LANSING - Negotiations on setting a fixed amount local government employees must pay toward their health insurance appear on track, with a conference committee vote likely the week the Legislature comes back into session. Sen. Mark Jansen (R-Gaines Township), chair of the SB 7 conference panel, said Friday he has been working with Rep. Tom
LANSING - Returning from the annual meeting of the National Association of State Budget Officers, Budget Director John Nixon said the state was in very good shape fiscally compared to other states, especially in light of the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. That downgrade will affect other states, including possibly Virginia and Maryland which
LANSING - The dramatic effort to reach an agreement on increasing the U.S. debt ceiling will likely mean less in federal money for Michigan, Budget Director John Nixon said Monday. But Nixon does not know yet how much money the agreement - which passed the U.S. House Monday night - will cost the state. Whatever
LANSING - Saying it will boost wireless broadband access to residents in rural Michigan, the chairs of the Michigan legislative Agriculture Committees have signed off on a letter supporting the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile. The Federal Communications Commission is currently reviewing the proposed merger. Farmers and residents of rural parts of the state have
LANSING ? Michigan government agencies are developing contingency plans, in case the state employee unions decline to reopen their contracts for the coming fiscal year, which could involve layoffs, officials said Wednesday. It would take some 2,500 layoffs to reach the $265 million gross, $145 million general fund, which has been designated as cuts from
LANSING - The Michigan Economic Growth Authority Tuesday approved four brownfield redevelopment projects, a High Technology MEGA tax credit for a company choosing to locate in Michigan and amended several prior agreements that could generate $198.2 million in new investment and create 1,142 job. ?Today?s actions will help transform blighted, contaminated or functionally obsolete properties
LANSING - Vibrant ethnic communities are idea and jobs makers, Governor Rick Snyder said Monday in a major speech outlining his goal that the state embrace the immigrant population. Michigan can look at its industrial past to learn about the large role immigrants played in the state's last major reinvention, Snyder said, and that can
LANSING - After months of wondering whether their party would be able to mount a credible challenge to Democratic U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow in 2012, Republicans exulted Tuesday with the news that former U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra has changed his mind and will run. No official word came from Hoekstra or anyone on his behalf,
LANSING - While the economy remains tough across the state, a growing number of Michigan's small-and mid-sized business owners believe things are beginning to move in the right direction, according to a recent survey. The survey further indicated that Michigan business owners are expressing less concern over the challenges they have been facing that impact
LANSING - The headlines have been written about the federal government allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to support a high-speed passenger rail line between Detroit and Chicago, but residents won't see that speedy service until the state wraps up negotiations with Norfolk Southern, which owns most of the rail line Amtrak uses. Amtrak's Wolverine