LANSING - Rising health care costs, due to medical errors, unnecessary treatments and an antiquated payment structure, is dragging down consumer spending in other areas, an ultimately hurting the economy, a report released by the Economic Alliance of Michigan said. Eventually, some way has to be found to control health care costs, said Bret Jackson,
LANSING - New rules proposed by the Department of Environmental Quality would deregulate too many additional chemicals, the Michigan Environmental Council said on releasing its comments on the proposal. The DEQ announced Monday that it had opened the public comment period on the rules (ORR 2014-153 and 2014-154). The changes cover public notice and hearing provisions as well
LANSING - The petition submitted by the group seeking to repeal Michigan's prevailing wage fell far below the minimum number of signatures from registered voters needed to bring the proposal before the Legislature, the group defending prevailing wage said Monday. Not only did Michigan Prevails file a challenge with the Department of State to the
LANSING - Organizations are starting to review the roads plan the House passed late Wednesday night, and the first reviews of the proposal are not positive. One reaction was hostile, though the reaction came from an organization circulating petitions to increase the state's Corporate Income Tax to help pay for a roads plan. But other
LANSING - Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof was very mild in his reaction to the road funding proposal passed by the House Wednesday night, largely saying he is grateful the House sent something over. But Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich had more serious concerns. "I think it's a pretty major step backwards. I think it doesn't address the issues
LANSING - The Michigan Agency for Energy released its energy appraisal for the upcoming winter on Wednesday, expecting residents to save big on their heating bills "thanks to lower fuel prices and predicted warmer-than-normal temperatures," the agency said. Michigan's energy market is also expected to have adequate reserves and lower prices, the agency said in a
LANSING - Michigan is the 14th most energy efficient state in the nation, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy said in its annual scorecard released Wednesday. Michigan received 23.5 points out of a possible 50 points in the scorecard. Among the highlights the group noted were the loan programs for small businesses for pollution prevention
LANSING – Michigan House Republicans on Wednesday found the votes, mostly within their own caucus, to pass a $1.2 billion road funding plan with no guarantees of support from Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof or Governor Rick Snyder. The plan involved $600 million in new revenue through a gas tax increase and registration fee increases and $600
LANSING – Heads will soon be rolling at the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality where officials failed to follow proper treatment and testing protocols when Flint moved from the Detroit water system to drawing from the Flint River and took too long to fix the problem once they discovered their error. Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant said
LANSING - News that Michigan's unemployment rate fell to 5 percent in September, putting it below the national unemployment rate for the first time in 15 years, brought plenty of cheers Wednesday. The national unemployment rate in September was 5.1 percent. In the past year, the unemployment rate has fallen from 6.7 percent, and employment
