Author
MSU taps Stanley as president
Michigan State University has selected Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr. to lead the school after a period of turmoil and intense scrutiny of how the college handles sexual abuse cases in the wake of the Dr. Larry Nassar sex abuse scandal. Stanley is currently president of Stony Brook University in New York. He takes the […]
Corley gets second chance to clear name after metro Detroit shooting
In Akira Kurosawa’s famous 1950 film Rashomon, a samurai is murdered in the forest. An unsuspecting woodcutter discovers his body — the samurai’s hands frozen mid-air like claws clutching a final moment. What follows is familiar: Witnesses are brought forth. A court case begins. But the people who saw what happened in the forest that […]
U.S. Supreme Court delays Michigan gerrymandering decision
The U.S. Supreme Court decided Friday that it would put a Michigan gerrymandering case on hold as it weighs other, similar cases in North Carolina and Maryland. The nation’s high court delayed a final determination over the case, which challenges Republican gerrymandering in Michigan. Decisions in the other two high-profile cases in are expected this […]
Updated: Nessel announces sexual assault charges against 5 Catholic priests
This was a breaking story that has been updated with more details. Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday announced criminal sexual assault charges against five Michigan priests, including one who the department is attempting to extradite from India. In the span of less than two days, priests originally from Michigan have been arrested in Arizona, […]
Voting rights, campaign finance ballot groups challenge petition law
Voting rights and campaign finance ballot groups on Thursday filed a legal complaint challenging a law that makes it more difficult for groups to gather signatures for statewide ballot measures. This comes after Attorney General Dana Nessel issued an opinion Wednesday arguing that key sections the Lame Duck law are unconstitutional. The law, approved by […]
Whitmer lends support to equal pay legislation
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer rallied supporters at an equal pay day event Wednesday, saying legislation must pass that bars private companies from asking women about prior salary. The move would enshrine one of the governor’s first executive directives that stops state departments from asking about pay history at private businesses. It’s a measure that is meant […]
Bill McKibben, enviros urge Whitmer to end oil pipeline talks
Author and activist Bill McKibben has joined Michigan environmental groups in pressing Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to halt Enbridge’s Line 5 and ongoing negotiation on its plan for a new oil pipeline under the Mackinac Straits. McKibben and others say the issue, like the Keystone XL pipeline project, could garner national opposition if the new Democratic […]
Shirkey: GOP ‘more optimistic than in weeks’ for auto no-fault deal
As negotiations continue between Republican leaders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, GOP leaders are finding hope that major changes to the state’s auto no-fault insurance system may become law. Michigan’s current auto insurance law, the only of its kind in the nation, requires drivers pay for unlimited lifetime medical coverage included in their insurance plans. Republicans […]
No-fault negotiations drag on as House plan moves forward
Negotiations are ongoing between top GOP leaders and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as the Legislature continues to negotiate over how best to overhaul the state’s no-fault auto insurance law. Both the state House and Senate last week somewhat unexpectedly passed different plans that Republicans say will result in lower auto insurance costs for drivers, although Democrats […]
Citing Great Lakes threat, Whitmer issues emergency Mackinac Straits anchor restriction
A ship anchor damaged a Canadian oil pipeline that runs through the Straits of Mackinac in April 2018. On Wednesday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued an emergency rule meant to stop future anchor strikes. Anchors damaging Enbridge’s Line 5 present “one of the greatest threats” to the Great Lakes, Whitmer wrote in a letter to Department […]
New ADL report: White supremacist groups active in Michigan
The Anti-Defamation League continues to document a nationwide surge in white supremacist harassment or propaganda, including 60 confirmed incidents in Michigan between 2018 and 2019, new data show. According to updated data in the ADL’s Hate, Anti-Semitism, Terrorism, Extremism (HEAT) map, most Michigan examples were due to Patriot Front propaganda, a group described by both […]
Nessel asks court to reject Nassar re-sentencing appeal
Attorney General Dana Nessel is asking the Michigan Court of Appeals to reject an appeal from disgraced former Michigan State University gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced to between 40 and 175 years in prison for sexually abusing more than 100 young girls. Nessel wrote in a legal brief in reply to Nassar’s attorneys […]