Arts & Culture

If you grew up in southeast or southcentral Michigan any time from the 1920s right through the 20th century and into the early part of this century, chances are you and your family visited or at least passed through the Irish Hills.

Driving along US-12, it's impossible to miss the major landmarks of the Irish Hills, the twin observation towers. Generations of Michigan families have climbed these towers to get a good look at the surrounding countryside.

But the clock is ticking on those landmark towers.

Donna Boglarsky, the president of the Irish Hills Historical Society and former owner of the towers, joined us in the studio.

Listen to the full interview above.

We asked you where you go for a craft cocktail, and you told us. 

Here are the 17 favorites we heard about on Facebook.

Now let's vote!

Once a Michigander, always a Michigander, even if you've moved away from the Mitten State.

That's the idea that underpins a new website and social network called "Mitten Stretcher," designed to bring Michiganders together, no matter where they may now be living.

Mark Serra is the founder of the Mitten Stretcher Community and MittenStretcher.com, and he joined us today in the studio to talk about the website.

Listen to the full interview above.

Michigan Radio's Lester Graham recently reported that Michigan is building its reputation as a state known for its distilleries:

That's being driven in part by a growing interest in craft cocktails.

For most of us, the Microsoft Word spell checker is a godsend. It helps correct our failed attempt for spelling words like vinaigrette or renaissance.

However, Word's grammar checker is a whole different story. Mostly because of that cursed green squiggly line under a word that signals we've made a grammar error. One of the most frequent and frustrating corrections involves the correct use of that or which.

University of Michigan Professor of English Anne Curzan and host Rina Miller discuss these unspoken grammar rule snafus on this edition of  "That's What They Say."

"The grammar checker is trying to enforce a rule about that and which, which English speakers have never followed, as far as we can tell," says Curzan.

This summer will mark 26 years since Northwest Flight 255 crashed onto the highway outside Detroit Metro Airport.

One hundred fifty-seven people were killed. The wreckage stretched across half a mile.

Only one person survived: a four-year-old girl with brown eyes, a chipped tooth, and purple nail polish.

Her name is Cecelia Cichan, and this week, she’s breaking her long public silence about the crash.

Gilda's Club is an organization that consists of groups across the country which provide laughter and support to cancer patients.

The organization is named after Gilda Radner. She was one of the brightest faces in comedy. The University of Michigan alum was in the original cast of Saturday Night Live. She passed away from ovarian cancer in 1989. 

One of her close friends and partner in comedy, Allen Zweibel, spoke with Michigan Radio's Cynthia Canty about Radner.