ANN ARBOR - As the United States heads into the 2026 election year, tariffs are quietly reshaping the political landscape — not through speeches about trade deficits, but through everyday prices. New economic research shows tariffs function less as a punishment on foreign competitors and more as a hidden tax on Americans, with disproportionate effects
ANN ARBOR - Automated speed enforcement in active construction zones aims to curb dangerous driving, protect workers, and reduce crashes across Michigan highways. Michigan drivers heading into the 2026 construction season will encounter tougher enforcement in work zones as the state rolls out automated speed cameras designed to slow traffic and protect road crews. The
DETROIT - In a decision that could reshape Michigan’s energy and economic landscape, DTE Energy has agreed to stringent conditions attached to long-term power supply contracts for a planned 1.4-gigawatt hyperscale data center being developed by OpenAI and Oracle on roughly 575 acres of farmland south of Ann Arbor in Saline Township. The approval by
COLUMBUS - Ohio’s legal cannabis market reached a major benchmark in 2025, surpassing $1 billion in combined adult-use and medical marijuana sales during its first full year of recreational commerce. Adult-use marijuana sales launched in August 2024 following voter approval in November 2023. By the end of 2025, Ohio dispensaries had recorded: More than $836
Michigan’s legal cannabis market closed 2025 with a modest decline, marking a clear shift from years of explosive growth to a more mature, price-competitive phase—just as a significant new tax takes effect in 2026. Total cannabis sales in Michigan declined 3.5% in 2025, finishing the year at an estimated $3.17 billion, down from $3.29 billion
GRAND RAPIDS - As 2026 approaches, new survey data suggests the West Michigan economy continues to lose momentum, even as parts of Michigan and the broader U.S. economy show signs of stabilization rather than decline. The latest monthly economic survey from Grand Valley State University shows most key indicators for West Michigan remaining in negative
NOVI - Mid-Michigan residents will have a limited but meaningful opportunity this month to shape where a major new high-voltage transmission line may be built. ITC Michigan is hosting a series of community listening sessions in late January and early February to gather local input on preliminary routing for a proposed 345-kilovolt transmission line spanning
ANN ARBOR - Social Security’s financial outlook is worsening, raising the prospect of benefit reductions for tens of millions of Americans — including more than two million Michiganders — unless Congress acts within the next few years. The program’s retirement trust fund is projected to run out of money by 2033, with the disability trust
LANSING — Michigan’s cannabis industry is pressing forward with a constitutional lawsuit against the state’s 24% wholesale marijuana tax, arguing the levy was imposed illegally and is already triggering layoffs, facility closures, and real-world economic pain across the state’s expanding legal marijuana market. The case, filed by the Michigan Cannabis Industry Association (MiCIA) and several
ANN ARBOR - Michigan workers are entering 2026 with a clear and sobering priority: hold on. Across factories, hospitals, offices, and government buildings, employees are increasingly reluctant to change jobs — even when workloads are rising or pay is stagnating. A new national workforce survey shows that fear of layoffs, economic uncertainty, and burnout are
