WASHINGTON DC - Democrat Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Cory Booker introduced a bill on Thursday to legalize marijuana nationwide. Co-sponsors of the bill, known as the Marijuana Justice Act, include fellow 2020 Democratic contenders Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York. Booker
LANSING - By midday Thursday Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was faced with a challenge not placed before an occupant of the governor's office in more than a generation: full rejection of an executive order. The Senate's 22-16 party-line vote in the Republican-controlled Senate on HCR 1, rejecting the governor's proposed restructuring of the Department of Environmental Quality and
LANSING – Wind generation continues to be the primary source of alternative electric power in Michigan, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission’s ninth annual report on renewable energy, released Friday. Utility-scale wind turbine projects generated 69 percent of the approximately 3,000 megawatts of nameplate capacity in 2018, the same as the previous year, according
LANSING – Energy waste reduction programs have saved nearly 1.6 million megawatt hours of electricity and more than 5.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas, according to the Michigan Public Service Commission’s annual report, released Friday. The 2017 Utility Energy Waste Reduction Programs report found 64 electric companies (investor-owned, cooperatives, and municipalities) spent a total
LANSING – The Michigan Public Service Commission this week approved Consumers Energy Co.’s request to add wind generation to its renewable energy plan, but delayed a decision on the company’s request to add solar facilities. Consumers said the new wind and solar facilities are needed to meet the state’s renewable portfolio standard. The standard set
LANSING - The head the Michigan Department of Transportation declined to provide details of the governor's proposal for increased road funding Tuesday before a Senate panel during his confirmation hearing but sought to make it clear that his belief is that the key to fixing the state's deteriorating roads is more funding. MDOT Director Paul Ajegba told
LANSING – The state's leading small business organization, NFIB, announced the release of a report that shows small business is paying the lion’s share of the state’s primary business taxes. “A recent House Fiscal Agency report suggests 2018 net revenue from the Corporate Income Tax could be about $392 million, but just a few years ago
LANSING - A Michigan senator who introduced a vehicle bill this month for comprehensive no-fault auto insurance reform says his fact-finding conversations with other lawmakers and an array of stakeholders, are ongoing and are making progress, but he has not yet put pen to paper with any concrete proposals ahead of initial committee hearings. Sen.
LANSING - Arguing the court has "found significant evidence of partisan gerrymandering," Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson filed a brief in the League of Women Voters of Michigan redistricting lawsuit that opens the door to her cutting a deal to have legislative districts redrawn for 2020. Recently, Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield (R-Levering), Rep. Aaron
LANSING - The state is currently assessing how the partial federal government shutdown will affect services after February 5 as there appears a "total lack of progress" toward re-opening the government, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer has joined a call for the President Donald Trump administration to allow federal employees working without pay to access unemployment benefits. The
