LANSING - Michigan’s 15 universities would see a 1.9 percent increase under the House version of the higher education budget reported Thursday, $9 million less than Gov. Rick Snyder recommended. The budget, HB 4229, was reported 5-0 with Rep. Yousef Rabhi (D-Ann Arbor) abstaining. The House Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee budget concurred with Mr. Snyder
GRAND RAPIDS - Luxury storage company California Closets is expanding to Cascade Charter Township with financial support from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The company is building a new facility in West Michigan to supply the Eastern United States and expects to generate more than $5.7 million in private investment and create 61 jobs in exchange
LANSING - Companies based in Michigan's border counties could receive a business incentive by hiring employees who don't necessarily live in Michigan under legislation passed in the Senate Thursday. The incentive - grants, loans or other economic assistance to qualified business based on a review by the Michigan Strategic Fund - is through the Michigan
DETROIT - Errors by election workers in Detroit led to problems in the number of ballots not lining up with the number of people recorded as having voted in scores of precincts, a Bureau of Elections audit released Thursday found, and as a result the bureau plans comprehensive training to assist the city in better
LANSING - Gongwer News Service Thursday announced enhancements to its bill tracking services that give subscribers more control over the display of personal comments tied to legislation. The changes improve subscribers' ability to generate personalized bill status reports that can be shared with members, clients, colleagues and others. All bill tracking and reporting features are
LANSING - The funding is not yet in place to perform the work, but the state Capitol will need $62.29 million in repairs, mostly to its mechanical systems, to remain functioning, contractors told the Capitol Commission at its meeting Monday. The commission agreed to move ahead with designing the 45 separate projects that would make
LANSING - Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof on Tuesday confirmed the end of several controversial initiatives passed by the Michigan House last week on a day otherwise consumed with recesses and caucuses. Among those proposals was a bill to tighten up voter identification (HB 6067), bills regulating picketing and striking workers (HB 4643 and HB
LANSING - Utility providers met a combined average of 121 percent of their electric energy savings targets and 117 percent of their natural gas energy savings targets in 2015, the Public Service Commission's latest report on utility energy optimization programs released Wednesday shows. The combined savings targets account for 1 percent of retail sales for
LANSING - As part of the rollout of the redesigned Gongwer News Service website, Gongwer highlights new features so that subscribers can get the most from their subscriptions. One of the enhancements is to the Schedules page, which contains the day's legislative committee hearings, meetings of state boards/agencies/commissions and other events like fundraisers. There are
LANSING - Rep. Jim Runestad on Monday called for the Senate to take action on a joint resolution extending Michigan's constitutional prohibition against unreasonable government search and seizures to include electronic data and communications, but the Senate is so far unsure on whether it would do so. "It may be a topic of discussion for
