Michigan News

Two more petition campaigns were given the go-ahead Thursday by a state elections panel to start collecting signatures, including one to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan. 

State lawmakers are quickly pushing through female genital mutilation legislation.  About two weeks ago, a Senate committee passed legislation that would make performing female genital mutilation a fifteen year felony.

The Mackinac Bridge will be largely closed to vehicle traffic the morning of Labor Day. 

Gun rights are up for debate in the state legislature again.

Some state lawmakers and the Michigan Department of Corrections are battling it out over how much the state should spend on its prisons.  

Michigan’s prisons are still plagued with food service problems.  That’s according to liberal watchdog group Progress Michigan. 

There was a big rally at the state Capitol Wednesday to support improved mental health services and to oppose Governor Rick Snyder’s plan to overhaul how those services are paid for.

Big business investors are waiting on Governor Rick Snyder to give them a break.  A tax break that is – to build on blighted land. 

Governor Rick Snyder has chosen the newest member of the Michigan Supreme Court.

There were tears and hugs on the floor of the state House Tuesday as colleagues got word that state Representative John Kivela took his life – one day after his second arrest on a charge of drunk driving.

Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen has been chosen by President Trump to serve on the Sixth Circuit US Court of Appeals.  Trump once put Larsen on his list of judges and lawyers he would consider naming to the US Supreme Court. 

The state is stepping in to help struggling schools instead of closing them.

Lawmakers in Lansing are trying to increase penalties for attacks on first responders. 

Law enforcement and pharmacists are working together to curb methamphetamine production in the state.

Democrats in Lansing have renewed the mission to create a Voter Bill of Rights.

Teachers don’t have to wait if they want to drop out of their union.  That ruling was handed down Wednesday by the Michigan Court of Appeals.  The court said the Michigan Education Association can’t force teachers who want to leave to wait until an August “opt-out period.”

Michigan State University is asking a court to decide whether it has to release police and arrest records related to a highly publicized investigation.  The records are related to the criminal investigation into an alleged sexual assault that may involve members of the Spartan football team.

Lawmakers are moving fast to ramp up prison time for female genital mutilation. 

Governor Rick Snyder says he’s against an effort in the Legislature to reverse the requirement that parents who don’t want to vaccinate their kids meet with a public health expert.

A state Senate committee holds a hearing today on bills to outlaw female genital mutilation in Michigan.  It’s already a federal crime with a penalty of up to five years in prison.  The bill’s sponsors say that’s not tough enough.  A lot of experts say a tougher law may not be enough to deter an entrenched cultural and religious practice.     

After stops and starts, the state Legislature has adopted a bill to send $100 million to Flint to replace lead pipes.  The money is from the federal government, but had to be approved by state lawmakers.

The state legislature is resurrecting legislation to end mandatory, unlimited medical benefits for car crash victims.  

Wednesday was the annual Second Amendment March in Lansing.  Gun enthusiasts took to the Capitol for speeches and mass open-carrying of firearms. 

Travel between northern and southern lower Michigan is going to go a little faster on some stretches.  Next week, three rural freeways will have new speed limits of 75 miles an hour.