LANSING - If the state ends up adopting a 2009-10 budget on the lines of that adopted last week by the Legislature, it would go into the 2010-11 budget with a potential general fund deficit of $782.9 million, a memo from the Senate Fiscal Agency said. And to keep the state at that general fund
ANN ARBOR - Business executive Rick Snyder has taken plenty of risks and had success when others deemed his task undoable. That attitude, one of a venture capitalist that sees an investment where others see failure, instead of the thinking that comes with a long career in politics, is one of the biggest reasons Snyder
LANSING - Some of the projects funded with federal stimulus money could come to a halt along with the end of the state's wetlands program, officials confirmed Thursday. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Acting Director Bharat Mathur urged the state to keep operating its program for at least a few months, even if the
LANSING - Col. James Braden, project manager of the Robotics Systems Joint Project Office at the U.S. Army Tacom Life Cycle Management Command, will soon become director of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Defense Contract Coordination Center, replacing former Marine General Bradley Lott. The news reportedly came from State Sen. Valde Garcia, who made the
LANSING �?? Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox offered a 92-point blueprint Tuesday on how he would improve Michigan should he win the 2010 governor's race, saying he would cut the income and business taxes while also wrangling savings from government employee benefits. Cox, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination amid a crowded field, said
LANSING - A fund that could help smaller telecommunication providers in Michigan bring their intrastate access rates more in line with federal standards would stymie innovation in the industry, a lobbyist for Verizon Communications told the House Energy and Technology Committee on Tuesday. Dave Vehslage, Verizon's lobbyist, testified on HB 4257 , which would ban
LANSING - A $3 million federal grant to train workers for new energy technology jobs will flow through the No Worker Left Behind program, designed to help displaced workers, but the first chunk will go to those already working. The grant, expected to be approved by the Administrative Board next week, is dedicated to the
LANSING - Residents can sign up for unemployment benefits and food assistance grants through a single portal on the state's website and officials are working to move more services there, Gov. Jennifer Granholm announced Wednesday. The Helping Hand Web Site compiles all of the human services programs available through the state and some local non-profit
LANSING - A supplemental bill that included no general fund money when the Senate passed it ballooned to $327 million written from the state's main checkbook as the House approved the bill Wednesday. The bill (SB 334 ) cleared the House on a mostly party-line vote as minority Republicans objected to Democrats discharging the bill
LANSING - Michigan appears to have priced itself out of the market for out-of-state prisoners, at least for one of its possible prison lessees. California Corrections Secretary Matthew Cate told Michigan Corrections Director Patricia Caruso in a letter late Monday that the Golden State could not afford to send prisoners to the Standish Maximum Correctional