LANSING - Payments made to the regional electric operator overseeing Michigan's power to keep the White Pine electric generator in the Upper Peninsula running will be eliminated within 90 days, the Michigan Agency for Energy said Thursday, saving UP electric ratepayers about $7 million a year through June 2018. Customers of Upper Peninsula Power Company,
LANSING - Consumers Energy on Thursday announced a rate increase of 4.2 percent for all of its customers, residential and business, averaging about $4.09 per month for the typical home. In March, the utility filed a $225 million request with the PSC to adjust its electric rate structure but has since come down to $170
ANN ARBOR - After five years of steady statewide improvement, fewer Michigan communities report that they are better able to meet their fiscal needs this year. A University of Michigan survey polled top elected and appointed officials in the state's 1,856 units of local government and found that 2016 marked a change in earlier trends
LANSING - A spokesperson for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator said Thursday said it is too early to say if the group would study electric generation expansion in northern Michigan as Gov. Rick Snyder has requested. Snyder sent a letter to the organization that oversees electric transmission in 15 states and Manitoba urging the company
LANSING - An agreement has been reached between Cliffs Natural Resources and WEC Energy Group to provide the Upper Peninsula with long-term electric supply, the state announced Monday. The new agreement, if approved, would result in 170 megawatts of new natural gas-powered generation across two sites in the U.P., a statement from Governor Rick Snyder's
LANSING - There is no reason to grant a stay a U.S. District Court judge's ruling striking down the state's elimination of the option for voters to pick a party's slate of candidates with a single mark on the ballot, the plaintiffs suing to prevent the elimination of straight ticket voting said in a Monday
LANSING - The Michigan Attorney General asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday for an emergency stay within a week of a lower court ruling striking down Michigan's new law ending the option for voters to choose a political party's slate of candidates with a single mark on the ballot. The state asked
LANSING - The Michigan Corrections Organization wants to make it a felony to operate a drone within 1,000 feet of a correctional facility as two Michigan Senate bills seek to do after yet another drone was spotted flying over the Ionia Correctional Facility recently. Department of Corrections spokesperson Chris Gautz confirmed a drone sighting at
CHICAGO - Governments at all levels must step up their investment in water and sewer infrastructure to avoid a reoccurrence of the Flint water crisis, a panel told lawmakers Wednesday. During a session at the annual National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Chicago, experts stressed the need for boosted funding for the country's aging
LANSING - Rep. Jim Runestad on Monday called for the Senate to take action on a joint resolution extending Michigan's constitutional prohibition against unreasonable government search and seizures to include electronic data and communications, but the Senate is so far unsure on whether it would do so. "It may be a topic of discussion for
