30-minute guarantee at Michigan Secretary of State — if you have appointment
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) Michiganders can officially get in and out of any Secretary of State branch office in under 30 minutes — with an appointment. For walk-ins, however, long waits are still the norm. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced Thursday that her office had fulfilled a central campaign promise: a guarantee that no […]
Michigan budget breakthrough in works as Whitmer, GOP near deal
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) LANSING – A months-long budget standoff could be nearing an end, as Michigan lawmakers moved bills last Wednesday to reappropriate some $573.5 million of the nearly $1 billion Gov. Gretchen Whitmer line-item vetoed from the state’s 2020 budget. Millions of dollars would be returned to programs that fund rural police patrols, […]
GOP leaders: We won’t halt Michigan Medicaid work requirements
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) LANSING – Michigan Republicans are rebuffing calls from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to postpone Medicaid work rules set to begin Jan. 1, amid a federal lawsuit challenging the policy. Next month, Michigan will require most of the state’s more than 650,000 Medicaid recipients to prove they’re working, in school, amid job training or doing other […]
Opioid addiction treatment just got easier for thousands in Michigan
By Robin Erb (Bridge) Thousands of Michiganders battling opioid addictions are closer to treatment after the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services this week stripped away an administrative barrier to care. The state on Tuesday removed “prior authorization” requirements for medications used to treat opioid use disorder, including buprenorphine, as part of medication-assisted treatment, […]
Community college costs soar in Michigan. Blame sinking state aid.
By Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) In a state that has struggled to increase the number of people with college degrees, the gap between tuition costs at Michigan’s 28 community colleges is widening. At just over $3,000 for a year of classes, Oakland Community College is the least expensive in the state, and it sits in one […]
Enbridge lost rods in the Straits. It didn’t tell Michigan for two months.
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) In mid-September, workers for Enbridge Inc. dug deep, narrow holes to gather rock and soil samples along the lakebed under the Straits of Mackinac as a part of the project to build a tunnel to protect the Line 5 oil pipeline. One of those holes collapsed, leaving 40 feet of thin drilling rod […]
Appeals court: Michigan workers can seek damages for false fraud claims
By Ted Roelofs (Bridge) A lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of Michigan workers falsely accused of unemployment fraud can proceed on constitutional grounds and seek damages, a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled last Thursday. The Michigan Supreme Court previously ruled in April that the suit could move forward, but it returned the case to […]
Why easy access to recreational marijuana is taking so long in Michigan
By Riley Beggin (Bridge) Michigan’s first recreational marijuana sales began Dec. 1. In most places, though, Michiganders over the age of 21 won’t be able to buy legal weed this week and perhaps anytime soon. As of last week Ann Arbor was the only city in Michigan with a licensed recreational marijuana shop. The number […]
Dana Nessel to review Michigan DNR handling of wolf kill records
By John Barnes (for Bridge) Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is reviewing whether state officials improperly blocked or delayed the release of public records relating to their efforts to have protected gray wolves killed three years ago, her office told Bridge Magazine. Nessel is responding to a recent Bridge investigation that detailed how the state Department of […]
Michigan House Speaker ordered to testify in Rep. Inman’s corruption trial
By Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING — Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, one of the most powerful lawmakers in the state, must testify under oath in next week’s corruption trial for embattled state Rep. Larry Inman, a federal judge decided Tuesday. Chatfield had sought to quash a subpoena from federal attorneys who are prosecuting Inman, a […]
