Michigan GOP asks high court to rule on sick leave, minimum wage changes
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) State lawmakers from both parties say they’re confident they’re on the right side of a debate about whether it was legal to adopt and change two citizen-backed laws to raise Michigan’s minimum wage and require employer-sponsored paid sick leave last year. They can’t both be right. So the Legislature is moving forward […]
Michigan senator seeks to end ‘revolving door’ of lawmakers turned lobbyists
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) A Republican state senator is again trying to prevent Michigan lawmakers from taking new jobs lobbying their former colleagues in the Legislature immediately after leaving office. Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, introduced a bill to prohibit former state legislators from working as registered lobbyists for two years after they leave office — three, […]
Gretchen Whitmer's first State of the State speech
by Riley Beggin, Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) LANSING — Failing schools. Crumbling roads. Water unfit to drink. Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer painted a picture of a broken state that must be willing to finally invest in the basics during her first State of the State speech Tuesday evening. “While it’s hard to imagine that things could […]
Republican leaders respond to Whitmer's State of the State
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) Read about Gov. Whitmer's State of the State address HERE. Smooth roads and free college would be great, Republican leaders in the state legislature say, but they have one message for Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer: Show me the money. In a Wednesday morning response to Whitmer’s first State of the State address, House […]
After Republican lawmakers killed Gretchen Whitmer’s environmental shakeup, what’s next?
by Jim Malewitz (Bridge) LANSING — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order to restructure environmental regulation— fulfilling campaign promises to act on Michigan’s tainted water and climate change — lasted all of 10 days. The Republican-controlled Senate officially killed that plan Thursday following a series of party-line votes. But the Senate’s 22-16 vote (following an earlier rejection in […]
Attorney General Dana Nessel may review Michigan minimum wage, sick leave laws
by Lindsay VanHulle (Bridge) Michigan Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel said Wednesday she will consider weighing in on the legality of Republican laws passed last year that gutted proposed ballot efforts intended to raise the state’s minimum wage and require employers to offer paid sick leave. The question, raised in a letter by state Sen. Stephanie […]
Lansing, we have a problem: Whitmer kills $2.5M rocket plan pushed by Snyder
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) Northern Michigan may yet join the space race. But Michigan taxpayers no longer are on the hook for a $2.5 million grant to develop a commercial launch site there, Bridge Magazine has learned. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer this week killed an under-the-radar effort to help develop a rocket-launching facility in Alpena, Gaylord […]
GOP consultant says 7th District boundaries changed to save Walberg's seat
DETROIT – New evidence submitted on the eve of a landmark trial challenging Michigan’s GOP-drawn legislative districts appears to strengthen the claim the maps were drawn in 2011 for partisan, Republican gain. Emails and other documents filed over the weekend in federal court show that Republicans saw the redistricting process as a way to consolidate […]
Michigan Republicans defend political maps as gerrymandering trial opens
by Joel Kurth (Bridge) DETROIT – Forget the provocative emails. And forget the funny-looking maps that shape Michigan’s political districts while you’re at it. All that matters is whether Michigan’s political districts were drawn legally – and they were, attorneys for state Republicans argued during opening arguments Tuesday of a trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit […]
Ex-Democratic chief says Michigan gerrymandering scared off candidates
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) DETROIT – Voters nationwide have gone to the polls hundreds of times in since 1970. Few elections have been so skewed toward Republicans as those the past few years in Michigan. That was the conclusion Tuesday of a George Washington University political scientist, who testified in the first day of a civil trial […]
