The Detroit News has this report, Michigan child support pleas flood courts.
A snippet:
Parents pinched by the recession are flooding courts across the state with requests for reductions in child support payments.
In Wayne County, requests for payment adjustments have doubled. Courts there and across southeast Michigan are prioritizing such cases to expedite relief to strapped payers, [...]

The social safety net in Michigan is fraying at the edges in attempts to keep up with the realities of this recession.
I’ve posted headlines from southeast Michigan about food pantries struggling to keep up with the demand, the numbers of students on the free or reduced price school lunches, and attendance at the soup kitchen [...]

USA Today has this report today: More walk away from homes, mortgages.
A snippet:
“The most disturbing aspect of this is that it’s becoming acceptable to do,” says Joel Naroff, an economist with Naroff Economic Advisors. “What does that mean down the road for housing and the economy if people are happy to walk away and destroy [...]

Did you see this week’s Parade magazine in The Monroe Evening News and other Sunday newspapers across the country?
The lead article is How the economic crisis changed us.
A snippet:
Nearly four out of five respondents (79%) say that they’ve felt the impact of the financial downturn, with one-third saying that the turmoil has had a big [...]

Babble.com has this post – The Family That Frets Together: How the recession is stressing out our kids.
A snippet:
It’s tempting to dismiss the suffering of children who are pretty wealthy compared to those whose parents were barely surviving on minimum wage and then get laid off. But when wealthy children, even middle class children, have [...]

Coupon Sherpa has a sense of humor with some of these 50 Cheap and Easy Halloween Costumes for Adults and Children.
Clue: think of people and situations that have made the news during this recession ….

The Toledo Blade followed up on the National Retail Federation Halloween spending reports for 2009 with this piece: Recession chills Halloween.
A snippet:
“I was spending $500 every year, and this year, I probably only spent $60,” said Chuck Richards, a Lambertville, Mich., resident known for his large, spooky front-yard Halloween displays.

If you live in southeast Michigan, you’ve heard this headline before. Budget cutbacks among the Catholic churches in the region made the news recently.
But the Detroit News went into more details for today’s edition, and you’ll see that it’s a widespread problem across faith lines: Cash-crunched Metro Detroit churches slash staff, services.
A snippet:
While attendance has [...]

The Grand Rapids Press has this report – Spartan Stores CEO – Deflation hurting supermarket chain’s bottom line.
A snippet:
Spartan CEO Dennis Eidson says the Michigan grocery chain experienced “significant price deflation” in three of its high volume categories: dairy, meat, and produce. …
The country hasn’t seen prices deflate this much in 50 years, according to [...]

September unemployment rates were released yesterday, and the regional media outlets are reporting that Michigan is now at 15.3 percent unemployment.
That’s the highest in the country. Furthermore, the rate has been more than 15 percent all summer.
The county-by-county rates will be issued later in the month.