LANSING - After weeks of work on legislation designed to prompt the early retirement of thousands of public school employees, it appears Michigan lawmakers finally have reached the critical decision-making point. Late Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Jud Gilbert (R-Algonac), the chief Senate negotiator on the bill, made a final offer to the top House negotiator, Rep.
LANSING - After audit findings last month that the Michigan Economic Growth Authority was not necessarily ensuring credits were being given for promised job numbers or wages, the Senate Finance Committee told auditors it would be seeking a follow-up audit to be sure recommended changes were implemented. And auditors said the request would be added
LANSING - Community colleges would not see their funding increase, but it wouldn't fall either under the budget plan approved Tuesday by the House Appropriations Community Colleges Subcommittee. The subcommittee replaced the 3.1 percent the Senate had cut from the budget (SB 1151 ), but it did not specify a revenue source beyond the general
LANSING - Crowded into three levels of the Capitol rotunda, transportation funding advocates on Tuesday announced that over the last three months, they have collected 5,000 signatures on a petition that urges lawmakers to increase taxes in order to restore road, bridge and public transportation funding. Truck drivers, local and state lawmakers and hundreds of
LANSING - The numbers of officials and businesses lining up in support of a new Detroit River International Crossing, and by extension against a second span at the Ambassador Bridge, may stand against them, but the facts do not support creation of a new bridge, Nora Moroun, wife of the bridge company's owner, and Dan
LANSING - Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder released Tuesday his plan to improve ethics in Lansing should be he be elected. Among his proposals is a ban on all gifts from lobbyists, a two-year "cooling off period" between holding elected or appointed office and registering as a lobbyist, a $5,000 limit on contributions to PACs,
LANSING ? Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been discussed for a number of appointments by President Barack Obama, and her name surfaced again as U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens officially announced he would retire later this year. Granholm has indicated the only possible reason she might not finish her term as governor is if
LANSING - The final bills in a legislative package to allow motorists to pay a $10 fee when they renew their annual vehicle registration to receive a permit to use any state park or boating access site are on their way to Gov. Jennifer Granholm. The Passport Bill, SB 389, passed last Thursday in the
LANSING - The Michigan Senate made a major change Thursday to legislation that would ban motorists from texting while driving as they made the violation a primary offense, allowing police to ticket drivers for texting without having to first pull them over for committing another infraction. What made the move so surprising is that the
DETROIT - While saying the state has to vote for a change of leadership, former Governor John Engler said in several radio interviews that state government and Gov. Jennifer Granholm could not have blocked much of what happened to the state during the economic downturn. But he also said the state and the United States