EAST LANSING - The emphasis on attracting high-skill jobs that require high-caliber education is leaving students who are capable of working important, quality jobs stuck with thinking that their choice in life is either to become a brain surgeon or working a low-skill service job, author and futurist Joel Kotkin said Tuesday. Speaking at the
LANSING - Lobbyists in Michigan spent $19.7 million through the first seven months of the year, which was up from 2010 and 2008 levels, the Michigan Campaign Finance Network said Wednesday. The 11.6 percent spike was attributed in part to $900,000 in an advertising campaign done by StudentsFirst, the group led by former D.C. schools
GRAND RAPIDS ? Gov. Rick Snyder called on the Legislature to create by Thanksgiving the MI Health Marketplace to create a competitive setting for individuals and businesses to obtain health insurance. The federal Affordable Care Act requires states to set up an exchange or have the federal government set one up for them. "This legislation
LANSING - If Governor Rick Snyder and the Legislature are going to repeal the personal property tax, then the replacement revenue should be constitutionally guaranteed, a wide array of groups representing local governments and schools said Thursday. The tax on business equipment, which raises $1.2 billion, largely goes directly to municipalities and counties with some
LANSING - The chair of the Michigan Senate Insurance Committee, who is taking a lead role in reforming the state's auto no-fault insurance system, said Thursday he is preparing a new version of legislation that would set the minimum coverage for personal injury protection at $250,000. Sen. Joe Hune (R-Hamburg) told Gongwer News Service the
LANSING ? The fall advertising campaign for Pure Michigan hits the airwaves this week. The television and radio ads, including seven partner ads, will air regionally and statewide through early October. The total fall advertising budget of $2,390,976 includes $295,000 in funding committed by private sector partners as part of the Travel Michigan Ad Partnership
LANSING - Replacing the revenue generated by the personal property tax will require a variety of approaches to reflect the widely diverging amount of revenue the tax generates for local governments, Governor Rick Snyder said Wednesday. Snyder, in a wide-ranging interview with Gongwer News Service in his Romney Building office, also said he wants replacement
LANSING - After serving two months past her term's expiration date, Public Service Commissioner Monica Martinez announced September 2 will be her last day on the job. "It has been an honor to serve the people of Michigan," Martinez said in a statement Thursday. "Throughout my time at the MPSC, I have had the privilege
CHICAGO - Efforts to close the Chicago Canal locks to keep the Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes were set back by the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, but the court also said it may reconsider the question if steps to prevent the invasive species drag. The decision by the Chicago-based court
LANSING - Switching from a divided Legislature to one controlled by the same party helped increase the number of bills passed in the first six months between the two chambers, a Gongwer News Service analysis finds. While Democrats controlled the House the past two sessions and Republicans were in charge of the Senate, the rate