EAST LANSING - With little more than three weeks to go before the November 4 election, the latest Outlook from the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University shows that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is cresting on a potential Electoral College landslide. The latest study shows that if the election
LANSING - Businesses that have numerous or long-term layoffs will pay more in unemployment taxes next year and all businesses will pay more in 2010 to help the state handle the high rates of unemployment. The state has been borrowing to cover unemployment benefits since 2006, but in recent months has converted those loans from
LANSING - With the national economy in a growth recession Michigan should expect to see job losses of 1.5 percent during 2009, a budget update memo released last week by the Senate Fiscal Agency said. The memo also said that while overall employment has dropped by 10.5 percent since the jobs peak in June 2000,
LANSING - Michigan residents will be able to get driver's licenses next spring that will also get them back across the Canadian and Mexican borders, Secretary of State Terri Land announced Monday. Land and U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials signed an agreement Monday in Detroit that will allow the department to issue licenses that
DETROIT - General Motors Corp. has recently been in discussions about acquiring Chrysler LLC, according to people familiar with the matter, in a dramatic sign of the pressures mounting on the U.S. auto industry to restructure amid a deep slump in sales, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. The upheaval in financial markets has rendered
LANSING - Saying the most pro-life stance one could take was to support the potential for new cures, the Michigan Nurses Association announced on Thursday that it was endorsing Proposal 2008-2 that would expand the use of embryonic stem cells for research in the state. At a press conference, Tom Bissonnette, executive director for the
LANSING - With the 2008-09 fiscal year just nine days old, concerns are already being raised about the current budget and whether the state will be forced to make cutbacks this year. Many of the concerns are being driven by the ongoing uncertainty in the national and international economies, but state officials are saying at
LANSING - Republican legislative leaders have called on the House to return to session to pass legislation that would repeal the surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax. But House Speaker Andy Dillon (D-Redford Twp.) said it would be irresponsible to act on state taxes on a piecemeal basis, but the chamber should deal with a
CHICAGO - Hiring trends aren't likely to change before the end of the year, according to the Q4 2008 Job Forecast report from issued by CareerBuilder.com and USA Today. The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive between Aug. 21 and Sept. 9, 2008, and it included results from more than 3,000 hiring managers and human
EAST LANSING - Michigan consumer confidence, already at historic lows, dropped still further this summer, a new Michigan State University State of the State Survey contends. More than 60 percent of the state's residents said they're worse off this summer than they were a year ago, a new low for the survey measuring consumer confidence