talk about making certain folks know about the amazing assets we have here,” she says.
99 Senators Voted Against Gun Control, Including All But One Democrat
99 Senators Voted Against Gun Control, Including All But One Democrat How the media and special interest groups are protecting partisanship over progress. Less than a week ago, just days after a gunman killed 49 people in a gay nightclub in Orlando, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Conneticut held a fifteen hour filibuster on the Senate floor in an effort to force his colleagues to vote on gun control legislation. Though Murphy said he was nervous going in, his trepidation was unwarranted.
Farmworker: How Immigration Feeds America
An estimated 77% of farmworkers in the U.S. are foreign born, and most of them are Hispanic. They work back-breaking jobs, pay taxes, contribute to local and federal economies and play an integral role in the affordable, abundant food supply the rest of us enjoy every single day. They do this all while navigating a system that is difficult even for most native-born Americans to understand. And they do it all without a voice.
3 Ways to Support Journalism on Giving Tuesday
“But what about the corruption?” This is invariably the first question people ask me when we start discussing international development. And my first answer is always, “a free press.” Of course a truly free global press requires more than just the political freedom to investigate and publish whatever suits a news organization’s fancy. It also depends on the financial support of journalists and journalism projects.
The Rise and Fall of the Great American Hog
“Fifty years ago we couldn’t have done this,” says Al Snedegar. Standing in the center of the Clinton County, Michigan 4-H fair livestock arena, just out of reach of the late-July sun, Snedegar is an award-winning retiree of Michigan State University and the day’s swine judge. He addresses a dozen youth and a crowd of spectators at least 100 strong. The kids are showing off pigs they raised as part of a market hog class.
Cultivating a New Immigrant Narrative
Sanchez is courteous, professional and articulate beyond his nineteen years. As a state officer, Sanchez says his aim is to connect to the Hispanic farm worker community in California and to bring immigration issues to light. It’s a goal he shares with the national FFA organization. Though anyone can join FFA, the race to hold state office is competitive. Only six graduating FFA members from the entire state are elected each year.
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