LANSING - Another stab at restructuring state government, this time under a realization that Michigan's economy will never be what it has been as an auto-dominant culture, is underway with the expectation it will lead to a series of gubernatorial actions late this year and early next to shrink the number of departments and realign
LANSING - Michigan's political leaders embraced on Tuesday the new agreement setting uniform national standards on fuel economy and reducing vehicle emissions. The announcement by President Barack Obama in Washington was attended by Governor Jennifer Granholm, key congressional members and leaders of the auto industry and UAW. The agreement calls for achieving California's 35.5 miles
LANSING - In an order issued Tuesday, the Michigan Public Service Commission has required Consumers Energy to use money from its 2007 sale of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant to off-set residential rate hikes. The rate increases take effect Thursday. The PSC said without using $36 million from the decommissioning fund from Palisades, residential consumers
LANSING - In advance of the Revenue Estimating Conference set for later this week, where the news is expected to be bleak, an interview released on Tuesday with an economist from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy painted a picture just as grim that included unemployment projections as high as 20 percent by the end
LANSING - Legislation that would guarantee health care access to all Michigan residents by preventing insurers from cherry-picking consumers and rejecting those with pre-existing health conditions was announced Monday by House Democrats. Senate Republicans, who have held task force meetings on the issue of health care, are scheduled to announce their own initiative on Thursday.
LANSING - A measure that would allow Michigan to draw down $139 million more in federal stimulus dollars for unemployment benefits, but would require the state to offer those benefits to people seeking part-time work or those who are ineligible for further benefits, but are enrolled in a job training program, is set to be
LANSING - With the state's fiscal year now more than half-over, legislative leaders and their caucuses are working as quickly as they can to develop proposals to bring to Governor Jennifer Granholm later this week to solve an estimated $785 million budget deficit. Officials are also hopeful Granholm will soon issue a budget-cutting executive order
LANSING - Unemployed persons in Michigan will qualify for jobless benefits for as long as 79 weeks under three bills signed Monday by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who also called on the Legislature to pass two other bills to give benefits to people who do not qualify under current law, a move that would bring another
LANSING - A battle looms over how much of the federal stimulus funds to use to plug holes in the budget, but even if all of it were to be tapped. Gov, Jennifer Granholm said Monday deep spending cuts would still be needed to bring the budget into balance. The governor did not say she
WASHINGTON DC - After months of secrecy that has rankled public interest groups, the Obama administration is revealing limited information regarding a multilateral anti-counterfeiting treaty currently under negotiation. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative on Monday released a summary of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, a treaty for which negotiations began in 2006 with the