DETROIT - When the new Detroit City Council convenes in January, a majority of the nine-member body will be new as voters ousted another incumbent in Tuesday's elections, but voters decisively re-elected Mayor Dave Bing. Voters also approved changing the election of the council to districts from the current at-large, elected a charter commission to
LANSING - A package of economic development reform bills that had been somewhat of a legislative ping-pong between the Michigan House and Senate earlier this year have been sent to conference committees, although no consensus on the package has been reached. Rep. Fred Miller (D-Mount Clemens), who is co-chairing the panels, said Tuesday that getting
LANSING - Credits given for brownfield redevelopment, job growth and research and development are essential to boosting Michigan's economy and allowing communities to reinvent themselves, officials from the Michigan Municipal League and Michigan Manufacturers Association said Wednesday as they urged legislators not to support reductions to the credits. The testimony was the second before the
LANSING - The monthly index of manufacturing activity in the Midwest showed that it increased in September over August and was spurred in large part by a pickup of automotive related manufacturing, the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said Monday. Even with the increase, the report showed that manufacturing in the states it follows was down
LANSING - A total of 72 percent of jobless workers who went through the state's No Worker Left Behind program were able to either find jobs or hold onto their jobs, a report issued by the Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth said. Andy Levin, who oversees the program for the department, said the
LANSING - There is no question that federal stimulus funds spent in the state have been effective, the head of Michigan's recovery office told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday. Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Stimulus Oversight Subcommittee questioned how effective the first round of monies issued and spent under the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment
LANSING - Legislation that is part of a package of bills expanding the Michigan Economic Growth Authority credits and providing more transparency finally won final passage Thursday from the Michigan Senate. The Senate relented to the House's insistence on removing a credit for a company creating part-time jobs in passing HB 4922 on a 30-4
LANSING - The current state of the Michigan Business Tax is what legislators enacted, not anything the Department of Treasury created, Treasurer Robert Kleine said in response to recent legislator comments. Sen. Wayne Kuipers (R-Holland) recently told Gongwer News Service that he would not have voted for the MBT as it is being implemented by
LANSING - Encouraged by the Senate's action to eliminate the surcharge on the Michigan Business Tax, some of the largest business groups in the state called on the House to follow the Senate and approve the three-year phase-out. And responding to criticism that the action by the Senate in SB 838 helped businesses at the
LANSING - State and local government in Michigan rely on property taxes more than other states to fund operations, a study released by the national organization the Tax Foundation said. In fact, Michigan is the sixth most reliant state on property taxes in the nation. In contrast, the state relies less heavily on income, general