LANSING - Legislation designed to open up more privately owned forestland to the timber industry was signed into law Thursday by Governor Rick Snyder, who hailed the bills as boosting the state's economy. "This is an opportunity to export more," he said at a news conference with legislators and timber industry officials. "This is actually
LANSING - Bills that would force the collection of the sales and use tax on purchases made through online entities that have affiliations in the state were on the Michigan House Tax Policy Committee agenda Wednesday, but were not voted on because House Democrats on the committee were going to abstain from voting. Rep. Jeff
LANSING - The Council of Great Lakes Governors pushed for more trade transportation on the lakes as Illinois opened the door to ending ship traffic between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. The governors and premiers included Asian carp on the council's list of "least wanted" invasive species, and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn acknowledged that
WASHINGTON DC - A federal judge has ruled that Google must comply with the FBI's warrantless requests for confidential user data, despite the search company's arguments that the secret demands are illegal. CNET has learned that U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco rejected Google's request to modify or throw out 19 so-called National
MACKINAC ISLAND - A program begun at the first Detroit Regional Chamber Mackinac Policy Conference that Governor Rick Snyder attended as chief executive got a major boost Thursday at a press conference that included Snyder. Executives for both DTE Energy and CMS Energy announced that their companies would spend $1 billion each over the next
MACKINAC ISLAND - Recent municipal bankruptcies have not ended well, but the outcome of such a move would be different for Detroit because leaders are planning for it, Treasurer Andy Dillon said as part of a series of panels on the resurgence of the city. Dillon said the goal is still to keep Detroit out
LANSING ? The Michigan House Tax Policy Committee reported legislation Wednesday that would discontinue the charging of the sales and use tax on the value of a trade-in when buying a motor vehicle or watercraft. The legislation (HB 4234 , SB 89 and SB 90 ) was reported unanimously by the committee after hearing testimony
LANSING - Growing contributions to the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System are reducing what school districts can spend on other educational services and that effect is likely to continue for the near term, the Citizens Research Council said in a report released Wednesday. The report, Funding for Public Education: The Recent Impact of Increased
LANSING - Physicians will use one standardized form for obtaining prior authorization from a patient's insurer when a patient seeks coverage for prescribed medicine under legislation signed by Governor Rick Snyder. Snyder signed SB 178 (PA 30, effective 90 days after sine die adjournment) and SB 179 (PA 31, also effective 90 days after sine
LANSING ? Michigan House Republicans unveiled Thursday a bill setting conditions for expanding Medicaid to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, but their call for a 48-month limit on Medicaid benefits for some recipients alarmed Democrats and other organizations that had supported expanding the program without conditions. For HB 4714 , introduced by Rep.