Michigan judge rules Enbridge Line 5 construction is constitutional
By Jim Malewitz (Bridge) LANSING — A state judge on Thursday handed Enbridge Energy a victory in its quest to build a tunnel around its Line 5 oil and gas pipeline in the Straits of Mackinac. Michigan Court of Claims Judge Michael J. Kelly ruled that the Republican-led Legislature did not violate the Constitution when […]
U.S. high court kills Michigan gerrymandering case ordering new districts
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday formally put to bed a lower court’s order for Michigan lawmakers to redraw gerrymandered state and congressional political district lines. The ruling was no surprise: The Supreme Court decided this summer that federal courts had no place deciding partisan gerrymandering cases, leaving the job to […]
Pure Michigan gets reprieve, but its future is cloudy amid budget showdown
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING – The Pure Michigan tourism advertising campaign will continue through the end of the year – and the brand will live on even longer – despite a funding veto Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued amid an ongoing budget dispute with the Republican-led Legislature. The Michigan Strategic Fund, which Whitmer reshaped […]
Applications open for new Michigan redistricting commission. What to know.
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) LANSING — The process to seat the 13-member Michigan commission responsible for redrawing the state’s voting district lines has officially begun. Michiganders who are registered voters can apply to be on the commission from now until the end of May 2020, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced Thursday. “This is a […]
Anti-gerrymandering group may team with GOP to tackle term limits
by Riley Beggin, Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING – Efforts to reform Michigan’s decades-old term limits law may produce strange political bedfellows. Voters Not Politicians, the citizen group behind last year’s successful ballot measure to end political gerrymandering, may team with GOP leaders whose party has benefited from some of the most gerrymandered districts in the […]
Wayne State bets the word ‘free’ will lure students like it has at U-M
by Ron French (Bridge) Wayne State University isn’t adding one dollar of college financial aid for graduates of Detroit high schools. But the school is adding one word: Free. And that may make a big difference. At a highly publicized rally Wednesday, Wayne State announced that, starting in 2020, high school grads in Wayne State’s […]
Michigan Republicans say ‘the budget is done.’ Here’s what they really mean.
by Riley Beggin (Bridge) LANSING — It’s been more than three weeks since Gov. Gretchen Whitmer approved Michigan’s $59 billion budget and, in the process, cut nearly $1 billion lawmakers had approved for a variety of Republican priorities. Several programs that lost funding — from rural police patrols and hospital funding to grants for the popular […]
Michigan’s roads have turned to crap. So has a strike among road builders.
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) LANSING — A months-long union strike at one of Michigan’s largest road building firms has delayed some pavement projects and shows no signs of letting up as the summer construction season nears an end. Instead, it’s turned to crap. Literally, according to a National Labor Relations Board complaint filed Aug. 28 […]
Is literacy a constitutional right? A Detroit legal case could decide
by Mike Wilkinson (Bridge) The conditions inside some Detroit public schools were horrific: Five textbooks for 28 students in one class. Thirty-seven chairs for 52 students in another. Schools where a third of the teachers were not state-certified to teach. U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III was appalled. In 2018, he called the allegations […]
Former Michigan Governor William Milliken dies at 97
by Jonathan Oosting (Bridge) Former Michigan Gov. William Milliken, hailed as a protector of the environment and a “passionate moderate” whose civility and grace is scarcely recognizable in contemporary politics, died October 18 at age 97. Milliken was a Republican who never formally left the party, but grew apart from it later in life after […]
